# Fav. author(s)?



## dancer_37 (Feb 25, 2007)

What are your favorite authors? What kind of books do you like?

Here are my top 3:

1. Kathryn Reiss
2. Caroline B. Cooney
3. Scott Westerfield

I love books about time travel!!

Now tell me about your taste.


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## gradefpoultry (Feb 26, 2007)

I've been reading a lot of Stephen King lately.


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## tiffie (Feb 26, 2007)

I definitely love Tolkien.  He's brilliant.  

Other authors I like?  Well, Koonts is pretty good.

Wells I love.

Poe is great for short stories and poetry.

Also, I enjoy Terry Goodkind.


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## Kira the wanderer (Feb 26, 2007)

Neil Gaiman

Alan Moore


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## skatingaway (Feb 27, 2007)

Alice Munro is my favourite author, her short stories are amazing. But her last collection of them were the last ones she's going to publish, which is rather sad.


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## ruksak (Feb 28, 2007)

In my response I am reminded of a short poem about St.Petersburg:
I was born in Petrograd
I graduated in Leningrad
I retired in St.Petersburg.

Books, and particularly favourite authors, are like that.

20 years ago - Tolkien
15 years ago - Orwell, Steinbeck
10 years ago - Kerouac, Bukowski
5 years ago - Henry Miller, Dostoyevsky
Now - Paul Auster, Haruki Murakami
Next - ???, ???


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## Danzo (Feb 28, 2007)

Some of my favorites are Cornelia Funke, J.K. Rowling, Christopher Paolini, Mario Puzo, and Richard Bach.


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## strangedaze (Feb 28, 2007)

skatingaway said:
			
		

> Alice Munro is my favourite author, her short stories are amazing. But her last collection of them were the last ones she's going to publish, which is rather sad.



my creative writing prof is homies with alice munro. apparently hes got in his possession a short story she wrote that her publisher deemed to racy for The View From Castle Rock. ive been trying to sucker it out of him for awhile now.

as for me, faves include mordecai richler, hunter s thompson, salman rushdie, bret easton ellis, kafka, and jd salinger (tho not catcher).


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## strangedaze (Feb 28, 2007)

skatingaway said:
			
		

> Alice Munro is my favourite author, her short stories are amazing. But her last collection of them were the last ones she's going to publish, which is rather sad.



my creative writing prof is homies with alice munro. apparently hes got in his possession a short story she wrote that her publisher deemed to racy for The View From Castle Rock. ive been trying to sucker it out of him for awhile now.

as for me, faves include mordecai richler, hunter s thompson, salman rushdie, bret easton ellis, kafka, and jd salinger (tho not catcher).


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## strangedaze (Feb 28, 2007)

skatingaway said:
			
		

> Alice Munro is my favourite author, her short stories are amazing. But her last collection of them were the last ones she's going to publish, which is rather sad.



my creative writing prof is homies with alice munro. apparently hes got in his possession a short story she wrote that her publisher deemed to racy for The View From Castle Rock. ive been trying to sucker it out of him for awhile now.

as for me, faves include mordecai richler, hunter s thompson, salman rushdie, bret easton ellis, kafka, and jd salinger (tho not catcher).


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## Winged Sandals (Mar 1, 2007)

Robyn McKinley, Robert Louis Stevenson, and J.K. Rowling have been my favorites for a long time.  I also think Steinbeck has a lot of talent as a writer, although I haven't liked his stories too much yet.  Dickenson might be added to my all-time favorite list, also.  I'm reading Tale of Two Cities now and I'm blown away.


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## Uriah (Mar 2, 2007)

My favorite author, hands down, is William Faulkner.


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## Renos Babe (Mar 3, 2007)

Mathew Reily and...i'll get back to you when i remember his name.


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## k3ng (Mar 3, 2007)

I've only got CS Lewis in this category. No one else.


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## Man_Of_Truth (Mar 3, 2007)

Steven Gould- _Jumper, Reflex, Wildside
_Neil Gaiman- _Anansi Boys, Smoke and Mirrors
_J.K. Rowling- _Harry Potter Series, although Book 3 is the only one with an unpredictable plot. I like her work, but it's not all it's cracked up to be._


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## strangedaze (Mar 3, 2007)

Winged Sandals said:
			
		

> Robyn McKinley, Robert Louis Stevenson, and J.K. Rowling have been my favorites for a long time.  I also think Steinbeck has a lot of talent as a writer, although I haven't liked his stories too much yet.  Dickenson might be added to my all-time favorite list, also.  I'm reading Tale of Two Cities now and I'm blown away.




er, thats DICKENS, i assume?


