# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Maple\_Syrup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@Maple\_Syrup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maple_Syrup)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/21 "2001-11-10T20:23:38Z")
Walt Whitman. I know he’s required reading for any basic English class, but he just a’int as respected as he should be. ---
**Author:** ![naughty\_wicked\_zoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@naughty\_wicked\_zoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naughty_wicked_zoot)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/22 "2001-11-10T21:53:38Z")
douglas adams. especially _last chance to see_. clive barker. _weaveworld_ and _imajica_ totally agree with john irving and tom robbins. also neal stevenson, carl hiassen and elmore leonard. also sharyn mccrumb’s appalchian mysteries, and \* bimbos of the death sun\* and _zombies of the gene pool_. ---
**Author:** ![Daowajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Daowajan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daowajan)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/23 "2001-11-10T22:00:50Z")
I thought Dead Souls was about the conditions of the peasants in tsarist Russia. Doesn’t strike me as a very humorous subject. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/24 "2001-11-10T22:28:56Z")
Neil Gaiman Terry Pratchett ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/25 "2001-11-10T23:12:13Z")
**Robert Anton Wilson** , start with the _Illuminatus! Trilogy._ **Salman Rushdie** , _Midnight’s Children._ Indian superheroes. If you liked the movie _Unbreakable_, you’ll love this book. If you didn’t like _Unbreakable_, read this book and find out why you should’ve. Big fat second for **James Morrow** and **Tim Powers**. **George MacDonald Frasier**. Most famous for his _Flashman_ books, but I think his best work was _The Pyrates_. Hilarious. **Jonathan Lethem** : _Gun, with Occasional Music_. Animal Farm meets Brave New World meets The Maltese Falcon. Genius. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/26 "2001-11-10T23:15:20Z")
Ooh, I forgot **Nick Hornsby** (_High Fidelity_) and **Umberto Eco** (_In the Name of the Rose, How to Travel with a Salmon_.) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/27 "2001-11-10T23:24:05Z")
**Robert Anson Heinlein** : Just so much to gain from him. Great storytelling, interesting philosophy, and very multi-level plots. He influences fiction to this day. **Ray Bradbury** : He turned me on to science fiction and advanced reading in general. Someone of any age can gain from his works, be they the prophecy of _Fahrenheit 451_ or the near-dreamlike SF-Fantasy _Martian Chronicles_. **Isaac Asimov** : The author of the first hard SF I ever read. The man is phenomenal in general, with an absolutely huge output, all of a very high quality. His hardheaded fiction, laced with _actual science_ and realistic people, really shaped my conception of SF. **Arthur C. Clarke** : _2001_ was a revelation for me: Hard SF with the dreamlike qualities of Bradbury’s works. The 2001 series was also the first series of novels I’d ever read, and the epic qualities made a strong impression. I love authors beyond these, and I would recommend more to those who showed interests in those directions, but the above authors are the people I think _anyone_ could enjoy reading. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/28 "2001-11-10T23:28:58Z")
**Tim Sandlin.** Why this guy is unknown is beyond me. If you’ve read Annie Proulx’s “At Close Range”, you shoud read Sandlin to see the other side of Wyoming. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/29 "2001-11-11T00:17:09Z")
**Joe Lansdale** – his Hap and Leonard buddy-type action stories, as well as his horror I’ve bought extra copies of these books so I could give them to people: **More Than Human** and **A Touch of Strange** by **Theodore Sturgeon** **The Dollmaker** by Harriett Simpson Arnow **Heart of the Country** by Greg Matthews **Song of Solomon** by Toni Morrison **Burnt Offerings** by Robert Marasco **The Homesman** by Glendon Swarthout ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/30 "2001-11-11T00:21:20Z")
Alan Furst, who writes great little novels about spies before and during World War Two. ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/31 "2001-11-11T00:31:34Z")
Dorothy Dunnett. I’ve got a lending set of all her books. Unfortunately I havne’t managed to convince many people it is worth persevering with. Sharyn McCrumb. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/32 "2001-11-11T01:00:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lawoot \* > \*\* > **John Irving** - _A Prayer for Owen Meany_. Usually, if this can’t hook 'em, nothing will. > \*\* This is the ONLY book I recommend to others with a buy back guarantee: you buy the paperback, read it all the way through, and you don’t like it, I’ll buy the book from you. I’ve done this three times and I haven’t bought a copy yet. ---
