Favorite Authors

[NeonJungle]

Who are your favorite authors? I will read anything by Alice Hoffman. Also loved Paula Wall's "The Rock Orchard."

Fall right in to just about any mystery series -- am reading one of The Lincoln Lawyer books now.

[LazyToaster]

Maeve Binchy (RIP, I loved every single book she wrote)

Anne Tyler (love her quirky characters)

Alexander McCall Smith (most not all of his writing)

Jennifer Weiner (good stuff)

Janet Evanovich (guilty pleasure, listening to her Stephanie Plum series on audiobook)

Graeme C. Simsion (just read his book, The Rosie Project, loved it)

Ha, all I can think of off the top of my head.

[Danny Franks]

Robin Hobb - Her Farseer trilogy should be required reading for teens struggling to figure themselves out.

Robert Jordan - Despite its flaws, the Wheel of Time series will always be a seminal piece of fantasy literature, in my view.

Terry Pratchett - Reading a Discworld novel is like hanging out with an old friend. Even if it's a new novel.

Joseph Kanon - Period spy/conspiracy thrillers are a particular weakness of mine, and Kanon writes the best.

Neil Gaiman - Incredible imagination and inventiveness. Great sense of of humour, with just enough darkness.

There are other authors I'm just starting to discover, who I really like. Christian Cameron, Chris Wooding, Daniel H. Wilson, Brandon Sanderson.

[mad_typist]

Kurt Vonnegut - one of my favorite contemporary American writers

Jeanette Winterson - The Passion is amazing. I always describe it as the literary equivalent of a beautiful song - she doesn't use any fancy words, but the particular way she strings together simple language makes this gorgeous flowing thing

John Irving - The World According to Garp was one of those books that really blew my mind the first time I read it

Iain M. Banks - Amazing sci fi writer

Alice Sheldon (nee James Tiptree Jr) - Wrote under a male pseudonym her entire life. Her scifi schort stories are incredible. I'm also amused at the number of male scifi writers who were on record insisting that based on her work that Tiptree couldn't possibly be a woman.

[radishcake]

mad_typist we have very simpatico bookshelves! :D 

[EC Amber]

Frank Herbert. My absolute favorite though we'd strongly disagree about the deviancy of homosexuality (he thought it was a mental illness) I otherwise loved his insights on ecology, religion and politics. 

Anne Sexton - she provided deeply provoking peeks into the lives and minds of women of the mid-20th in a way that no one had (or has since). 

LM Montgomery - Her wonderful novels about coming of age young women of the late 19th were only made more poignant by her own difficult past that ultimately led to her suicide.

The Bard - I need say nothing else

Tom Robbins - an absolute bizarre style of writing has led to an assortment of novels that overflow with insane metaphors (one of my favorite: he was so lazy he was like a python digesting a valium addict). 

Neil Gaiman - If American Gods and Good Omens aren't your style, check out his trade paperback based on his best selling character Morpheus (see the Sandman comics). 

Margaret Atwood - Handmaids Tale... so much to say, but I won't bother here as it would come off more as a social commentary/rant on patriarchal and religious rules and their effect on women in todays society (and in other societies where women are marginalized and otherwise diminished into property).

 Ursula K. LeGuin - Wow... powerful sci-fi writer, yet the sci-fi tends to take a backseat to the story telling (my favorite kind). The Left-Hand of Darkness is fascinating in terms of gender roles, but my favorite is The Dispossessed - what happens when you take a brilliant anarchist and drop him in the middle of a decadent, but highly regimented society? 

Honorable mention to Dr. Bart Erhman for his scholastic work and his books for the layman regarding early Christian history. Approachable, knowledgable and eye opening to the texts that has shaped our modern world. 

[mad_typist]

Ah I love Tom Robbins. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues is one of my favorite books.

[Etta Place]

I tend to read a lot, but not a lot by one author. I have a couple, though.

Haruki Murakami - The blend of the bizarre and the mundane is really what appeals to me.

