# Who's your favorite novelist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 19, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674 "2009-09-19T01:22:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/1 "2009-09-19T01:22:50Z")
Heh, given all the book threads, now I want to talk about books more. šŸ™‚ Try to pick someone where youā€™ve read at least 2-3 of their books. For me, itā€™s a horse race between Anne Rice, Michael Crichton and Stephen King. I think Anne Riceā€™s style is incredible. Sheā€™s my goal. Crichton is more mechanical and less fluid than Rice, but heā€™s probably made more money than Rice. Heā€™s my inspiration. Stephen Kingā€™s greatest work was when he was drunk, and he hasnā€™t written anything decent since he sobered up. Heā€™s my hero. If I had to pick, I think I enjoyed Crichton the most. ---
**Author:** ![LunarPlexus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@LunarPlexus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LunarPlexus)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/2 "2009-09-19T01:39:29Z")
Currently: Richard Russo Michael Chabon Bernard Malamud maybe Christopher Moore All time: Tom Robbins Kurt Vonnegut possibly John Irving ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/3 "2009-09-19T01:40:25Z")
Robert Heinlein Larry Niven when he was young Terry Pratchett ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/4 "2009-09-19T01:51:36Z")
My favorites arenā€™t the _best_ of the writers I like, but theyā€™re my favorites anyway: Stephen King and George R. R. Martin. Iā€™ll read whatever they feel like writing\*. They tell good stories and I like their style. \*Except Liseyā€™s Story. That was **way** too self-indulgent. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/5 "2009-09-19T01:51:49Z")
Lately, John Sanford. ---
**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:** [September 19, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/6 "2009-09-19T02:09:44Z")
If I had to pick on, John Barth. I love even his bad stuff ā€“ itā€™s filled with amazing pyrotechnics. And **The Sot-Weed Factor** is one of the greatest novels of all time. Other favorites include: Terry Pratchett James Morrow Kurt Vonnegut Kit Reed ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/7 "2009-09-19T02:38:07Z")
Tim Oā€™Brien Mark Helprin Pat Barker Peter Straub ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/8 "2009-09-19T02:52:19Z")
Ruth Rendell (aka Barbara Vine). Ed McBain. Elizabeth George. Sharyn McCrumb. Robert Crais. Kurt Vonnegut. Anya Seton. Norah Lofts. Shirley Jackson. ---
**Author:** ![Night\_so\_be\_it](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b2d939/32.png) [@Night\_so\_be\_it](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Night_so_be_it)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/9 "2009-09-19T02:59:27Z")
Used to be Beckett but now itā€™s either Joyce or Faulkner. Conrad, Melville, Cervantes and Tolstoy arenā€™t far behind though. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/10 "2009-09-19T03:00:46Z")
Thomas Harris. Although weā€™ll forget all about _ **Hannibal Rising** _. Stephen Hunter ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/11 "2009-09-19T03:06:35Z")
Terry Pratchett is number one on this list, no doubt about that. Also worth mentioning are (in no particular order): Neal Gaiman, Dan Simmons, and Douglas Adams. ---
**Author:** ![Ring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Ring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ring)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/12 "2009-09-19T03:47:20Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Lately, John Sanford. Me too. Outstanding characters, great stories, funny as hell, beautiful women, wonderful sexual repartee. I donā€™t know if I agree with his 100 best rock tunes though. When I was younger I wasted my life reading literature, now I just read for pleasure. Screw the _White Hotel_ and _Vineland_. And I still live the horror of _Naked Lunch_, although that probably just hippie drivel. or was that beat crap? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/13 "2009-09-19T04:20:26Z")
Nabokov and Fitzgerald. I flip flop on whoā€™s first and whoā€™s second, but Nabokovā€™s skill and artistry and command are second to none. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/14 "2009-09-19T04:34:23Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > Thomas Harris. Although weā€™ll forget all about _ **Hannibal Rising** _. > > Stephen Hunter These are another two of my favorites. I just finished Hunterā€™s _The 42nd Samurai_ (or was it 47th?) Thomas Harris doesnā€™t write nearly fast enough. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/15 "2009-09-19T04:35:34Z")
Iā€™ve just begun reading Terry Pratchett in the last year or so, and some books I really enjoy and others I just donā€™t find myself engaged. When heā€™s good heā€™s _really_ good tho. Lately Iā€™ve been enjoying S.M. Stirling and Richard K. Morgan a lot. Like devouring every book, then re-reading them all as I wait for the next to be published. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/16 "2009-09-19T04:40:28Z")
> [@Ring](#): > > Me too. > > Outstanding characters, great stories, funny as hell, beautiful women, wonderful sexual repartee. I donā€™t know if I agree with his 100 best rock tunes thoughā€¦ Oh, yeah that was a couple three books back, wasnā€™t it? I donā€™t remember much on the list, but I do remember not being terribly impressed. But I liked that other characters would throw in suggestions and Lucas kept having these ā€œDā€™oh, why didnā€™t I think of that one?ā€ moments. This might be worth itā€™s own thread ā€“ can you remind me which book itā€™s in? ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aca169/32.png) [@Red\_Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/17 "2009-09-19T05:19:08Z")
When I was in high school it was Douglas Adams, Tom Clancy, Lawrence Saunders, and Issac Asimov. Now itā€™s probably Jim Butcher, Robert Heinlein, and Neil Gaiman (a distant third, often his endings seem rushed to me). ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/18 "2009-09-19T05:35:33Z")
Another one for Stephen King. I think he wins out on ratio too. I just dig his style, and heā€™s always been an inspiration to me, despite his enormous popularity. Other than that, I just read whatever I find interesting. A lot of science fiction and non-fiction. Donā€™t pay attention to many other authors. Maybe Clarke or Crichton for second place, but theyā€™re hit or miss. I think the problem is I _really_ enjoy short fiction, so King, Clarke, Asimov and Heinlein (et al) come out on top. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/19 "2009-09-19T06:05:16Z")
Silly goose! I am contractually unable to name anyone but Kathy Reichs! šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/20 "2009-09-19T06:48:04Z")
Neal Stephenson, William Somerset Maugham, Umberto Eco, John Steinbeck, Kazuo Ishiguro, Tim Winton. (But Iā€™m not widely read in the ā€œclassicsā€, so I probably under-represent them). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674.md?page=2)