Favorite authors?

Just thinking about this lately, for those of us who read

There are a lot of books out there, but very few authors. So who are your faves? Why? Have they inspired you in some way? Are any of them me (based on almost a year now of work for various internet sites that I've been on)? :D

Anyway, you know you got a few, and so I'll start the listing (because it is my post, after all):

P.J. O'Rourke (heads above all the current "right-wingers" in that he's funny. Inspired me to start writing)

David Sedaris (makes the personal essay an art form. Great stuff)

Sarah Vowell (funny and profound, a winning combination)

Roy Blount Jr. (The only other Southern Democrat besides me)

Dave Eggers (His memoir is great)

George Plimpton (fantastic sports reporting)

Hunter S. Thompson (all I've read is T%he Great Shark Hunt, but it's awesome)

Jon Savage (I think I understood 75% of England's Dreaming. I think)

John Lydon (you must read his autobiography)

J.D. Salinger (classic) F. Scott Fitzgerald (ditto)

Michael J. Nelson (better known as "MST3K's Mike Nelson)

Alright, now who do you like?

I enjoyed ENGLAND's DREAMING but as yet have not got round to JOHN LYDON.

Sophocles Aristophanes Charles Bukowski James Joyce Ernest Hemingway Kurt Vonnegut Albert Camus Tom Robbins Franz Kafka Oscar Wilde and lately Jeffrey Eugenides

Strangely enough I never found female authors half as interesting as male ones. But maybe that's because their writtinng is so... on the feministic, uninspired and boring side

I'd agree on the Aristophanes front!

More modern favourites would include:

Patricia Cornwell Val McDermid Karin Slaughter Nicci French Mike Gayle

Read Simon Winchester's book "Karakatoa" last week.

Really good, went well with Bill Brysons "A brief History of Everything" which I read the week b4.

Other than that I've read tolkien since it was a spectrum / c64 game(The game "the hobbit" was bundled with the book in the uk))

Have Read all the Ian Rankin books(Edinbugh based crime thrillers) THey are ok if a bit predictable, Ianj seems a nice guy though.

Other than that.. "Calvin & Hobbes" & "Get Fuzzy"!

Taboo # 7, is that really you on the avatar image?

If to speak of the contemporary English literature, I am fond of J. G. Ballard as I believe, his language is perfect and unique in terms of images and structures, not to mention his charmingly ruthless ideas.

Philip K Dick. Or the guys who make up the stories on problem pages in newspapers!

I've read so many books over the last 20 years i don't know where to begin, how about Irvine Welsh for starters.

Originally posted by Taboo # 7

Hunter S. Thompson (all I've read is T%he Great Shark Hunt, but it's awesome)

You have GOT to read The Rum Diary. Probably the best book i've read in the last five years.

If we're talking contemporary writers, then, as mentioned above, Irvine Welsh is sublime. As is John King, author of The Football Factory.

I always found England's Dreaming to be rather straightforward; you should try Greil Marcus's Lipstick Traces, that's one I've never finished.

Read Hunter Thompson's Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas when I was 13, which definitely warped my fragile little mind, I still read Hunter when I can, and he also writes a column for ESPN.com these days.

Loved John Irving's Prayer For Owen Meany, Garp wasn't too bad, but his last couple of books have left me rather unimpressed.

I've always enjoyed P.J. O' Rourke, from his days at National Lampoon, and a couple of Garrison Keillor's books are decent as well.

I absolutely love Margaret Atwood. Some of her work can probably be better appreciated by women (like Cat's Eye and The Edible Woman, both really good books). Her latest, Oryx and Crake, was an incredibly strange science-fiction story, but quite good. And The Handmaid's Tale is classic, IMHO...

Originally posted by feline SophoclesAristophanesCharles BukowskiJames JoyceErnest HemingwayKurt VonnegutAlbert CamusTom RobbinsFranz KafkaOscar Wildeand lately Jeffrey EugenidesStrangely enough I never found female authors half as interesting as male ones. But maybe that's because their writtinng is so... on the feministic, uninspired and boring side

Have I mentioned that Tom Robbins lives in my hometown of La Conner, Washington and that I've met him a few times? In fact, one of my friends lived next door to him so we used to always have to jump his fence to get wayward balls back. I still haven't read any of his books, though (but I was very happy that we both used the term "fascistic" in our respective letters to the local newspaper to describe the local school district's idea to institute school uniforms, though mine appeared a week before his).

Anyway, my faves are:

Albert Camus Hunter S. Thompson Antonin Artaud Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Marquis de Sade Charles Baudelaire Edgar Allan Poe ...and many more that I can't think of right now.

I don't read / I just dance.....

vonnegut and garcia marquez.

I forgot Vonnegut, Joseph Heller, and so many more...that's the bad thing about lists I guess

Taboo #7 - your author list is an NPR hot sheet! - this american life; wait, wait don't tell me! -

authors: Raymond Carver, Barry Yourgrau, Clive Cussler(guilty pleasure), Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, AA Milne, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Dana Stabnow (another guilty pleasure), Jane Austen,...

Graham Greene Robert Graves John McGahern Joseph O'Connor Roddy Doyle Nick Oldham Val McDermid Gwendoline Riley John Connolly Lester Bangs

Sylvia Plath for "The Bell Jar".

The Bronte sister's. Especially Emily.