Tim O'Brien - I'm pretty sure nothing else of his matches up to the brilliance of The Things They Carried, but that's to be expected.

I'm kinda on the fence about John Irving. A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of my favorite books of all time, but I've been less enamored of the rest of what I've read of his.

[marinite]

I too read a lot but not necessarily one particular author.  Some of my favorites are Jane Austen, Diana Gabaldon, Dickens, David McCullough, and Ron Chernow, off the top of my head.  Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series until about 10 books in, then I got annoyed and bored. 

For about 2 years I read nearly everything in my county's libraries about the American Revolution.  I've always been interested in that period and probably one of the best biographies I have ever read was Chernow's about Washington.  He did a fabulous job debunking a lot of myths, which were annoying poppycock, IMHO. The truth is really so much more interesting to me, ultimately. The whole time during that book and McCullough's 1776, I kept saying to myself, 'These Americans stand no change whatsoever of winning this war. What are they thinking?!'  Heh.

Currently reading Bleak House and impatiently waiting for Gabaldon's book due in June.  I have found that reading literature from the 19th century so fulfilling and time well spent. They are so frequently intensely evocative and rich in character, and I am often completely satisfied that I used my spare time intelligently.

eta: I tried reading Faulkner because he is a favorite of my wonderful aunt, but nearly sporked my eyes out and hanged myself. Oh, and anything Oprah recommends I stear clear; I have learned my lesson. Too depressing.

Edited April 14, 2014 by marinite

[radishcake]

Ah I love Tom Robbins. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues is one of my favorite books.

Jitterbug Perfume is one of mine! I love his brain. 

[mojito]

 

Graeme C. Simsion (just read his book, The Rosie Project, loved it)

I recently read it, too. Do you watch Doc Martin on PBS? I kept picturing Martin throughout the entire book. Fun book to read.

I read the Detective and Philosophy series by AM Smith.

I also like a lot of Fannie Flagg books. And Sandra Dallas. I'm a sucker for Grisham and Baldacci as well.

[mjforty]

John Irving - The World According to Garp was one of those books that really blew my mind the first time I read it

One of my all time favorite books.  For me, the thing about John Irving is that he is hit and miss.  Some of his books are just okay.  But when he's on ("The World According to Garp," "Cider House Rules," "Prayer for Owen Meany"), he is so damn good that I'm in awe of his talent.

For about 2 years I read nearly everything in my county's libraries about the American Revolution.  I've always been interested in that period and probably one of the best biographies I have ever read was Chernow's about Washington.  He did a fabulous job debunking a lot of myths, which were annoying poppycock, IMHO. The truth is really so much more interesting to me, ultimately. The whole time during that book and McCullough's 1776, I kept saying to myself, 'These Americans stand no change whatsoever of winning this war. What are they thinking?!'  Heh.

I also love the Revolutionary Period.  It's just filled with these incredible people who are both amazing and gifted but also so flawed.  I can never figure out if America  was just really lucky to have all of these men born at the same time or if they were ordinary men who rose to the occasion.  I frequently bore my friends with long monologues about the lesser known figures of the American Revolution and the early days of America.

As for authors, I would list John Steinbeck, Jane Austen, Diana Gabldon, Taylor Caldwell, Margaret Atwood, early Stephen King.

Oh, and anything Oprah recommends I stear clear; I have learned my lesson. Too depressing.

Sometimes she gets it right.  One of my favorite books, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, was an Oprah pick. 

[mad_typist]

For me, the thing about John Irving is that he is hit and miss.  Some of his books are just okay.  But when he's on ("The World According to Garp," "Cider House Rules," "Prayer for Owen Meany"), he is so damn good that I'm in awe of his talent.

 

I 100% agree. Some of his books aren't great, but his best stuff is just awesome. I am amused that he does seem to have a trend in his books of writing about writers who write about writing (e.g. Garp, Widow for One Year), are based in New England, and/or are about wrestling or sex workers.

