Depends on the genre, and I have more than one favorite. My favorite for historical fiction, so far, has been Gore Vidal. His Burr novel was incredible. I'm not sure if this is considered historic fiction or just plain fiction, but another favorite, albeit based on having read only one novel, was Anita Diamont, whose The Red Tent was one of the best novels I've ever read. For inspiring fiction, Richard Bach. Especially Illusions, Jonathan Livingston Seagull. For thriller novels, I love Brad Meltzer and Dean Koontz (whose novels also cross over into horror.) Meltzer's novels never fail to entertain. Koontz's Odd Thomas series is awesome. Koontz's novels in general are incredible, although on rare occasions he makes me a little uncomfortable when he seems to preach libertarianism, and in one novel (Door to December) the villain, in the end, turned out to be a badly stereotyped liberal which, as a liberal myself, offended me a bit. I'm a huge Dan Brown fan, but when is he going to come out with his next novel? Ask Dan Brown fans their favorite novel, 99 out of 100 will either say Da Vinci Code or Angels & Demons. To them, I have two words: Deception Point! I loved that book! (His only other novel, about a big computer gone haywire, was the worst of the four, but still good!) I just read Richard North Patterson's No Safe Place and thought it was awesome. I read a few David Baldacci and loved the Collectors but only liked the others. James Patterson's suspense can make for an interesting read, and I do like his books, but after having read many of them I find after a while they become a bit formulaic, and I wish his villains had more depth instead of every villain being pure evil, as they are in his novels. Tess Gerritson's medical suspense novels are also very good. For horror, I find some of Stephen King's novels incredible, and others, wordy, or just not so great. He's also often written good books with bad endings, which are always a disappointment. (King's Cell was a great book, except that it probably could have been shorter, and I hate cliffhanger endings.) I'll have to go with Dean Koontz on this one. Anne Rice's vampire novels are interesting, but after a while they become repetitive. Must all her vampires be handsome, romantic and bisexual? There are several science-fiction. I'm going to leave that one open as I'm undecided. I'm interested in histories of Christianity (from a historical perspective rather than an orthodox or theological one) and for that, I like Elaine Pagel's writings on the Gnostics. I've also read a great deal about Christian Universalism, or the doctrine of Universal Restoration. Of the many authors I've read on the subject, the best is Thomas Talbot, for his work, The Inescapable Love of God. For classics, I'm a Shakespeare fan, I like Mark Twain and I like some Dickens (considering A Christmas Carol an all-time classic.) The classic I have the most mixed feelings about is the Bible. The authors of the many books are among my favorite and most beloved, and least-favorite and most detested. It has some of the most beautiful and inspirational writings that are near to my heart, especially the parables of Jesus and the discussion of love by Paul in 1 Corinthians. (The parable of the good Samaritan and the Golden Rule may be the greatest things ever written.) It also has some silly nonsense that contradicts science, from creation to miracles to possession by demons, which should never be taken literally, and people do. And it has some really offensive stuff about a God that encourages people to slaughter other people (such as the genocide at Amelek in the book of Samuel, or the urgings to kill witches) and things people misuse to hurt others (the attacks on homosexuals, that people conveniently ignore, the same statements are made of those who eat shellfish) as well as some badly translated and badly interpreted things (I don't think the Bible, if properly translated and interpreted, ever supported the doctrine of eternal hell, and the Left Behind series is just so much nonsense and utterly unBiblical. Not that it matters much, because I think Revelation, like many of the Gnostic texts actually, could only be the writing of a madman.) Humor: For political humor, Al Franken, all the way, especially his later books (Lies and the Lying Liars and The Truth) which are more relevant to today. For humor intended to offend, George Carlin all the way. For wholesome humor, Bill Cosby and Erma Bombeck. My favorite letters were written by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. My favorite Autobiography / Memoirs were written by the President of the United States, Barack Obama.
Douglas Adams. Perhaps not the best technically, but the funniest writer I've ever come across, and the one man who can cheer me up whatever the weather with his brilliant sense of humour. It's a shame he passed away in 2001, before he could write more stuff.
I love stephen king. I think I got that from my mom, she would always be so excitied about new books. I finally picked a book from my mom's collection and read it- tho I forget which was the first. I just really enjoyed it, partly b/c my mom and I would have nice discusions about it. I also enjoyed Anne Rice vampire books. I am trying to read books by other authors to get more of a veriety of one's writing style. Dean koontz is pretty good as well.
Odd Thomas was the only Koontz book I read that was any good. Everything else I've ever read from him has been thoroughly and frightfully mediocre.
