Your favourite author, and why

[Lovepotion69]

I don't have a favourite author. Used to like Anne Rice a lot, but not as much anymore. Robin Cook is good though.

/LP

 

[Weird Harold]

Tough qustion. I don't think I have any ONE favorite author, unless it's the author I'm reading at the moment.

There are several authors whose work I'll choose over less well liked authors or unknown authors -- Anne McCaffrey, David Weber, David & Leigh Eddings, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, L. E. Modesitt, J.V. Jones, and maybe a dozen others who are still active authors.

Robert A. Heinlein is an author who was one of those I'd eagerly aawait anything new from before his death, but I've already read everything he ever wrote. Most of it is worth re-reading occasionally, and I still do that about once a year. (although JOB: a Comedy of justice is usually NOT one I re-read often -- I consider it the worst thing RAH ever wrote. Stranger in a Strange Land is the one that should be required reading. )

I suppose that if I absolutely HAD to pick one author as my favorite, it would have to be David Weber, simply because the next installment in his Honor Harrington series is the book I most eagerly anticipate hitting the shelves.

David Weber has created a world of galactic proportions in his "Honorverse" and filled it with heroes, villians, and just ordinary people doing the best they can. He has created a world that has a little of everything in it; War, Peace, Tragedy and Triumph. It has politics interstellar and domestic) and romance (requited and unrequited), Religious fantatics and religious tolerance.

To be truthful, I'd have to say that it's the world David Weber created that is my current "favorite" rather than the author who created it, but he brings the same skill to his other works as well -- he builds believable worlds and populates them with believable people and believable situations.

That's today, though -- if I get involved in another good read tomorrow, I'll probably have another author to be passionate about and my "favorite author" will change; at least until the next good read comes along.

 

[Guest]

Max Sebastian is bullshit.

 

[gauchecritic]

At the risk of alienating Harold.

Have always laughed at Heinlein's naivety. Excellent story teller but his sci-fi is transparent and his characters one dimensional. Very lazy. (for the same reasons that Dranoel loves him so)

Favourite at the moment: Arthur Clarke (and Stephen Baxter).

For sheer entertainment: T. Pratchett. (He should write some more sci-fi)

Gauche

 

[McKenna]

So does anyone else feel inept when asked this question?


The thing is, I don't have just one favorite. To me, the question is unanswerable.

 

[Guest]

The thing is, I don't have just one favorite.

I agree, Mack, but I decided to answer as if I could only read one author for the rest of my life, and even if only one book. List your ten fave, I'd be interested. P.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

All time favorite: William Faulkner - greatest American author. You can disagree, of course, but you'll be wrong.

Contemporary favorites: Elmore Leonard, Walter Mosley, Michael Cabon, Kinky Friedman, Frederick Forsyth

Favorite contemporary prior to heart surgery: Larry McMurtry

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Three way tie for me, too:

Jon Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men)
Warren Ellis
Stephen King

 

[Guest]

All time favorite: William Faulkner - greatest American author. You can disagree, of course, but you'll be wrong.

I like your attitude, Rumply. Like Walter Mosley too. P.

 

[Carl East]

This is probably the easiest question for me to answer, because without hesitation I'd have to say Piers Anthony. If I had half of that guys imagination I would've made it as a writer years ago. lol

Carl

 

[minsue]

I'd love to say Shakespeare, but I find reading his work to be far from satisfying, other than some of the sonnets. I'd have to list him as my favorite playwright.

As for my favorite author, I'm torn as well. I suppose I'd have to say Richard North Patterson based on the fact that he is the one author that I check up on when I'm at the bookstore to see if he's got anything new out.

The why is even more difficult for me than the who.

 

[Xelebes]

Ah, a favourites thread. Hehe. I know on some forums, they delete these type of threads. And as a reason why, I'm gonna explain why.

