Thalia @ Pictures in the Words

Note, these are not necessarily all my favorite books just because I loved the writing, but examples of writers whose writing I think can stand on its own, no matter what the author writes. (If that made any sense at all.) In other words, this is more like an objective-as-I-can analysis of the actual writing without taking into considering the story itself.

Edgar Allan Poe: I mean, come on. He's Poe. I think he's a genius and I (literally) have read everything he's ever published. And even after all that, I still think he's a genius! He conveys emotion so well, and you can tell so clearly that writing really was his one escape from the pain of real life. I just love that. 

Julie Berry: Okay, I know I only have one book to go off of. But the writing in All The Truth That's in Me was just so perfect and beautiful and the style so haunting--I was in love with the book from page one because of the writing. I'm really looking forward to reading more from her, because sjkhsktsrjkvtbhyent this book was perfect.

Cassandra Clare: *braces self* Okay, this is less about the writing itself than the way she can weave a story. I know a lot of people hate her, but her books literally changed my life. The way she could make me feel things and question myself and my own beliefs--I could spend hours trying to figure out the characters, or understand the emotions, or even just try and imagine how I could possibly ever manipulate my readers' emotions in such a magnificent way. I stand in awe of all the things she made me feel through her writing, and I respect that.

JRR Tolkien: Tolkien and Poe are the top two of my list of favorite writers. I mean, slots 3-50 are vacant because my other favorite writers don't even come close to being anywhere near these two. Tolkien is just...he was a genius. He weaved the most incredibly literary universe I've ever been in, and he's just incredible. It's incredible that he dedicated so much of himself to this world, to creating races and characters and stories and languages and an entire history. Middle Earth feels like it existed because Tolkien made it so incredibly complete and real and just...he's amazing. And on top of all that, he weaved this amazing religious allegory into the whole thing, and his symbolism and everything is just so perfect and subtle and awesome, and...I'm literally inspired by the fact that men like this can exist. That someone like this, who is so passionate about literature and can create worlds and is so spectacular--that this was a real person and not just some figment of the imagination. I mean...who can possibly look at everyone he wrote and think he was *just* a writer? Man. I get knots in my stomach just thinking about how much he created and accomplished.