Name a writer who's work you love but personally can't stand

[Downtown Hound]

Mine: Ray Bradbury

His books are masterpieces, but the man himself is a cranky old bastard. His feud with Michael Moore over him naming his movie Fahrenheit 9-11 was ridiculous, and he always just strikes me as being the least fun human being in the world whenever he speaks.

[LiberalHeart]

1. Norman Mailer

[zanne]

22. Truman Capote.

What a snot.

[Shine]

2. Yeah, he's a quirky guy. Did you know he doesn't drive?

strange for a sci-fi writer, don't ya think?

I can't think of any authors who I "can't stand", at this point, but wanted to respond with that little useless factoid about Bradbury. heheheh.

:hi:

[Guy Fawkes]

35. Bradbury is a technophobe...

(well, maybe not 'phobe'), but he shuns all technology.

[Shakespeare]

37. No, not really.

He has his manager run a fairly decent website for him, so he's not anti-technology at all; he personally prefers to continue typing on his old electric typewriter. His complaint with computers is that he finds the internet too distracting--and as a writer, I can say I certainly see a certain truth to that (it abets procrastination).

[Blue-Jay]

3. Orson Scott Card.

Can't stand the fucking guy, but I like most of his books. I buy them used, though, so fuck off Orson!

[CBGLuthier]

25. Card would have to be tops for me

Although I think Ender was overblown by the time he turned it into an industry.

But his short stories and the Worthing Chronicles are amongst my favorite reads with Unaccompanied Sonata being one of the finest short stories ever written.

EDIT: That is to say, tops in the dislike the man / like the work.

[malmapus]

27. Ditto for me

Love his all of his Ender series of books, but DAM can't stand that fucker.

[Omphaloskepsis]

41. Ditto... Card is a Prize Twit.

[buddhamama]

42. i am with you

I love his Ender series, and the Alvin Maker books as well. Like you though, i have bought his books used or gotten them through the library.

[LeftyMom]

4. Orson Scott Card

Good writer, also a crazy wingnut homophobic asshole who thinks breeding is end all and be all of human behavior.

The Ender books still rock, though. Well, through Xenocide, anyhow.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

6. Seriously? Damn. I've loved all of his books too. From them it seemed

like he'd be an interesting guy . . .

[LeftyMom]

8. He is very very very very Mormon.

:shrug:

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

12. Huh, I would've never guessed. . .

:shrug:

[CBGLuthier]

26. See for yourself

http://www.hatrack.com/

Check out the forums and the columns.

[Left Is Write]

18. I've heard that about him.

I really enjoyed the book Enchantment.

[lildreamer316]

20. He lives here and writes for a local paper

..OPINION pieces.
Oh, what an asshole!!!

[malmapus]

28. Does he still call himself a Democrat?

I remember something of his where he called himself like an enlightened democrat or some shit like that.

[WhollyHeretic]

36. I loved the Ender trilogy

I've been unable to read him ever since he wrote some horrible stuff on his website after 9-11. He was saying we should understand why we were attacked and try to fix it but first we needed to strike back hard and basically level an entire mideast country. I tried to read a new book by him after that but I just kept thinking about what he'd said and just got turned off to the book.

[zonkers]

5. James Elroy. What a self aborbed dork.

[mitchum]

38. I agree with you about Ellroy...

I've really loved his work from the beginning, but he IS a ridiculous self absorbed crypto nazi jerk who refuses to admit that he writes genre fiction. He is the absolute best in the genre, but it's still genre work.
He also ripped off his style from Ed Sanders. Read "The Family" and it's very evident.

[azmouse]

7. Stephen King

He looks even scarier than his books! I really like Salem's Lot and The Shining but him... :scared:

[Downtown Hound]

9. I'll admit he's not the most attractive guy in the world

But he actually seems like a pretty cool guy in his personal life. He's a devout liberal, has a Prius in his driveway (I know because my stepsister used to live very close to him), plays in a rock and roll band for fun and donates the money to charity, and successfully raised three kids. He always strikes me as being pretty down to Earth and real.

[azmouse]

10. Hey that's great.

And as long as I don't have to look at him when I read his books, it's all good.

[Frank Cannon]

46. By all the accounts I've seen and heard, King is a really great guy

I lost interest in his books though, after It (the title of which is missing the first two letters).

[sir_captain]

11. I've got a reverse one

Edward Said. Not at all a fan of his scholarship, but I thought he was a good guy with a nice family.

It's funny--I actually have had some very nice correspondence with Bradbury.

[jpgray]

13. I thought his book on orientalism was at least interesting

What did you take issue with?