[halgia]

Some who haven't been mentioned yet. These are arranged very roughly in their order along the "literary" to "fantasy" spectrum, which is one sense completely false and stupid but also not useless.

• Ian McEwan – didn't really like Sweet Tooth that much, and wasn't crazy about Solar before it, but in high school I devoured and loved almost all of his previous stuff. Should probably revisit it.
   
• Junot Diaz – by chance, I read his books so far in reverse chronological order (This Is How You Lose Her, then Oscar Wao, then Drown) and liked each a little less than the one before, but since that's happening in reverse that's actually a really good sign. :)
   
• Jennifer Egan – Visit with the Goon Squad is well-known and deserves to be, but I also really liked The Keep and especially Look At Me
   
• Michael Chabon – don't love everything of his, but Kavalier and Clay is of course wonderful, and Telegraph Avenue really connected with me after a bit of a slow start. (Except for the one chapter from Barack Obama's POV, which...yeah.) The young-teenager character in particular really felt true to my experience of being that age (despite the actual life situation being nothing like mine was).
   
• Karen Russell – Swamplandia! is one of my favorite books of the past few years, mostly because (this is a spoiler that I think will actually decrease your enjoyment if you haven't read it, or at least it would mine, so don't click)
  I loved the whole turnaround where Ava thinks she's going into this supernatural world, and most of Russell's writing does have actual supernatural elements, but then BAM no it's the real world, there's no magic just creep child-molester homeless dudes, fuck everything is terrible

  . Her short story collections are also good, though they tend to just set up a cool world and characters without a strong resolution / ending, a schtick that can get a little tiresome. Her new novella is kind of an extended version of that same thing.
   

• Patrick Rothfuss – amazing contemporary fantasy. (Another spoiler that I think will actually decrease enjoyment if you haven't read yet:
  the part where Kvothe kills the whole troop of people with sympathy, after establishing so firmly that you do not kill people with magic in this world, has really stuck with me

  .)
   

• Daniel Abraham – really thought-out fantasy worlds, but maybe a little too skewed towards the "thinking" side and less the emotional side; GRRM's buddy.

I'm also currently reading and loving The Golem and the Jinni, another book that belongs somewhere in the middle of this spectrum. The previously-mentioned Gaiman and Murakami also belong on here, and once I read a few more of their books Jonathan Lethem and also China Miéville probably will as well.

Edited April 15, 2014 by Dougal

[mad_typist]

I loved China Miéville's "Perdido Street Station" - it starts a little slow, but once it gets rolling it's fantastic. I love how absolutely weird the city was - very steampunk meets Cthulhu.  I was unexpectedly moved by the ending of that - I've been meaning to get around to the next book "The Scar"

Here's what's currently on the Reading To Do list:

1. Pump Six and Other Stories - Paolo Bagigalupi (sci-fi short stories)
2. Slow Getting Up - Nate Jackson (non-fiction about being a 4th stringer trying to make it on an NFL roster)
3. Silver Borne - Patricia Briggs (awesome pulpy series about a kick ass female shapeshifter)
4. The Phoenix Project - Gene Kim (book about DevOps, because I'm an engineer and I need to continue my education)

[Danny Franks]

Michael Chabon – don't love everything of his, but Kavalier and Clay is of course wonderful, and Telegraph Street really connected with me after a bit of a slow start. (Except for the one chapter from Barack Obama's POV, which...yeah.) The young-teenager character in particular really felt true to my experience of being that age (despite the actual life situation being nothing like mine was).

 

I loved The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Amazing book, which I picked up primarily because I'm a comic book fan, and ended up being blown away by. It's a really powerful book, and delves into some dark periods in American history. You can tell how big a fan of the comic book medium Chabon is. I have The Yiddish Policemen's Union on my bookshelf, but I've never been able to really connect with it.

