My Favorite American Authors: July 4th Edition



While I'm not proud of all of my country's most recent as well as past indiscretions (to put it mildly), I am proud to be American. So, in celebration of Independence Day, I thought that I would compile a list of some of my favorite classical and contemporary American authors. Albeit, it's a very short list and not a very diverse one at that, but it's a list!

Louisa May Alcott


Ah, Louisa May Alcott. She tops this list because her infamous Little Women is the book that initiated my love of reading. Along with J.K Rowling's Harry Potter series, Little Women was in very large part the reason I started reading avidly. It was also my debut to adult reading level classical literature. The heart-warming story of the March sisters positively resonated with me. So much so, that- subsequent to reading Little Women I went on a bout of reading classics. I read Little Men also by Lousia May Alcott, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (which I didn't enjoy very much, to be honest)

Diana Gabaldon


Diana Gabaldon is the queen of English prose! To date, I've only read two of her written books (Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber), but I am in love with her writing. When you don't know how to articulate a thought or emotion, call Diana Gabaldon! Ms. Gabaldon is also very overscrupulous when it comes to details in her work (from what I've read) She attends to even the measliest of details, it's astounding!

Cassandra Clare


If Little Women started my passion for reading, then Cassie Clare's Shadowhunter World kept me at it in my adolescent years! I have been religiously reading Ms. Clare's books for eight years now. Tolkien built Middle Earth and introduced us to the world of hobbits, dwarves, elves, and orcs, J.K Rowling gave us the wonderous Wizarding World, and Cassandra Clare brought her Shadowhunters to life.

Richelle Mead



Richelle Mead's books are super fun reads, the Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series, in particular, are favorites of mine. 


Pierce Brown



Pierce Brown's Red Rising trilogy was my most recent discovery in the context of this list, naturally, because his debut book was the latest release. Red Rising is very much what I like to call high science fiction, not unlike Star Wars in that sense. It follows the story of Darrow, a teenager born into the lowest of the societal hierarchy in his world, and his effort to infiltrate and abolish the system. It's a great trilogy, easily my favorite in the genre.

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