# Who is your favorite author? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 20, 2000, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950 "2000-06-20T05:28:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2000, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/41 "2000-06-21T04:57:59Z")
There’re several writers whose books I always buy when I notice something new – mostly science-related stuff these days ([William Calvin](http://www.williamcalvin.com), Steven Pinker, Matt Ridley, [Malcolm Gladwell](http://www.gladwell.com), Daniel Dennett, Jared Diamond, Richard Dawkins, Donald Norman) as well as a handful of poets (Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcott, Dana Gioia, Derek Mahon, Geoffrey Hill, Thomas Lynch). And anything by Roger Angell on baseball. But as a “favorite author” in the sense most people seem to mean it, I’d have to say [Patrick O’Brian](http://www.wwnorton.com/pob/pobhome.htm). ---
**Author:** ![argyle87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/90ced4/32.png) [@argyle87](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/argyle87)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2000, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/42 "2000-06-21T05:47:11Z")
Seamus Heaney is one of the truly good poets of contemporary literature. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2000, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/43 "2000-06-21T14:22:17Z")
**Eve** – I wasn’t kidding about the book. Please email me! 🙂 Ellen ---
**Author:** ![Needs2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5e925/32.png) [@Needs2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Needs2know)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2000, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/44 "2000-06-21T14:33:38Z")
Alexander Dumas…I’ve loved since I was 12. Edgar Allen Poe…same Charles Dickens…A Tale of Two Cities, is there anything more romantic. Thomas Tryon…The Other was my first modern horror novel. Robert R. McCammon…great characters and imagination, wonderful twists on old horror themes. John Irving…who doesn’t like T.S. Garp, what a guy. Ken Kesey…Sometimes I live in the city, sometimes I live in the town, sometimes I get a great notion to jump in the river and drown! Tony Hillerman…fun little short mysteries, set on a Navaho reservation. Ann Rule…I’m a little on the grizzly side, love true crime. Clive Barker…I’ll put him here because sometimes I have to look up the words. Short stories are his best effort though in my estimation. King and Koontz…I’ll put them together because for a time they intersted me. And you can’t read horror without reading them. William Faulkner…he’s Southern like me. Leon Uris…finishing Exodus or Trinity is an accomplishment. Ken Follett…I like his women. There are more but I’m starting to be a bore here. Need2know ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2000, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/45 "2000-06-21T16:16:11Z")
**Nonfiction:** Simon Schama **Fiction:** Don DeLillo (though this one changes wildly day to day – I almost said Kazuo Ishiguro) **Dead:** Anthony Trollope **Mystery:** Lawrence Block **Fantasy:** Terry Pratchett/George R.R. Martin **SF:** Greg Egan **Funny:** S.J. Perelman/P.G. Wodehouse (oops, they’re both dead) **Journalism:** P.J. O’Rourke and I’ve now run out of categories, so those must be my favorites. Of course, that’s my favorite authors _as writers_ list, the list of favorite authors _as people_ would be very different. ---
**Author:** ![Monster104](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Monster104](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monster104)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/46 "2000-06-22T04:06:17Z")
Whoever writes a good book about Wally’s life will be on the top of my list. ---
**Author:** ![Jackamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Jackamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackamus)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/47 "2000-06-22T04:11:22Z")
1. Seth/Jane Roberts 2. Louis L’Amour 3. Catherine Cookson 4. James Herriot 5. Georgette Heyer 6. Gary Jennings 7. Larry McMurtry ---
**Author:** ![djwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@djwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djwalker)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/48 "2000-06-22T04:37:55Z")
L. Manning Vines. Or Hines. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lswote](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lswote/32/5737_2.png) [@lswote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lswote)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/49 "2000-06-22T04:48:39Z")
I haven’t read a book in years, but J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings” hold a special place in my life. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/50 "2000-06-22T04:55:31Z")
Larry McMurtry and Cormac McCarthy ---