Chad Harbach's The Art of Fielding is a novel that reminded me of Kavalier & Clay, and it's one I'd recommend strongly.

Daniel Abraham – really thought-out fantasy worlds, but maybe a little too skewed towards the "thinking" side and less the emotional side; GRRM's buddy.

 

I don't know if you've read this series, but if not, check it out. The Expanse trilogy (with a fourth book on the way), starting with Leviathan Wakes, by James S.A. Corey, which is a collaborative pseudonym for Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. Really fast paced, engaging space opera, with a group of fun characters and a storyline that just kept getting bigger and bigger. And the books have been optioned and ordered to series by SyFy (something I'm extremely excited about). And again, he (and Ty Franck) has come up with a very well thought out world, based on humanity's expansion across the Solar System. But I find a lot of emotional depth in the characters, and the ideas behind the story.

[halgia]

I don't know if you've read this series, but if not, check it out. The Expanse trilogy (with a fourth book on the way), starting with Leviathan Wakes, by James S.A. Corey, which is a collaborative pseudonym for Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck.

My Kindle copy of The Dragon's Path included Leviathan Wakes. Haven't gotten to it yet, but you just moved it up in my list. :)

(Also, I just realized in reading you quoting me that of course the Chabon book is Telegraph Avenue. Oops.)

 

I loved China Miéville's "Perdido Street Station" - it starts a little slow, but once it gets rolling it's fantastic. I love how absolutely weird the city was - very steampunk meets Cthulhu.  I was unexpectedly moved by the ending of that - I've been meaning to get around to the next book "The Scar"

Yep, I've also only read Perdido Street Station (a few months ago) and loved the crazy world. (This is a book where reading on an e-reader with an easy dictionary feature really helped....) 

[OakGoblinFly]

Another weighing in on the awesome Neil Gaiman (His Neverwhere is one of my favorite books) and will read just about anything he writes.

 

I like Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn and Stormlight Archive series a lot and Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden books just make me happy.  I recently discovered Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria Revelations (Thank you Book Bub) and thoroughly enjoyed them all.

 

I find that I like to re-read a lot of the classics, especial Alexander Dumas.

[halgia]

I find that I like to re-read a lot of the classics, especial Alexander Dumas.

I read Count of Monte Cristo for the first time a year or two ago and, though I really liked the first half or so, kind of lost interest later on. Haven't read anything else. Any suggestions?

[radishcake]

 

• Karen Russell – Swamplandia! is one of my favorite books of the past few years, mostly because (this is a spoiler that I think will actually decrease your enjoyment if you haven't read it, or at least it would mine, so don't click)
  I loved the whole turnaround where Ava thinks she's going into this supernatural world, and most of Russell's writing does have actual supernatural elements, but then BAM no it's the real world, there's no magic just creep child-molester homeless dudes, fuck everything is terrible

. Her short story collections are also good, though they tend to just set up a cool world and characters without a strong resolution / ending, a schtick that can get a little tiresome. Her new novella is kind of an extended version of that same thing.

Aaaaahhh! Karen Russell! I love her so much. I know it can be irritating to have that set up and pay off like a regular short story but I am so in love with her imagery that I love them anyway. The short story about the kid getting stuck in the giant shell? The skating rink? I will never not have them seared into my brain. So so in love. I guess I know what book I'm taking to bed tonight! 

[mjforty]

I am amused that he does seem to have a trend in his books of writing about writers who write about writing (e.g. Garp, Widow for One Year), are based in New England, and/or are about wrestling or sex workers.

 

I think this is deliberate.  He tends to revisit the same themes.  He's also tends to write about incest and, for some reason, bears.

Edited April 16, 2014 by mjforty

[COESpiral]

Jasper Fforde, John Grisham, L.M. Montgomery, Francis Hodgson Burnett, J.K. Rowling, Charlotte Bronte, Connie Willis, C.S. Lewis, Lawrence Sanders, Douglas Adams, Diana Gabaldon, Dean Koontz...just to name a few.

