📚 Top Ten Tuesday | New-to-Me Authors in 2020

Hello my fellow bookworms. Today, I am taking part in this week’s Top Ten Tuesday! A weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, who each week assigns a new topic to inspires us to create a top ten list based on it. This week’s topic is:

New-to-Me Authors I Read in 2020

(If you didn’t read 10 new authors, that’s fine! Just do what you can.)

No need to worry about not having read ten new authors, as while 2020 was a lower reading year for me – understandably with everything that was going – I am pleased to say it didn’t impact me trying all these exciting new-to-me authors (listed in the order I read them):

   

1. Elizabeth Spann Craig – In January, I read Craig’s cosy crime-fiction, Progressive Dinner Deadly, which turned out to be the second book in the long-running Clover Myrtle series, oops! Oh well it turned out to be a good, standalone mystery and it left me interested in reading more from the series.

2. Robert Dinsdale – In March, I lost myself in Dinsdale’s brilliant historical-fantasy, The Toymakers, an enchanting, twisting and turning,  fairy tale for adults, with all the magic and sometimes terror that entails! I will definitely be reading more by this author!

3. Joanna Alonzo – In the glorious sunshine of May, I read Alonzo’s young-adult fantasy, Calysta and the Beast, the first book in a clever modern-day, Christian retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I would be very interested in reading the rest of this refreshing series.

4. Josh McDowell – My church’s book club choice for May was More Than A Carpenter, the 2011 updated version of McDowell’s 1977 inspirational Christian classic, that challenges readers to ask the question, ‘Who is Jesus?’. A good reference and starting point in your faith, which I have passed on to my dad.

5. Ophelia Field – At the end of June, I finished my long-term, back-burner read of Field’s political history tome, The Favourite: Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. While it took me a long time to read it, I really enjoyed finding out more of the real history behind this controversial character.

     

6. Christy Wimber – My church’s book club choice for June was Wimber’s Wholeness, with a section by Katherine Welby-Roberts. A helpful read for me and many of our group’s members, who suffer with either mental ill health, addiction or long-term illness.

7. Pete Greig – The very next choice for my church’s book club was Greig’s How To Pray, which was a a helpful guide, full of useful tips and inspiration to help improve prayer life, that I and other members of the group have tried to implement into our own prayer lives.

8. Hilary Mantel – 2020 was the year I was finally brave enough to tackle Mantel’s beastie historical-fiction, Wolf Hall. While a slow and long read for me, I did enjoy the characterisation, time period and storytelling. However I certainly need a good break before possibly tackling the rest of the trilogy.

9. Hazel Gaynor – Over the summer, I lost myself in Gaynor’s delightful historical-fiction, The Cottingley Secret a light, sweet and simple tale, that swept me along with the mystery, romance and magic of it all. I would definitely be interested in reading more by this author.

10. Natalie Jenner – Finally, in December, I enjoyed a sweet escapist read of Jenner’s historical-fiction, The Jane Austen Society, a moving tale of love, loss, hope and Austen’s wonderful novels. Perfect for any Austenite. I hope to see more from this author in the near future.

Honorary mentions must also go to Kenneth Brownell for Luther and the 9.5 Theses and the Charles River Editors for Martin Luther and John Calvin, which brings my new-to-me authors up to a grand total of twelve.

For now that’s all folks. Please feel free to share a link in the comments below for your TTT post, so we can come check it out, and I hope to see you again soon for some more lists and bookish chat! 👋📚😃

Now I’d love to hear from you: What new-to-you authors did you read last year? Have you read any of the authors I have listed?