I personally found most of his books to be good, though not all. I'm currently reading The Darkest Evening of the Year, so far, it's excellent. The Odd Thomas series was certainly among my favorites. I've read them all. I also liked The Bad Place, Frankenstein (Prodigal Son), Velocity, and one of his older books, The Funhouse. I read several others, so many I don't recall the names, but I'd guess I liked more of them then I didn't like, though there were a few (Door to December was one) I didn't care so much for.
Mostly he just pisses me off in various ways like starting a book like House of Thunder off with a lot of spooky atmosphere, and how does he end it? With a cop-out plot involving conspiracies and government crap, and it was infuriating. And I also tried to read False Memory and it was over-loaded with terrible boring stuff that I couldn't get past at all. Door to December was lame too, but better than those others.
I never read House of Thunder or False Memory. I take it your suggestion is, don't. I definitely recommend Frankenstein. I'll let you know how Darkest Evening goes. One thing you can say about Koontz is, he wrote a LOT of books, even more than Stephen King, I'm fairly sure! I suppose he has his good ones and bad ones. I read one book, I think it was Demon Seed, and I'm almost sure I remember seeing it as a movie. Something to do with a woman trapped in a computerized house, that the house fell in love with her. I have a few others of his in my book collection waiting to read (Seize the Night, Watchers and From the Corner of my Eye.) There are several others that I read and really don't recall much. Charlie PS. My biggest problem with Door to December was not that it was a bad book, but that it stereotyped liberals. The villian of the book turned out to be a flaming liberal pretending to be a libertarian. Sometimes he gets off on his libertarian tangents. I don't care for it when he does that.
Laurell is pretty awesome. I started her books, loved them. Got to the middle, hated them. Now that the new ones are coming out I love them again.
Surprised no one in this thread has mentioned Jorge Luis Borges. Easily my favourite writer, his stories are labyrinthine, metaphysical tales rich in mythology and culture. Can't recommend his collection Fictions enough. The Aleph and Other Stories is also great. My other favourite writers include Edgar Allen Poe, Franz Kafka, James Joyce and George Orwell. I'm new to these forums by the way. Hi. Jim
He seems to value quantity over quality. I do not think I will read any more of his work after those aforementioned ones (as well as "Brother Odd," which was unmemorable and hinged mostly on the first book, sadly).
I enjoy Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, and Dan Brown a lot by way of modern authors. I hate to say this, but I didn't enjoy Tolkien all that much - his writing was somewhat dry to me, and it seemed that he rambled at times. Edgar Allen Poe and Orwell are on my list too.
Chuck Palanhuik- Fight Club, Survivor , and Lullaby Dean Koontz- Mostly everything ,except the Odd series...Don't ask me why, but mainly Cold Fire, The Good Guy, Fear Nothing, and I really liked Phantoms for the way it made up the origin of Satan.
Italo Calvino, hands down. His books are all so beautiful and loving crafting...it's hard to even describe. If on a winter's night a traveler is my favorite, perhaps because it was my first, but they're all good. I also have a special place in my heart for Difficult Loves. Within the fantasy genre...GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire series is definitely worth a read. Or two. Or three.
I have to echo the sentiment about not having an absolute favorite. I adore Patricia Cornwell's books. I love James Lee Burke's stuff. Stephen King's older horrors are fantastic. S.G. Browne wrote an unexpected treasure in Breathers, and thus became close to my heart. I admit that I found a high in the Twilight series, so I like Stephenie Meyer, too. Patterson is very creepy and entertaining. Dennis Lehane is probably the closest I could come to "favorite". His characters from his older books, Patrick and Angela, are two people I'm very attached to. It's hard to say for sure. No one that I've read so far has satisfied my every need. That defines "favorite" for me.
In terms of writing talent or in terms of the stories he/she tells? For talent: Ted Dekker For storytelling: Nagaru Tanigawa
The Circle is amazing, though I prefer his stand-alones. If it weren't for the inconclusive ending, Skin would be my favorite book ever.
George RR Martin is pretty good, though I've only read his A Song of Ice And Fire series. Decent reading, as medieval fantasy goes. Cormac McCarthy's The Road is swiftly becoming a favorite of mine. Amazing book. So I guess throw him in there. Melvin Burgess wrote Smack, my favorite book about addiction ever (yeah, so it isn't the best written. But I still like it, so there.) Edgar Allen Poe is another favorite, as if I didn't have enough already. Great short stories and not half bad at poetry either!
