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Who's your favorite author? Why?

My favorite author is Henry David Thereau. I love Civil Disobedience. My favorite quotes are as follows:

I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe--"That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which the will have.

Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.

I have many favorites in different genres. Being an avid reader of most all genres, I read a lot of superb works as well as garbage. I try to read new authors as often as I can.

Stephen King is my all time favorite. He can bring characters to life in a single page.

Next would be JK Rowling for the same reason. Her characters are so real you find yourself expecting to meet them.

Terry Goodkind writes an exciting tale and V.C. Andrews does as well though I don't care for the subjects too much.

Poe is on my read list and who can resist Zane Grey?

That is my top list. I could add pages of books I choose because of the author rather than the title but I will stop there.

Gosh! No way I couldlimit myself to only one!!!

I collect firsts in fiction by:

Robert B. Parker
Jane Smiley
Kathy Reichs
Peter Blauner
P.D. James
Ken Follett
Jeffrey Archer
Nelson DeMille
Chris Bohjalian
Dennis LeHane
Richard Dooling
Nick Tosches (plus non-fiction, no matter the subject. If Nick writes it, it is good!)
Patricia Cornwell
Scott Turow

And more... Even J.T. LeRoy under any name!!!

Some like novelists. As the list makes clear, I prefer storytellers. Rather like movies, if the literary type critics simply love it, I will hate it. I wonder how many actually read Phillip Roth and other novelists. The books might be bought and placed out where all can see, but...

There are "private librarians" now who set up libraries for celebs. Leather binding, of course. Imagine just saying to someone - "Here is $x - go out and get me a library that looks nice". In such a place, I would probably hunt for hours to find something to read!

I used to wonder how manty actually read "1914" or "The Gulag Archipeligo" of the thousands sold.

By far, my fave is Eric Jerome Dickey (right now). He mixes different races and uses lots of sexuality and eroticism in his writing.
~P

I agree with scott hughes. thereau is also a favorite of mine. Walden was visionary...and i think he surpassed emerson in both writing and the exultation of existentialism. my favorite writing of his would have to be the comparison between man and two warring ant colonies.

But just to add something to the discussion, i'll say that kurt vonnegut is another faovrite of mine. he had an honest, powerful voice and he also had the most venomous tongue since Twain.

I would have to say my favourite author of all time is Jane Austen. Followed by Orwell, Dickens, Jennifer Weiner, Jeffery Deaver, Robert Ludlum, JK Rowling, an Eoin Coffer.

I love all of these authors an many more for different reasons. Each appeal to my various tastes. In regards to Austen, if you've never read Pride and Prejudice, do so. It is insightful, funny, smart, and just very enjoyable.

No one has mentioned my favorite author yet... Ernest Hemingway. He is awesome, such simple looking sentences but also a classic iceberg theme... so much of what he says is under the surface. For lighter reading, my favorite is Nick Sparks.

ALL of the beatniks- I highly recommend Man Without a Country. - Vonneguts newest and greatest.

Toni Morrisson has a Nobel Prize for a reason. her stories are beautiful and lyrically complelling, without being insistent. I can't even pick my favorite of hers, but The Bluest Eye was the one that touched me first.

Chuck Palahunick is a twisted crazy son of a bitch. The things that go through his head and make it into his novels are things you can't even think of- the twists- try Invisible Monsters.

ANd of course, being a lit. major, I have to love Shakespeare. He is the original ganster.

I love F. Scott Fitzgerald! Also, I have a certain penchant for Hemingway and Poe.
In addition, I like Kerouac for his amazing On the Road.
I also like some random authors such as Dickens, Khayyam, Bates, and Dostoeyvksy.

I can't name just one. There's four or five authors that I think are on my tops.

I'll name Ayn Rand first since I've already mentioned her before in a post somewhere else on the board. I always enjoy reading her descriptions, her characters, and her thoughts.
Another one is Matthew Pearl. If no one knows who he is, he is basically a historical mystery writer. His first novel, The Dante Club, is a novel about a series of murders based on Dante's Inferno and the actual Dante Club, headed by Longfellow, have to solve the mystery first so that the police will not suspect them since they are the only ones who knows of the Inferno. The second is The Poe Shadow...a novel based on the mysterious death of Poe and a young attorney trying to discover the truth. He actually did some heavy research into it all so he could use things for the novel.
Another would be Isaac Asimov. I'm not very fond of Science Fiction...but something about Asimov kept me clinging.
The next would be Alexandre Dumas...Primarily The Count of Monte Cristo. It is possibly my favorite book of all time...or at least right up there with Atlas Shrugged.
Finally, but not least...Dante Alighieri. I fell in love with Dante when I was 13 and haven't been able to stop reading him yet. I have 3 translations of the Divine Comedy and four translations of the Inferno. He is probably my favorite of all. Not only his writings, but his life and the world he also opened up for me.

My favorite author is a tie between S.E. Hinton and Nicholas Sparks. They are both wonderful righters. Nicholas Sparks has a way of writing about love that no other writer I has been able to. Such as in his book The Guardian, there was this former love mixed with a new love that gives you a feeling of such comfort.
Then of course, S.E. Hinton is a classic writer of The Outsiders which was indeed a wonderful book. But I was more captivated by her book, That was Then This is Now. It caught me when I was 12 years old and I stayed up all night reading it. My teacher had suggested it and then when I went to her class ready to fall asleep she actually understood why. It made me laugh and not to mention made me cry my eyes out.

Borges is my favorite author of short fiction, my only problem is he wrote in spanish and I can only read translations. Penguin(?) or Puffer(?) publishing has an amazing anthology of all his short fiction translated into English. As for his poetry they offer a volume of his poetry with each poem in Enlish and SPanish. If you like magical realism or metaphysiscs in short fiction, he's top shelf. cheers.

Borges is the only reason I'll ever learn Spanish. Other than him I think Nabokov is pretty much peerless in fiction. Both were polymaths though Borges was better accomplished outside fiction/essays and was also an accomplished poet.

Soooo many favourites, so many genres! Here are just a few...

John Wyndham
LM Montgomery
Douglas Adams
Tim Winton
Ruth Park
Venero Armanno
William McInnes
Jane Austen

Oh I've gone blank!

Dostoevsky because he is Dostoevsky.

Nabakov because how can a person write so fluidly in a language that is not even his native tongue? I forgive him for thinking that women can't write.

Tolkien and C.S. Lewis because their works filled my imagination at a young age and therefore influenced my entire life.