Do you have a favorite author?

17 years ago

I do - - at least a dozen. I read all their books and usually buy their new releases in hardback as soon as they are available. But is there one special author who rarely disappoints, who speaks to you in a way that other writers do not, whose work you have savored over a long period of time?

When I think of it this way, the list grows shorter, until two or three are left instead of that dozen. For the past several years my real favorite has been Connie Willis. Why? I love her humanity, her humor, her incredibly wide ranging intelligence. Even when I don't agree with her (it happens), she makes me think. And she tells such wonderful stories.

So, who's your favorite writer?

Rosefolly

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Comments (38)

christinmk z5b eastern WA
17 years ago
I can't say that I do. There is usually one, or a few more, books by an author that I like, but rarely do I like all of a particular author's books. I judge a book more on its individual merit and appeal (to myself) rather than on who wrote it. I've often picked a book up thinking id like it because I liked another book that author wrote just to be dissapointed by it. That doesn't mean I don't have slight preferances for an author based on their style of writing on the whole though.
CMK
georgia_peach
17 years ago
Hmmm... yes and no. There are a few authors I'll buy new releases for because I've read just enough by them to know that I'll value the reading experience whether I end up loving the book or not. In this category, I would put Dan Simmons.

There are too many authors out there that I'd like to say "I know" but I can't because I've only had time to read 2 or 3 of their books and they've written scads and scads. I suffer from the too many books not enough time syndrome to ever feel like I can just catch up on some of those authors. That's why I get excited when I find an author I like who's written only a few books. I feel like then I can actually keep up with future releases (but I'm not prone to reading books when they first come out). And - like previous poster - there are many authors that I only pick up selectively, depending on whether the subject appeals to me and my mood at the time.

With that said, I've also found a few children's authors that I like and have started, slowly, collecting their books. They include Margaret Mahy, Nancy Farmer and Sylvia Cassedy (who only, I think, produced two books before she died).
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carolyn_ky
17 years ago
I have many favorites, too. One whose writing I find beautiful is James Lee Burke.
sheriz6
17 years ago
I have several favorite authors whose books I'll buy the minute they come out and right now Bill Bryson and Tony Horwitz top my list. I'm also working my way through all the Georgette Heyer and Beverley Nichols I can find.

Other favorite authors have come and gone over the years, but my most reliable favorite since back in the 1980's is Nora Roberts. I know, I know, she's a romance writer, but she tells a good story, and I like her characters and heroines who can take care of themselves. I'll not deny it's fluff, but it's been consistently entertaining fluff *G*
vickitg
17 years ago
Only two authors come to mind whose every single book I have read: Tony Hillerman and Christopher Moore ... quite a pair, huh? I love the humanity of Hillerman's characters and he always manages to bring his settings to life for me. Moore is always good for a laugh, and I appreciate that.

I've read several Terry Pratchett books and always enjoy them, some more than others, though. And of course there's Harry Potter. I'm almost afraid to read any new Rowling books just in case they don't live up to expectations.

I've read many, but not all, books by Dick Francis and Jasper Fforde.

So I guess those would be some of my favorites ... although no books by those authors would necessarily make my top ten list. Hmmmm.
ccrdmrbks
17 years ago
sheri-don't apologize-we need dessert just as much as vegetables!

I like a lot of authors, but I buy very few, and I buy only a couple retail.
I buy Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody books in hardback as soon as they appear. I don't like her other series, though. I also buy P.D. James' Dalgleish novels and Martha Grimes-the Jury novels, not the other series.

I have collected all of Angela Thirkell's novels-before it was so easy using the internet! I'm in the process of finding all the Elizabeth Dalys out there. These are both, of course, used books, although there was a reissue of some of Thirkell's in trade paperback-which I bought, to preserve my somewhat frail WWII vintage hardbacks.
gooseberrygirl
17 years ago
My favorite authors are Fiction: Alexander McCall Smith,just the Botswana series, and Nonfiction: Kathleen Norris. However I just bought her new book, hardbound. and I am sorry I did...it was okay but too long and boring mostly.

gbg
frances_md
17 years ago
The ones who immediately come to mind are Michael Connelly, Stephen White, and Lee Child. I look forward to new books, read them in a couple of days, and then look forward to the next ones. If only they could write as fast as I can read!