[Izzyboy]

Over the last few years I've been reading exclusively historical fiction, and specifically the ancient Roman period.  My two favorite authors that I've been reading regarding that time period are Steven Saylor and Conn Iggulden (who also has a really good series on Genghis Khan).

[P2C2E]

 

I loved China Miéville's "Perdido Street Station" - it starts a little slow, but once it gets rolling it's fantastic. I love how absolutely weird the city was - very steampunk meets Cthulhu.  I was unexpectedly moved by the ending of that - I've been meaning to get around to the next book "The Scar"

 

 

"Perdido Street Station" has one of my favourite passages in literature when talking about the Weaver. I really enjoyed "The Scar" as well, but couldn't get all the way through "Iron Council". "Perdido Street Station" is the best of his, I think. I also tried reading "Kraken" which was really interesting and had some very unique concepts, but I felt as though I was struggling through it. I just realized that I've only given up on reading on a handful of books in my lifetime and two of them were Miéville's! I honestly do think he's a great writer, maybe I just need to go back and try again. 

[Eegah]

I've recently found a huge appreciation of Elmore Leonard. He manages to not waste a single word in his books while still not feeling dry at all, with a ton of extremely engaging characters who I often find myself just wanting to see more of together, rather than the actual plot of the book. Also, how can you not have a ton of respect for a guy who held a steady writing career for SIX DECADES without producing a single work that's considered a dud? I was of course saddened by his passing last year, but I still can't really feel much true regret, as he lived a fine, long life and left behind an incredible body of work that anyone could be proud of.

[radishcake]

Here here Eegah! (great username!) Leonard is just such a good read no matter what book! 

[Mozelle]

Toni Morrison. My goodness, this woman! Song of Solomon is one of my favorites, but all of the characters in her works are so rich and nuanced.

 

I also really, really, really like Fitzgerald. I've read most of his novels save for The Beautiful and Damned. I'm currently listening to Tender is the Night as narrated by Peter Marinker on Audible. I'm not an audio book person, but 1) there was a code for one free audio book, so I thought I'd better make it worthwhile and 2) because I've read the novel twice. I was interested in how it would be re-enacted, so to speak. 

[AmyFarrahFowler]

I am a True Crime junkie with a little obsession with Ann Rule. While I wait for her new books I re-read the older ones. I live in the Pacific Northwest so I love any book written about my area. Tom Olson (local author) is a great non-fiction author a well.

[monkeybread]

I like Tolstoy, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, Honore de Balzac, Chekov, some newer writers I enjoy are Arthur C. Clarke, Justin Cronin, Jonathan Franzen, David Foster, Margaret Atwood, David Sedaris, Arundathi Roy, I like a lot of writers. I also enjoy some of the young adult series, fun reading. I wish they would write stuff like that when I was a teenager. All I got were silly romances. 

[peacheslatour]

 

for some reason, bears.

It's like Dean Koontz and dogs.

[ramble]

I also enjoy some of the young adult series, fun reading. I wish they would write stuff like that when I was a teenager. All I got were silly romances.

Exactly! I started pre-reading most of my kids books when they moved from the children's section into the young adult section. I did it originally to check for content age appropriateness, because sometimes the suggested ages & my suggested ages are vastly different. Before too long I was reading for my own enjoyment. Nice bonus for me!

[Iseut]

Christopher Moore is consistently hilarious and brilliant. I'm reading his newest, "Serpent of Venice," right now, and so far it's every bit as good as "Fool," which is also a sendup of Shakespeare with some of the same characters. I really need to incorporate his take on Shakespearean insults into my vocabulary. "Thou wretched pillar of syphilitic pheasant-fuck!"

 

I consider Moore having a couple different tiers of styles. He has his kind of crazy fun quick reads, mostly his earlier works, like Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, and his more recent style is a bit more epic, incorporating extant historical and famous fictional people and events, culminating in the amazing Lamb, and including Fool, Serpent of Venice and Sacre Bleu. But he still sprinkles in a book here and there of his fun, completely fictional worlds, like Bite Me. Love him so much.

