:: Reading List: Kathryn Lynn Davis

Author of eight novels, including The New York Times Bestseller Too Deep for Tears

Taylor Caldwell is one of my favorites. Anya Seton, too. I love Seton's book Green Darkness. And then there's Mary Stewart and Roberta Gellis. When I first met Roberta Gellis in person at a book signing, I told her I'd loved her books for a long time. What had happened was that she had very recently become a popular author, but I'd been reading all of her books long before she was popular, and I wanted her to know that I'd loved her forever. I told her about my book Child of Awe—how I was trying to sell it and what was happening. I saw her again about a year later. There were about three hundred people at the event. Well, I waited in line, and when it was my turn, I went up to her and said, "I'm Kathryn Lynn Davis," and she said, "Did you ever get that book published? That book that you set in Scotland?" I was so touched that she remembered me.

Some of the other writers I love: Elizabeth George and Pat Conroy. The Prince of Tides is one of my favorite books of all time. There's this scene in the very beginning of the book that I like to read to audiences when they ask me to read work other than my own. I picture Conroy rolling around in a field of words and they just cling to him as he goes. He throws words onto the page like flower petals. He just has a way with language—his is incredibly lush language. It's almost what I want to be when I go up, with perhaps a touch of restraint. But I love it that he isn't restrained. My sister and I have passed around all of his books. We all have three little turtles on our dressers—inspired by Beach Music.

Books are part of my blood.