Favorite author?

[SweetZombieJesus]

I have to confess, there was a time in my life where I didn't read except for schoolwork. Then I read the MST3K Episode Guide, and Kevin Murphy (Tom Servo) wrote a piece in the book about Kurt Vonnegut. I'd never read any of Vonnegut's stuff, but I was intrigued, so I checked out Slaughterhouse Five, and I fell in love. After Slaughterhouse Five, I got Breakfast of Champions, Welcome To The Monkeyhouse, Slapstick, Deadeye Dick, and my favorite book of all time, Bluebeard.

But more importantly, Vonnegut was the impetus for rekindling my love of reading, and thanks to him I went on to Douglas Adams, Robert Heinlein, and scores of other authors I cherish.

So God bless you Kurt, for not only re-lighting my pilot light, but for continuing to be a voice of sanity in an increasingly insane world.

So it goes.

[Dookus]

1. Truman Capote

but Vonnegut rocks, too

[Noon_Blue_Apples]

17. I moved to a small mining town in grade 13

(Yes we 'had' grade 13 in Ontario) and did a presentation on Truman. You could tell the "what a big fag" expressions when I showed some video in the introduction but had them fascinated by the end. In Cold Blood really drew them in. They did feel sad for the cat in the end.

Truman was a real character.

Bill

[Dookus]

39. Yup...

In Cold Blood was my first exposure to him. I devoured it in one sitting. An amazing piece of work.

Then I started reading all his other stuff. Just beautiful. And oh, what a character.

[bicentennial_baby]

2. Neil Gaiman

Vladimir Nabokov, Poppy Z. Brite, Stephen King

[pmbryant]

3. Wallace Stegner

Ed Abbey is up there too! Alas, haven't read anything by either of these guys in many years.

:bounce:

--Peter

[BurtWorm]

98. I was on a Stegner kick one year not that long ago.

I started with "All the Little Live Things," which probably remains my favorite of his books. He's got such a great voice. Also read "Angle of Repose" and "Crossing to Safety."

[wtmusic]

4. Vladimir Nabokov

Not a native English speaker but his mastery of the language surpassed all but a few 20th century novelists.

edit: sp

[BurtWorm]

100. I idolized Nabokov when I was in my teens and twenties

Lolita is one of the few novels I've read more than twice...it must be five times by now. Ada was my favorite. How I read it at 17, I don't for the life of me know, but I was completely enraptured with it. Also loved Pnin and Pale Fire. What Nabokov not listed here would you (or anyone) recommend?

[peekaloo]

126. took me three attempts

before I could appreciate 'Pale Fire'......then dove right into 'Ada'.

[AnnabelLee]

5. Some of my favorites

Just off the top of my head--Ruth Rendell, Daphne du Maurier, R.F. Delderfield, W. Somerset Maugham, John Toland, P.D. James. There are more, but they are mostly authors of books on historical subjects.

[wtmusic]

6. Don't forget 'Cat's Cradle'

Vonnegut at his most nightmarish.

[SweetZombieJesus]

7. I actually haven't read Cat's Cradle

There's about a handful of Vonnegut books I haven't read for some reason, but I plan on fixing that as soon as I finish this Neil Young biography.

[wtmusic]

My favorite

although 'Slaughterhouse' would be a close second

[Nikia]

8. I love Doestevesky and Tolstoy

I took two Russian literature classes where I read their work and talked the whole time (They were discussion classes.). As far as contemporary authors, I like PD James.

[dobak]

10. okay

George Orwell, Margaret Atwood, Michael Chabon, Chuck Palahniuk

[NightTrain]

15. "The Brothers Karamazov" is my favorite novel!

n/t

[wtmusic]

31. Masochist

but seriously, I wish a contemporary author could write with Dostoevsky's pace...it's a delicious wait.

[JanMichael]

35. I still call my stepdad "Ivan"!

TBK is in my top 5 with 1. Les Miserables, 2. War & Peace, 3. TBK, 4. The Plague, 5. The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

Actually it's really difficult for me to rate such great books...

[Quahog]

117. Camus

The Plague is a phenomenal piece of work. Makes me want to learn French just so I can read it in the original.

[Rick Myers]

9. William Gibson

[Patriot_Spear]

21. Ooohhh good one- but how about Larry Niven?

This is a tough question.

[Rick Myers]

46. I devoured Nivin's Known Space series as a youngin'

The Kzin ARE much cooler than the Klingons EVER were!!!

