Not so Famous Contemporary Writers

There are so many books being published these days. It is easy to miss some of the better ones that have been around for awhile because they seem to get forgotten in the hype of the mega-favorites of the moment.

I’m the type of reader who prefers reading everything an author wrote.
Some years ago I decided to read all of the books written by Taylor Caldwell. This turned out to be a daunting task as she wrote so many books. In fact, there doesn’t seem to be an exact total number because she wrote under several other pen names, too.

After I had read several dozen of her books, I discovered intriguing information about this author. She began writing at eight years old and purportedly never did research for her elaborate stories because she claimed to be psychic. That’s a little difficult to believe because of the complexity of her stories. I was somewhat discouraged,too, because she was still writing full time while I was attempting to read her massive body of work.

Janet Miriam Holland Taylor Caldwell is her full name. She was born in England in 1900. Her family emigrated to the United states in 1907 and so she is considered to be an Anglo-American writer who wrote historical fiction based on true events. Her fictional characters often struggled against great odds before succeeding.

CARTAINS AND KINGS and DEAR AND GLORIOUS PHYSICIAN are two of her better known novels. Her other pen names include Marcus Holland and Max Reiner, as well as her married name of J. Miriam Reback.

Patrick O’Brian, whose given name was Richard Patrick Russ was born in England and lived from 1914 until 2000. He was another prolific historical fiction writer whose works amaze me because of their intricate details of life on the high seas during the early 1800s. His characters use the language and terminology of the book’s time period. This makes them a little challenging to read. In fact, a lexography has been published to decipher his works. There is a lot to be learned from his writing.

Like Taylor Caldwell, he was a best-selling author who never achieved great fame. However, men in general love his books. I recommend giving his better known books as gifts to the men in our life. I enjoyed reading them, too. His most popular books are his Aubrey Maturin Series. His books are not in eBook format but soon will be.

Another prolific writer is Louise Erdrich. She is the author of thirteen novels, as well as children’s books, short stories, and several volumes of poetry. She has won numerous prestigious awards and was a runner up for the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, THE PLAGUE OF DOVES. Although I never met her, she used to live near me. That’s how I heard about her and began reading her beautiful books which are written from the Native American point of view and from her heart.

Hopefully, some of these suggestions will open up a new world of less glitzy but very readable authors to a wider audience.