How did you discover your favorite authors?

[Malleus, Incus, Stapes!]

How did you discover your now-favorite author? By recommendation, or by seaching the shelves?

2001, age 12: I was in Jerusalem for a rally. I quickly ran out of books, and wandered down to the local Steimetzky's (Israeli equivalent of B&N, as far as I can tell). As usually, the fantasy section was quite small.
I browsed through the shelves, looking for just the right book, worrying that the adult books would be too hard for me. I finally picked out The Fifth Elephant, because the title was so goofy. I looked at the back cover, which mentioned "the usual cast of trolls, drawves, vampires, and werwolves", and nearly put it down again. It sounded too cliche for me. But then again, the pickings were slim. I picked up my first Terry Pratchett book, and went back to the hotel.
To my astonishment, it turned out to be really good. Not only that, it was funny. I went back the next day for Eric, and today I have almost all of his books, well-worn throught constant reading.

[Sierra Indigo]

I've already mentioned it in your other thread:

Their books had shiny covers. No, really.

I'm like a magpie, and a book with a holographic cover will instantly catch my attention when I'm browsing. That's how I found Altered Carbon (Richard Morgan) and Chasm City (Alastair Reynolds). I was hooked by both of them instantly. I love their work and will buy anything they write as soon as it lands on the shelves, even if it's in $40 trade paperback form.

[Khadaji]

I think mostly by browsing the book stores, but sometimes from recommendations here.

[iftheresaway]

Two of my favorites have stories like this:

When I was younger and couldn't get to the library often (since I wasn't old enough to drive), I would buy massive amounts of cheap ($0.10) books whenever I was in a used bookstore or a Goodwill, so that I always had something unread on my shelves. One of these books was The World According to Garp. I thought it was quirky and I loved the way it encompassed such an incredible timespan. Years later, one of my favorite uncles gave me A Prayer for Owen Meany. His recommendation, as his always are, was spot-on, and I found the book tragic and perfect and incredible - and the sense of getting everything about a character's life seemed so familiar. I went through my shelves and found Garp, and now I own nearly everything John Irving has ever written.

I did something similar with Pratchett - I owned Jingo through some quirk of random buying, and then I actually found The Adventures of Cohen the Barbarian at the library; since it was large and (at the time) new, it was out on display, and something about it called to me, like a lover's eyes reaching out across a crowded room. :)

[RealityChuck]

Different ways for different authors. James Morrow sent me a free book. Thomas Pynchon and Flannery O'Connor, I discovered in an English class. John Barth, probably due to word of mouth and the fact that the blurbs for The Sot-Weed Factor made it sound interesting. Terry Pratchett similarly -- someone mentioned that The Color of Magic was a pretty funny read (at the time, he only had that and its sequel out). James Tiptree, Jr., by reading some of her stories in magazines and getting a recommendation from a friend. Neil Gaimen through Good Omens, which I read because I was a fan of Pratchett.

[Lynn Bodoni]

I read a review for The Colour of Magic in Analog, and picked it up. I read his other books as they came out.

I was in a chatroom on QuantumLink, and some people I liked talked about Barbara Hambly.

[An Gadaí]

I read a review of Philip Roth's American Pastoral in Newsweek (I think) and it persuaded me to order the book, which I did. I absolutely loved it and ordered more of his books. I've found a few of his secondhand and when the new ones have come out I've ordered them. I've got all of his from the last decade or more except Exit Ghost which was badly reviewed. I'll likely pick it up at some stage.

[maplekiwi]

My dad read & loved Georgette Heyer. From there it was easy to progress to Jane Austen.

Most other titles I've found att he library & I can be attracted by a good cover or a quirky title!

[jsgoddess]

Hmm. Jane Austen and Dick Francis I discovered in my parents' bookcases.

Dorothy Sayers in my sister's bookcase.

Charles Dickens in junior high school.

Edmund Spenser at university.

Elizabeth Peters at the library.

MM Kaye at the used book store.

[vison]

Edgar Rice Burroughs on the shelves at the back of the grade 1/2/3/4 classroom. First novel, actually first scifi I ever read: The Princess of Mars.

