Who's your favorite author?

[desertgrandma]

We're all readers here, obviously. Most are way more than that, readers AND so technically advanced they should have their own planet

So. Who are your favorite authors and why? I'll start.

James Michener. Because he makes history interesting and believable and easy to understand. If you haven't read "Centennial" you've missed. Also, "The Covenant". It made the origins of apartheid so clear. He didn't pull punches. "The Source" about the historical aspects of a 'tell' in Israel. "Caribbean" "Texas". Please, you people from Texas, tell me he was accurate? I hate the idea of believing something that isn;t true Yes, his books are long, but to me, enthralling.

Stephen King. His EARLY books. "The Stand". Because I can SO see it happening. Salems 'Lot.....because his character developement made it truly scary.
Night Shift......I think some of his best short story writing. To me his later works are to 'child/torture/emotional pain loaded. Just my opinion.

Ray Bradbury. Nothing can be said that hasn't been said before. A true American treasure.

Next?

[RickyMaveety]

Jane Austen, I can't explain exactly why, maybe it's because I like to pretend that life was somehow easier back then .... which it's not, I know.

Heinlein, but his earlier, not so oversexed later works.

Asimov

Ray Bradbury

Gee ... this is hard to do. Most of the reasons I like these authors are difficult to state, either because they are so personal, and I can't imagine anyone being interested in those reasons, or because they've been said somewhere else much better than I could say them.

Maybe if my favorite authors were a little more obscure ....

[Sparrow]

Robertson Davies for me - his novels are just so rich and enthralling.

[BookishDreamer]

It's difficult to pick just one.

Jane Austen - I'm a hopeless (truly) romantic. "Persuasion" and "Pride and Prejudice" are my favorites. I re-read them regularly.

Sir Walter Scott - I got a chance to visit Abbotsford a couple of years ago and was completely in awe of the library.

Rex Stout - Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin are a great team. And I wish Fritz cooked for me.

Dreamer

[slayda]

Robert Heinlein, Andre Norton, Louis L'Amour, Jean Auel

Good entertaining storytellers, but three of the four are gone. Modern day writers;

David Weber, Elizabeth Moon, Lisanne Norman, Wen Spencer

Since Ray Bradbury has been mentioned twice, I have to tell about a SF club when I was in college. It was made up about half & half with technical types and liberal arts types. With only one exception in each group, the techies hates Bradbury & the liberals loved him. I leave it to you to determine which type I am. One hint, I was not one of the exceptions.

All except Jean Auel (maybe) and Louis L'Amour are SF writers mainly. Norton (maybe 50%) & Spencer (some) get into Fantasy. Auel writes "Prehistory" fiction.

It would seem that I prefer female writers. Note that Weber often has a female protagonist. Maybe they are more often good at telling stories that are entertaining.

[vivaldirules]

Of all the authors past and present, I have to say the one who was most masterful at turning a phrase, at constructing plots that uniquely melded with themes that probe the mind, at creating vivid imagery where there was none, at establishing subtle textural threads that......well......oh, hell. He did none of that. But I find the books by James Herriot (the pen name of James Alfred Wight) to be utterly delightful. I can't think of a better word for it. The first book in his series, All Creatures Great and Small, is the only book I've read more than three times and I've read it six times to date and will again. Why? I love his simple, humorous, good-natured stories about interesting people who are different from me but who are personally very appealing.

The BBC production, by the way, was an incredibly comforting thing for me as I watched the first season (delayed a year or so before being broadcast on PBS in the U.S.) in the fall of 1979 on my 13" black-and-white while in my first year of graduate school. I was far from home, isolated from people I knew, and studying hard. Sunday evenings were gold for that one hour for me. No doubt that contributes significantly to my fondness for the books.

[Ervserver]

Ann Rule

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by slayda

Since Ray Bradbury has been mentioned twice, I have to tell about a SF club when I was in college. It was made up about half & half with technical types and liberal arts types. With only one exception in each group, the techies hates Bradbury & the liberals loved him. I leave it to you to determine which type I am. One hint, I was not one of the exceptions.

Bradbury is a wonderful stylist, with images that engrave themselves on your mind. But the "science" in his SF is often laughable. For a lot of SF fans, one of the requirements for good SF is that you get the science right. Get as wild as you please on things that haven't been developed yet, but what we do know should be correct. I like Bradbury, but don't consider him a favorite.

Two Bradbury stories that may amuse you:

Bradbury once credited the late Henry Kuttner with the best piece of advice he got as a writer. Kuttner told him to shut up. Bradbury was a member of the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society, way back when, and used to regale the members with descriptions of stories he was working on. Kuttner told him he was talking out the stories, and never getting them written. He should stop talking about them, and write them instead. Bradbury did, and the rest, as they say, was history.

