# A-Z: Favorite Author and Book **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 14, 2000, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130 "2000-11-14T07:21:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/1 "2000-11-14T07:21:54Z")
Did music. Did movies. Amis, Martin- London Feilds Burroughs, William,-Naked Lunch Carroll, Lewis- Alice in Wonderland Dellio, Don- White Noise Eliot, George- Middlemarch Ford, Ford Madox- The Fifth Queen Garcia Marquez, Gabrial- One Hundred Years of Solitude Huxley, Aldous- Island Joyce, James- Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Kafka, Franz- Metamophosis Nabokov, Vladmir-Lolita Orwell, George- 1984 Pynchon, Thomas- Gravity’s Rainbow Reage, Pauline- The Story of O Stein, Gertrude- The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Tolstoy,Leo- Anna Karenina Voltaire- Candide Woolf, Virginia- To the Lighthouse Zola- Nana I like this game. ---
**Author:** ![Mu\_Mu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Mu\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mu_Mu)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/2 "2000-11-15T01:38:25Z")
w - Tom Wolfe d - Conan Doyle p - Vance Packard ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/3 "2000-11-15T04:30:10Z")
Oh c’mon! What, everybody’s spending all their time at the movies? ---
**Author:** ![Reboot42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Reboot42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reboot42)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/4 "2000-11-15T06:00:18Z")
Everything Larry Niven wrote. (Sci-fi) Everything Hienlein wrote. (Sci-fi) Everything Clarke wrote. (Sci-fi only.) The Sten series by Allen Cole and Chris Bunch. (Sci-fi) Everything, almost, that Steven King wrote. (Avoided the Dark Tower series.) Everything Koontz wrote. (Horror.) Almost everything Mark Twain wrote. Everything Dickens wrote. Everything Ray Bradbury wrote. (Sci-fi) God and My Country by MacKinlay Kantor. Outpost of Freedom by Capt. Roger H.C. Donlon. (Vietnam) The Yearling by M.K. Rawlings. The Century of the Detective by Jurgen Thorwald. Call Me Lucky by Bing Crosby. (Yes, Bing himself.) My Boy John That Went To Sea by J. Vance Marshall One Summer In Between by Melissa Mather. Dibs - in search of self by Virginia M. Axline ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/5 "2000-11-15T07:52:51Z")
/hijack DIBS??? Someone actually likes that damned book? My son’s psych recommended it to me and I have to stop and throw it across the room on an hourly basis! What a parent-blaming piece of crap that book is! I keep thinking of alternate reasons for the behaviour of the parents. Bah! hijack/ slinks quietly from the room… ---
**Author:** ![lesa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/34f0e0/32.png) [@lesa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lesa)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/6 "2000-11-15T10:03:51Z")
I’m going to try this, because I have a Z. The \* stands for “and everything else I’ve read by this author.” Asimov, Isaas - The Gods Themselves \* Adams, Douglass - Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency \* Burnette, Frances H. - The Secret Garden \* Cameron, Eleanor - Court Of The Stone Children Dick, Philip K. - The Three Stigmata of Eldritch Palmer \* Ellison, Harlan - Ellison Wonderland Fagan, Kevin - Drabble \* Guisewite - Thin Thighs in Thirty Years \* Gash, Jonathon - The Judas Pair \* Harris, Sydney - From Personal Ads to Cloning Labs \* Idle, Eric - Road To Mars (Ok, haven’t read it yet. Want it for Christmas.) Juster, Norton - The Phantom Tollbooth Kaye, Marvin - The Amorous Umbrella \* Lang, Andrew - The Blue Fairy Book \* Lovecraft, H. P. - At The Mountains of Madness \* McDonnell, Patrick - Mutts \* Naylor, Grant - Red Dwarf \* Oscar Wilde - The Picture Of Dorian Gray Poe, Edgar A. - The Masque of the Red Death \* Queen, Ellery - The King Is Dead \* Rodgers, Mary - Freaky Friday Sheckley, Robert - The Seventh Victim and Other Stories Stoker, Bram - Dracula Thurber, James - The Thirteen Clocks \* Ursula K. Le Guin - The Left Hand Of Darkness Verne - Around The World In 80 Days Whitney, Phillis - Mystery On The Isle Of Sky Xu Xi - Daughters of Hui (Ok, I’ve never read it. But it’s a good X name!) Y - Stuart Y. Silverstein - Not Much Fun: The Lost Poems of Dorothy Parker (I found this looking for a Y - now I have to buy it!) Zipes, Jack - Beauties, Beasts, and Enchantment : Classic French Fairy Tales \* ---
