I have read my fair share of books throughout my short nineteen years of life. Most of them have been pretty similar stories, but with vastly different authors. It always amazes me how two completely different people, with two different backgrounds, can create such similar stories. There are much more than just five authors who have inspired me, but that list might be a bit too long. Without further ado, here are the top five authors who have inspired me.

1. J.K. Rowling

Joanne Rowling, better known as J.K. Rowling, struggled when trying to publish her series Harry Potter. She was denied many times to publish her series, but she never gave up. Thankfully she didn't because the Harry Potter series have always been my favorite book series. J.K. Rowling went through plenty of other struggles in her life and that's what inspires me the most. That although plenty of people told her no, she kept going.

2. Malala Yousafzai

She is the author of I Am Malala. I will not lie to you and tell you I have read her book, because I haven't. But I have heard a lot about the author and have been truly fascinated by her and her story. Malala started out as a blogger before she wrote this book. Malala is an activist for female education and obviously a feminist. I thought that she was truly inspiring for writing and blogging about the things she believes in.

3. Rachel Caine

Okay, so while everyone will probably judge me for this, I'm still adding her to the list. Rachel Caine, to me, is best known for her series The Morganville Vampires. When I was younger, I was absolutely obsessed with these books. I know, yuck, I was one of those girls who liked vampires. Spoiler alert, I still do. Rachel Caine is inspiring to me because even though her books weren't particularly popular for a long time, she still kept writing them. She wrote weird things and didn't care what others thought. Her books entertained me for the longest time. If I ever write a book, I can only hope I am as carefree with my writing as she is.

4. Stephen King

This list could not be complete if Stephen King wasn't on it. I am not a die hard fan, but I appreciate his books and writing style. King has truly become the king of creepy. I was only 10 the first time I read one of this books and while I can't remember which one it was, I will tell you how truly creeped out I was by it. Just like Rachel Caine, King is on the list because I love how he writes.

5. James Patterson

James Patterson has been a favorite of mine for a really long time. If you haven't noticed, I was obsessed with a lot of fiction and James Patterson is one of the best fiction writers in the whole world, to me at least. I admire and have been inspired by James Patterson so much because he wrote all the things I wanted to. My favorite books by him are the Witch and Wizard series. I admire the way he took such a complex story plot and made it so simple to read. James Patterson's writing style is something I hope to achieve in my life.

Obviously the majority of these authors wrote fiction. I am not a big non-fiction reader, but I know when an author is worth giving a shout out to. I hope everyone who read this decided to check out these authors if you don't already know them. These authors are truly amazing and I hope everyone else is experiencing the same excitement as I do when I read. I was constantly teased for always having a book in my hand in school, but I didn't care and neither should any of you. I am in college now and I don't have a lot of time to just sit down and read a book so I am glad I was a nerd in middle school and read all the books that I could when I had the time. Books are amazing and I wish more people understood that. So if anyone out there is reading this and you are constantly being picked on for reading, just ignore them. Books can take us to a whole new world. Why would you give that up just because some middle school bullies think it's not cool? I know it's hard to ignore the teasing, but just remember you have a whole new world in your hands when you hold a book. Reading can take you away from all those pesky problems. Books are cool like that.