There are others whose books I watch for but these three are my favorites right now.
annpan
17 years ago
Sheriz, I have read most of Heyer's books many times over the last 60 years! I prefer her Regency and detective ones to the more historical works. It is a long time since I read "The Great Roxhythe" and I didn't like it much. Her early novel "Bitter Corn" is very class conscious and dated. They are probably out of print anyway.
Although she liked to write the historical novels, I think her Regency ones were so delightful no-one has come close to doing that period so well.
Gooseberry, I have read all the Botswana books and am now listening to Adjoa Andoh reading them to get the correct pronunciation of the names!
I have so many favourites, I cannot list them all!
sheriz6
17 years ago
Annpan, I love her Regencies and the mysteries, too. I've not been able to find her 'regular' novels anywhere, and honestly I'm not that interested in them.

Cece, thanks!
lemonhead101
17 years ago
I don't seem to have a favorite author really - no one I really collect at any rate. Maybe Bill Bryson if I think about how many of his books I have in the book case.

I just kind of flit about from one author to another really. Variety is the spice of life. :-)
veer
17 years ago
I'm not a great reader of fiction so often read by subject matter rather than author.
I do, however look out for the works of Diana Norman/Ariana Franklin who writes excellent historical novels, Laurie Graham, Bill Bryson, the Irish travel writer Dervla Murphy and the short stories of Canadian, Alice Munroe.
And unlike many RP'ers I never read ALL the books of a particular author one after the other . . . I prefer to mix rather than match. ;-)
Patches
17 years ago
I read a LOT. Love Nora Roberts esp the Irish Trilogies, Luanne Rice, Susan Wiggs and Suzanne Brockman. Also like(most of) Elizabeth Lowell and Debbie McComber, Joan Johnston. Recently discovered Susan Crandall and Linda Howard and so far like Crandall best of the two.
I can't pass by a book store - especially the sale bins where I often pick up excellent finds. My screen saver is "A Room Without Books is as a Body Without a Soul".
twobigdogs
17 years ago
Perhaps you don't need to read my answer! Perhaps you are sick of hearing (seeing) his name in my posts!

My favorite author is George Gissing. He was a late Victorian writer and he died in 1903. He is not well-known but I think he is far better than Dickens in portraying that age... at least the nitty-gritty parts of it. His characters are fully developed and complex, as are his plots. His diction is amazing and his grasp of human emotion, in my opinion, is seldom matched.

George Gissing, is, hands-down, the best writer I've ever read.

That being said, I have keep an index box full of authors I really enjoy and on each card, I list their titles in order so I have a ready list for the library or book sale or bookstore or gift ideas. I am a bit "funny" with lists and record-keeping. As I read a title, I then highlight it so I know exactly what I've read by each author. This is, of course, in addition to my "books read" notebook and my gigantic TBR binder (which is divided into categories such as biography, travel, general fiction, literature, mystery, and history).

PAM
kren250
17 years ago
My favorite authors seem to change every few years or so, and it's usually the case that I haven't read all their books; although I'd like to! Just too many other authors I want to read as well, I guess.

My current favorite authors are: Cormac McCarthy (I've now read all his books except one), Sarah Waters (I have read all four of hers), and Toni Morrison (I've only read 4 or 5 of hers, and several so long ago I barely remember them).
lemonhead101
17 years ago
Upthread, I wrote that I didn't really have any favorite authors, but in thinking about it some more, I realize that there are some that I tend to gravitate towards. I really enjoy Margaret Atwood and Penelope Lively at the moment so I guess right now, they are my favorite.

This, however, will probably change in the future as I come across new (to me) authors.
hemlady
17 years ago
Favorite: Jane Austen!

Denise
pam53
17 years ago
my favorite author changes frequently and it can never be just one author-right now I'd say I don't have one!
domrepgrl
17 years ago
I consider the people who's every book I have and have read and re-read throughout the years: Kurt Vonnegut and Gabriel Garcia Marquez (so I guess I like sad and funny combined), Anne Tyler because of how she can lifts and defines the mundane little details in our lives.

I like many authors, but those are the ones who's books I would take if I was being abandoned in some island somewhere.
rouan
17 years ago
This is a hard one to answer as I have several authors I really like. I agree with Georgette Heyer. If she were alive and writing today, I would probably buy anything she came out with. I will buy any books by Robin McKinley even though there are a few of hers that I did not like as much as the rest of her books. Another author I really like a lot is Ellis Peters. Unfortunately she is also deceased.

