NationStates Jolt Archive

Who is your favorite author and what is your favorite book that he/she has written?

If I had to choose just one author I would probably pick J.K. Rowling (because, yes I'm a huge HP fan) and my favorite book of hers is The Order of the Phoenix.

margaret atwood, the blind assassin. although i love her dystopian works too.

Mercedes Lackey, the entire Last Herald Mage series. Very emotional. :)

Wow, never heard of either of them.

Thomas Ligotti, Songs of a Dead Dreamer tied with Jorge Luis Borges, Collected Fictions

Favorite literary work: Bible
Composed by: God
Transcripted by: Oi vey, do I have to list ALL of them?

-R. S. of UC

My list of favourite authors changes depending on my mood...but I keep going back to Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series...it's just so silly, yet thoughtful....there is a great essay in a posthumerous :) collection called the "Salmon of Doubt" about why he was an atheist. Very solid argument....I use a lot myself.

I've never heard of a lot of these authors (with the exception of God).

I've never heard of a lot of these authors (with the exception of God).

Seriously, you need to read more :D . These aren't even obscure authors.

Victor Hugo, with Frank Herbert coming in a close second. Dune is great, but Les Mis is the best book I've ever read, ever.

I like Beat Writers .... Anthony Burgess, Hunter Thompson, William Burroughs, etc.

Seriously, you need to read more :D . These aren't even obscure authors.
I always thought Ligotti was. Are there any other Ligotti fans here?

Seriously, you need to read more :D . These aren't even obscure authors.

Are you kidding me? I read all the time. But I'm probably a lot younger than most of you (12) so I haven't been exposed to tons of different authors. I'm more of a science fiction/fantasy/horror person anyway. I'm a big fan of Micheal Crichton, Stephen King, J.R.R. Tolkien, Orson Scott Card, and Mary Higgins Clark too.

Best of all is RABBI MOISHE BEN MAIMON, tough no fantasy or sci-fi, he's one of few, who could really write.

Are you kidding me? I read all the time. But I'm probably a lot younger than most of you (12) so I haven't been exposed to tons of different authors. I'm more of a science fiction/fantasy/horror person anyway. I'm a big fan of Micheal Crichton, Stephen King, J.R.R. Tolkien, Orson Scott Card, and Mary Higgins Clark too.
If you like surreal fantasy type stories, some of Borges' stories are worth reading. If you like horror, Ligotti is a god.

I like Beat Writers .... Anthony Burgess, Hunter Thompson, William Burroughs, etc.

Anthony Burgess is anything but a beat writer.

Who is your favorite author and what is your favorite book that he/she has written?

If I had to choose just one author I would probably pick J.K. Rowling (because, yes I'm a huge HP fan) and my favorite book of hers is The Order of the Phoenix.
Thats one of my favorites too.

If you like surreal fantasy type stories, some of Borges' stories are worth reading. If you like horror, Ligotti is a god.

Funny, I've never heard of either of them. But then again our school library selection is very limited (nothing innappropriate) so I have to go to the public library to get "adult books" lby some of the best authors there are.

I can't believe any of you haven't said MAX BARRY!!!!!


Though my faves are Dan Brown (Angels and Demons) and Ken Follett (Eye of the Needle)

Funny, I've never heard of either of them. But then again our school library selection is very limited (nothing innappropriate) so I have to go to the public library to get "adult books" lby some of the best authors there are.

Borges is adult only in that he deals with big philosophical questions in short easily read stories, but there is nothing* there that would shock a matron aunt (or indeed anyone).




* Other than his ideas.

I can't believe any of you haven't said MAX BARRY!!!!!


Though my faves are Dan Brown (Angels and Demons) and Ken Follett (Eye of the Needle)

Ha, ha. I'm probably a hypocrite being on this website when I've never read the book, but you know what they say, "Oh, WELL!"

It's a bit old, but ive always loved Catch 22 by Joseph Heller.
That book has always been awesome.

The key to Machiavelli is not to completely trust your ministers, even your own family. Also, when the people bitch - surprise them and let them have some fun! It worked for Pablo Escobar, (at least for a long while).

Levin is great for suspense if anyone agrees I applaud u if u disagree I shake my head in disappoinment

Anthony Burgess is anything but a beat writer.