Downhill from there, I guess.

[chacoguy]

I received Black Elk Speaks (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw_0_16?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=black+elk+speaks+by+neihardt&sprefix=Black+Elk+Speaks)

and then

Undaunted Courage (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw_0_17?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=undaunted+courage+by+stephen+ambrose&sprefix=Undaunted+Courage)

as gifts.

[salinqmind]

My aunt was a librarian and put many fine books into my eager hands over the years! Ed McBain, Ruth Rendell, Winston Graham, Robert Crais, Elizabeth George, Ray Bradbury....the internet has been a godsend to those of us whose nose has always been stuck in a book.

[silenus]

My mother was a librarian. I owe it all to her. She was the first person to tell me about those books with the atom on the spine. Thus started a life-long affair with Isaac, Robert, Arthur, Pohl and all the rest.

[Sir T-Cups]

Boris Starling- I was walking in a bookstore in Wisconsin trying to find something to read for the 5 hour drive it is back to Ft. Wayne. Looked at a book called Messiah started it, couldn't put it down the entire drive and even continued it at my home; I've owned every book if his since

Thomas Hardy- I chose to read Tess of the D'urbervilles for a book in an english class in high school. While reading it I thought to myself "This is the hardest book I have ever read (mostly cuz of vocabulary)" but I loved every minute of it.

Steve Alten- My brother bought his first book Meg a couple years ago and I just recently (as in December) started reading him and I loved his books. I am in the process of buying more of them

[jsgoddess]

Thus started a life-long affair with Isaac, Robert, Arthur, Pohl and all the rest.

Slut! :D

[ITR champion]

Some of A, some of B. I've discovered many authors by selecting books from the library almost at random, including James Stoddard, Neal Barrett Jr., Philip Reeve, Robin Hobb, and Jan Siegel. Others I checked out due to overwhelming popularity, most notably Terry Pratchett, Chia Mieville and Gene Wolfe. And I discovered an impressive number of great authors from this website (http://greatsfandf.com/), including G. G. Chesterton, E. R. Eddison, Charles Finney, and R. A. Lafferty.

[longhair75]

Edgar Rice Burroughs on the shelves at the back of the grade 1/2/3/4 classroom. First novel, actually first scifi I ever read: The Princess of Mars.

Downhill from there, I guess.

My starting point was also the ERB novels. When I had read all of them I could get my hands on, I noticed a book on a display rack at the library with a title that caught my eye. It was Time for the Stars By Robert A Heinlein. From there, I just haunted the Sci Fi section of the library. This taught me to read the dust jackets, and it just progressed from there

[Mrs. Cake]

A lot of my early ones came from my parents. When I was about 9, the San Diego Library decided to unload a metric buttload of books, literally setting them out in cardboard boxes for people to take. Dad came home with a station wagon full of books, some of which turned out to be quite valuable. I had stacks of Victorian books to play with, so that is how I discovered Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and a slew of others.

Dad also gave me a copy of The Hobbit when I was ten.

Most others I found by accident - Barbara Peters at a thrift store when I picked up Curse of the Pharoahs, Charlotte McLeod at the library with Something in the Water, Terry Pratchett by randomly picking up The Light Fantastic with a Walden's gift certificate.

[jali]

I found Jack Vance in a drugstore in Staten Island after my car broke down. He's one of my favorites. I love "Araminta Station" and many of his other novels.

Jane Austin was a part of my parent's library. "Pride and Prejudice" is my favorite book.

Madeline L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time" was one of those books for sale at my elementary school.

Alice Walker's "The Color Purple" was passed to me by a good friend.

I found Tad Williams while browsing in a bookstore. I've read all the novels he's written and I want more! "The Dragonbone Chair" was the first I read. The "Otherland Series" is amazing!

[footballisplayedwithyourfeet]

When I was in Highschool the title Lolita was somehow interesting to me...since then I've read (and re-read) pretty much everything Nabokov has ever written (even the butterfly book).

[jali]

A lot of my early ones came from my parents. When I was about 9, the San Diego Library decided to unload a metric buttload of books, literally setting them out in cardboard boxes for people to take. Dad came home with a station wagon full of books, some of which turned out to be quite valuable. I had stacks of Victorian books to play with, so that is how I discovered Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and a slew of others.

