Booking Through Thursday

There’s something wonderful about getting in on the ground floor of an author’s career–about being one of the first people to read and admire them, before they became famous best-sellers.
Which authors have you been lucky enough to discover at the very beginning of their careers?

I was lucky to work at a bookstore and receive ARCs LONG before there were book blogs and probably before there was even the internet. There were a few that I read in an ARCs who went on to become best-selling authors. The two that I really remember are... Elizabeth George and Diana Gabaldon.


There was an ARC of Elizabeth George's A Great Deliverance that was so popular amongst the employees that no one was allowed to take it home for fear that it would be "forgotten" there. So, it stayed on the break table with everyone's bookmark... each marking different pages :D She has gone on to create, in my opinion, one of the very best British mystery series and I've been a fan since the beginning.


We also received an ARC of a new romance novel titled Outlander. You might have heard about it...lol. If you haven't, I'll actually be reviewing it on March 8th. I posted the original cover but the paperback cover I received has a fantastic cover. I can't wait to share it. Anyway, I read Outlander (the first of countless times) and loved it. In the publisher's letter that accompanied the ARC was Diana's address. She wanted feedback about her novel. Now remember, this was before email so I sat down with a piece of monogrammed stationery... does anyone even have monogrammed stationery any more?... and wrote a fan letter! And to my surprise, she wrote back. We actually corresponded for a while. She even sent me typewritten pages of the book she was working on...I think it was Voyager but it could have been Dragonfly in Amber. I need to dig them out to post with my review.

There have been a few others, as well. Patricia Cornwell was actually Patricia Daniels Cornwell when I met her at a book signing. Her first, and best book, in my opinion, Post-Mortem, had just been published and there were less than 20 people at the signing.

I also discovered Jacqueline Winspear, author of the Maisie Dobbs series, right after the first book was published. She is an amazing author and I take every chance to recommend her novels to readers who not only want a well-crafted mystery but superb writing about flawed but "real" characters. Her novels really transcend the mystery genre (as do Elizabeth George's) and are really just quality literature.

It is quite fun to "get in on the ground floor" of an author's success. I feel almost "proprietary" about the authors I've discovered. I want them to succeed and feel, almost, like I've helped... in a very, very small way, of course. by recommending them. And now, with my blog... I'm reaching a bigger audience who will discover or re-discover these fantastic authors!


I carried my Dooney & Bourke black Donegal Crest satchel today. I met a good friend at Panera for lunch. She had a busy morning and had to postpone it so I, of course, brought a book. This bag is very rectangular and fits books perfectly.