**Author:** ![LCP2972](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@LCP2972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LCP2972)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/7 "2000-11-15T10:10:58Z")
I agree with Reboot’s, “Everything by Hienlien”, but would add John D. McDonald,sci-fi AND Travis McGee ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/8 "2000-11-16T02:43:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by betenoir \* > \*\*Oh c’mon! What, everybody’s spending all their time at the movies? \*\* Honey, I swear, I’m going to do mine over the weekend…🙂 …is _everyone_ here but me a big Sci Fi fan?! Ahh… ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/9 "2000-11-16T02:55:02Z")
Hmmm… Atwood, Margaret - Handmaid’s Tale TIE! Adams, Scott - Seven Years of Highly Defective People Bulgakov, Mikhail - The Master and Margarita TIE! Bryson, Bill - The Lost Continent:Travels in US Clemens, Sammy - Tom Sawyer Davies, Robertson - The Cunning Man TIE! Desani, G.V. - All About M. Hatterr Feynman, Richie - Surely You’re Joking Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Love in the Time of Cholera TIE! Gita Mehta - Karma Kola Herriot, James - If Only They Could Talk Jerome K. Jerome - Three Men in a Boat Lynn, Jonathon - Yes, Minister (with Antony Jay) Mikes, George - How to Be An Alien (and others) Osler - A History of Medicine Saki - Short Stories Theodore Seuss - The Lorax Umberto Eco - Foucault’s Pendulum Voltaire - Candide Wolfe, Tom - The Right Stuff Xeno - Paradoxes and Filthy Sex Zelzany, Roger - The Chronicles of Amber Surely that’s enough to be getting on with… ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/10 "2000-11-16T18:18:26Z")
one of many for me… Antoine de St-Éxupéry 's “_Le Petit Prince_” ---
**Author:** ![tulip\_baroo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@tulip\_baroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tulip_baroo)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/11 "2000-11-16T20:40:32Z")
I want to play… Richard Adams-Watership Down (tie)Rudolfo Anaya-Bless Me, Ultima (tie, again)Douglas Adams-The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy A.S. Byatt-Possession Albert Camus-The Stranger J.P. Donleavy-Wrong Information is Being Given Out at Princeton (tie)Stuart David-Nalda Said Umberto Eco-The Name of the Rose F. Scott Fitzgerald-Tender is the Night John Gardner-Grendel Mark Helprin-Winter’s Tale (tie)Robert Heinlein-Stranger in a Strange Land John Irving-The World According to Garp Graham Joyce-The Tooth Fairy Milan Kundera-The Unbearable Lightness of Being C.S. Lewis-The Chronicles of Narnia Hilary Mantel-A Place of Greater Safety Robert Nye-The Late Mr. Shakespeare Tim O’Brien-The Things They Carried Hortense Powdermaker-Stranger and Friend Salman Rushdie-Midnight’s Children Jose Saramago-Blindness (tie)Dodie Smith-I Capture the Castle (another tie) Betty Smith-A Tree Grows in Brooklyn J.R.R. Tolkien-The Lord of the Rings John Updike-Rabbit Run\* Mario Vargas Llosa-The War of the End of the World\* P.G. Wodehouse-Leave it to Psmith Zora Neale Hurston-Their Eyes Were Watching God\* \*Have 'em, haven’t read 'em yet. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/12 "2000-11-17T03:39:29Z")
Damn! Had no business leaving out Graves, Robert – I, Claudius and Claudius the God ---