Arthur C. Clarke Philip K. Dick Gabriel Garcia Marques Paul Auster David Lodge John Le Carré

Tolkien Tom Holt Terry Pratchet I want stuff that takes me away & preferably makes me laugh - y'know, like chick-lit

Already mentioned Graham Greene, Nicci French, John Irving (up to Owen Meany), Hunter S Thompson.F Scott Fitzgerald for the Great Gatsby and Salinger for Catcher in the Rye.Nelson DeMille would probably be my favourite beach book author. One offs, Dispatches-Michael Herr, River of Time -Jon Swain, We Did Nothing- Linda Polman.

There's nobody but Henry James.

Originally posted by Patrick There's nobody but Henry James.

Good choice there, Patrick, "Turn Of The Screw" (filmed as "The Innocents" in 1961) is one of my favorites.

Originally posted by Buffer Low > Originally posted by Patrick> There's nobody but Henry James.

Good choice there, Patrick, "Turn Of The Screw" (filmed as "The Innocents" in 1961) is one of my favorites.

Yes, that's definitely one of his better efforts.

and The Europeans and The Aspern Papers, one of America's great writers in my opinion.

Burgess

Solzhenitsyn

Hardy (when I'm really bored)

whoever writes the stuff on the ticker on ESPN2

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, one of the greatest writers ever, iv'e read most of his works, but the stand outs are

• Crime And Punishment
• The Idiot
• The Brothers Karamazov

It's amazing how mordern these books still are, especially Crime And Punishment, they are 150 years old but they could have been written yesterday.

I very much liked Notes from the Underground from Dostoevsky.

Originally posted by Buffer Low and The Europeans and The Aspern Papers, one of America's great writers in my opinion.

The Awkward Age and The Ambassadors are also good.

Originally posted by Tristan I very much liked Notes from the Underground from Dostoevsky.

That's the first book of his i read, and i think it was his 1st or 2nd publication.

Originally posted by Patrick > Originally posted by Buffer Low> and The Europeans and The Aspern Papers, one of America's great writers in my opinion.

The Awkward Age and The Ambassadors are also good. Agreed.

Originally posted by Buffer Low > Originally posted by Tristan> I very much liked Notes from the Underground from Dostoevsky.

That's the first book of his i read, and i think it was his 1st or 2nd publication.

He should have kept all of his works to that length!

Nah, i'm patient enough to read a 800 page novel.

Well, it's not 800 pages, but what about The Sacred Fount?

Originally posted by Patrick Well, it's not 800 pages, but what about The Sacred Fount?

Never read it. You want to give me a summary of it?

Originally posted by Buffer Low > Originally posted by Patrick> Well, it's not 800 pages, but what about The Sacred Fount?

Never read it. You want to give me a summary of it?

It's about a weekend country house party where the narrator believes he can infer hidden relationships among the other guests based on changes he thinks he sees in them that he thinks result from these relationships.

I can tell that everyone is lining up at the bookstore to snap up copies.

Originally posted by Buffer Low ...Dostoevsky...

There was a time I was under a heavy influence of Dostoievski, he really expands his terrible explorations up to the very egdes of human being.

Originally posted by A severe young man > Originally posted by Buffer Low> ...Dostoevsky...

There was a time I was under a heavy influence of Dostoievski, he really expands his terrible explorations up to the very egdes of human being. Never thought of him in that way, but i think you have a point there mate.

Marcel Proust for "Rememberance Of Things Past", all 2200 pages of it. One of the greatest novels ever written. Took him 25 years to write and rewrite and rewrite and rewrite it.

Let's not forget about Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The ending of "100 Years of Solitude" blew me away. Best book ending ever.

Originally posted by His Holiness, The Pope Let's not forget about Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The ending of "100 Years of Solitude" blew me away. Best book ending ever.

Same here, the ending of that book is one of the best ever written. The "Magic Realists" of South America are brilliant. Another great book by Marquez is "Love In The Time Of Cholera", when the protagonist starts eating Asparagus because he likes the way it makes his urine smell is genius.

Originally posted by Buffer Low > Originally posted by His Holiness, The Pope> Let's not forget about Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The ending of "100 Years of Solitude" blew me away. Best book ending ever.

Same here, the ending of that book is one of the best ever written. The "Magic Realists" of South America are brilliant. Another great book by Marquez is "Love In The Time Of Cholera", when the protagonist starts eating Asparagus because he likes the way it makes his urine smell is genius. I still haven't gotten to reading that one, but it's on my shelf right now...just waiting. I did lift the title of it to give to one of my plays: "Love in the Time of Cholesterol." Fairly well received.

Speaking of South Americans, I just read 'Maldoror' by Lautreamont. Weird stuff, that. I can see why the Surrealists liked him so much.

And following a train of thought, if you want to see some gloriously bizarre films, one of my favorite directors is an eccentric Chilean fellow named Alejandro Jodorowsky. I'd recommend his films Santa Sangre, El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis. Puts anything by Bunuel, Lynch, you name it, to shame in the surreality department.

By the way, Martin, how's your girlfriend doing? I hope she's feeling better. Send her my best wishes. :)

Julie Jones

http://www.jvj.com

Dave

Originally posted by His Holiness, The Pope By the way, Martin, how's your girlfriend doing? I hope she's feeling better. Send her my best wishes. :)

Thank you for your concern David, much appreciated, she's getting better, but slowly. She is on these really strong anti-biotics that knock her flat, so she is asleep most of the time (which is the best thing to do when you are sick) i will pass on your message of support, it will help her recover, but i think she will be sick for another week. She is not having a good time at the moment, but she will get better, she's just got the flu real bad.