[Patriot_Spear]

58. There's very little he's written that I didn't enjoy...

I gagged when I found out he's a repuke. I

[Abaques]

111. Neal Stephanson is up there too...

Snow Crash and Diamond Age are both amazing.

[Emboldened Chimp]

11. Too many to list!

Dos Passos, Kerouac, Dostoevsky, Robert Graves, Twain.

Can't agree about Vonnegut. Read Cat's Cradle once; bore me to tears. Made me not want to read anything else by him. On the other hand, I do love the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy! I'm thinking about reading the whole series for a fourth time.

[jafap]

28. maybe Vonnegut is a midwest thing

two that I have not seen are Dean R Koontz and Clifford Simak. Another one who I like alot is Poul Anderson.

[jmowreader]

12. Hunter S. Thompson

Although he hasn't written much lately except for ESPN.com rants.

My favorite poet is Kipling. Can't stand many of the others.

[progressivejazz]

13. Jorge Luis Borges

Incredible creativity.

Care to read a story about a man who purposefully lived his life like Cervantes and became so much like the master that he independently wrote long sections of Don Quixote that were word-for-word identical to the original, but much better?

Or a story about a mapmaker who made a perfect map of a country and in order to do so had to make it the size of the country?

Or a story about a society completely controlled by a yearly lottery?

Or a story about an infinite library that contains all permutations of the letters of a particular alphabet and hence contains everything that could be said?

These and many more ideas came from the interesting mind of Borges.

[nuxvomica]

99. And don't forget "Funes the Memorious"

About a man who can remember every detail of everything he has ever experienced.

[FlashHarry]

14. At the moment, Jonathan Coe (The Rotter's Club)

But I also like Anthony Burgess, Graham Greene, Matthew Kneale and Evelyn Waugh.

[Kellanved]

16. Neal Stephenson

and
serious novels: Heinrich Mann
non-fiction: Joseph Weizenbaum
fiction (beside Stephenson): Steven Erikson (and maybe Michael Stackpole)

Forgot one
History: Sebastian Haffner

[Kellanved]

75. oh forgot another one

Wladimir Kaminer

[Cocoa]

18. right now, Larry McMurtry

I recently finished "Streets of Laredo" and was amazed how someone could create something so enjoyable and moving.

Another older favorite of mine is Joyce Carol Oates.

[wtmusic]

27. Just finished 'Boone's Lick'

picked it up for $6 at the B&N bargain table. Great characters--he's our generation's Faulkner.

[Khephra]

19. Philp K Dick

About the only one who would come close in terms of timelessness would be Lovecraft.

[Noon_Blue_Apples]

20. Philip Jose Farmer / Michael Moorcock

n/t

[Julien Sorel]

91. I'm a huge fan of Farmer's Riverworld series;

haven't found too many others. Have you read it, and what do you think?

[Fenris]

22. George Orwell

The epitome of social criticism. Brilliant writer. Political genius. No one comes close to capturing his style or craft.

[peacefreak]

23. Oh boy...

Alice Hoffman
Christopher Moore
Barbara Kingsolver
Jodi Picoult
Sheri Tepler
Carl Hiaasen
Kinky Friedman
Richard Russo
Howard Frank Mosher
Donald Harington
Wallace Stegner
and Heinlein
and Vonnegut
and and and and and...

[DemoTex]

24. William Faulkner

My favorite living author is probably Paul Auster or Don Delillo. It's a tossup.

[wtmusic]

33. You like McMurtry? n/t

[DemoTex]

81. I loved "Lonesome Dove" and "Anything for Billy" by McMurtry.

There were a couple of others I liked: Leaving Chyenne and The Last Picture Show.

[Twillig]

57. Tossup?! OMG WTF BS.....etc. etc.

Oh, I haven't read Auster.

Got a recommendation? :-)

[DemoTex]

80. Read Paul Auster's "Music of Chance" or "New York Trilogy"

The Book of Illusion is probably Auster's latest, and is very good. Mr. Vertigo and Timbuktu are good reads also.

[proud patriot]

25. Anne Rice for Novels

:hi:

[searchingforlight]

26. Many

Zora Neale Hurston
Barbara Kingslover
R. F. Delderfield
Kenneth Roberts
Charles Dickens
James Baldwin
Edward Albee
Evelyn Waugh
and the beat goes on....

