The Broke and the Bookish host weekly Top Ten Tuesday themed posts. This week is focused on holiday gifts! Check out their website for more reading inspiration, and check out some of my other Top Ten Tuesdays here and here. 

Top Ten New-to-Me Authors in 2016

I’ve read mostly new or new-to-me authors this year, so this was a tough pick! Here’s my best effort at picking a top ten:

1. Pat Conroy – I realize he was a well-established author for decades, but I had never read a single word by this great until this summer. What a great writer for lyrical, emotional prose! I highly recommend The Prince of Tides to anyone who enjoys a compelling and dramatic story.
2. Helen Ellis – This woman is laugh out loud funny in the darkest way possible. Her short story collection, American Housewife, plays with housewife tropes in a darkly macabre style. I loved every story in it.
3. Allison Amend – this debut novel wrote a beautiful, thoughtful novel called Enchanted Islands that made me fascinated with the Galapagos Island. It was a story with a surprising mystery to it, despite its relatively quiet beginning. Highly recommend!
4. Alice Hoffman – I read Faithful last month and was blown away by her magical prose! She entranced me. I really want to read more of her work, particularly The Dovekeepers.
5. Amor Towles – A Gentleman in Moscow just BLEW me away. It was right in my wheelhouse – a charming, witty protagonist, a hotel of unique characters and a story surrounded by a historically important time frame.
6. John Berendt – I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil last winter, and was absolutely captivated by Berendt’s description of Savannah and its infamous (real life) character, Jim Williams. Spooky and spectacular, it’s a must-read.
7. Glennon Doyle Melton – Love Warrior was dark, and hard at times to read, but also so beautiful. So thankful to have read her life story – it was inspiration for myself to also find happiness within me.
8. Emma Cline – man, her debut novel this year blew me away (and also gave me nightmares). Writing about girls in the cult-culture of the 1960’s was gripping.
9. Alexander Chee – The Queen of the Night is a Victorian fan’s dream. Gorgeously written, the fashion was fabulous, and the adventures were riveting.
10. Zen Cho- the novel Sorceror to the Crown was a fun and entertaining flight of fancy!\

What were your favorite New-to-you writers of 2016? Comment below!

All pictures taken by yours truly.