I forgot Augusten Burroughs. Dry made me laugh myself sick and then cry uncontrollably. I am WAITING (and not patiently!) for new books from him!
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I loved Running With Scissors and Sellevision (which needs to be a movie) but haven’t read Dry. Since it’s about his alcoholism I assumed it would be depressing, but it does have humor?
Some web-sites that may be of interest to you:
-a site constructed for the real Dr. Finch (R. H. Turcotte) by his children
-Burroughs’ mother’s site
(Augusten Burroughs is a pseudonym; his birth name was John Robison.)
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I thought it would be depressing as well,Sampiro, But most of it was quite humorous.
Either that or I have a really twisted sense of humor… well I DO, but I still thought it was funny. I’ll never look at stuffed animals without thinking of him!
John Irving
John Updike
(duck! incoming!)
John Updike killed my daddy.
Well, John Updike, old age and heart disease killed him anyway, but I still don’t like his books.
Those who have written the best stories in the world?
R.A. Rafferty
John Dos Passos
Ray Bradbury
Ernest Hemingway
Joseph Conrad
Poe
R.A. Lafferty
Henry James
O’Henry
R.A. Lafferty
Flannery O’Connor
Ambrose Bierce
Truman Capote
Kurt Vonnegut
And of course, I musn’t forget…R.A. Lafferty.
I’d have to second this one. A Fine Balance is a great book, one of the best I’ve read in recent years.
What, nobody’s named Terry Pratchett already??? :eek:
Another vote for A Fine Balance. Easily the best book I’ve read in years.
Calvino, Kafka, and Dostoevsky.
In no particular order.
**Samuel Beckett ** (for his plays, his novels I found a little bit tough to follow…not that that means they’re not good or anything…)
John Steinbeck It’s been a while since I read his stuff though…may be time to give him a re-visit…)
Franz Kafka *The Trial * is a fantastic work of art. I often read his short stories when I’m not in the mood to start a new book…
Bertrand Russell I like his writing style, don’t necessarily agree with him though…
Nobody mentioned James Joyce? Ulysses might just be the greatest novel composed in the English language.
Somebody mentioned Evelyn Waugh. A great writer of vicious satire Vile Bodies, Black Mischief as well as great studies of character and society Brideshead Revisited, A Handful of Dust.
Lissener, I just discovered Haldor Laxness (I just finished Iceland’s Bell. Incredible. Laxness has a great deadpan sense of black humor. I’ve also read Sigrid Undset (Kristin Lavransdottir. Beautifully written, although Kristin, the character, was a bit of a pill. And there ain’t much humor there.
Milum (I know, I probably spelled that wrong), I like your list of short story writers. But I wonder if you’ve read Frank (not Flannery) O’Connor, the great Irish short story writer. First Confession might be the funniest short story ever written, especially to a Catholic who looks back on the dread associated with first confession somewhat fondly. On a more sombre note, he wroteGuest of the Nation and The Ugly Duckling, two truly gorgeous short stories that I’ve never forgotten.
Oops. A couple of people did indeed mention Joyce. Sorry 'bout that.
And I’m going to add another few.
Patrick O’Brien, just for the sheer scope of the Aubrey/Maturin series. Walter Scott, both for the Waverly novels and for Ivanhoe. Sometimes I think that modern literature is on the verge of losing the art of storytelling. O’Brien certainly did his best to keep it alive. And Scott, in his time, was a master.
Julian of Norwich, for Revelations of Divine Love. Mystical writing at its finest. Whatever one’s religious beliefs, or lack thereof, the language is worth reading the book for.
And, of course, let’s not forget Homer.
Damn. I could do this all day. Another few:
Flann O’Brien, for At Swim-to-Birds, possible the most surreal novel ever written. Deconstructed the novel before Jacques Derrida and Foucault and that crew got over reading comic books.
And long before O’Brien, but in the same vein, Laurence Sterne, for The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman.
That’s great! It’s hard for me to get people to read deeply enough into Waugh or Laxness to find the humor, but that’s my favorite thing too. Independent People, one of the most heartrending tragedies ever written, is also one of the funniest books I have ever read. And Kristin is pilly, yes, but so real: I have never so thoroughly inhabited a fictional world as when I’m reading Kristin Lavransdatter.
And I mentioned Joyce, above.
But I’m appalled to realize that I completely spaced Flannery O’Connor, whose vicious humor is still somehow utterly humane and loving.
Some of my choices are the same as Eve’s. Dickens is high on the list, but I’d put Daphne du Maurier in place of Austen, and leave her description. I’ll also second Dostoevsky, though I still don’t understand the ending of The Double.
I also enjoy Sir A.C. Doyle, but not so much for his Holme’s stories. He wrote some good creepies, a lot like Poe. For some more recent authors, I’d pick Douglas Adams and Richard Adams. I haven’t read The Girl In A Swing, but enjoyed Shardik, Watership Down, The Plague Dogs, and Maia.
Finally! 
I feared I was the lone Borges lover in these parts.