[JanMichael]

29. Albert Camus and Milan Kundera in a dead heat.

Dostoyevsky is my "All Time" favorite with great books like "The Possessed" and "The Brother's Karamozof" and of course, the ultimate psychological crime drama, "Crime & Punishment".

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

30. Vonnegut is my all time favorite

[thom1102]

32. Terry Brooks...

Shannara series.

[fishnfla]

34. nonfiction: Ambrose. fiction: Faulkner

nt

[DemoTex]

82. Roger the Faulkner

Nonfiction for me would probably be Bernard Fall (Street Without Joy and Hell in a Very Small Place: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu).

[GOPisEvil]

120. Those two books (your non-fiction) should be required reading...

...for those dolts who would put our troops into such situations. (GW Bush, call your office)

[AbbieLives]

36. Denis Johnson

also David Foster Wallace, Barry Gifford, James Ellroy, & Larry Brown.

[willie13705]

42. Ouspenski..........

Ouspenski.......In Search of the Miraculous
The Fourth Way
The Psychology of Mans' Possible Evolution

Julian Jaynes...The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown
of the Bicameral Mind

[Toby109]

37. Joseph Heller

Vonnegut
Graham Greene
Stephen King
Steinbeck
HST
Anne Tyler
Le Carre
John Irving
Orwell
Franz Kafka
Faulkner
Ken Kesey
William S. Burroughs

Damn, that list could go on for a while...

[On the Road]

38. If I Had to Pick One,

it would have to be Lawrence Durrell for the Alexandria Quartet: Justine, Balthazaar, Mountolive, and Clea. Set in pre-WWII Egypt. Most poetic, exotic, and captivating stories I have ever read.

[SiobhanClancy]

40. Gabriel Garcia Marquez

and John Steinbeck,Samuel Beckett,William Trevor,William Styron to name a few more...too hard to pick just one:)

[JanMichael]

41. I really liked 100 Years of Solitude.

Even with the rather odd ending.

He's a top rate author.

[wtmusic]

45. Loved the odd ending

The last line of the book is the climax. Very intriguing.

[JanMichael]

53. It's a unique ending.

Perhaps one of the more powerful ones that I've read.

I think that when I was reading it I was in a more materialistic mood and the fantasy didn't take. That said it's still a top-notch (at least top 30 for me) book.

[Amaya]

43. Alice Walker

for purity and simplicity :)

[izzie]

44. Austin I think

n/t

[Pert_UK]

47. Umberto Eco....GOT to read Name of the Rose+Foucault's Pendulum...

Two of the best books ever written IMHO.

Unfortunately, the others don't quite match the standard IMHO, but are generally still excellent.

Arturo Perez-Reverte would be my favourite "lighter" author.

P.

[jafap]

52. Is there an eco in here?

Since I frequently make references which sail over most people's heads I am not ashamed to say that I was so baffled by the beginning of Foucault that I did not finish it. What do you have to read to make it understandable, or will the next 100 pages do it?

[Kellanved]

55. exactly

It semmed like molasses to me after three fourths.

[Pert_UK]

79. Advice for reading Eco.....

I've read Foucault about 10 times...like most of Eco's stuff it's needs a couple of readings to pick up the stuff you miss first time around.

Eco is very intimidating, at least partly because even the translated works contain passages of Greek and Latin, not to mention English vocabularly that you'll have to look up in a dictionary - chthonic was one of my favourites.

However, it's worth persevering. My advice would be to skip over and ignore passages and words that you don't understand and just plough on. You'll get into the plot, characters and dialogue soon enough, and Eco is able to paint the most vivid and engaging pictures.

Foucault is difficult because it starts at the end.....with the main character hiding himself away to try to discover whether the discoveries he's made are true or just a huge series of coincidences and practical jokes. The rest of the book goes on to cover him making these discoveries.

Foucault is a fantastic mystery adventure, as Causabon gets pulled deeper and deeper into the supposed story of the hidden Rulers of the World. It provides a fantastic incite into the Knight's Templars and Masonry and is historically very accurate.

It gets exciting and keeps you breathless in suspense and anticipation...once you've waded through the thick prose.

Keep going!

P.

[patdem]

48. I do not have 'Slapstick'...but there is some kind of Venus book

written by one of his chracters....I read the book...many many many years ago...Do you remember the name?

Kurt Vonnegut is my absolutely favorite author!!! GOOD FOR YOU!