Depends on how you look at it, now doesn't it? ;)

Franz Kafka, The Trial

Stephen Donaldson -

"Chronicles of Thomas Covenant/Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" - best fantasy series since LOTR

"The Gap Series" best sci-fi series ever

Depends on how you look at it, now doesn't it? ;)

Only if you have a private, secret definition of 'beat writer' that you share with no one else and is completely at odds with that used by everybody else in the world.

My favorite author is H. P. Lovecraft. He's Stephen King's main influence. Most of King's "mythos" is borrowed from Lovecraft's. There are several collections of short stories by Lovecraft that are quite excellent.

Ben Bova

His stories are just really fun to read.

I'm liking the nights dawn trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton, that is "the reality dysfunction", "the neutronium alchemist", "the naked God."

Also great is Iain M. Banks, for the culture novels. (Especially Excession and consider phlebas.)

Other than that, Sci Fi and Fantasy, pretty much everyone you've heard of.

And douglas addams and Terry pratchett as comedy scifi/fantasy authors respectively.

My list of favourite authors changes depending on my mood...but I keep going back to Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series...it's just so silly, yet thoughtful

Damn right, he was a great guy. I don't read many books, but I like to consider myself to be intelligent, I just don't have the time to read books. When I do read, I like Douglas Adams and Douglas Coupland, author of the geek classics 'Generation X', 'Microserfs' and more recently, 'All Families Are Psychotic'.

This is so hard! I'll have to go with either Charles de Lint the Onion Girl or Peter David Sir Apropos of Nothing. Gods that was funny.

Robert Anton Wilson - Schrodinger's Cat
without question or doubt.

Clive Cussler is simply the best.

Michael A. Stackpole: The Dark Glory War. It's the prelude to a trilogy called the Dragon Crown War Cycle. Very good fiction writer. Also wrote a bunch of books in the Star Wars X-Wing series. Timothy Zahn's also good. The Icarus Hunt is one of his books.

Anthony Burgess is anything but a beat writer.

What is a 'beat' writter?

I enjoy science fiction, so I'd recommend Alfred Bester, Ted Sturgeon, Brian Aldiss, Bob Silverberg- Vernor Vinge, Roger MacBride Allen, James P. Hogan, and of course Isaac Asimov. Harlan Ellison...Fred Pohl...Philip K. Dick...A.E. Van Vogt...and still many others. No one author for me, nope. I love 'em all.

Oh, well there is also J.G. Ballard. Absolutely have loved his work for 25 years or more. He's not really much of a science fiction author, though.

Best Stories I've read in a while: A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge, Up The Line by Bob Silverberg, and Cradle of Saturn by James P. Hogan.

Douglas Adam's Hitch Hiker's Guide "trilogy" or Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus! trilogy depending on my mood
Aleister Crowley's The Tree of Lies is also very good.
And The Principia Discordia written by "Macalypse the younger".
The last two are impossible to find in your local bookshop though.

Favorite Author? Philip K. Dick. Favorite book? Cryptonomicon. Yes, it's not Mr. Dick, but still a great book.

I like Beat Writers .... Anthony Burgess, Hunter Thompson, William Burroughs, etc.

I would no more qualify Hunter S. as a beat writer than I would Tom Wolfe. However, if you do enjoy the beat writers, I would definitely recommend Charles Bukowski.

i find it rather embarrassing to admit that my favorite author is tolkein. its not that i think lotr is the greatest ever but i have read no other books more times.

david brin ... glory season, the postman
sherri tepper ... a plague of angels
arthur conan doyle..... sherlock holmes
arthur upfield .... napoleon bonaparte mystery series set in australia
connie willis..... the domesday book, to say nothing ofthe dog
tami hoag .... who else can make cajun men seem to be the sexiest men in the world?

and many others who i love enough to keep buying the works of

Mine are either Tom Clancy with Red Storm Rising or Dan Brown with The DaVinci Code.

What is a 'beat' writter?

Beat generation: the term either comes fron the feeling of being exhausted (as in 'I'm beat) and the delirium which sometimes occurs as a result, or from 'beatific' - a condition of grace.

Jack Kerouac is the central figure really: producing apparently stream of consciousness novels and poetry. His novels were heavily influenced by Eastern mysticism, a romantic view of the vagabond and a hunt for the spiritual heart of the American continent and dream.

