Who's your favorite author?

We asked book lovers their favorite authors and got a really diverse crop of reading lists.  I hope that you pick up one or two books after reading this and enjoy them as much as our respondents did.

Cherrie Anne Remoroza, professor, author of The First Day

I don’t really have an all-time favorite author, and I don’t really select books based on the author alone. If I were to choose, though, it would still be a toss-up between JRR Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. The Hobbit (by Tolkien) is the best fantasy book I have ever read. But I have come to love The Chronicles of Narnia (by Lewis) as well. Any fantasy/adventure bookworm would agree that Tolkien and Lewis are the two best writers in this genre. They have the greatest sense of imagination. Their books have taken me to many magical and exotic places, making reading truly one of the best forms of escape. A Tolkien or Lewis book is difficult to put down once you’ve started reading one. You get so caught up in the story. And never mind if the characters don’t belong to your own world! Their books make you feel as if you were a part of theirs. Plus, their works, particularly the ones I mentioned earlier, appeal to both the young and old. I read The Hobbit more than a decade ago and I’m sure I’d still have the same pleasurably exhilarating experience if I pored over it again. My criterion, therefore, for judging a book (and its writer) is just simple: if you are able to “experience” it, then it (and the one who wrote it) must be great!

Dr. Rebecca B. Singson, chairperson, Dept. of Ob-gyn, St. Luke’s Medical Center, Bonifacio Global City

My favorite author is Ayn Rand, who wrote many books, the most famous of which are The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. She was a Russian who defected to America and eventually married an American, which explains her unusual philosophy on political activism, free-market capitalism and even atheism. I encountered her readings while I was a high school student and although I would never adopt her philosophies, I found her pages to be wildly stimulating and entertaining because she would offer a perspective that was so remote from the usual that she could actually convince you that what you know in your mind to be black is actually white! My mind was challenged by her profound logic in propagating that the proper moral purpose of one’s life is the pursuit of one’s own happiness, that the only social system consistent with this morality is full respect for individual rights. I have yet to encounter another author that I consider as deeply philosophical and intelligent.

Andrea Azarcon dela Cruz, multi-media specialist, BPO

Judy Blume is one of my favorite writers. I discovered her during my awkward preteen stage and fell in love with her books on taboo subjects at that time. Her candid and realistic portrayal of adolescents and how they deal with various teen issues constantly reassured me that I was not alone. Reading her books back then made me feel like I had this cooler, wiser, older sister who listened, magically read my mind, and gave me sound advice.

Hernani Pizarro Geronimo, head of human resources and shared services, Lapanday Foods Corp.

I have many but what comes to mind are the following: Mitch Albom and his Tuesdays With Morrie, Stephen King and his On Writing (better than his thrillers), and Michael Freedman and The World is Flat and its sequel. Locally, a good friend introduced me to Bob Ong and the DECS ought to make MacArthur standard reading. It is in Filipino. I adore the poetry of Ophelia A. Dimalanta in Montage and Other Poems. My favorite authors are as eclectic and diverse as there are people who create stories.

Mandy Navasero, photographer

My favorite author is Hermann Hesse, whose Sidhharta I’ve read many times over, trying to find myself in his character, and studying the boy’s   spiritual journey. Hesse is a powerful writer. His prose is elegant and flowing. His works are very influential. He depicts duality of spirit and nature, and body versus mind. I read Demian and Hesse’s other books, all beautifully haunting. I would bury myself in the experiences of Hesse’s characters. In Siddharta, it is the experience of a man that brings him to Nirvana, not love, not money, not success in business but man’s spirituality. Hermann Hesse is a Nobel Prize winner in literature and one of the bestselling German authors in the world today.

Kathleen Osias-Aton, auditor, Asian Development Bank

While I have many favorite stories and enjoy the work of a good deal of authors, I do have particular favorites for a certain period. My current favorite author is Ysabeau Wilce, an outrageously courageous fictionist whose use of language defies all logic. When I had first read Lineaments of Gratified Desire, I was stunned by the sheer audacity at which she breaks and reinterprets the English language, all for the benefit of creating a tone that is both believable and otherworldly. That she wrote (sort of) young adult stories as well (in particular, Spring-Heeled Jack) inspired me to think that, perhaps, there are other ways to write for the youth without being traditional and didactic. Right now, I don’t think I have yet the courage to flaunt the known literary rules as she does, but I hope someday I would be able to come close to creating works of wonder that are strong in both story and language like the written marvels she has created.

Raechelle Castelleon, winner, Gig writing contest

I have no one favorite writer, I am an eclectic reader. I don’t have a collection of a single author’s works. however, I do love Jun Cruz Reyes’ writing style. He uses ordinary people as his subjects and inspiration and no-fuss words in Pilipino that can be easily understood by all. I love his style, which is unpretentious but at the same time effortless in its eloquence.

Joaquin Carlos U. de Jesus, Ateneo student

My favorite writer is Nick Joaquin. Not only is his impressive use of the English language awe-inspiring, it is also captivating. For me, more than anything else, the stories he wrote were beautifully relayed in the English language. I also find his writings on Philippine culture and heritage interesting and beautiful. They are not only nostalgic but also very important. It is not an exaggeration when I admit with much honesty how his Manila, My Manila forever changed my life. From the moment I read it in Grade 4, I have always been inspired to write fiction and hopefully, non-fiction accounts as well, concerning our own culture and history. My own story, “Quintin and His Violin,” tries to mix Philippine history and culture as well as the theme of the contest, which was children having fathers at sea. Nick Joaquin, who happens to be my late lola’s second cousin, is an idol of mine whom I wish not to disappoint if ever I do become a writer in the future. He is an inspiring and awesome writer any Filipino writer should emulate. Well, the San Miguel part, I suppose.

Olga Cajelo Luna, executive research consultant

The book that I recently read and really liked is The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier because it has a very strong redemptive factor; to quote the old adage: “Hope springs eternal.” For writing style (not for her fashion tips), I enjoy Elsa Klench.

Janine Garcia Lloren, advertising executive

I am a Jack Kerouac fan. It started out by osmosis. He was my mom’s favorite. He was good-looking, loved his mother, and was a Catholic. The fact that he read with percussions and jazz as background is a plus. I discovered On the Road on my mother’s shelf. The yellowed and torn cover page made it look more interesting. I like the honesty in Jack Keroauc’s writings. The drama, conflicting emotions, philosophical undertones and uninhibited realism. There is an expressed vulnerability and an interesting irreverence in the man and his works. Kerouac was not afraid to expose a confused, believing, intelligent and consumed self. This man knew rage, remorse and forgiveness. He knew dying and death while still living. A freedom lover who was consumed by his passion to write and breathe his craft. Measuring the hours hitting the keys of his typewriter and summing up each word. Words enthralled this man like an itch that just wouldn’t get off his back. This was one passionate man and writer.

“I looked up at the dark sky and prayed to God for a better break in life and a better chance to do something for the little people I loved,” he wrote in On the Road.