[sir_captain]

15. It's complicated

and I don't want to turn this into an I/P issue. I thought he was a bit of a hypocrite and opportunist academically. No doubt he was a very smart and learned man. I didn't think it was appropriate for him to throw rocks at soldiers.

That said, I liked him and have some fond memories that involve him. And he has extremely nice children which speaks very well of him.

[Shakespeare]

14. Bradbury is a sweetheart--he just doesn't fit with DU's political opinions

I, too, have corresponded with him, and also met him on several occasions here in Los Angeles. He's a generous man--VERY generous to young writers--with some amazing stories to tell. I have never gotten the impression that he's a republican--really, more of an iconoclast and a product of his times (hence some latent conservatism).

[sir_captain]

16. Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head

I really don't see how someone who wrote Faherenheit 451 could possibly be a republican. And you're also right about his generosity to other writers, though I won't get into the details there.

[democracyindanger]

17. Knut Hamsun

Basically invented the modern novel. Turn of the century Norwegian author. His book 'Hunger' is filled with such cynical, dark humor that it could've easily been written at the height of Gen X disaffection. 'Thing is, he liked the Nazis.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

50. Plus he was horrible to his wife and children

at least as portrayed by Max von Sydow in the movie Hamsun, which unfortunately, was not widely circulated in the U.S.

He was also clueless and couldn't figure out why other Norwegians resented him for supporting the Nazis. Then he couldn't figure out why the Nazis were so mean to the Norwegians.

[democracyindanger]

56. There's a movie?

I'll have to add that to my Netflix queue. I know that there are Hamsun defenders that insist he was old and addled, and was taken advantage of by fascists. I think he was taken advantage of as much as he allowed himself to be.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

58. The movie was a Scandinavian co-production, directed by Jan Troell

It suggests that Hamsun's main reason for supporting the Nazis was that he hated the British. Ironically, he spoke English but not German.

Max von Sydow's performance is terrific.

[terrya]

19. Joan Didion

I like her writing very much. I just don't like her.

[miss_american_pie]

21. Ted Hughes

[Rosco T.]

23. Jerry Pournelle ...

... wonderful writer but such a prick. I had him, Larry Niven and Spider Robinson in my living room one night till 6am (dead-dog party from a convention) and ... sheesh.... 'opinionated' is a mild term.

[Arkham House]

29. Wish I could have been there...what was Spider like...?

[momophile]

24. Hemingway

wasn't he a jerk? but I love his books.

[Arkham House]

30. Robert Frost

Love--worship--his poetry...but he was by all accounts a total SOB...

[Ikonoklast]

31. Harlan Ellison

Prickly genius.

[Aristus]

34. Here's me with Harlan:

He IS prickly. But he can also be warm, generous and friendly. He is also gut-bustingly funny, and a spell-binding speaker. He doesn't suffer fools gladly. Actually he doesn't suffer them at all; he makes THEM suffer. So, in his presence, don't be a fool and you'll be fine. I like him immensely and love his writing. My hobby is collecting autographed first-editions of his books. He's signing one of them for me in the pic.

[murielm99]

43. He is a misogynist.

It comes through in his writing.

[Aristus]

47. Depends on what you read. He is actually a dedicated activist

for feminist causes. He lobbied long and hard for passage of the ERA when most everybody else gave up on it. "A Boy And His Dog" certainly seems misogynist, but who says the story must reflect the writer's personal feelings? If his non-fiction reveals a deep-seated hatred for some people who happen to be female, I don't think that's misogynistic at all. He hates them individually, and not because they are women. For example, my hatred of Ann Coulter doesn't make me a misogynist; it's a reaction to her monstrously venomous personality. His hatred for certain men doesn't make him misanthropic, doesn it.

[BrotherBuzz]

32. Stephen Ambrose

The more I learned and read of him the more I grew to despise the misogynist asshole. I finally heard him give the commencement speech at a graduation ceremony, and he confirmed my suspicion.

[July]

33. My husband calls this problem "goose vs. pate" (that's Pah-tay)

I've found it a very useful concept. Somebody's pate (sorry, don't know how to do the accent mark) may be good -- think Picasso, Woody Allen, movie stars too numerous to mention, while they, the geese themselves, are not so admirable or interesting. One of the mysteries of the ages.

[mitchum]

39. T S Eliot

[July]

51. Good example. nt

[Phillycat]

54. Michael Jackson.

Love his music, think he's a creepy pervert who needs to be in jail.

[wickerwoman]

40. Nabokov

His writing is brillant, but I suspect that in person he was a petulant, arrogant goat.

[murielm99]

44. Shel Silverstein

He wrote all that great poetry and books that appeal to children. However, he did not like children and was rude to librarians.