Others that would fall into the category of beat writers: Alexander Trocchi, William S. Burroughs, Alan Ginsberg, Jim Carroll, John Rechy, Charles Bukowski, Richard Brautigan and the like (some of the above really fit better into other categories, but for the moment we will ignore that).

Here's someone else introdcution to the Beat Writers:
http://www.litkicks.com/BeatPages/page.jsp?what=BeatGen

Graham Masterton - Walkers

absolutley great book.

Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman and Anne McAffery. The rest of the DragonLance Saga authours are pretty good as well.

Phillip K Dick
J G Ballard
Jack Vance
Eric Hobsbawn

Oof. Just one? Well, ONE of my favorites is Chaim Potok's "My name is Asher Lev".

I generally loved everything Potok wrote, although there were a few that were hit-and-miss.

I only read non-fiction, so my fave author would be Antony Sutton. The guy was a friggin' genius!

Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
S. Morgenstern, The Princess Bride
Dan Brown, The DaVinci Code
And pretty much any book by Roald Dahl

i find it rather embarrassing to admit that my favorite author is tolkein. its not that i think lotr is the greatest ever but i have read no other books more times.

david brin ... glory season, the postman
sherri tepper ... a plague of angels
arthur conan doyle..... sherlock holmes
arthur upfield .... napoleon bonaparte mystery series set in australia
connie willis..... the domesday book, to say nothing ofthe dog
tami hoag .... who else can make cajun men seem to be the sexiest men in the world?

and many others who i love enough to keep buying the works of

Woo Hoo! Someone else that has heard of Sherri S Tepper!!!!

i'm adding kerouac and nabokov to my favorites.
on the road and lolita, respectively.

Tom Clancy
best books,
Executive Orders
Rainbow Six
The Bear and the Dragon
Patriot Games
Red Storm Rising
Hunt for Red October
Cardinal of the Kremlin
Clear and Present Danger
Sum of all Fears
Without Remorse

You say you are 12 years old?

Okay - for science fiction:

try: Andre Norton... any, but "The Zero Stone" is especially good.
Isaac Asimov... "The Foundation Trilogy"
Harry Harrison.... the "Deathworld" trilogy, the "To the Stars" trilogy and any of the "Stainless Steel Rat" books.

for fantasy:

try: Sherri S Tepper... "The True Game", "The Chronicles of Mavin Manyshaped" and "The End of the Game"
Sharon Shinn... "Jovah's Angel", "Archangel" and "The Alleluia Files"
Terry Brooks... any of the "Shannara" books

for your 'age group':

try: any of the "Unfortunate Events" books by Lemony Snickett

for 'fun':

try: Piers Anthony... any of the "Xanth" books
Terry Pratchett... any of the "Discworld" books
Douglas Adams... the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

I'm amazed that nobody has mentioned:

Neil Stephenson: Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash, Quicksilver, The Dimond Age
Neil Gaiman: Stardust,
Orson Scott Card: Enders Game, and the sequels
Terry Pratchett: Discworld series.

And non-fiction:
Simon Singh: The Code Book (maybe a tad obscure, that one :)

Adolf Hitler - Mein Kampf. Original German is better if you know German. The translation by Werner Stolz is the best English language version. A classic!!!!

Meh. I personally couldn't get through it. Not because of what he was saying, but rather, how he was saying it- it was sort of like plodding through quicksand.

I determined that I had to put it down before I was bored to death.

I don't know, maybe I was using a bad translation. Then again, maybe it was a good translation and the writing itself was bad.

I'm amazed that nobody has mentioned:

Neil Stephenson: Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash, Quicksilver, The Dimond Age
Neil Gaiman: Stardust,
Orson Scott Card: Enders Game, and the sequels
Terry Pratchett: Discworld series.

And non-fiction:
Simon Singh: The Code Book (maybe a tad obscure, that one :)


Listed Cryptonomicon last page, actually. And I am still chewing through the Baroque Cycle series.

tom clancy sounds good, :sniper:, never got round to reading his books though, although I have played some of the games
I like Eva Ibbotson for the originality
Grant and Naylor for the Red Dwarf books
And finally, Douglas Adams.Genius. :D

Are you kidding me? I read all the time. But I'm probably a lot younger than most of you (12) so I haven't been exposed to tons of different authors.

Same here, however, my favorite reads take a more political tilt. I think Ann Rand is the best author ive ever read, leading off with Anthem, in fact, my region is called ANTHEM come and join me! we can discuss her books