Who's Your Favorite Author?

[unsophisticated]

I feel a little silly saying it as he's such a big name it seems somewhat cow-like of me to go along with the herd, but I really do like Dickens. Who else can make me laugh out loud by describing a closet? Who else can summon such a memorable array of heroic, pathetic and despicable characters? How many authors can make me want to read more slowly so the pleasure will last longer? I admit I couldn't get through The Pickwick Papers, but there are so many others to make up for it : )

I also do (once again so typical) love Jane Austin. Her writing actually makes me happy, inspite of the fact that it tends to make me feel just a little bit inferior, socially speaking : ]

A more modern love of mine is Harriet Doerr. I'd picked up Stones For Ibarra in a free bin some years ago and when I finally got around to reading it I was impressed, moved even, by the quality and apparent simplicity of her style. It wasn't until I'd read Consider This, Senora that I really came to appreciate her though. There is something very...peaceful, very gentle about the way she writes, even about tragedy. Perhaps that's not the best description. Whatever it is, I like it.

Like Austin, James Herriot always makes me happy. (And how could I let such a gift go unmentioned: )

There are others I could mention, but perhaps there'll be another opportunity for them.

[dolphinsdurban]

My favorite author is Chandra kant for MBA Blues

[kumarlabels]

ravinder singh

[novelwriter]

Michael Palmer
John Grisham
David Baldacci

[Samantak]

My favourite authors are - Jhumpa Lahiri, Rohinton Mistry, Gurcharan Das.

[AliceRose]

My favourite author is Dorothy Koomson. Her books are fantastic. I don't think she's known outside the UK, though.

[chilipepper205]

My two favorite authors are Kurt Vonnegut and James Patterson. Very different authors, but I like them none the less.

[hojohojothomas]

Well, I have two authors I really enjoy and they write two totally different types of books. I really like Ted Dekker, who writes more murder and suspense stories. His books, keep you turing the pages until the very end. They are also very good at keeping you on your toes, the other cool thing is a lot of them have a christian theme or undertone throughout.

The other author I really enjoy is Nicholas Sparks, who as we know writes cute romance stories. I have read many of his books and seen many of the movie adaptations and really love them. They are all a little different, which is nice and who can't help but love a cute love story.

[reluctantreader]

I think Jane Austin is prob my favourite. They're classics for a reason.

[greencat7]

Margret Clark is my favorite so fair

[shake2rawk]

Some wag has said, "A classic is a book everyone has heard of but very few read." Fitting this tongue-in-cheek definition, I'd like to throw any one of 20 or so Walter Scott novels into the ring, of which Ivanhoe is actually the least. I love the way words change etymologically through the centuries and grow giddy when I have almost a first-hand account of different cultural periods, now dead and buried, seen through the eyes of someone closer to its source. Take a look what I wrote on a former occasion about Sir Walter:

The following is for those who have appointed themselves as guinea pigs of self-abuse, who get giddy with delight at the prospect of eyeballing asthmatically torturous tomes which represent the Mt. Everest of electrocution literature. "Why'd you read it?," you're asked. "Because it was there!" and "To get to the other side!" are the standard manic answers. Thus, if you love to blow a mind-gasket on unwieldy convoluted sentences; get turned on by off-point, on-point, passive-aggressive novels; break out in a masochistic sweat when encountering description that is like a roller-coaster ride of sensory exactitude; faint, wake up, and faint all over again at stories within stories; and are enthralled by prefaces, introductions, footnotes, concordances, indexes, language dictionaries, etc., then Sir Walter Scott is for you! My man Scott addressed his audience of the 1800's as "dear reader" to butter us up but if he was hologram-flown to the 21st century and saw that he had to compete with ADD, video and modern technology of all kinds, he might change that "term of endearment" to "damn reader." Inhale at the snorting level if you find novels dealing with antiquated periods of history with fittingly musty pages redolently intoxicating!

A contemporary writer I like is Gail Carson Levine; she can bring fantasy worlds to life and give fairies and dragons believable personalities, making you die to learn more about the realms that spawned them and the next installment of their continuing sagas if there is one. This writer also rejuvenates old fairy tales with freshly creative spins. ... And then there's- Nay! I'll stop there; there's so many directions one can go!

[dramyk]

I have several favorites. Realistically, who ever I am reading at the moment is my favorite especially if I am immersed and involved in the book. Specifically, I like Nora Roberts, Debbie Macomber, Lee Childs (I love his Jack Reacher series) and Amanda Quick. I saw someone had listed J. R. Rowling and I would agree with loving that author as well. Edgar Rice Boroughs...hm... the more I think, the more authors come to mind.

[stotle71]

My favorite author is Ayn Rand. Though to say "favorite" is tough for me. I have about 10 authors I can read over and over and over and over ...

The reason why I would slightly put Ayn Rand above the others (such as Dostoevsky, Aristotle, Dante, Hugo, etc.) is that she was a philosopher AND a fiction writer. Her fiction works are heavy on the philosophy, including epistemology and metaphysics along with human nature and ethics. The blend of these two worlds is no easy task and one I admire when it is accomplished.

While I have some critique's of Rand's personal views, I thoroughly enjoy her appreciation for intelligence and personal autonomy. Her views on aesthetics and the value of beauty is another area I appreciate.

[FMChandler]

Stephen King certainly is one of my top picks. He grabs your attention and holds to the end.

[kariellym]

My favorite author is Guy Gavriel Kay. I love his style; each book is like a long lyric poem. I've also loved Jane Austen practically all my life. I'm a huge SFF fan as well, so other favorites include George R. R. Martin, Jacqueline Carey, and Patrick Rothfuss.