As you think about influences on your life, you may be surprised to discover how your author choices make a statement about how you feel about yourself and the world. You may be drawn to their choice of themes or writing style. You may identify with their character portraits, or elements of their reality where you relate or you aspire to follow. Consider what you can learn about yourself from the books you read. Each life choice is a clue to self discovery. Below are lists of 16 female & male authors who have influenced and inspired me:

Women authors

1) Agatha Christie
2) Enid Blyton (*Folk of the Faraway Tree, The Fabulous Five, The Wishing Chair)
3) J.K. Rowling (*Harry Potter series)
4) Rhonda Byrne (*The Secret)
5) Beatrix Potter (*The Tale of Peter Rabbit)
6) Astrid Lindgren (*Pippi Longstocking)
7) Mary Shelley (*Frankenstein)
8) Amy Tan
9) Adeline Mah (*Falling Leaves)
10) Emily Dickinson
11) Emily Bronte (*Wuthering Heights)
12) Jane Austen (*Persuasion, Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility)
13) Margaret Atwood
14) Colleen McCullough (*The Thorn Birds)
15) Maya Angelou (*I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings)
16) Isak Dinesen/ Karen Blixen (*Out of Africa)

Men authors

1) C.S. Lewis
2) Gabriel Garcia Marquez (*100 Years of Solitude)
3) Confucious
4) Roald Dahl
5) Paulo Coelho (*The Alchemist+)
6) Omar Khayyam
7) J.R.R. Tolkein
8) Lewis Carroll (*Alice in Wonderland)
9) Robert Thurman (*Tibetan Book of the Dead)
10) Eckhart Tolle (*The Power of Now)
11) Edgar Allen Poe
12) Kalhil Gibran (*The Prophet)
13) Marcel Proust (*In Search of Lost Time)
14) Aesop (*Fables)
15) Rumi
16) Alexander McCall Smith (*No.1 Lady's Detective Agency)