Five Favorite Authors

[BDBoop]

How did you guys discover your favorite authors? I know my daughter and I have gotten each other into a lot of authors. I got her started on Jim Butcher, and she got me on J. K. Rowling.

 

[HUGGY]

Lair!

OK...I wasn't really very impressed with the two other guys...

 

[BDBoop]

I'm in full-blown whine mode. My back is killing me, and I still have two hours on this shift. Blah.

 

[HUGGY]

I'm in full-blown whine mode. My back is killing me, and I still have two hours on this shift. Blah.

Hot bath and a nice scented oil massage sound good?

 

[jillian]

Stephen King
Robert Michener
Ken Follett
JRR Tolkien
Leon Uris

 

[techieny]

How did you guys discover your favorite authors? I know my daughter and I have gotten each other into a lot of authors. I got her started on Jim Butcher, and she got me on J. K. Rowling.

For some I read reviews of their books in the book section of the Sunday Times, others suggested by friends, and a few just by chance.

 

[koshergrl]

Tolkein! Crap!

And of course C.S. Lewis...

and Lewis Carroll.

I can't narrow it down to 5.

Also Ray Bradbury.....

And Margaret Mitchell..at any rate, Gone With the Wind. I read it every year.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

J. R. R. Tolkien
Philip Pullman
Mark Twain
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
George R. R. Martin

I'm not sure how the list would look if I included non-fiction writers.

 

[BDBoop]

Oh, go for it.

 

[koshergrl]

Richard Preston
Ann Rule
Jean Plaidy/Phillipa Carr (Victoria Holt used a variety of names and wrote some of the best first person novels about historical women...)
Right now I'm kind of liking Jude Devereaux, of all things. But some of the stuff she writes is funny.

Loved the Hunger Games and the Harry Potter books.

Maria Tatar.

 

[BDBoop]

Love Ann Rule, but don't know the last time she put a book out.

 

[BDBoop]

Richard Preston
Ann Rule
Jean Plaidy/Phillipa Carr (Victoria Holt used a variety of names and wrote some of the best first person novels about historical women...)
Right now I'm kind of liking Jude Devereaux, of all things. But some of the stuff she writes is funny.

Loved the Hunger Games and the Harry Potter books.

Maria Tatar.

Ever read Deveraux' Knight in Shining Armor? It's one of my favorite books ever, I've read it at least 10 times.

 

[koshergrl]

No, I just accidentally picked up one of hers a few weeks ago. I've forgotten the name, but it was very good, I didn't want it to end, and then I sought out some more but she flies off the shelves at Goodwill/St vinnie's, where I try to do most of my book shopping.

Though I bought the Hunger Games books as soon as they hit the shelves. I did the same thing with the installments of the Green Mile, when they were coming out...

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

Oh, go for it.

Well, if you insist.

H. L. Mencken
Murray Rothbard
Frédéric Bastiat
Thomas E. Woods
Thich Nhat Hanh

And I'm giving an honorable mention to Robert Frost.

 

[Ragnar]

I was just in B&N looking for Jim Butcher's latest Dresden book in paperback (not out till August) and the clerk recommended an author while I wait. Robert Rankin. Any fans?

I bought The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse but wont start it till I've caught up on all the Dresden Files books again. (will finish Dead Beat tonight) Love to hear from any Rankin fans.

 

[BDBoop]

I was just in B&N looking for Jim Butcher's latest Dresden book in paperback (not out till August) and the clerk recommended an author while I wait. Robert Rankin. Any fans?

I bought The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse but wont start it till I've caught up on all the Dresden Files books again. (will finish Dead Beat tonight) Love to hear from any Rankin fans.

Love that name.

 

[g5000]

G, is this the kind of reading you've done your whole life, or do you read anything more current?

Yes, that is the kind of reading I have done my whole life.

I have read thousands of books, those I listed are just my favorite authors. Shakespeare, Steinbeck, Stephenson, Vonnegut, and de Tocqueville.


Yes, I do read current stuff. I make the occasional link to some of them in my posts. Most of the current stuff I am reading is financially related. Things other people would probably rather die than read.

I posted a review of Stephen King's 11/22/63 on here not too long ago, though. I snuck that one into my list to break up the monotony.

But nobody has yet been born who tops Shakespeare. Sorry.

Neal Stephenson is relatively current, compared to the others. I challenge you to read Snow Crash and not find it to be simply amazing.

Yes, it was written about 20 years ago, but you'd swear it was written last week.

 

[American Horse]

Can you narrow it down to five? Or do you have trouble coming up with five.

Who are your favorite authors, and what genre do they write.

By favorite I mean that I have read more than one book by the author, and I would seek out more by the same author; that I would await more books by them as I did a new song by Buddy Holly as a youth.


Will Durant - Western civilization/history - philosophy
(Synthesized history - scholarly - Books: Caesar and Christ, The Life of Greece, The Renaissance, The Age of Napolean, etc. etc.)

Eric Hoffer - philosophy/human nature and mass movements
(The True Believer, The Passionate State of Mind, The Ordeal of Change, Before the Sabbath, Truth Imagined, First Things Last Things)

Isaac Asimov - Sci Fi
(his The Foundation Trilogy was a magnificent work of future history)

Kim Stanley Robinson - Sci Fi
(The Mars Trilogy - Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars- A scientific/sociological work of fiction)

Robert Harris - Stories of ancient Roman civilization and politics
(Pompeii, Imperium, Lustrum; I'm waiting for another)

Nelson Demille - Crime/suspense/humorous insights
Lee Child - Crime/suspense/action
Vince Flynn - Suspense/action - Political intrigue

 

[BDBoop]

G, is this the kind of reading you've done your whole life, or do you read anything more current?

Yes, that is the kind of reading I have done my whole life.

I have read thousands of books, those I listed are just my favorite authors. Shakespeare, Steinbeck, Stephenson, Vonnegut, and de Tocqueville.


Yes, I do read current stuff. I make the occasional link to some of them in my posts. Most of the current stuff I am reading is financially related. Things other people would probably rather die than read.

I posted a review of Stephen King's 11/22/63 on here not too long ago, though. I snuck that one into my list to break up the monotony.

But nobody has yet been born who tops Shakespeare. Sorry.

Neal Stephenson is relatively current, compared to the others. I challenge you to read Snow Crash and not find it to be simply amazing.

Yes, it was written about 20 years ago, but you'd swear it was written last week.

I loved 11/22/1963, will have to check out Snow Crash.

 

[g5000]

Robert Harris - Stories of ancient Roman civilization and politics
(Pompeii, Imperium, Lustrum; I'm waiting for another)

Have you heard Mike Duncan's epic The History of Rome podcast?

It ran for five years and is a legend in historical podcast circles. He set a benchmark I don't think will ever be broken. This guy is the Edward Gibbon of historical podcasts.

It just completed a few weeks ago.

You can subscribe to it on iTunes and listen to all 179 episodes at your own pace without having to wait five years to hear it all. It's still there and will remain there into the future as he is planning on starting another historical podcast using the same stream some day.

It is a truly awesome piece of work, and there is an accompanying web page where you can view relevant maps and photos for each episode.

I very, very much enjoyed it.