 

I like a book to be a sensory experience. Kate Chopin, at the turn of the century, was good at that; I feel like I'm fanning myself in the oppressive bayou heat when I read her stories. Diana Abu-Jaber is a contemporary author I also love who immerses you in the setting like that, no matter what it is. Origin was set in bleak icy fields of never-ending snow in upstate New York, and Birds of Paradise is perfectly Miami.

Edited May 9, 2014 by Iseut

[jellysalmon]

I've developed a very short attention span as I've gotten older so I've tried (and failed) to read a lot of the books mentioned already but just couldn't get through them.

 

Thankfully I found George Saunders last year and really enjoyed his short stories. Working my way backwards through his collections.

[ALenore]

I like a lot of the authors mentioned above.  Humorous authors Christopher Moore and Jasper Fforde are great, I'm also reading (mostly listening to) the Tim Dorsey's Serge Storm series.   I read a lot of SF, Kim Stanley Robinson, Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, David Brin.   I also like Michael Chabon and Junot Diaz.   A lot of the books mentioned above are on my "To Read" shelves: Perdido Street Station, Swamplandia, Visit from the Goon Squad.  I'm part way through George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire Series (I've read the first 2 books).   

[suomi]

Joan Didion.  Her non-fiction essay collections are easy to pick up/put down when RL calls but I rarely want to put them down, I'd rather that RL wait its turn: Slouching Towards Bethlehem, The White Album, After Henry, Political Fictions. Her memoir Where I Was From is superb as well. I just ordered The Year of Magical Thinking, re the loss of her husband (John Gregory Dunne, Dominick's brother) while their adult daughter/only child was in an induced coma. Having done hospice work, I'm always wanting to learn more about how people process death and grief.

 

 

[Pickles Aplenty]

Charles Bukowski is my all-time favorite.  I know he's technically a poet first and then an author, but I think his work is amazing.

 

Other favorites: J.K. Rowling, George R.R. Martin, J.D. Salinger, William Faulkner, Tom Perrotta, Nick Hornby, Charles Dickens, Stephen King, Edith Wharton.  My taste runs all over the place.

[NoahC]

I have many. Some I don't like anymore, some I just heard of and I love, and some I've loved forever

Rick Riordan - I like him because of his Percy Jackson series

Suzanne Collins - Hunger Games!!! and Gregor the Overlander

James Dashner - Maze Runner

Veronica Roth - Divergent!!

John Green - Looking for Alaska, Fault in our Stars, Paper Towns

C.S. Lewis - Narnia!!!

J.R.R. Tolkien - Lord of the Ring, The Hobbit

Brandon Mull - Fablehaven, Beyonders

[geekamonggeeks]

Stephen King---I first read The Stand when I was in seventh or eigth grade, and it was what inspired me to become a writer. Some of his storylines can get silly and overwrought, but overall, I really enjoy his stuff. One whole shelf on my bookcase is dedicated to him alone.

 

Chuck Palahniuk---I started reading his stuff after watching Fight Club, and have been a fan ever since. Like King, some of his stuff can be a little narmy and makes me roll my eyes, but that doesn't stop me from checking out his new books from the library whenever they come out (I also own several Chucky P. novels myself, but that was before I became really frugal).

 

Terry Pratchett---Discworld is one of the best fantasy series hands down. It doesn't even feel like fantasy most of the time, which can be a pretty good thing (I can't read out-and-out fantasy novels). It's such a shame that he has Alzheimers. At least he'll leave such a legacy behind.

 

Angela Carter---dark, satiric, and whimsical without the whimsy. Nights at the Circus is one of the most unique books I've ever read. It can get pretty cynical at times, but ultimately ends on a pretty optimistic note. It's one of my favorite books to re-read. Plus, the cover art is fantastic.