**Author:** ![Tarmac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a8b319/32.png) [@Tarmac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarmac)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/33 "2001-11-11T01:34:06Z")
**Rohinton Mistry** _A Fine Balance_–the most important piece of fiction I’ve read, based in 1970’s India. The characters sustain impossible hope in the face of horrible conditions. **Jonathan Franzen** _The Corrections_–see what all the buzz is about. This guy can write you a tornado. And the book has a talking turd. **Philip Roth** _Operation Shylock, American Pastoral,_ and probably most of his other books–a fabulous, very imaginative writer who continues to be nominator for and win awards year after year. Also, _The Poisonwood Bible, One Hundred Years of Solitude…_ I’m sure I’m forgetting a ton of other great writers. ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/34 "2001-11-11T01:42:06Z")
I like many of the authors mentioned. One book I always recommend to absolutely everyone is Bryce Courtenay’s **The Power of One.** Another author I enjoy is Roddy Doyle: \*\*The Committments,\*\ ***The Snapper,** **Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha** , **A Star Called Henry.** I also have liked Alice Hoffman’s books. All three of these authors are natural storytellers. ---
**Author:** ![parsnip](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parsnip/32/4564_2.png) [@parsnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parsnip)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/35 "2001-11-11T01:56:49Z")
This is Miss Mapp’s answer, but E. F. Benson ---
**Author:** ![mug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@mug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mug)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/36 "2001-11-11T02:14:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Primaflora \* > **Dorothy Dunnett. I’ve got a lending set of all her books. Unfortunately I havne’t managed to convince many people it is worth persevering with.** I once started Niccolo Rising but gave up after about 100 pages. Not only was it a mildly tough read, I couldn’t get a grasp on who the main character was supposed to be (which irritated me) and the complexity of the names got confusing. However, since I’ve had several people who’ve read the series say much the same thing as you did, I think I’ll try again and stick with it this time. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/37 "2001-11-11T02:33:38Z")
This makes me realize that I am some sort of rabid book pusher. I “book talk” all the time, it’s probably only a short time before I start going door to door, bothering people on weekends, asking them if they’ve read Gaudy Night or The Three Musketeers. **Hardygrrl** , I loved Secret History. When is she going to come out with something else? I might stop book talking Secret History out of spite. **Caprese,** , have you read any Robert McLiam Wilson? He’s a Northern Irish writer who reminds me a little of Roddy Doyle. I push Wilson’s Eureka Street on unsuspecting persons all the time. **Primaflora** , I also recommend Dunnett all the time, but usually only to people who express an interest in historical fiction. I’ve had a high success rate getting fans of the Outlander series to try the Lymond series. I’ve also found that fans of Elswyth Thane, although her books are about American history, often like Dunnett’s work because it has a similar blend of rather intense history and romance. To get people hooked on Thane, I often target people who like Gone with the Wind, so it’s a never-ending chain. The secret to good book pushing is to know which books are gateway drugs ;). ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/38 "2001-11-11T02:37:02Z")
I recently “discovered” **Solzhenitsyn**. Wow, this guy can tell a story. One of those writers who many people have heard of but many have never read. For younger friends who don’t read a lot I try to recommend classic authors like **Hemmingway** or **Steinbeck** who are easy reads. ---
**Author:** ![Beardedcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@Beardedcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beardedcrow)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/39 "2001-11-11T03:07:20Z")
Terry Pratchett Clive Barker ---
**Author:** ![xanadu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c4cdca/32.png) [@xanadu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xanadu)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626/40 "2001-11-11T03:17:50Z")
I’m not a huge fan of poetry, but James Merrill is incredible, to say the least. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-author-do-you-try-to-turn-people-on-to/92626.md?page=3)