[Cocoa]

54. Venus on the Half Shell

Kilgore Trout. That's the only Vonnegut book I've read, and I totally didn't get it. I was probably too young, I need to give him another shot sometime.

[Twillig]

61. That is NOT a book by Vonnegut

it was written by : Philip Jose Farmer.

A SF writer writing about a lousy SF writer. Did he exceed his potential?

[Cocoa]

108. wow, how did that get into my head

thanks for the correction.

[jafap]

112. it is not a total correction

Kilgore Trout is a character that Vonnegut created who writes science fiction. Farmer wrote the book "Venus on the half shell" under the pen name Kilgore Trout. Vonnegut even mentions "Venus on the Half Shell" in one of his books, as a book by Kilgore Trout.

[Lady Freedom]

49. Dr. Ruth

hehehe!

[Lady Freedom]

128. here are some really good ones by the Doc!

[Character Assassin]

50. Currently, Dan Simmons. Who else writes so well in so many genres?

[Khephra]

119. Have you picked up Simmon's new book "Ilium" yet?

It's Simmons in Hyperion form.

[Twillig]

51. OMG SWEET-Zombie -JEEBUS--Bluebeard!

There I was, out there in the desert of Saudi Arabia, waiting for my opportunity to kill or be killed (ha!) after the air force got done with the Iraqi's in GW1 and I traded somebody my Moby Dick and The Moonstone for Bluebeard.

After a bit, I having no knowledge of KV, realised that this was a soldier not an officer, and he was writing to me.

Now I like Cat's Cradle and Galapagos best of KV's work. Mother night too.

My favorite author is now Don Delillo. Favorite book: Ratner's Star. (Libra is greatness, and White Noise gets the attention, but my favorite is my favorite)


"The thing that's interesting about living in another country is that it's difficult to forget you're an American. The actions of the American Government won't let you."--Delillo (1982)



In the Ruins of the Future

[SweetZombieJesus]

76. I'm glad you liked Bluebeard

BEST. ENDING. EVER.

Oh happy, happy Rabo Karabekian. God I love that fucking book.

[Raenelle]

56. Robert Pirsig for the greatest, bestest, most wonderful book

of all time, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

[gyopsy]

59. formerly Stephen King...

I'm a huge horror fan and used to enjoy all of his books. But I think he's become too commerical and has lost something over the last decade or so.

Right now I'm in between authors so to speak. John Saul looked good at first but his writing is pale in comparison to King. Koontz is fairly good.

[JustJoe]

60. Kafka, Flannery O'Connor.

[Coffee Coyote]

62. Cervantes, McMurtry, Kesey

Twain, Vonnegut, Vidal, Shakespeare...

[rainydaywoman]

68. Kahlil Gibran

My favorites of his r Broken Wings, Spirits Rebellious and too many short stories to name.
He stirs my emotions and makes my heart swell.

I also like George Orwell, and John Steinbeck.

I really connect w/Steinbeck's works.
I just finished East of Eden.
Loved it!!

[Coffee Coyote]

69. Welcome to DU rainydaywoman!

I forgot Orwell! I often cite his recollection of his experiences during the Spanish Civil War, "Homage To Catalonia", as a cautionary tale to those of us on the Left who cling to petty factionalism at the cost of unity and purpose. Of course, "Animal Farm" and "1984" occupy honored places on my shelf.

Love Steinbeck too. I can't see his name without Woody Guthrie's "Tom Joad" going through my head...

[rainydaywoman]

73. Thank You Coffee Coyote!!

Another favorite writer of mine is the man who wrote the song, Rainydaywoman.;)

[Coffee Coyote]

74. everybody must get stoned....

Ah yes, Dylan is one of my absolute faves... I post about him often. :-)

[Zorba607]

63. like vonnegut

give tom robbins a try. similarly entertaining usage of the language.

pat conroy, heller, fitzgerald, and though not a novelist, stephen jay gould (perhaps a bias to science is needed) marquez

[Tripper11]

So hard to choose...but....

I would say my current #1 is Douglas Adams and Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe series.

Growing up in high school life was a bit more dark and it was, and remains a close 2nd..Edgar Allan Poe

[Kolesar]

64. Edward Abbey

Big surprise, huh? I just loved Monkey Wrench Gang and decided to read everything he wrote. I also read everything Aleksander Solzhenitsyn published in English many decades ago. No wonder I am so afraid of tyranny.