**Author:** ![Fezzik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Fezzik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fezzik)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/13 "2000-11-17T16:46:30Z")
So many books, so little time… Adams, Douglas: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Baker, Nicholson: The Mezzanine Coupland, Douglas: Microserfs Diamond, Jared: Guns, Germs and Steel Epstein, Eddie (w/Rob Neyer): Baseball Dynasties Frazier, George MacDonald: The Pyrates Goldman, William: The Princess Bride Hofstadter, Douglas: Goedel, Escher, Bach James, Bill: Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame? Kingsolver, Barbara: The Poisonwood Bible Lewis, C.S.: Voyage of the Dawn Treader Martin, George R.R.: A Game of Thrones Nabokov, Vladimir: Pale Fire Orwell, George: 1984 Pratchett, Terry (W/ Neil Gaimain): Good Omens (TIE: Paulos, John Allen: Innumeracy) Ruff, Matt: Fool on the Hill Simmons, Dan: Hyperion (TIE: Stevenson, Neal: The Cryptonomicon) Tolkien, J.R.R.: The Lord of the Rings Verne, Jules: Journey to the Center of the Earth Williams, Tad: Memory, Sorrow and Thorne Zelazny, Roger: Chronicles of Amber ---
**Author:** ![Orshee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Orshee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orshee)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/14 "2000-11-17T17:55:56Z")
Atwood - The Robber Bride Brenner - The Emperors of Chocolate Berendt - Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Chute - The Beans of Egypt, Maine Eugenides - The Virgin Suicides Frank - Diary of a Young Girl Goldberg - Bee Season Guralnick - Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley Hamilton - Short History of a Prince Hornby - High Fidelity Irving - A Prayer for Owen Meany Junger - The Perfect Storm Jim - The Pretty Good Jim’s Journal Treasury King - The Stand Larson - Isaac’s Storm Martin - Pure Drivel Nabakov - Lolita O’Rourke - Modern Manners Phillips - Snakebite Sonnet Russo - Straight Man Russo - Nobody’s Fool Sedaris - Naked Tartt - The Secret History Wallace - Infinite Jest Wallace - A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again Yglesias - Fearless ---
**Author:** ![DocDaneeka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c68b51/32.png) [@DocDaneeka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocDaneeka)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/15 "2000-11-17T21:32:40Z")
Favorite authors: Mark Twain Robert Heinlein John Steinbeck Glen Cook (GREAT fantasy author… check out the Garret books) William Goldman (He’s written so much more than the Princess Bride. Everything I’ve read by him was incredible) Stephen King Bill Watterson (Ok, he’s a comic artist, but I had to include him) Favorite books I’ve read recently: The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bestor The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (Obvious, no?) The Harry Potter books ---
**Author:** ![lucie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed8c4c/32.png) [@lucie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucie)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/16 "2000-11-17T23:06:59Z")
Atwood, Margaret: The Robber Bride Butler, Octavia: Clay’s Ark Crowley, John: Little, Big Dumas, Alexandre: the Count of Monte Christo Estes, Clarissa Pinkola: Women who Run with the Wolves Frasier, George MacDonald: The Pyrates Gould, Stephen Jay: Wonderful Life; Full House Harris, Thomas: Red Dragon I: Jackson, Shirley: The Haunting of Hill House King, Stephen: Danse Macabre LeGuin, Ursula :Left Hand of Darkness; Buffalo Gals Michaels, Grant: A Body to Dye For N: O: Pratchett, Terry: Guards, Guards!; Jingo Q: Robbins, Tom: Jitterbug Perfume; Skinny Legs & All S: Tolkien, JRR: Lord of the Rings (all three) U: Verne, Jules: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea Westlake, Donald: Smoke X: Yarbro, Chelsea Quinn: The Palace Z: I know I’ll think of the rest as soon as I hit “submit reply” ---