Dad also gave me a copy of The Hobbit when I was ten.

Most others I found by accident - Barbara Peters at a thrift store when I picked up Curse of the Pharoahs, Charlotte McLeod at the library with Something in the Water, Terry Pratchett by randomly picking up The Light Fantastic with a Walden's gift certificate.


I'm re-reading a couple of McLeod's right now. I finished "Rest You Merry" and I'm in the middle of "Wrack and Rune". As good as I remembered.

[Shirley Ujest]

This place.

[Eleanor of Aquitaine]

I discovered Patrick O'Brian after watching the movie Master and Commander: Far Side of the World.

I found Heinlein on my dad's bookshelf when I was a kid.

My mother introduced me to James Herriot, Dorothy Sayers and Georgette Heyer.

I don't remember how I discovered Diana Gabaldon or Sharon Kay Penman.

The SDMB directed me to George R. R. Martin, Lois McMaster Bujold and Neal Stephenson.

[mbh]

I got my first Robert Heinlein novel (Glory Road) as a birthday present. My junior high school library had large collections of both Robert Heinlein and Andre Norton.

My older brother had a large collection of Edgar Rice Burroughs. When he went away to college (he was 11 years older than me) I started reading the books he left behind.

Playing D&D got me into J.R.R. Tolkien and Robert E. Howard. A reference to Ringworld in a Traveller game got me started with Larry Niven.

The movie The Hunt for Red October started me with Clancy.

[Ian D. Bergkamp]

Apparently, I discover a lot of authors through movies and tv.

- Tolkien through the Rankin-Bass animated Lord of the Rings;
- John Irving through the movie version of The World According to Garp;
- Roddy Doyle through the movie version of The Commitments;
- Umberto Eco through the movie version of The Name of the Rose; and
- Arturo Perez-Reverte through the movie The Ninth Gate.

I never really noticed that before.

[Mister Rik]

I was 13 or 14 and just starting to develop an interest in science fiction. My mom brought me some books from the library one day, including a "young reader" sci-fi novel titled "Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury" by some guy named Paul French. I enjoyed it and ended up reading several books in the series, and soon discovered that Paul French was the pseudonym of some guy named Isaac Asimov. I ended up reading nearly every piece of fiction Asimov ever wrote. I think a handful of his "Black Widowers" collections are all I've missed.

In my late teens/early 20s I got into mysteries, and discovered H.R.F. Keating (Inspector Ghote series), Georges Simenon (Inspector Maigret series), and Lawrence Block (the Bernie Rhodenbarr "Burglar" books) by browsing the "mystery" section at the library.

My best friend gave me a copy of Tad Williams' "War of the Flowers", and I've been hooked ever since.

Most recently, I've got y'all here to thank for prompting me to investigate Terry Pratchett.

[jsgoddess]

In my late teens/early 20s I got into mysteries, and discovered H.R.F. Keating (Inspector Ghote series)

Inspector Ghote! I haven't thought of those books in a while. I wonder if I still have some.

[Mister Rik]

Inspector Ghote! I haven't thought of those books in a while. I wonder if I still have some.

Trivia tidbit: around the time I was reading those, my church youth group visited a guy who was a retired missionary to India — he spent a few decades there — and I got to ask him how to properly pronounce "Ghote". "HO-tay", but with a gutteral, back-of-the-throat sound on the first syllable.

[Miss Woodhouse]

My brother started me on my love of SciFi when i was just 12. He would send home boxes of paperbacks from his Navy ship every couple of months and my mother let me steal books out of it (probably just to shut me up. I can be relentless if I know there's a book I haven't read in the house.) From that I discovered quite a few of my favorite SciFi/Fantasy authors.

English Lit class introduced me to Hardy and Austen.

I stumbled upon Le Guin, Margaret Atwood, and Joyce Carol Oats myself.

A friend recommended Pratchett.

My mother gave me my first L. M. Montgomery and Frances Hodgson Burnett

I have eclectic tastes.