I used to read a lot of sci-fi and Kurt Vonnegut is the best, with his imaginitive social interpretations.

[Rabrrrrrr]

65. Neal Stephenson, Saul Bellow, Hemingway, Julia Child, Alan Moore

and a whole host of others!!

[Monte Carlo]

66. John Steinbeck is one of my favorites.

Of his, I've read Of Mice and Men, Shane, The Grapes of Wrath, The Pearl, and most recently The Winter of Our Discontent. I think I might try to tackle East of Eden next. His writing has always been especially meaningful to me; he well describes the strife and suffering in the world, and makes it real. I'd say he's a big reason why I keep up with the current world.

I also like Vonnegut very much, I thought The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was horrifying, Hunter S. Thompson is always readworthy, and I enjoy good sci-fi.

Toni Morrison... I read Sula once; it was good, but I wasn't blown away by her writing.

Some people in this world like Ethan Frome. I don't understand some people in this world.

[rainydaywoman]

70. I just finished East of Eden

I loved it.

His writing is meaningful to me too.
I grew up poor and I'm still very low-income, so I feel like he's speaking for me/us. I remember seeing The Grapes of Wrath as a child. I grew up a little watching it. As usual the book was better.

Kahlil Gibran is another favorite of mine, especially Broken Wings and Spirits Rebellious.

[rainydaywoman]

71. Opps, sorry to post 2x!!

I gotta get used to this board.

Please excuse my ignorance!!:P

[peekaloo]

67. Flannery O'Connor

James Ellroy
William Faulkner
James Thurber

[StaggerLee]

123. yeah - James Ellroy

L.A. Confidential - Black Dahlia

both riveting.

[no_hypocrisy]

72. Sinclair Lewis, hands down.

He dared to expose America for its philostine hypocrisy in the 20's.
1. Elmer Gantry
2. It Can't Happen Here (it's more of nonfiction these days)
3. Main Street
4. Arrowsmith

[ScreamingMeemie]

90. Even Babbit??? I just couldn't get into that book and I had to do a term

paper on it. I mean a day in the life of a business man. Maybe, 20 years later, it would be different.

[Coffee Coyote]

104. It Can't Happen Here

Finally! Someone else acknowledges this overlooked work.

[theemu]

77. faves

Flannery O'Connor
William Faulkner
Haruki Murakami (greatest living writer. GREATEST LIVING WRITER)
Phillip Roth
Virginia Woolf
Zadie Smith (most promising new novelist)

[TheBigGuy]

78. Mario Vargas Lhosa.

I think he is my favorite.

I liked Flannery O;Conner too.

[solinvictus]

83. Authors

Probably George Orwell lately, I've recently re-read "Homage to Catalonia" and "The Road to Wigan Pier" in an attempt to draw parallels with the current situation in the US. I see this administration as trying to rewind the clock to a century ago especially in worker's rights and basic freedoms. Scary stuff.

[stanwyck]

84. Russell Banks

is one of my favorites. Rule of the Bone. Also, Margaret Atwood. And for mysteries: P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, and Peter Robinson. And, don't tell anyone, my guilty pleasure a couple times a year is to read true-crime books...have a weird fascination with those by Ann Rule and others.

[Boudicea]

85. Magical realism

Thanks for all the info. Y'all have reminded me of some stuff I've wanted to read but haven't yet, especially The Name of the Rose, and I'm intrigued by what folks said about Bluebeard by Vonnegut.

I love GGMarquez and Isabelle Allende. Can anybody recommend some other magical realism?

[Birthmark]

86. Mark Twain

Best. Author. Ever.

Douglas Adams is good, too! :)

[lynndew2]

87. Coulter, O'rielly, and Limbaugh......NOT

I love Arthur C. Clarks works.

[Insider]

88. Wayne Dyer

and Lawrence Sanders and Tom Clancy

[nuxvomica]

89. Probably JK Rowling

Because Harry Potter's just about the only new fiction I read anymore. Whe I was younger I was a big fan of Donald Barthelme, Jorge Luis Borges and HP Lovecraft.

But SZJ, you have reawakened my interest in Vonnegut with your fine tribute.

[Pert_UK]

92. I like Harry Potter but Rowling's not a particularly brilliant writer....

HP gets far too repetitive (yes, I know it's for kids) and it really lacks detail in the descriptions. However, I thoroughly enjoyed all the books, especially 3 and 4, and recently re-read 4 (GoF) prior to the new one.

