# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/41 "2009-09-19T19:27:46Z")
Fyodor Dostoyevsky Italo Calvino (gap) Raymond Chandler Isaac Asimov Franz Kafka Douglas Adams Kurt Vonnegut Dashiell Hammett G. K. Chesterton Fritz Leiber ---
**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:** [September 19, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/42 "2009-09-19T19:46:09Z")
Salman Rushdie John Steinbeck Neal Stephenson Lois Bujold Terry Pratchett Umberto Eco ---
**Author:** ![regginbrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ba9def/32.png) [@regginbrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/regginbrow)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/43 "2009-09-19T22:51:56Z")
Cormac McCarthy has been frequently blowing my mind as of late. Amazing writer. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/44 "2009-09-19T23:13:06Z")
Isaac Asimov James Baldwin Ray Bradbury Fyodor Dostoyevsky Robert A. Heinlein Victor Hugo Harper Lee Ayn Rand Kurt Vonnegut ---
**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, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/45 "2009-09-19T23:21:40Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > Don DeLillo is another favorite, but I generally consult reviews before wading in there. I skipped Cosmopolis because it was so widely panned. **He often seems to care not one whit if his reader’s can follow his books.** I always feel like I need a Reader’s Guide written by a university professor whenever I read him. Bolding mine. DeLillo was one of the four writers taken apart in _A Reader’s Manifesto_. Annie Proulx, Paul Auster, and Cormac McCarthy were the other three. The gist of the Manifesto (in my understanding) is that critics fall all over themselves praising writers who often don’t make any sense. Individual words and sentences take precedence over character and story. Or something like that. (The essayist had good things to say about McCarthy’s early work though.) ---
**Author:** ![Ferd\_Burfel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@Ferd\_Burfel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferd_Burfel)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/46 "2009-09-20T00:08:43Z")
Lawrence Block is my all time favorite. There’s something about the way he writes that reads well in my mind. I can devour his books. Donald Westlake, rest his soul, is the king of the comic caper. I’ve read all of the Dortmunder novels. And now, I’m working my through the Parker novels which he wrote under the name Richard Stark. The rest in no particular order: Robert A. Heinlein Isaac Asimov Michael Crichton ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/47 "2009-09-20T00:54:02Z")
Dorothy Sayers ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/48 "2009-09-20T02:03:28Z")
Phillip Roth Tom Wolfe Hunter S Thompson (though he did a better job with non-fiction than fiction IMHO) ---
**Author:** ![3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/47e85d/32.png) [@3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3_20_59_or_bust)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/49 "2009-09-20T03:52:39Z")
Elmore Leonard ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/50 "2009-09-20T04:40:46Z")
No particluar order: Neal Stephenson Kurt Vonnegut Michael Connelly John Irving Neil Gaiman Douglas Adams ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/51 "2009-09-20T05:00:13Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > DeLillo was one of the four writers taken apart in _A Reader’s Manifesto_. Annie Proulx, Paul Auster, and Cormac McCarthy were the other three. The gist of the Manifesto (in my understanding) is that critics fall all over themselves praising writers who often don’t make any sense. Individual words and sentences take precedence over character and story. Or something like that. (The essayist had good things to say about McCarthy’s early work though.) It’s a terrific piece that later became a book. The original article is [here](http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200107/myers) and the [Wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Reader's_Manifesto) summarises Meyers’ response to criticisms of the article. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/52 "2009-09-20T05:04:11Z")
Terry Pratchett Kurt Vonnegut Charles Dickens Victor Hugo Ursula LeGuin’s early stuff I used to like Mark Twain a lot, but it’s been so long I don’t know if I still would. ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674/53 "2009-09-20T05:23:57Z")
Neal Stephenson Tom Wolfe Thomas Perry Tim Powers Herman Melville Vladimir Nabokov Robert Anton Wilson Frederick Forsyth Victor Hugo Jack London Any suggestions? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-favorite-novelist/510674.md?page=2)