**Author:** ![Medea\_s\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/51 "2000-06-22T10:11:25Z")
Orson Scott Card (Wyrms, everyone should read Wyrms. And his short story Homeless in Hell) Kipling. (Read “Without Benefit of Clergy” if you can possibly get your hands on it, best beloved.) ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/52 "2000-06-22T14:26:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Ken Follett…I like his women. Needs2Know – neat that you mention Follett. I just read Lie Down With Lions not long ago. Have you read that one? I was totally impressed with an accurate childbirth scene and a nursing mother as a main character! Plus all the other little mama/baby details. I’m convinced his wife had a baby while he was writing that book. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/53 "2000-06-22T14:40:35Z")
“Why, Medea’s Child, do you like Kipling?” [standing back, waiting for punchline to come in for a landing] ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/54 "2000-06-22T14:42:38Z")
Impossible thread! For book I can read again and again? The not-very-well-known Ferrol Sams. For pure feel-good schmaltz: Maeve Binchy I know some people think Stephen King is lowbrow, but damn I enjoy him. Musta read The Stand a dozen times. Jane Austen just blew me away, the fact that I could enjoy classics without having to read them for a grade. Annie Lamott is pretty good, but I’ve really only read 1 1/2 of her books. But the one (Operating Instructions), I’ve read three times. Others whose writing amazes me: Robert Jordan, Nicholson Baker (“The Mezzanine” is extraordinary). Will someone start a “favorite books” thread? That seems to be where I am headed with this… then I’d add Randy Shilts’ And The Band Played On. ---
**Author:** ![bovary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e68b1a/32.png) [@bovary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bovary)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/55 "2000-06-22T14:45:13Z")
Lewis Carroll by far then maybe Anne Rice ---
**Author:** ![Gilligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Gilligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gilligan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/56 "2000-06-22T15:56:57Z")
Dave Barry and Scott Adams for humor. Robert Sheckley and Isaac Asimov for S.F. Raymond Smullyan and Martin Gardner for math and philosophy. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/57 "2000-06-22T16:11:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Will someone start a “favorite books” thread? That seems to be where I am headed with this… then I’d add Randy Shilts’ And The Band Played On. I started the [Book Nook](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=27500) a while ago but it kind of faded away. Maybe we could revive it?? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![spark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@spark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spark)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/58 "2000-06-22T16:31:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > **Nonfiction:** Simon Schama > **Fiction:** Don DeLillo (though this one changes wildly day to day – I almost said Kazuo Ishiguro) > **Dead:** Anthony Trollope > **Mystery:** Lawrence Block > **Fantasy:** Terry Pratchett/George R.R. Martin > **SF:** Greg Egan > **Funny:** S.J. Perelman/P.G. Wodehouse (oops, they’re both dead) > **Journalism:** P.J. O’Rourke > > \*\* Hmmm… I hadn’t thought of categorizing them so thoroughly. I’m inspired (and somewhat liberated, since now I don’t have to pick just **one**. **Nonfiction:** Cecil Adams (but of course) **Fiction:** John Steinbeck (also dead, but DAMN, is he good) **Dead:** James Joyce (with more than a little patience) **Mystery:** James Ellroy (the _LA Quartet_ is absolutely gripping) **Fantasy:** Hmm…not a huge fan, but I suppose it’s Piers Anthony (I’ve only read the _Incarnations_ series) **SF:** Douglas Adams (when’s he coming out with a new one?) **Funny:** John Kennedy Toole (_Confederation of Dunces_ is the single funniest thing I’ve ever read) **or** Paul Fussell (I learned more from _Class_ than in all of my Sociology classes **Journalism:** Joe Bob Briggs (I worked for him for a while…don’t ask) ---
**Author:** ![blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3bc359/32.png) [@blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blue)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/59 "2000-06-22T16:47:14Z")
…to name a few… John Irving Wally Lamb (new…but good) Stephen King AA Milne (I love Pooh) Dean Koontz (False Memory was great) F. Scott Fitzgerald (a nod to my junior highschool English teacher) Dr. Seuss (I bow to Seuss) Roald Dahl (A genius) DH Lawrence Jane Austin (hey…I’m a chick) and Tom Wolfe ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950/60 "2000-06-22T19:04:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Funny: John Kennedy Toole (Confederation of Dunces is the single funniest thing I’ve ever > read) For accuracy’s sake: A Confederacy of Dunces. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-author/22950.md?page=4)