I felt that Order of the Phoenix was a big disappointment. Not bad, it's just that essentially nothing happened, with the exception of Harry being very moody & Dumbledore falling out with the ministry. She could have covered all the plot very effectively in half the pages.

Goblet of Fire, on the other hand, had more than enough plot and action to justify its length.

[nuxvomica]

96. Agreed. But at least she got me back to reading fiction.

My favorite was the Prisoner of Azkaban. I think the books also bring back some of the feeling of my first reading of LOTR. That's part of their appeal for me.

[Section_43]

93. let's see...

Fiction: toss up between Barry Hannah & Thomas McGuane

Short Story: Raymond Carver

Poet: Lew Welch

[Maddy McCall]

94. WILL D. CAMPBELL--"the renegade preacher without a pulpit"

Civil rights activist from Amite County, Mississippi who was Chaplain at Ole Miss during early integration attempts. Sat with MLK during the founding of the National Council of Churches. Escorted the black children to school on their first day of integration, and their second attempt, in Little Rock.

Read "Brother to a Dragonfly." This guy was amazing and gets little credit for his contributions to the movement. PM me if you would like more suggestions on his books.

More on Campbell at: http://www.lib.usm.edu/~spcol/campbell/whois_one.htm
http://www.cptr.ua.edu/news/godswill.htm

Here's a photo:

[chenGOD]

95. Only one mention of Tom Robbins?

Good taste Zorba--

Other writers enjoyed:

Kurt Vonnegut
Umberto Eco
Arthur C. Clarke
Philip K. Dick
William Gibson
Salaman Rushdie
Italo Calvino
J.R.R. Tolkien
Murakami Haruki (although I wouldn't call him the greatest living author, that title goes to Tom Robbins for sure<---IMHO!!)

[Boudicea]

97. Jitterbug Perfume is calling my name right now.

It's so much fun!

[Individualist]

134. Also a Robbins fan

I have too many "favorites" to list them all, but Tom Robbins is definitely among them.

[BurtWorm]

101. I'm on a Patricia Highsmith kick now

I read A Dog's Ransom a couple of weeks ago, and I'm read Deep Water now. She is incredible. She gets right under the skin.

[Boudicea]

102. And another thing about Rowling ...

I could only get through the first two books before I'd had enough, but last weekend in some airport I saw about a 10 year old boy lugging that latest War & Peace-like tome (sp?) around and I was thrilled. There's nothing that kid can't tackle now. Anybody that helps instill a love of reading is okay by me.

[jafap]

113. Well, I kinda do not see that

My niece, also 10, is re-reading a Harry Potter book, and yet she had not read the last book I gave her by Bruce Coville, which I think is much cooler. So I am not sure if carries over into other reading/study.

[44wax]

103. John LeCarre Carl Hiassen

Really smart intrigue and liberal satire.

[TheReligiousLeft]

105. Morrison, Card, Voltaire, Ibsen(sp) and Weisel

I really like discussing Morrison's Playing in the Shadows, I don't think it was a racist piece of work, everyone else I've every talked to disagrees. I've written my own version of Voltaire's "the world as it is" and I have multiple translations of Candide. Card's Ender series is wonderful (although the second Bean series has proved Card to be a Neo-Con IMHO) and Weisel's Dawn is one of the best things I've allowed my eyes to grace!
I lent my mom my copy of Slaughterhouse Five and she refuses to give it back to me...So it goes.

[TheReligiousLeft]

107. GRAPES OF WRATH

And mice and men, how could I forget them. The ending of GOW was so freekin' beautiful. It was communion. It was rapture. All in all it was good. I guess it helped me see Christianity with more depth.

[HEyHEY]

106. Frank McCourt

I still have yet to enjoy a book more than the first time I read Angela's Ashes.

[Ein]

109. Chomsky, Orwell, Bradbury

I like his style, and the massive amount of sources that accompany every book I've picked up by him.

Orwell won my vote of confidence with the freakishly relevant 1984.

I skimmed the book Brave New World, forget the author, should purchase it and give it a full read, but I liked what I did read.

[area51]

110. favorite authors...

... Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Patricia Cornwell, J.K. Rowling.



"Statistically speaking, it's easier to get admitted into Harvard University than to get a job in this economy."