 

That's it for now. I have plenty of others, but those are the ones I can think of at the top of my head.

[AltLivia]

I resisted Michael Chabon for years, I don't know why. I'm reading his novels compulsive lately. I'm a fan of Neil Gaiman and Diane Setterfield (the latter wrote The Thirteenth Tale). Occasionally I enjoy a Nick Hornby novel or an Alice Hoffman novel. Toss in some John Irving for good measure. I'm really all over the map and will read anything. However, I think I overdosed on Palahnuik in college and just can't summon the interest anymore.

 

I'm watching the Books forum here for good recommendations. 

[Cgr]

Luis Urrea is wonderful.  I have read and reread Into the Beautiful North and the 2 he wrote about Hummingbird's Daughter.  Fantastic reading.  

 

I loved The Book Thief and have given it as a gift to grandkids and to adult friends.  Just an amazing book. 

 

I am reading Fanny Flagg's latest book right now and am so enjoying it.  Almost every page gives you a nice chuckle.  

[Rick Kitchen]

Guy Gavriel Kay.  A Canadian fantasist who, I believe, is the best writer in the English language today.  His words are like music.  And his Tigana makes me cry every time I read it, which I do over and over again.

[Rick Kitchen]

Over the last few years I've been reading exclusively historical fiction, and specifically the ancient Roman period.  My two favorite authors that I've been reading regarding that time period are Steven Saylor and Conn Iggulden (who also has a really good series on Genghis Khan).

 

Conn Iggulden bugged me because his history is so phony.  Caesar and Brutus were childhood friends?  Just, no.

[GHScorpiosRule]

When I read the list of authors that everyone reads, I'll admit, that I was pretty intimidated to list who my favorite authors are. But then I thought, that makes it seem like I'm ashamed, and I'm certainly not that! And after pming with some people here and reading what they read which sometimes dovetails with a show...here I am.

 

My favorite author is Nora Roberts, who also writes under J.D. Robb. Sure, Nora started out in romance, but she transitioned into romantic suspense, and is one of the most prolific authors I've ever come across. Her greatest talent is how REAL her characters are, and I find I have to remind myself that they're fictional characters. She's great at writing relationships, whether they be of blood, friendship, family that's not blood, etc. As I straight female, I can say she's got the sexiest smokey voice I've ever heard and she could recite the phone book and I'd sit and listen. It doesn't hurt that she's local, and I've met her several times, and she knows who I am, and has never once massacred the pronunciation of my name, and is so generous in answering my never ending questions.

 

Her series under Robb, In Death is set in the near future, and I can hand wave most of the technology away, because at its core, its about the crime, and the characters. Her main heroine is Eve Dallas, a New York Lieutenant, who has such a dark and tortured past, but is one kickass character. And Roarke is perfection.

 

I'm not ashamed to admit I still read romance, but I ditched the categories after my authors left. So I'll add Linda Howard and Anne Stuart to the group. Stuart--I just love her dark and twisted stories. I'm perverse that way.

 

But over the years I've read Ludlum, King, Koontz, Vince Flynn, Nelson DeMille...

 

Classics? Fitzgerald, Austen, Shakespeare...

 

And though her recent stuff isn't as good, Julia Quinn--who writes historical romances, and who I consider to be my generation's Jane Austen.

[WendyCR72]

No worries, GHScorpiosRule. I read romance novels, too, and Nora Roberts is one of the good authors out there in a sea of sugary schmaltz. I admit I've never read her J.D. Robb stuff, but the stuff under her own has rarely disappointed me!

 

I also love Jennifer Crusie and her quirky brand of romance. I highly recommend Bet Me if anyone likes to laugh along with getting their love fix.

[ramble]

And though her recent stuff isn't as good, Julia Quinn--who writes historical romances

It's been awhile since I've read her but I like her too. I grew up reading the old Harlequin romances. They were clean & silly.

