14 December 2011

Best of 2011 -- Discovered Author

It's time once again to kick off the 2011 Word Nerd Award Season!

I, Bethany, always look forward to this time because I get to comb through my reading list to determine what books and authors get to take top honors from this team of bibliophiles.

We'll be posting our awards over the next few Wednesdays, so stay tuned.

Our first award is "Best Discovered Author." This award goes to an author who we started reading this year and can't wait to stick with into the future.

Bethany's Pick:
Harry Connolly!
Connolly was a strong contender in next week's category of "Best First Book in Series" but, I picked him for this category because it was such a fun discovery. I literally saw his third Twenty Palaces novel, Circle of Enemies on the library shelf, thought something along the lines of Ray Lilly seems like my kind of character, solely from the cover art (dark, brooding man). I immediately went to the stacks and found books one and two in the series and read them all in fairly quick succession (with a few renewals from the library).

As far as I've seen on Twitter, he's at work on something new and I will definitely be looking for it when it hits the shelves. You can learn more about him and his work on his website.

Stacie's Pick:
Agatha Christie!
She's a classic mystery author, I know. But until this year I had not ever bothered to read anything by her. And now that I have started down this list, I'm excited about it. The prose is great, the twists and bends even better. I started down this path due to the various references in a modern book by Connie Willis. Christie played a supporting role in the plot, but a crucial one. It was a great choice and I'm glad I started.

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