--CBS News, 8/1/03

[FireHeart]

114. Elizabeth Moon

I love her stuff. I have read and re-read her "Sheepfarmers Daughter: The Deeds Of Paksenarrion" over and over again. Not to mention her followup books, "Liar's Oath" and "Surrender None".

All truly excellent.

[punpirate]

115. I very much like Vonnegut...

... but I have to admit that I can't give my intellectual heart to any one writer--it's a fault learned after a lot of reading and two degrees in English literature.

I have much fondness for the Latin Americans--Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Amado, Borges, Julio Cortazar, Manuel Puig, and others.

But, the world is full of others--Gunter Grass, and that Pole who wrote in English, Joseph Conrad, along with the originators of the modern play and roman a clef, Shakespeare and Laurence Sterne.

See Vonnegut as opening a door to other writers--my current favorite, Richard Powers, and his progenitor, Thomas Pynchon, and the people who made literature in this country come alive again after a long hiatus, Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams, William Faulkner, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, the little-known Henry Roth, and, yes, Alice Walker, too (from whom I've had the pleasure of taking a course more than thirty years ago).

Vonnegut is an introduction to others, as well--Joseph Heller, Dalton Trumbo, Ring Lardner and his son, Ring Lardner, Jr., Dashiell Hammett and his long-time lover and friend, Lillian Hellman, and John Steinbeck.

God, we are so rich in the written word, so rich in our cultural expression. We are wealthy, and yet, we don't realize it. Nathanael West, Ambrose Bierce, Sholom Alechem, Isaac Singer, Saul Bellow, Richard Wright, John Dos Passos, Emily Dickinson, Ernest Hemingway, Harper Lee and her friend, Truman Capote, Ken Kesey, newer, quirky writers such as E. Annie Proulx and Larry MacMurtry; we are very rich, and that wealth awaits our discovery of it.

See Vonnegut not as an end, but as a beginning. The many thousands of writers in this country's history await you, and all the rest of us. Every good translation from French, or Spanish or Greek or Italian or Russian or Polish is also a gift to us.

We are the very wealthy, although we can never make that assessment from our bank accounts. If one could appraise the bank account of the soul, American readers would be wealthy, indeed.

Cheers.

[arwalden]

116. Orson Scott Card -- Ender's Game was one of my faves. n/t

[Caution]

125. It's too bad that Card is such a wingnut n/t

[Quahog]

118. My instinctive response is William Faulkner

But if I thought about it for more than two seconds, I'd come up with a list a mile long.

Has anybody read Mary Doria Russell? I think "The Sparrow" is the best book I've read in ten years.

[StaggerLee]

121. James Jones and Norman Mailer

From Here to Eternity and The Naked and the Dead to be specific.

Both works depicting U.S. soldiers in WW2.

I read FHTE when I was about 15 years old. I totally identified with Robert E. Lee Prewitt.

[chenGOD]

122. Ok I thought of a few that I definitely should have included earlier...

William S. Burroughs
Jack Kerouac
Irvine Welsh
Charles Bukowsky
Gunter Grass
Ernest Hemingway
Hunter S Thompson
P.J. O'Rourke (although he's a conservative, he's also pretty humourous, and his book "Parliament of Whores" is one of the funniest books I've read about government in a long time)
Milan Kundera

[Caution]

124. Terry Pratchett, Christopher Moore, Joseph Heller

[catpower2000]

127. JD Salinger...

He comes first, there is no other. Then:

John Irving, Hunter S. Thompson, Sylvia Plath, Marge Piercy, Milan Kundera, Gregory Maguire, Anne Rice, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Margaret Atwood, JK Rowling, and of course, good ole Willie Shakespeare.

Cat

[GumboYaYa]

129. Kingsolver for living authors

and Faulkner for all authors.

[sasquatch]

130. Allen Eckert, Jim Hightower, George Orwell and Ray Bradbary

n/t

[RebelOne]

133. Ray Bradbury, the best science fiction writer ever

I think I have read every book and story he has ever written.

[noiretextatique]

131. i'm partial to gloria naylor

toni morrison and alberto moravia, among others. vonnegut is great..."breakfast of champions" is my fav.

[RebelOne]

132. Horror Writers

Stephen King and Dean Koontz. And for good medical thrillers anything
Robin Cook writes.

[MissMillie]

135. John Irving

but Kurt Vonnegut and Toni Morrison don't fall too far behind.