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## Poe Clock (Mar 4, 2007)

Vladimir Nabokov is my all-time favourite, hands down.  I absolutely love his work, especially An Invitation to a Beheading and Lolita.  Neil Gaiman and Egdar Allan Poe are definately on my list, they're both brilliant.  <3


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## Aterinâ„¢ (Mar 4, 2007)

_I'd have to say J.K Rowlings_


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## swimfanatic (Mar 13, 2007)

dancer_37 mentioned Scott Westerfeld. I think he's pretty good. I also like Christopher Paolini and J.K. Rowling a lot. Tolkien's pretty good. C.S. Lewis was one of my favorites when I was younger. Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series was pretty good. Recently, I've been reading a lot of Sarah Dessen's books. Those are _really_ good. At the moment, I'd have to say she's my all-time favorite author. But you never know when I'll find another author that dazzles me even more. My favorite author is constantly changing.


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## Vanest (Mar 13, 2007)

I guess it depends on the genre. In magic realism, Alejo Carpentier and García Márquez. In contemporary Latin American literature, Mario Vargas Llosa. In poetry, Alfonsina Storni. In 'feminine' literature (although I don't like the idea that any woman wirter should immediately be thrown into this category), María Luisa Bombal. In Canadian literaure, Alice Munro. In American Literature, Jack Kerouac. And children's literature is where my list is longest: L.M. Montgomery, Laura  Ingalls, J.K. Rowling, A.A. Milne, Roald Dahl, Kenneth Grahame, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien (although I guess some of his things aren't exactly for children...), and Frank Asch. 

Thats a very long list... I hope I haven't bored you:smile:


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## stupid_dream (Mar 14, 2007)

My favorite authors, followed by my favorites from each...

1. Chuck Palahniuk (Survivor, Fight Club)
2. Ray Bradbury (Something Wicked This Way Comes, Fahrenheit 451)
3. John Steinbeck (East of Eden, Of Mice and Men)
4. J.D. Salinger (The Catcher in the Rye)
5. J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Prisoner of Azkaban)


I'm really weird.


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## Scott Tuplin (Mar 14, 2007)

My two most favourite authors, in the order I discovered them:

1. Martina Cole (namely for _Dangerous Lady_ and _Maura's Game_)
2. Andy McNab (for the Nick Stone series)

I have a feeling Tsunetomo Yamamoto will soon become the third.


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## Sir Jorah (Mar 14, 2007)

Terry Brooks, George R R Martin, David Morrell, and Orson Scott Card.


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## Incatnito (Mar 15, 2007)

Jane Austen and Harper Lee. I love their wonderfully wry take on social mores. Robin McKinley is another favorite - fairy tales will never be the same again.


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## DaBags311 (Mar 17, 2007)

I feel like a baby here =) so many good authors I'll need to check out now. My library is somewhat limited I'll be the first to admit, although I am working to change that. Authors who's works I have enjoyed include in no particular order:

C.S. Lewis (the narnia series as a pre-teen, screwtape letters as a teen, Mere Christianity, and the Great Divorce most recently)

George R R Martin. 

I find his characters truer and his stories more fascinating than most anything else I've read recently. It feels much the same as when I read J R R Tolkien as a pre-teen, yet it's far from the same style-wise.  Martin reads like Historical fiction.  Primary characters die, the events are unpredictable, yet theres an overwhelming sense of underlying connection hidden from the characters and which we as readers can at times only guess at.  I can't recommend this series highly enough, it's my favorite series at the moment.

Dickens 

a Tale of Two Cities, I admit I have not read much else by him

Jane Austen 

Pride and Prejudice in particular as well as Sense and Sensibility

Orsen Scott Card 

Oddly I found Enders Game to be the better than the more critically acclaimed Speaker for the Dead. Both stretched the willing suspension of disbelief for me, but I thought Enders Game was more consistant whereas Speaker for the dead made too many universal assertions for my taste.

J R R Tolkein 

I was a fanboy growing up, but even as an adult I'm continually struck by just how complex of a world this man created in his mind. For a man to have that kind of genius and still be capable of inciting a sense of wonder and intrigue with his words, I call that nothing short of a monumental acheivement

Terry Pratchett 

the very definition of the word whimsy

J.K. Rowling.

She's not all her most die hard fans crack her up to be, but she's a damned good writer and her work appeals to an ENORMOUS audience. That alone is worth something.)



While I wouldn't ever say he was one of my favorite authors, I did enjoy Christopher Paolini's Eragon. Call him a plagiarist, unoriginal, predictable, say he writes too much like a mixture of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings with every other cliche in the fantasy world thrown in the mix and I'll agree.  Yet at the same time I want to cut the guy a little slack.  He wrote Eragon when he was 15,  and besides it's a fun read. What the hell's wrong with that? If he's still writing like this at 25 then I'll lose respect for him, but for now I'll keep reading to see where the story goes.

That's what I can remember from recently. And that's my 2 cents.


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## Lance (Mar 22, 2007)

A very underrated author is Rodman Philbrick. But I can't help but love J.K Rowling, I love all the books in the Harry Potter series.


