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Annual (Probably) Who's Your Favorite Author Thread. And Why?
Posted on 5/24/22 at 1:57 pm
Posted on 5/24/22 at 1:57 pm
Posts last forever on this board, so there's probably one still on page four, but I cant remember one of late.
So, who is your favorite author, and why? Any up and comers?
I go back and forth between Tolkien and Conan Doyle. Seems like it depends on which one I'm re-reading at the time.
I lean to Tolkien since he is the defining author of my favorite genre. He's also just brilliant. What he was able to accomplish just in LOTR alone is remarkable. IT has a deeper story, semi-world building, language, creative characters, villains, and character development in just three books than most fantasy series that go on for 10+ books.
All that being said, I could almost argue that The Hobbit is my favorite book of them all. The Silmarillion is just beautiful.
Up and comer (not that he himself is one) as far as one of my favorites is Joe Abercrombie. As I said, fantasy is my favorite genre, and in just a few books, he's already passed up GRRM for me. Almost everything I said about Tolkien could be said about Abercrombie.
So for me its, Tolkien, Doyle and I have to at least mention Twain.
So, who is your favorite author, and why? Any up and comers?
I go back and forth between Tolkien and Conan Doyle. Seems like it depends on which one I'm re-reading at the time.
I lean to Tolkien since he is the defining author of my favorite genre. He's also just brilliant. What he was able to accomplish just in LOTR alone is remarkable. IT has a deeper story, semi-world building, language, creative characters, villains, and character development in just three books than most fantasy series that go on for 10+ books.
All that being said, I could almost argue that The Hobbit is my favorite book of them all. The Silmarillion is just beautiful.
Up and comer (not that he himself is one) as far as one of my favorites is Joe Abercrombie. As I said, fantasy is my favorite genre, and in just a few books, he's already passed up GRRM for me. Almost everything I said about Tolkien could be said about Abercrombie.
So for me its, Tolkien, Doyle and I have to at least mention Twain.
19
Posted on 5/24/22 at 3:01 pm to iwyLSUiwy
Dostoyevsky - because Brothers Karamozov is the greatest book ever written, outside the Bible.
To go into his style of writing, influence on philosophy, Christian existentialism, psychology, aesthetics, and political science, would take mountains of explanation.
To go into his style of writing, influence on philosophy, Christian existentialism, psychology, aesthetics, and political science, would take mountains of explanation.
This post was edited on 5/24/22 at 3:13 pm
Posted on 5/24/22 at 3:40 pm to Alyosha
quote:
Alyosha
quote:
Dostoyevsky
Makes sense
She was a main character right? I've actually never read Brothers Karamazov. I've tried to read as many classics as possible. I think it was Time magazine had a list years ago that was the top 100 novels of all time (I'm sure a million sites have one), I tried to knock out a decent amount of those but never got around to BK. Never got around to a lot of them
Posted on 5/24/22 at 4:11 pm to iwyLSUiwy
Never too early to start. [BTW, Alyosha is a guy. The name is a term of endearment from Alexei (or Alexander), sort of like a nickname you'd give your baby boy.]
Posted on 5/24/22 at 4:37 pm to iwyLSUiwy
Medieval fiction based in reality is my thing so Sharon K Penman and Bernard Cornwell are up there. In my more formative years during the Cold War I was obsessed with Robert Ludlum and early Clancy. I also like almost everything written by Dickens.
Posted on 5/25/22 at 12:48 pm to Adajax
Jus read up on her. Her work sounds pretty cool. I might give The Queen's Man a shot. Sounds right up my alley.
Posted on 5/25/22 at 5:48 pm to iwyLSUiwy
Brandon Sanderson
Posted on 5/25/22 at 7:21 pm to iwyLSUiwy
Cormac McCarthy. Because he’s one of the greatest to ever do it.
Posted on 5/25/22 at 8:05 pm to iwyLSUiwy
Probably Jack London.
I have a nostalgic soft spot for Call of the Wild and White Fang, and read them both multiple times a year. I have well over 100 different editions of them. They have their own bookshelf.
I have a nostalgic soft spot for Call of the Wild and White Fang, and read them both multiple times a year. I have well over 100 different editions of them. They have their own bookshelf.
Posted on 5/26/22 at 9:20 am to iwyLSUiwy
My favorite is Arthur C. Clarke.
His Rendezvous with Rama series was excellent. I know his most famous thing is 2001 Space Odyssey, but Rama to me was a much better read. Lots of other good Science Fiction books as well.
His Rendezvous with Rama series was excellent. I know his most famous thing is 2001 Space Odyssey, but Rama to me was a much better read. Lots of other good Science Fiction books as well.
Posted on 5/26/22 at 11:35 am to Sus-Scrofa
quote:
I have well over 100 different editions of them. They have their own bookshelf.
