# What author do you try to turn people on to? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 10, 2001, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626 "2001-11-10T13:56:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hardygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@hardygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hardygrrl)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/1 "2001-11-10T13:56:15Z")
**Martin Amis** Read _Money_ or _London Fields_ or _Time’s Arrow_ or _Experience_. All are works of fiction except _Experience_. **Barbara Kingsolver** _the Bean Trees_, or _Pigs in Heaven_ or _the Poisonwood Bible_ **Margaret Atwood** _Cat’s Eye_ or _Lady Oracle_ or _the Robber Bride_ or _Alias Grace_ or _the Blind Assassin_ **Donna Tartt** _the Secret History_ **Carl Hiassen** Anything he’s written. Ever ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/2 "2001-11-10T14:30:00Z")
**George Orwell** _1984_ (since most of the people I try to convert have already ready _Animal Farm_ in high school) **JK Rowling** _Harry Potter_ **Orson Scott Card** _Ender’s Game_–to start them off. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/3 "2001-11-10T14:37:12Z")
**Michael Connelly** _Blood Work_, _Void Moon_, the Harry Bosch novels **Laurence Sterne** _The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman_ **Nicholson Baker** _The Mezzanine_, _Vox_ [sub] **Me** :)[/sub] [sup]I’ll let you know as soon as I’m published![/sup] ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/4 "2001-11-10T14:45:55Z")
Different thread reminded me: **Arthur C. Clarke** _Childhood’s End_, _Rendezvous with Rama_ ---
**Author:** ![Shylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Shylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shylock)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/5 "2001-11-10T15:23:57Z")
**Anne Lamott** jumps straight to mind ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/6 "2001-11-10T15:32:57Z")
**Stanislaw Lem** _His Master’s Voice Fiasco Solaris The Cyberiad The Futurological Congress Memoirs of a Space Traveller/The Star Diaries_ Not much luck so far. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/7 "2001-11-10T15:37:58Z")
**Neal Stephenson** , especially _Snow Crash_ **Kyle Baker** - _The Cowboy Wally Show, Why I Hate Saturn_ (graphic novels). **John Irving** - _A Prayer for Owen Meany_. Usually, if this can’t hook 'em, nothing will. **Stephen R. Donaldson** - _The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant_, the _Gap_ series (and, no, _Gap_ isn’t about cashiers at trendy mall stores) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spider\_Woman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Spider\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spider_Woman)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/8 "2001-11-10T15:44:30Z")
[Gregory Maguire](http://www.harpercollins.com/catalog/author_xml.asp?authorID=6173) [Wicked](http://www.harpercollins.com/catalog/book_xml.asp?isbn=0060987103) [Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister](http://www.salon.com/books/review/1999/12/17/maguire/) ---
**Author:** ![DMAAN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/278dde/32.png) [@DMAAN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMAAN)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/9 "2001-11-10T16:16:07Z")
Me. 😃 d ---
**Author:** ![Mogwei22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@Mogwei22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mogwei22)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/10 "2001-11-10T16:20:23Z")
**Nicholson Baker** for me too. **KneadToKnow** have you read _Fermatta_? I read it while travelling via T in Boston…very strange. **Orson Scott Card** also _Enders Game_ **John Irving** _Owen Meany_ or _The World According to Garp_ **David Sedaris** _Naked_ **Tom Robbins** either _Even Cowgirls Get the Blues_ or _Still Life with Woodpecker_ And if you have a whole bunch of time: **David Foster Wallace** _Infinite Jest_ ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/11 "2001-11-10T16:31:11Z")
**James Morrow** Great SF/Fantasy, usually about the nature of God – philosophical but hilarious. Try “Only Begotten Daughter,” “Towing Jehovah,” or “This is the Way the World Ends.” **Tim Powers** The master of plotting. Try “The Anubis Gates,” “The Stress of Her Regard,” “On Stranger Tides,” or “Last Call.” **Ken Grimwood** It should be everyone’s pleasure to read “Replay.” ---
**Author:** ![whistlepig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/73ab20/32.png) [@whistlepig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whistlepig)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/12 "2001-11-10T16:42:20Z")
Mark Leyner It’s like reading William Burroughs on acid, only with hip cultural references. He also does great titles: “I Smell Esther Williams.” “My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist.” Paul St. Pierre A Canadian writer no one has ever heard of. He has a bunch of short stories set in a small rural community back in the 30’s/40’s/50’s. Absolutely hilarious and true to life. Sherman Alexie “Tonto and the Lone Ranger Fist Fight in Heaven.” ---
**Author:** ![mug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@mug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mug)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/13 "2001-11-10T16:51:15Z")
**Robert Crais** The Elvis Cole mysteries, starting with “The Monkey’s Raincoat”. **Tony Earley** “Here We Are In Paradise”, a book of short stories, and “Jim The Boy”, his first novel. ---
**Author:** ![Forbin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5e9695/32.png) [@Forbin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Forbin)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/14 "2001-11-10T16:51:20Z")
**Giovanni Boccaccio** I hate it when people say,“I can’t read that.It’s written in that old fashioned style.” To me this stuff is so easy to read I can barely believe anyone’s difficulty! ---
**Author:** ![celestina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/258eb7/32.png) [@celestina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/celestina)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/15 "2001-11-10T17:33:31Z")
Anything written by the following: Octavia E. Butler Toni Morrison Ralph Ellison Tananarive Due Robert Hayden Gwendolyn Brooks Yusef Komunyakaa August Wilson Virginia Hamilton Tamora Pierce J. K. Rowling Jane Austen Kate Elliott Joan D. Vinge Kate Wilhelm ---
**Author:** ![ozonebaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/eb8c5e/32.png) [@ozonebaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ozonebaby)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/16 "2001-11-10T17:36:53Z")
Philip Pullman: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass Paul Zindel: The Doom Stone, Raptor, Reef of Death, Loch, The Pigman, The Pigman’s Legacy, The Pigman and Me ---
**Author:** ![ozonebaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/eb8c5e/32.png) [@ozonebaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ozonebaby)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/17 "2001-11-10T17:38:07Z")
Oh, I forgot, Ray Bradbury, he writes short fiction stories. ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/18 "2001-11-10T17:43:41Z")
I’m one of those supremely annoying people that nags everyone she meets until they read _The Lord of the Rings,_ if they haven’t already… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![don\_willard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@don\_willard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_willard)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/19 "2001-11-10T17:44:30Z")
Gogol’s DEAD SOULS is the funniest book ever written. Sometimes you don’t even know why you’re laughing. Almost any translation will keep you doubled up, but the one that a lot of people like best is my favorite, which I will post when I find it around here! It is said that in Russian if you can read the original Russian it is even funnier, what with all the word play and subtleties that don’t come over in English. ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/20 "2001-11-10T19:00:56Z")
Guy Gavriel Kay. I want to have this man’s babies. And that says a LOT. Michael Crichton… most people have only seen the movies, but the books are SO MUCH BETTER. _Case of Need_ had me literally at the edge of my seat. Edgar Rice Burrough’s Martian books. I quoted him in my undergrad thesis. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626.md?page=2)