I've never enjoyed Shakespeare. Heck, the best part of the plays is the music Robert Johnson wrote to go with the plays. Just a personal opinion. I prefered Bacon over him, even Gilbert (he was the Librettist, right?)

Anywho, who is my favourite at the moment? Hmmm.... The only things that I have been reading lately is technical manuals and messageboard posts. I've been too busy listening and studying music to be reading much fiction since High School (which wasn't too long ago, for those who may be deeply concerned. ) Anywho, I did enjoy reading Asimov and Heinlein, Tolkien was ok but I dreaded the LotR trilogy. Hobbit and the Silmarillon were much better books, IMO.

Hmmm....

I'm gonna have to go with Isaac Asimov, as I can still read a book by him and enjoy it and I have so many more books to read of his.

 

[jthserra]

Yasunari Kawabata, he wrote in an incredibly beautiful minimal style... read 1000 Cranes a stunning short novel. He is also known for his "Palm of the Hand Stories" short stories noted for their incredible depth presented in two or three pages.


jim : )

 

[Clare Quilty]

I love Kate Winslett too, though obviously not the way Q does. I recall how after Sense & Sensibility Hollywood came after her but everyone wanted her to slim down and the tabloids called her 'fat'. I was so pleased she ignored them. I've adored her and her acting since the New Zealand film (Beautiful something?). I think I've seen all her films except 'Titanic'. P.

Beautiful Creatures?

I saw that so long ago, I didn't realize it was Kate Winslett. Hmmmm, teenaged lesbians...

 

[Clare Quilty]

This is probably the easiest question for me to answer, because without hesitation I'd have to say Piers Anthony. If I had half of that guys imagination I would've made it as a writer years ago. lol

Carl

I used to love Piers Anthony when I was a teenager. But, as the Xanth series dragged on and on, I lost interest.

 

[Weird Harold]

Re: At the risk of alienating Harold.

Have always laughed at Heinlein's naivety. Excellent story teller but his sci-fi is transparent and his characters one dimensional.

As I RAH fan, I have to disagree about his charactes being one-dimensional -- some certainly were, but just as many have some serious depth.

Don't worry about alienating me because you don't like the same authors I do -- we like a lot of the same authors, but we're obviously looking for something different from them.

 

[Clare Quilty]

I'd love to say Shakespeare, but I find reading his work to be far from satisfying, other than some of the sonnets. I'd have to list him as my favorite playwright.

I am just the opposite. In most cases, I prefer to read Shakespeare, which affords me the luxury of wallowing in his words. I also generally prefer cinematic versions of Shakespeare (so long as they are not heavily abridged) to stage versions that mimic Elizabethan theatre. I am well aware that I am in the minority with regard to those preferences.

 

[Belegon]

I grew up reading books passed on to me by my father and my love of Heinlein, Tolkien and other SF and fantasy comes from him.
The bard would be my first choice though. The one book I currently can't wait to read is Martin's A Feast For Crows, which he hasn't finished yet.

But to try and mention some who have not been mentioned: I love David Brin and Raymond Feist. Brin's Startide Rising is one of my all time favorites. Feist's Midkemia is second only to Middle Earth as a fantasy world I would love to explore (in magical safety of course).

 

[Seattle Zack]

No, Beautiful Creatures was Rachel Weisz (as a blonde (!~!)) and Susan Lynch (which I have on DVD, just for the scene of Rachel Weisz handcuffed to the wall)....

Don't get me started on films. Ahem. Authors, yes.

Can't keep up with the highfaloutin' blueblood literary types here, so I won't even try. I like crime novels. Sparse, elegant prose. Raymond Chandler, of course. Mickey Spillaine, Lawrence Block, John D. McDonald.

I grew up reading my mom's spy novels, from which I learned all I know about plot and pacing. Alistair MacLean, Len Deigton, Eric Ambler, Robert Ludlum, Frederick Forsyth.

Ellroy's stuff is a wonderful read, and Elmore Leonard is such a master of dialogue that I re-read passages just for the fun of the conversation.