**Author:** ![Renton\_lvr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7feea3/32.png) [@Renton\_lvr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renton_lvr)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/17 "2000-11-17T23:12:20Z")
Piers Anthony - On A Pale Horse Richard Bachman - The Long Walk Deborah Chester - The Golden One Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Idiot David Eddings - Guardians Of The West David Farland - The Runelords Terry Goodkind - The Temple Of The Winds Victor Hugo - Les Miserables Robert Jordan - Lord Of Chaos Stephen King - The Stand C.S. Lewis - Chronicles Of Narnia George R. R. Martin - A Game Of Thrones George Orwell - 1984 Edgar Allen Poe - The Oblong Box Ayn Rand - The Fountainhead Peter Straub(with King)- The Talisman J.R.R. Tolkein - The Hobbit Oscar Wilde - The Picture Of Dorian Gray ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2000, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/18 "2000-11-19T03:33:49Z")
Here’s mine. Adams, Douglas- Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy AND Atwood, Margaret- Handmaid’s Tale, Robber Bride, Alias Grace, others Blatty, William Peter- Legion AND Bloch, Robert- Psycho Capote, Truman- In Cold Blood Dumarier, Daphne- Rebecca AND Dahl, Roald- Tales of the Unexpected E- Fitzuigh, Louise- The Long Secret Goldman, E.M.- The Night Room Harris, Thomas- Red Dragon AND Hedges, Peter- What’s Eating Gilbert Grape I- Jackson, Shirley- Haunting of Hill House King, Stephen- The Shining, Pet Sem, Christine, others Levin, Ira- Everything 🙂 McCullers, Carson- A Member of the Wedding N- O- P- Quindlen, Anna- Black and Blue Rice, Anne- Interview with the Vampire Smith, Betty- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Thomas, D.M.- The White Hotel Updike, John- Witches of Eastwick V- Wharton, Edith- Ethan Frome XYZ- I’m not even going to try… ---
**Author:** ![Kilt-wearin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2000, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/19 "2000-11-19T06:32:59Z")
This is off the top of my head, so it’s gonna have holes… Adams, Douglas - The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul Burns, Robert - The Collected Works of Robert Burns Clarke, Arthur C. - 2001: A Space Oddyssey D E F Godwin, Parke - Firelord Herbert, Frank - Dune I J K L MacManus, Seumas - The History of the Irish Race N O Pratchett, Terry - the Discworld novels Q R Stackpole, Michael - the X-Wing novels Tranter, Nigel - The Wallace U Verne, Jules - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Whyte, Jack - the Camulod Chronicles X Yeager, Brigadier General Chuck - Yeager: An Autobiography Zelazny, Roger - the Amber novels ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130/20 "2000-11-20T01:43:42Z")
Adams, Cecil - Anything (heh heh) Bellow, Saul - Herzog Chandler, Raymond - Stories And Early Novels or Camus, Albert - The Stranger Dunn, Katherine - Geek Love Ehrlich, Paul R. - Human Natures Feynman, Richard - Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman Gourevitch, Philip - We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families Hornby, Nick - High Fidelity Irving, John - A Prayer For Owen Meany Johnson, George - Strange Beauty Kafka, Franz - The Complete Stories Lakoff, Robin T. - The Language War Marcus, Greil - Lipstick Traces New York Times Book Review - Books Of The Century Ozeki, Ruth - My Year Of Meats Pinker, Steven - The Language Instinct Queenan, Joe - Red Lobster, White Trash… Rhodes, Richard - The Making of the Atomic Bomb Salinger, J.D. - The Catcher in the Rye Thompson, Jim - Pop. 1280 U - ? Voltaire - Candide or Vonnegut, Kurt - Slaughterhouse Five Wright, Stephen - M31: A Family Romance X - ? Youngson, Robert - Medical Curiosities Zigman, Laura - Animal Husbandry [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-z-favorite-author-and-book/41130.md?page=2)