Who's your favorite author?

[Che Guava]

How could I forget!

I was wondering why your list didn't include him!

Good thinking, Che. I forgot to mention Conrad.

I'm ashamed to say that I have only ever read Heart of Darkness & The Secret Agent Any other reccomendations?

I would also like to amend my list to include Aldous Huxley....

 

[Taliesin]

I'm ashamed to say that I have only ever read Heart of Darkness & The Secret Agent Any other reccomendations?

His sea yarns are excellent: "Typhoon" and "Falk" spring to mind, although I think I'm forgetting an even better one.

 

[Leonel]

Arthur C. Clarke. He got me interested in sci-fi in the first place.

 

[diablodelmar]

Sun Tzu

just joking




I don't have a fav author, but I have a least favorite: Dan Brown!

Damn plaguerist!

 

[Richard Cribb]

It is difficult to pick one, but a few candidates would be:
Dante Alighieri, Ignacy Krasicki, Stendhal, Witold Gombrowicz, Bertolt Brecht , Amin Maalouf and obviously
Mihai Eminescu.
Oh, and not to forget: Luther Blissett.

 

[downtown]

I do not read Fiction often, but I am a fan of Garrison Kiellor's work, along with Hunter S. Thomson.

 

[Technocactus]

I suppose I have to mention Shakespeare. I live in the same town he used to, and I go to his old school.

On a genuinely preferred level, Tolkein was good, but my favourite was P. G. Wodehouse. I have yet to read more than 5 chapters of a Dan Brown book, so I can't judge him.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I don't have one, I don't read.

 

[Che Guava]

His sea yarns are excellent: "Typhoon" and "Falk" spring to mind, although I think I'm forgetting an even better one.

Hmmm...I'll have to check out my local used book store....thanks!

 

[Perfection]

Stratego.

 

[Abaddon]

Julian May.

 

[Reno]

For fiction: Ursula K. Le Guin (The Earthsea series books & Gifts book) and Diana Wynne Jones (Dark Lord of Derkholm and The Year of the Griffin).

As for non-fiction, i'd say Martti Turtola and Antony Beevor.

 

[Irish Caesar]

No one's said Mark Twain yet?

Mark Twain.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Runners-up would be . . . PJ O'Rourke.

I like PJ O'Rourke for non-fiction as well. Actually, he is probably the author whose political views are closest to mine - sort of a 'conservative libertarian'. I also like Florence King for similar reasons, plus she is quite funny.

 

[De Lorimier]

When it comes to history, I have to give props to Howard Zinn.
Easily dismissed as a commie by the most demagogue members of society, Zinn's works is simply some of the best out there for real history fan. Objectivity is crucial, but to a certain degree. A lot of historians fall in the holes of history with their subject by being classical historians simply reporting the side of the winners, the big ones, the alpha-humans. Zinn is not a raging collectivist reporting lies. He's a serious and very important student of history who provides us with more than the usual bs about the Founding Fathers and the atrocious hypocrisy surrounding modern history. For that, he's an essential writer.

 

[jameson]

in no particular order, and far from complete:

Mario Vargas Llosa
Gabriel García Márquez
E.L. Doctorow
TC Boyle
W.F. Hermans

and, like Taliesin, I must confess to a fondness for JK Rowling for similar reasons. For nonfiction, I should mention Barbara Tuchman, and finally, Carl Hiaasen for humour, even if all his novels are essentially the same.

 

[Fifty]

I should give honorable mention to my new-found Knut Hamsun... thanks luceafarul for introducing me to him! Pan is my favorite so far!

 

[Danghis Khan]

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Tolkien, and Patrick O'Brien.

 

[Lambert Simnel]

Julian Barnes, Martin Amis, Emile Zola. Shakespeare ought to go without saying, but as nobody else here likes him, I'll say Shakespeare. Urr, Robert Graves, perhaps ? Pat Barker. Alice Munro.

Ram, which of HST's books are you particularly fond of ? I think I've read all of his stuff which has been published in books (i.e. not his Rolling Stone articles except that which later turned up The Great Shark Hunt etc), and while he's a blast when you're in the right mood, I never thought of him as a great author. PS I love Name of the Rose to death, but found Foucault's Pendulum boring beyond belief.

 

[Till]

If i have to corner it down to one:
Umberto Eco
He is just a great narrator, even if his pace is quite slow at times.

I recently rediscovered Georg Büchner. Woyzek and Danton's Death almost make me want to go to theater again.

(Didn't we have a thread like that a while back, or am i having a moment of deja vu?)