My top three favorite authors are as follows:

Brian Jacques
Clive Cussler
Orson Scott Card

Brian Jacques is a children’s author, being the author of the Redwall tales that I grew up reading and still adore to this day.

Orson Scott Card is the amazingly talented author of multiple award winning Ender’s Game, recently listed on Lifehacker as being one of the books that changed reader’s lives. (Up there with, you know, the Bible, Ayn Rand and George Orwell!)

It was an accident that I started reading Clive Cussler’s books. I went to see Sahara with Tommy and my sister (it was our first “real” date when he came to visit me!) and decided I liked the movie so much, I wanted to read the book. When I saw it at a thrift store, I bought it and read it, and I couldn’t put it down.

I fell in love with Dirk Pitt and Al Giordino (admittedly way way way more with Dirk, but…) and I’ve been a fan of Mr. Cussler’s since.

When I was younger I had a friend who had all of the books in a certain series. There was like 100 of these books, and her entire bookshelf was taken up with them. When I’d go over there, more for her own happiness than mine, she would recite off all the titles of the books she had and the ones she didn’t have.

“I’m missing number 11, 41, 79, and 82… But I’ve got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8…”

You get the idea.

So I don’t want to seem… as obsessive as my friend did when I count off the Dirk Pitt books that I do have. I’ve since gathered, too, that Dirk has been retired for a younger version, named Kurt Austin. (I don’t entirely blame Clive Cussler… Dirk was over 40 last time I checked and not getting any younger. Some of the things he does are incredibly physical and eventually when he’s 60 and still moving mountains, it is going to be ridiculous!) I have yet to read any of the Kurt Austin books, but I will one day.

In the meantime, I want to proudly line my bookshelf with every last story of the Dirk Pitt series. A funny thing about series (serieses? serisae? lol…?) is that I don’t usually care for them. I enjoy trilogies, chronicles and the odd collection of tales, but a series? Never been my thing. Always found them to be too cut and dried, the same old, same old after about the third book.

But I have read more than three books already, and still no signs of boredom. I own 11 and have read four of my own, plus four I have borrowed from libraries in the past.

Clive Cussler is my “insurance” policy. My way of making sure I always have a treat waiting for me, should I ever need it. Am I having a rough week at work? No problem, I’ll drop what I’m currently reading and have Valhalla Rising or Black Ice waiting for me at break time. If I just need a guaranteed great book to read, no sweat. Shock Wave or Treasure will perk me up.

So… this has been a VERY long entry, and it’s time I wrap it up, but… I just wanted to show my appreciation for an incredible author who is out of the ordinairy in every way, and I can always count on for a harrowing ride with every page. (These truly are my sentiments, too!)