Wow. That's pretty cool. I just looked on eBay and was pretty surprised how (relatively) reasonably priced a first edition Call of the Wild is.
Posted on 5/26/22 at 12:54 pm to meeple
Same with Sando. Got back into reading a couple years ago and started Wheel of Time which got me back into the fantasy genre. Sando finishing then reading all his cosmere books got me hooked on dude. Can’t wait for wax and Wayne this year and the secret books next year. Also nice to have an author I know books will come out at a decent clip.
Posted on 5/27/22 at 9:01 pm to iwyLSUiwy
John Kennedy Toole, Jack Kerouac, Chuck Palahniuk, Kurt Vonnegut.
Authors that could (can) make the absurdity of life seem totally plausible...
Authors that could (can) make the absurdity of life seem totally plausible...
This post was edited on 5/27/22 at 9:02 pm
Posted on 5/28/22 at 7:10 pm to iwyLSUiwy
Tough, I won't pick just one, but the ones that come to mind, sort of a descending order I guess:
Cormac McCarthy
Kurt Vonnegut
David Foster Wallace
Don Delilo
Mark Helprin
Tom Robbins
Neal Stephenson
Patrick O'Brian
Neil Gaiman
Roger Zelazny
Ursula LeGuin
Umberto Eco
Nassim Taleb
Cormac McCarthy
Kurt Vonnegut
David Foster Wallace
Don Delilo
Mark Helprin
Tom Robbins
Neal Stephenson
Patrick O'Brian
Neil Gaiman
Roger Zelazny
Ursula LeGuin
Umberto Eco
Nassim Taleb
Posted on 5/28/22 at 9:49 pm to iwyLSUiwy
I do love Tolkien and his influence is pretty epic. Buttttt.... his best stuff is fairly slim in terms of variety.
I'd probably put C.S. Lewis ahead of him because he spans so much. A little science fiction, a little fantasy, a little thriller and a little Theology and Philosophy. Few writers span that kind of range.
On that note - Poe is pretty underrated in these discussions for the same reason - but his style is an acquired taste.
I'd probably go down to either the greatest American author - Mark Twain. Because his writing is so prolific and so on point for his era, while being universal and immortal.
Or Dostoevsky. I wish I could read him in native Russian, but even translated, the man is a genius. Few people have ever grasped the struggle of humanity, of the soul, of our purpose like he has.
Outside of those I'd say Vonnegut deserves a mention as does Faulkner - the second greatest American writer, and the best pure prose of any American author.
I'd probably put C.S. Lewis ahead of him because he spans so much. A little science fiction, a little fantasy, a little thriller and a little Theology and Philosophy. Few writers span that kind of range.
On that note - Poe is pretty underrated in these discussions for the same reason - but his style is an acquired taste.
I'd probably go down to either the greatest American author - Mark Twain. Because his writing is so prolific and so on point for his era, while being universal and immortal.
Or Dostoevsky. I wish I could read him in native Russian, but even translated, the man is a genius. Few people have ever grasped the struggle of humanity, of the soul, of our purpose like he has.
Outside of those I'd say Vonnegut deserves a mention as does Faulkner - the second greatest American writer, and the best pure prose of any American author.
Posted on 5/29/22 at 1:41 pm to iwyLSUiwy
Check out The Sunne in Splendour and When Christ and His Saints Slept. That's where I would start with Penman. Her Welsh Princes trilogy (Here Be Dragons, Falls the Shadow, and The Reckoning) is also outstanding. I haven't read any of her mystery fiction.
Posted on 5/31/22 at 7:28 am to iwyLSUiwy
Classic - John Steinbeck
Contemporary - Michael Chabon
Contemporary - Michael Chabon
Posted on 5/31/22 at 10:49 am to iwyLSUiwy
Current-Christopher Moore
All Time-Kurt Vonnegut
Author Who We Were Robbed Of Never Writing Another Book-
John Kennedy Toole
Honorable Mentions-Palahniuk, Kerouac, Hunter S.
All Time-Kurt Vonnegut
Author Who We Were Robbed Of Never Writing Another Book-
John Kennedy Toole
Honorable Mentions-Palahniuk, Kerouac, Hunter S.
Posted on 5/31/22 at 10:09 pm to iwyLSUiwy
Cormac McCarthy. Absolutely wonderful and unusual sentence structure.
Posted on 6/1/22 at 10:16 pm to iwyLSUiwy
Louis L’Amour
His books are the reason I fell in love with reading. I always pick one of his up after a heavy read because I find his stories very comforting. Not going to run out of his books anytime soon because he wrote so many of them. The stories might be a little basic but he’s such a great story teller that it makes up for it.
His books are the reason I fell in love with reading. I always pick one of his up after a heavy read because I find his stories very comforting. Not going to run out of his books anytime soon because he wrote so many of them. The stories might be a little basic but he’s such a great story teller that it makes up for it.
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