When I read the list of authors that everyone reads, I'll admit, that I was pretty intimidated to list who my favorite authors are. But then I thought, that makes it seem like I'm ashamed, and I'm certainly not that!

I understand what you mean. I tend to read lighter fare for entertainment & then what I think of as my heavies otherwise. That includes psychology, health & wellness & theology type books. For pure fun I like Sue Grafton, Lee Child & Janet Evanovich. Additionally I read a lot of young adult fiction since I used to pre-read a lot of books for my kiddos. I don't do that as much anymore, but I still like the YA stuff. I also end up reading history & literature when helping with homework & I find that I recall some things much more clearly than others. Edited June 13, 2014 by ramble

[OakGoblinFly]

@ramble, @GHScorpiosRule no worries about your author choices.  If you were to scan my Goodreads list, you'll see tons and tons of fantasy and young adult writers.  I read for enjoyment and as such I want something fun, light, entertaining, and engaging; it's great if the stories can be thought provoking and even better if they are conversation starters (i.e., reading Scott Westerfield's The Uglies with my niece and nephew and using that book as a jumping off point to talk about self-image, conformity, and societal expectations).  

 

I find that if I am dealing with a particularity stressful situation at work or in my personnel life reading something from the lighter side of the scale helps me decompress.

 

Sometimes I get on these "deep" kicks, last fall I re-read numerous Shakespearean works because viewing The Hollow Crown re-ignited my passion.  Currently I am re-reading various books about the Revolutionary War because AMC's TURN made me interested in that time period again.

 

I think the important thing is just to read, read some more, and then read again.  When I was a teacher, parents would ask what they could do to help their child be successful; I always responded that reading to and encouraging your child to read is one of the best things you can teach your child.   I don't care if it's Captain Underpants or War and Peace; just get them to read.

 

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body." - Sir Richard Steele

[WendyCR72]

Young Adult stuff is where my reading obsession began. I was a complete Judy Blume fangirl, mixed with just a dash of Beverly Cleary.

 

But Judy Blume? I devoured her stuff. Tales of A Fourth Grade Nothing, its sequel Superfudge, Blubber, Deenie, Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret..., and on and on.

 

One that I still remember well, maybe because it was darker than her usual, was Tiger Eyes. Sometimes I feel the need to download it to my Kindle, but then I get embarrassed, given I'm LONG past the Judy Blume age, and resist. But that was a good one.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Young Adult stuff is where my reading obsession began. I was a complete Judy Blume fangirl, mixed with just a dash of Beverly Cleary.

 

But Judy Blume? I devoured her stuff. Tales of A Fourth Grade Nothing, its sequel Superfudge, Blubber, Deenie, Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret..., and on and on.

 

One that I still remember well, maybe because it was darker than her usual, was Tiger Eyes. Sometimes I feel the need to download it to my Kindle, but then I get embarrassed, given I'm LONG past the Judy Blume age, and resist. But that was a good one.

 

Oh me too! And I'll had Lois Duncan to the list. I read and reread her stuff, which was just amazing, and it pissed me off to no end how badly Hollywood massacred and annihilated her stories that made it to the big screen.

[GHScorpiosRule]

And FYI to anyone who is also a fan of Nora Roberts, that since she is local to me (well, Boonsboro, MD is only 45 minutes away), her hubby's store, Turn The Page Book Café, is having its 19th anniversary, where Nora and a number of other authors will be doing book signings.  It's on Saturday, July 19, from 12-2.  Other authors that will be there are:

 

1. Jennifer L. Armentrout
2. Maya Banks
3. Lynne Branard
4. Stephanie Evanovich
5. Linda Lael Miller
6. Christine Trent
7. Shiloh Walker
8. children's author Matthew Mainster

 

Not sure how it works here, but if anyone is interested, pm me and I will forward the addy/location.

[Readalot]

John Irving - The World According to Garp was one of those books that really blew my mind the first time I read it

.

Same. But I never felt any of the other Irving novels lived up to Garp.