I agree about Elizabeth Peters; I have all of the newer Amelia Peabody books and am searching for the earlier ones in hardcover.

Hmmm, this list could go on and on. There are several more authors I could mention, but these should suffice for now.
bwilliams5980
17 years ago
Rosefolly - Great question and one I at first thought "Impossible to answer." Then I read yor criteria and your choice and thought, "Of course! Connie Willis is the perfect choice." I love everything she has written, from her short stories to her longest novels, and all the novellas in between. Her introduction alone to The Winds of Marble Arch was sublime and I've almost quoted it on this forum several times.

But as I read on I saw so many others I would also have to agree with. I think the best I can do is my top ten - those authors who have never disappointed me - who I have to own, not just check out at the library. These are the ones I check the shelves of my local Half-Price Books for every week. They are:

Connie Willis
Sharon Shinn (Rosefolly - I think you might like her - and her YA stuff is as good as her adult)
Terry Pratchett
Neil Gaiman
Jasper Fforde
Christopher Moore
Katie Fforde (my guilty pleasure, pure fluff but fun and I love her characters. I found her accidentally at the library because of Jasper)
Nancy Farmer
Barbara Kingsolver
Bill Bryson
Oh - and Hillerman - sorry, that makes 11.

I guess the author I am MOST excited about whenever he gets around to putting out a new book is Douglas Coupland. (OK, 12, lol)

And then there are all the old favorites I don't look for anymore simply because I have them all now. These are also authors that have never disappointed:

Austen
Vonnegut
Alcott
Thirkell
Goudge (Elizabeth - not Eileen)
Walker Percy
Twain
Pym
Rowling
Josephine Tey

So many others - veer, I tend to mix things up and not read "one after another" but I do like to intersperse all these "old friends" in with the new ones I am trying out. As I said, these are the authors who have consistently entertained and enlightened me.
christinmk z5b eastern WA
17 years ago
-bwilliams, what Twain book would you suggest I read (sorry this is a little off of the main subject)? I read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer when I was young, but never really appreciated it until I was older. I read The A. of Huck Finn this year and liked it (the writing more so than the plot sometimes). I have been wanting to read another book by Twain but have been unsure what to check out. What would you recommend? Thanks!
CMK
sextoysprincess
17 years ago
i'm a big fan of Anne Rice, I'm currently reading her Memnoch The Devil novel, done her Blackwood Farm, I'm also into Danielle Steel and her Zoya, Message From Nam, Kaleidoscope are my favorites...John Grisham is part of the list as well as JK Rowlings, Judith Krantz, Nicholas Sparks, Stephen Kings and JRR Tolkens...

Here is a link that might be useful: my fave shop
bwilliams5980
17 years ago
CMK - I think Pudd'nhead Wilson is probably my favorite of Twain's. The Innocents Abroad is really good if you are looking more for non-fiction.

Brenda
leel
17 years ago
I'm afrraid I'm stuck in the past--I LOVE Edith Wharton and Henry James. Iwas initially turned on to Wharton with The House of Mirth, a book which still speaks to me.
christinmk z5b eastern WA
17 years ago
Thank you Brenda!
-leel, I will have to check out House of Mirth too. I saw something about it on PBS and am interested now.
CMK
crookwd
17 years ago
My 2 or 3 are Barbara Wood and the Douglas Preston-Lincoln Child books, especially their Pendergast series.
dc
phyllis__mn
17 years ago
Oh, this is a hard one.....I've read everything of Nevada Barr's except her current Anna Pigeon book, so she is a favorite, of course,but then I think of John Grisholm, Adam McCall Smith, Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison, Ian McEwan, etc. etc. No favorites, I guess
phoebecaulfield
17 years ago
Anthony Trollope
kendra86
17 years ago
Probably my favorite author is Tamora Pierce, she writes fantasy books for young adults and I know it seems a bit juvenile, but she tells such great stories! She always has really strong female heroines, not the typical damsel in distress and she writes (in my opinion) good fantasy. There is good fantasy out there, but it is hard to find among a lot of the stuff that is just trash (once again, just my opinion).
lemonhead101
17 years ago
I have found a new favourite author: Deborah Moggach. She has written a host of books, all different (i.e. not a series) and after having read four of them, I am hoping that the rest are just as good. She is an English writer who lives in North London (where, it seems, a lot of creative people live) and her stories are well researched and well written. The plots just suck me in -- I love it.
hmm214
17 years ago
I have to buy the latest Mrs. Murphy mystery by Rita Mae Brown as soon as it comes out in hardcover.