At a west coast convention some years back, Bradbury held an autograph session. A fan came up with a paperback copy of every book Ray had ever written. Undaunted, Ray took the large stack, carefully arranged them standing up with spines out in a row on the table, and whipped out a magic marker and signed his name in flowing script across the top of the row.
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

Of all the authors past and present, I have to say the one who was most masterful at turning a phrase, at constructing plots that uniquely melded with themes that probe the mind, at creating vivid imagery where there was none, at establishing subtle textural threads that......well......oh, hell. He did none of that. But I find the books by James Herriot (the pen name of James Alfred Wight) to be utterly delightful. I can't think of a better word for it. The first book in his series, All Creatures Great and Small, is the only book I've read more than three times and I've read it six times to date and will again. Why? I love his simple, humorous, good-natured stories about interesting people who are different from me but who are personally very appealing.

The BBC production, by the way, was an incredibly comforting thing for me as I watched the first season (delayed a year or so before being broadcast on PBS in the U.S.) in the fall of 1979 on my 13" black-and-white while in my first year of graduate school. I was far from home, isolated from people I knew, and studying hard. Sunday evenings were gold for that one hour for me. No doubt that contributes significantly to my fondness for the books.

I recall the BBC production, and I've read _All Creatures Great and Small_. Lovely stuff.

Along that line, I recommend Gerard Durrell's books. Durrell was the brother of novelist Lawrence Durrell, and for years made his living as a trapper, getting commissions from zoos and wildlife preserves for species they wished to add to their collections. His dream was to someday have his own zoo on the Isle of Man, and he achieved that dream. He wrote a number of books detailing his travels, and the strange animals and often stranger people he encountered in the process. Just wonderful.
______
Dennis

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I recall the BBC production, and I've read _All Creatures Great and Small_. Lovely stuff.

Along that line, I recommend Gerard Durrell's books.

arg ! dennis !! i was just about to make that exact recommendation myself. well, vr, now there are two of us, you will have to listen. really excellent stuff. most of his books relate the years his family spent living on the island of corfu, and they are absolutely amazing (and often quite hilarious).

anyway vr, i wanted to say, that's a very sweet story, and i like those books as well. haven't read them in a long time, i should add them to my list to re-read.

i like jane austen too but i'm not even going to try to make a list of my favorite authors. i'd be up all night, at the very least. maybe tomorrow...

[rhadin]

This is a tough question, but here is my list -- or really a partial list because there are so many more whose books I buy whenever I come across one I haven't already read or bought.

1. Sinclair Lewis (if you haven't read "It Can't Happen Here" you should)

2. L.E. Modesitt (the Recluse series only)

3. Isaac Asimov

4. Harry Turtledove

5. David Weber (especially the Honor Harrington books and his new series that began with "Off Armageddon Reef")

6. George Orwell

7. John Mortimer (his Rumpole of the Bailey books)

I think I'll quit before I start wearing out my fingers

[kilohertz53]

These are just my current faves, subject to change at any time...

When I'm in the mood for a good suspenseful thriller, I turn to "John Case" (actually the husband and wife team of Jim and Carolyn Hougan), Thomas Perry, or Christopher Reich.

(BTW, there's a promotional sweepstakes for Mr. Reich's new novel "Rules of Deception" at http://www.christopherreich.com. You could win a GPS, a Sony Reader, or an Apple iPod Touch. Decent prizes for a few moments of your time.)

For a good laugh, I go with Christopher Buckley for political satire, Carl Haissen for his novels and characters set in the madhouse that is South Florida, and Christopher Moore, whose stuff is just weird. Essays by David Sedaris also crack me up.

But my favorite writer of all time is probably Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. I don't really know how to neatly sum him up in a sentence or two, and I'm not even going to try.

[pshrynk]

There are two authors who I will buy p-books by, even as I am getting the e-books dl'd: Harry Turtledove and Terry Pratchett.

[basschick]

neil gaiman
mark helprin
michelle west (don't enjoy her books as much when she's writing as michelle sagara)

[bbusybookworm]

My Personal Favourite Author, Who's Books I've constantly Pounced on as soon as they came out, and have voraciously reread is Terry Pratchett.

His Style, and humor are such, and his references to popular culture are so many that every time I reread one of his books something jumps out at me that I may have not noticed before, or had forgotten how funny it was to read.

So, a definite recommendation to read for everyone, especially fans of SF anf Fantasy, but in no way limited to those.

Warning: Do not drink while reading, as definite choking/Spit Take hazard hazard.