Sci Fi, hard to beat Asimov and the Foundation books. Heinlien (whom I met one time while I was a cab driver), Niven, Donaldson. The Thomas Covenant books are amazing in their scope and depth.

I won't even mention the cyberpunk stuff, other than Gibson, because I haven't read enough of it to know what the field is like.

Anymore, I like Carl Hiassen (eagerly awaiting his new release), Stephen Hunter, James Swain, and about a half dozen others that I recognize when I see their name on the shelf but can't recall at the moment.

Favorite? You've got to be kidding. Books are my favorite.

 

[Guest]

Had to look it up. A blurb from Yahoo:

Kate Winslet was 17 years old when she made her auspicious film debut as an extroverted but tubercular young girl who constructs a murderous fantasy world with her best friend in Peter Jackson's "Heavenly Creatures" (1994).

Seventeen!? Yowza. And note the director.

Perdita

 

[Clare Quilty]

No, Beautiful Creatures was Rachel Weisz (as a blonde (!~!)) and Susan Lynch (which I have on DVD, just for the scene of Rachel Weisz handcuffed to the wall)....

You are correct. I have never even seen Beautiful Creatures. The film to which I referred is correctly titled Heavenly Creatures. Again, hmmmmm, teenaged lesbians...

 

[Clare Quilty]

Had to look it up. A blurb from Yahoo:

Kate Winslet was 17 years old when she made her auspicious film debut as an extroverted but tubercular young girl who constructs a murderous fantasy world with her best friend in Peter Jackson's "Heavenly Creatures" (1994).

Seventeen!? Yowza. And note the director.

Perdita

Well, then there is one Peter Jackson film that I don't think is rubbish. Speaking of which, Peter Jackson is currently making a remake of King Kong. Could this be what killed Fay Wray?

 

[Guest]

Peter Jackson is currently making a remake of King Kong. Could this be what killed Fay Wray?

I thought of that when I read her obit., probably a mercy she didn't live to see it. BTW, "Beautiful Creaures" is worth a view. P.;

 

[Clare Quilty]

Sci Fi, hard to beat Asimov and the Foundation books. Heinlien (whom I met one time while I was a cab driver), Niven, Donaldson. The Thomas Covenant books are amazing in their scope and depth.

While he is unquestionably a giant of the sci-fi genre, I always liked Asimov more as a futurist than a novelist. Niven would have to be my favorite sci-fi writer--Arthur C. Clarke is a close second. I have a shelf full of their books. My favorite single sci-fi book is Roger Zelazny's The Lord of Light--a yellowed and dog-eared copy of which I bought for a dime at a yard sale.

 

[zephrbabe]

I love finding out who likes what. I see most people have chosen classics authors (and some classical authors), and I've also seen a lot of contemporary big-wigs (King, &c.).

I don't like to repeat what others have picked, but there's a reason these authors are good:

My number one favorite author is Terry Pratchett. He's witty and smart and he fills his stories with pop culture references of every kind. Pratchett mixes the Renaissance with the Victorian era with the Middle Ages (almost all set in a London look-alike called Ankh-Morpork). His characters are complex and humorous without being overly-romanticized. His early books are more 2-D than the later stuff, though. There's definitely a reason he's the #1 author among British college students. (That sounds a bit lame here. Oh well.)

My other favorite is Shakespeare. You can't go wrong with ol' Willy Shakes. Even though I prefer watching him than reading him, I still do enjoy the time I spend poring over antique syntax. Another reason I like him is because in Senior year English, in High School, we read Hamlet and A Winter's Tale (which has Hermione Granger's namesake), and we had to compose an essay for midterms. My english teacher said it was the best essay I'd ever written, because I really get Shakespeare (you know, like, the language and stuff).

Yeah. That was long-winded.
-Kathryn

Mysteries force a man to think, and so injure his health. -Edgar Allen Poe