I collect books by other writers and consider some of those writers 'favorites', like Gladys Taber and Miss Read.
lindsdat
17 years ago
Anita Shreve...her books make me want to write. I love how she uses one house as the scene for so many stories through history. I want to read them in sequence eventually.
and Luanne Rice for mindless easy reading
philc
17 years ago
I tend to have runs on authors. I'll enjoy one of their books, and then try to get hold of lots more hoping that they'll be as good. Unfortunatly they seldom are.
A good example is Iain Banks. I read "The Crow road", and enjoyed it - I then got "Whit", which is wonderful. After that, "Complicity" - which is pretty gory, but compulsive reading. I then worked through the rest of his canon in search of anything as good - but the only other one that came close for me was "Espedair Street". The rest fail, for me, for various reasons - "Song of Stone" is vile. (McCarthy's "The Road" reminded me of this), "The Business" seemed rather pointless, "Canal Dreams" belongs in a airport deparure lounge and nowhere else.

His celebrated first book "The Wasp Factory" I found OK, but none of his other books have the same charm I found in the first three that I read. But I still buy them when they come out, in the hope....
I've not read any of his science fiction (Iain M Banks), perhaps that's one for the "irrational avoid despite" thread.

Wodehouse never fails to disappont. I've read just about all of them (that I can find - I'm still missing a handful of rarities), and most at least twice. As Wodehouse only really wrote about three basic plots, and tirelessly repackaged them with his wonderful use of language, it doesn't really matter if you've read them before. I use them to punctuate more serious reading - or get me back into the habit of reading when I have a "dry spell".
raymaj
17 years ago
Stephen King (no surprise there:-)), Charles Dickens and Larry McMurtry.

Hmmmm....always wondered what the connection was between these three that I enjoy their work so.
Chris_in_the_Valley
17 years ago
I'm one who will read every novel in a writer's oeuvre until I get burned by one. Favorite author is tough. Of Mice and Men had a powerful effect on me, but Steinbeck's other work doesn't move me so much. Hemingway's The Old Man and The Sea was transcendent, but I really hate one (name escapes me) of his novels.

This week:

Wodehouse, who doesn't like to laugh out loud?
Twain, clear view of our souls
Heyer, I truly love the way every heroine is different. Beauties, pedestrian, smart, brainless, frivolous, earnest, lively, timid ....
Neal Stephenson, so very smart a writer and I love the way he interprets our changing technological culture.
Roger Zelazny, magical, lyrical. I love the way he explores the ideas around myth.
Neil Gaiman, Zelazny's successor
Larry McMurtry, this man writes the best women and made me cry once for 100 straight pages.
Dan Simmons, love his ideas and the perspective he brings to old stories and myths.
James Lee Burke, lyrical, magical, wonderfully complex characters.
sherwood38
17 years ago
My favorites have changed over the years. When younger I read everything by Agatha Christie & Charteris who wrote The Saint series.
Then I went thru my 'classics' period - love Anthony Trollope, Jane Austen and my favorite book of that era is Vanity Fair & secondly The Forsyte Saga.

Now I read everything by Lee Child, Nelson De Mille, Vince Flynn, Daniel Silva and buy the books as soon as a new one comes out.
I also enjoy very much David Baldacci, Peter Robinson, Stephen Booth and Linda Fairstein, but get their books from the library.

Pat
Chris_in_the_Valley
17 years ago
Upon reflection I must add Poe and J.K. Jerome to my list. How could I have forgotten Poe? I used to lunch at his grave site. The economy of language, the vivid stories, and the lyricism combine to make him a favorite through all my stages of reading.

I cannot leave out a man who makes me laugh aloud. Seriously, if you need a laugh, I highly recommend Jerome's Three Men on a Boat or Three Men on a Brummel.

Do you have a favorite author?

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