Cecil as my favorite author, as with many of the others, goes without saying. I actually liked the first book the most, but that is probably simply because its the longest.
As for works of fiction, my favorite author is probably Larry Niven. Protector and Ringworld are classics.
I love just about anything by John Grisham or Tom Clancy. (I can’t wait to read ‘The Bear and the Dragon’) I’m absolutely captivated by the ‘Left Behind’ series. The original Dracula novel was pretty good. And of course, Where the Red Fern Grows. (Who was the author?)
Right now I’m reading War and Peace and am about 1/3 of the way through it. It starts slow and gets better. Anyone else here who’s read it, does it stay good until the end, or does it kinda taper off?
David Foster Wallaces collection of short stories entitled Girl with Curious Hair is by far the best thing I’ve read lately. I highly recommend it.
ooops. i forgot “A Canticle for Liebowitz”. A wonderful piece of verbal beauty.
aschrott, you should read “Broom of the System”, Wallace’s (or should that be Wallace’) first novel.
My top 5 authors and books are
Well, this is a pretty long list for me but I’ll narrow it down to just a few things here.
Favorite Authors-
Favorite Books-
Well, that about does it. Bye for now! 
Well I could throw a vote to about half the stuff that’s been posted so far, but I don’t think I could ever narrow it down to just one. Instead I’ll post the most recent “Great Book” I’ve read- one that just blew me away like few other books have ever done:
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.
It may not be quite as classic or respected as some books, but it just completely struck a nerve with me. I can honestly say that this book (and the resultant movie) actually changed my life and the way I look at the world around me (and no, I’m not about to start some underground boxing cult or anything). It’s made me think about things in completely new ways- it’s incredibly refreshing, and I’d recomend it to anyone.
My favourite author: Kurt Vonnegut
My favourite book: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
So many excellent books. If you like good sci-fi read John Varley’s more recent stuff. Check out “Steel Beach” and “Golden Globe”, as well as “Ophiuchi Hotline”, “Blue Champagne”, and “The Barbie Murders” if you can find them. I wasn’t as impressed with the “Titan”, “Wizard”, and “Demon” series.
If you are at a bookstore or library, read the first sentence of “Steel Beach” and see if it doesn’t at least interest you a little bit.
If I’m forced to name just one, it’d have to be Tolkien and The Silmarillion. I hate leaving Heinlein, Asimov, David Weber, Niven, Cooper, Twain, C. S. Lewis, Lloyd Alexander, Shakespeare, and Homer off the list, though.
Absolute Favorites: (all of them amazing books!)
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Moor’s Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie
My two all time favorite books are Heinlein’s Time Enough for Love and Herbert’s Dune.
I’m not sure I would consider either of them my favorite author, however (maybe Heinlein). If I consider the author whose books I’ve read the most of, it would be Steven King. The Shining scared me so badly at the age I read it, that when I finally saw the Kubrick film, it didn’t hold a candle.
Richard Adams, Watership Down
Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination
Gene Wolfe,The Book of the New Sun
Mika Waltari, The Egyptian
Mary Stewart, The Crystal Cave (but not the sequels, they suck)
And lots of others, of course.
Dark of the Moon was much weaker, but Seeker’s Mask climbed back up to nearly the level she started with. Of course, I identify so closely with Jame that I got into Dark of the Moon, too.
Come to think of it, I should probably find the fact that I identify with Jame alarming.
Favorite books: Catch-22, Catcher in the Rye, and God Knows
Favorite author: Joseph Heller
Books at the top of my list are too numerous to choose from, so I will pick the one that literally changed my life - specifically the way I look at beliefs and the human animal. “The Demon Haunted World” by Carl Sagan. Not the most elegant wordsmith, but that’s not why I chose him.
My favourite author: Robertson Davies and J.Steinbeck
My favourite book: John Steinbeck “Of Mice and Men”
Hmmm. Proably Aristoi, or Voice of the Whirlwind by Walter Jon Willaims, (AKA Walter J Williams) though I haven’t found anything he’s written to be less than great.
Anybody else even heard of him? Didn’t think so.
George Alec Effinger and C.S. Freidman come close, but Friedman seems really erratic (In Conquest Born and the coldfire books were great, but her other stuff was subpar) and I still haven’t been able to find all of Effinger’s early stuff.
Geroge R. R. Martin is good too, but 1) I’ve only read two of his books, and B) to be fair, his characters are pretty much right out of central casting.
Though Both Larry McMurty and the (seemingly immortal) Ed McBain both deserve honorable mentions.
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“Brought to you by Vermont. The other, smaller Wisconson.”
So far I’ve seen a lot of great suggestions here, especially the SF. Although I am a big ol’ SF fan (Heinlein, Steele, Robinson –Spider or Kim Stanley, and Stephensen are my personal faves), I’ve got to say I’ve never read a series of books so consistently entertaining as Rex Stout’s * Nero Wolfe * novels.
Stout must have written a hundred novels and novellas with Nero Wolfe over a forty year period, and they are all brilliant. If you aren’t familiar, they combine hard-boiled detective work with parlor room mysteries. The narrator, Archie Goodwin, plays the wiseass private eye (think Alan Ladd as Chandler’s Marlowe) working for Nero Wolfe, an obese eccentric genius who never leaves his Manhattan brownstone. Archie gathers the info and Nero solves the crime.
Unlike most crime fiction, the mysteries are generally plausible. But even when the mysteries are a little flimsy, I can read them just to witness Wolfe and Goodwin trade insults. To commit literary heresy, I’d say Goodwin and Wolfe are even better than Watson and Holmes.
Author: Margaret Wise and Tracy Hickman
Book: Dragonlance Choronicles Trilogy
Great books with some of the best characters ever in a fantasy novel. IMHO it is much better then then The Lord of The Rings.