[ScreamingMeemie]

45. He was at a poetry reading/book signing when I was a child...

and he took more than a few minutes with each child who had waited in line and signed their book...adding drawings as well. I have a copy of "The Giving Tree" signed with a drawing. I didn't get that idea from him at all. He seemed to revel in the kids. Weird how different perceptions can be. :hi:

[spinbaby]

48. Harlan Ellison

Dirty old man.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

49. Ruth Rendell, the English mystery writer

Most mystery writers, including such biggies as Anne Perry, James Lee Burke, J.A. Jance, Earl Emerson, and Faye Kellerman, are friendly and approachable at their personal appearances. American, Canadian, British, it doesn't matter in most cases.

Even though I love Ruth Rendell's books, especially her Inspector Wexford mysteries, she was the only mystery writer I've ever met who seemed cold and condescending, as if she was thinking, "Get me away from these peasants."

[murielm99]

52. I can't read Anne Perry's books any more.

Ever since I found out she was convicted of murder as a teen, it has been too hard for me.

[Fenris]

61. Have you seen "Heavenly Creatures"?

It's a pretty disturbing fictionalization of the very peculiar murder case Perry was party to.

[KamaAina]

53. I have heard rumors that Sharyn McCrumb is a repuke.

This, if true, would make me :cry: . I once went so far as to exchange emails with her, even.

The take I get from reading her is that she is a political iconoclast, possibly a libertarian, who likes to throw bombs at both sides. That, if true, would help me sleep better...

[bif]

55. John Irving

I heard he's kind of a dick.

[Spider Jerusalem]

57. Louis-Ferdinand Celine...

Journey to the End of the Night and Death on Credit are both classics of 20th century literature; but Celine himself was a rabid anti-Semite and a Vichy collaborationist.

And Ezra Pound, another fascist anti-Semite, but a brilliant poet (my grandmother has some interesting stories about seeing him at St. Elizabeth's, the mental hospital in Washington DC where he was confined after WWII...my grandfather worked there).

[vickitulsa]

59. I'm kinda surprised no one named Gore Vidal.

I loved and still remember Myra Breckenridge from way back when, but I seldom see Vidal on the teevee without getting pissed at him for one reason or another. He's been excellent in some acting roles late in his life too, but I still doan like 'im.

I suspect William Burroughs -- of Naked Lunch fame, also a publication from ancient American history -- was (is?) a jerk IRL, but I never corresponded with him or saw him in any appearance, so I shouldn't be prejudging. Just a feeling you get about some people.

And on the positive side (I just have to do this), I got to know Bill Pirsig, author of yet another golden oldie, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. That classic book was very autobiographical, and I wrote him a letter the minute I finished it in 1976. He replied and we exchanged a few snail mail letters; he even included a newspaper clipping about his son's senseless death. A truly wonderful guy, and he gave me the coolest line. As we exchanged letters and that looked only to increase, not taper off, he finally begged off and wrote this to me:

"Asking me to be a penpal in my spare time is like asking a mailman to go hiking on his vacation."

I didn't actually "ask" him to be a penpal, but it was implied, of course. :D

I learned so much from that guy and his life story....

B.F. Skinner is another "biggie" I wrote to long ago and ended up getting to know rather TOO well. :evilgrin: I even rode a bus from Tulsa to Cambridge, MA where he was a professor emeritus at Harvard. He's way different from what you might think ... very warm, spontaneous, and genuine and not at all like you'd think the father of behaviorism might be.

Knew Harlan Ellison a wee bit also -- agree with all the takes on him in this thread! Absolutely brilliant writer IMO, if sometimes genius run amok. :D

[idgiehkt]

62. good call

but his work sometimes offends me too...

I think there is validity to some of what Camille Paglia says, it's worth parsing anyhow, but her narcissism always astounds me when I see her on tv or read her interviews.

[pitohui]

60. well i was very sorry to get to know george alec effinger

a terrific writer with huge, huge problems that made it depressing to know the guy (i knew him in the 80s, he passed away some time ago) -- not a mean person at all but a very sad person who just seemed to be in such despair

of others mentioned by other posters, both jerry pournelle and orson scott card are horrible horrible people to get to know because they are just so nasty, but i don't like their work either, so they are no loss, pournelle in particular seemed to have a serious drinking and brawling problem at the time we met him, i'm a little surprised he isn't in prison or a mental ward by now (assuming he's still alive, come to think of it, he was getting pretty long in the tooth even back then)

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

63. Anthony Bourdain,

Brilliant man, but he has the presence of a B-List right-wing radio host.

[BlueIris]

64. Most of the writers I like are complete dipshits.

Nothing I can do about that.