First, what I've been up to—

I got 3 hours of sleep last night. I think I shouldn’t have drunk so much tea.

And then I went 10 hours with very little food, because I had work and class for approximately ten hours straight.

I have a new apartment. With…furniture.
I've been attending school for a couple weeks now, and I have a good grasp of my schedule…which keeps me very busy! I’m lucky that two of my classes haven’t required that much extra schoolwork yet, because my grad-level Japanese literature seminar requires me to read a book a week and prepare a summary of it for class. The other reason I’m busy is because….
I got a part-time job working at the langauge lab, where I’m in charge of Japanese and Korean resources and projects. I’m thrilled to be working there. Training is very sporadic and learn-as-you-go, but my coworkers are kind and helpful.
Oh, and I’m auditing a fourth class. (Usually working grad students take two classes. I’ll be dropping this if I can’t handle the load.)
I'm still having mood swings and stress, but overall things are better now. I think it's in part because I have my own place again, and in part because I'm DOING SOMETHING, because as much as I laze around and fritter away the hours when there's nothing going on, I'm a person who needs to DO SOMETHING.

Also, before school started I finished my Intermediate Korean book, the one I bought in an Okayama bookstore.
I’m finally managing to watch some anime. I intended to watch more than 4 episodes of this Hetalia thing that is all the rage these days, but no!…I’ve been watching the magical-girl type anime Shugo Chara. IT’S SO DAMN CUTE AND HAPPY. Also brightly-colored. _{The main character’s love interest is a flying catboy, lol.}
This Saturday there was more fabulous anime (and Avatar) watching thanks to ~szzzt.

Now, a question for anyone who feels like discussing it. I'm curious.

What are your absolute favorite books? Who are your favorite authors?

Here are mine:

David Brin is a sci-fi author who gets listed first, because he was one of my favorite authors in middle school. He’s good at basing his novels around unique ideas, and is most known for his epic space opera the Uplift War, in which all intelligence species in the Five Galaxies were raised into sentience by patron species, who were raised by other patron species, and so on back…but who are mankind’s patrons?
Recommended: Startide Rising, The Uplift War (from the Uplift Trilogy), The Practice Effect, Glory Season

Connie Willis is a sci-fi author known for her time travel books. She’s also a talented writer of short stories—which can be a rare trait in novelists—and the atmosphere of her books ranges from dark (The Doomsday book) to hilarious (Bellwether). The ability to write funny stories is another all-too-rare trait, but hers can make me laugh.
Recommended: The Doomsday Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Bellwether, all her short story collections

Tanith Lee is a very prolific fantasy author who looks like a vampire. She’s written about 70 books, most of which are out of print but fun to look for in used bookstores. Her Flat Earth books are just being reissued, as they deserve. *_*
Recommended: Biting the Sun, Tales from the Flat Earth (series), Volkhavaar, The Silver Metal Lover, short story collections

Murakami Haruki is a Japanese writer of surrealistic literature. He conveys a strong atmosphere through his clear, concise style, and I love how he writes impossible events in this realistic way.
Recommended: Most of his novels are well worth your time. If you want a fully realistic novel, go for Norwegian Wood, the one that made his name overseas. If you want the surreal…well, any of the rest should fit. I can’t decide on a favorite, although I’m tempted to pick Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, because I’m biased towards unicorn skulls.

Terry Pratchett writes humorous fantasy. And don’t be fooled because he’s writing satirical humor—his characterization and plotting skills are top-notch.
Recommended: Nearly all the Discworld novels (the first few and several later ones aren’t as good), the Bromeliad trilogy (YA)

China Mieville writes steampunk fantasy. Dark, grotesque, imaginative fantasy He has enough ideas in one Bas-Lag book to fill a dozen novels by lesser writers. China, who is not female, looks like a pirate and wanted to live on a heap of garbage when he was a child.
Recommended: Perdido Street Station, The Scar, Un Lun Dun (YA)

Catherynne Valente writes mythological fantasy. I’ve only read three books of hers, one of which I didn’t care for, but I loved two of those enough that she makes this list. Her writing is rich, poetic, and overflowing with fantastic creatures and happenings.
Recommended: The Orphans’ Tales (duology)

Peter S. Beagle is a fantasy author. This is another case where I need to read more of his books. (Have to visit the main library….) Let me just say that The Last Unicorn is one of the best, most well-crafted books I’ve read.
Recommended: The Last Unicorn, Tamsin, his short story anthologies as far as I can tell by flipping through them

Recent series/authors I enjoyed—though they don’t make my favorite authors list—include:

a) Naomi Novak for her Temeraire series. Dragons! In the Napoleonic War!
b) Jo Walton for her Small Change trilogy. The UK made peace! With Hitler!

I was seriously addicted to them, and read some of those books in approximately a day. I’m waiting for Walton’s third book to come out in paperback or become available at the library.

…Finally, I managed to post my list of recommended authors post, which I’ve been meaning to do for like a year. And began drafting the other month. I had to restrain myself from writing pages and pages about each person and their books.

Also, be aware that I’m not guaranteeing the quality of every book by these authors! I’ve actively hated several of Lee’s books, and many more are mediocre, which isn’t surprising considering she has so many, but when she’s at her best, she’s amazing. Quality varies within a given series, too. (David Brin, I’m looking at your last Uplift novel and that even worse short story. )

And that’s why I’ve indicated my favorite books by these authors.

So…who or what are your favorites?