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## macd (Mar 23, 2007)

Try this favourite books poll
it should be interesting to see what people come up with through the course of time...


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## Wombat Boi (Mar 23, 2007)

I'm very fond of Poppy Z. Brite. She's very, very good at setting moods. Especially dark ones (of course). I love Wormwood, Exquisite Corpse and of course Lost Souls, as stereotypical as it is it's very nice to read.

I was into Brian Jacques when I was younger because I love animals. The Redwall series is delightful.

And of course my love, Oscar Wilde. I hope he doesn't need an explanation. Hehe.


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## Edgewise (Mar 23, 2007)

Bukowski (his novels, rather than his poetry): _Post Office, Women, Factotum, Ham on Rye, Notes of a Dirty Old Man)_

Orson Scott Card: _Enders Game, Enders Shadow_

Kafka: _Metamorphosis_

Hemmingway: _Farewell to Arms, For Whom The Bells Tolls_

Anthony Burgess: _Clockwork Orange, Wanting Seed_


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## Rob (Mar 23, 2007)

Gosh, I don't know. Favourites would have to include, in no particular order:

- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- Donald Barthelme
- William Trevor
- David Mitchell
- Angela Carter
- Philip K. Dick
- Raymond Carver

Cheers,
Omni


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## Minka (Mar 25, 2007)

Philip Pullman, Garth Nix, Terry Pratchett, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Malorie Blackman, Zoe Heller

William Nicholson _was_ one of my favourites until I read "Seeker." I thought that was pretty dire.


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## lisajane (Mar 26, 2007)

Paullina Simons, Douglas Coupland.


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## Shawn (Mar 26, 2007)

Agatha Christie... that's it.


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## theemeraldskull (Apr 12, 2007)

Brian Jacques
Tolkien
Gerald Morris
Louis Sachar
Erin Hunter
Agatha Christie

I'll post when i think of the others


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## Moses_Scurry (Apr 17, 2007)

Used to be Stephen King. I'm pretty big into Carl Hiaasen right now.


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## Stewart (Apr 18, 2007)

Richard Yates
Kazuo Ishiguro
John Steinbeck
Umberto Eco
John Fante
Patrick McGrath
Martin Amis
John Updike
Michel Faber

I've not updated it in a while so there are still a number missing, but my book collection can be viewed here, lest there be authors I've missed out.


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## Lyonidus (Apr 18, 2007)

j r r tolkien
raymond e feist
terry goodkind
bernard cornwell

and i cant remember the rest, lol if you hadnt guessed im a bit of a fiction fan.


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## LadyPenelope (Apr 22, 2007)

I love Garth Nix, Lian Hearn, Jane Austen, Louise Rennison and I love Philip Pullman's books. Didn't like him much when I met him though...


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## Kira the wanderer (Apr 23, 2007)

There seems to be quite a few Neil Gaiman fans in here. I'm glad that someone other than myself knows of him. Such a genious, that man.


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## novu (Apr 30, 2007)

It's hard to pick a favourite author. 

I'd have to say Vladimir Nabokov first. 

Orwell, Harper Lee, Stephen King (for some of his work), Louis de Bernieres, Anais Nin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky....I'm still finding new authors that interest me.


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## J.S.S (May 1, 2007)

Bret Easton Ellis, his work is a like a delicious slice of carnage.


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## heatherlouise (May 1, 2007)

Thomas Harris
J.K.Rowling
Mary Hoffman
Meg Cabbot
Enid Blyton

(yes i know all but one of them are childrens authors but i tend to read childrens books more at the moment and i rarely remember the names of the adult authors.)
Heather


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## Short Tooth (May 1, 2007)

The Mad Russian; Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Working my way through his great epics; Have read Crime and Punishment, the Devils, The Idiot, The Double and Notes From The Undergrounds. Brothers Karamazov next.


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## Ideb8well (May 1, 2007)

Hey, everyone forgot to put John Grisham in their posts. But besides that Issac Asimov, Ray Bradburry, Arthrur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Douglas Adams, and Marry Higgins Clark


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## Short Tooth (May 2, 2007)

> Hey, everyone forgot to put John Grisham in their posts


 
Replace the word forgot with 'chose not to'. :smile:


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## novu (May 2, 2007)

I find John Grisham decidedly mediocre. 

One to add to the list; James Joyce.


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## Travmire (May 3, 2007)

I would say the best writer is Dostoyevsky.  Vonnegut is my favorite writer of all time, and Bret Easton Ellis is my favorite living author.  Chris Genoa is the young author I'm most interested in.


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## faithslasthope (May 3, 2007)

My favorite author is, by far, Scott Westerfeld. I love his style of writing and the sarcastic tone he uses in all of his writing. And all of his ideas seem very original, unlike most authors who write for young adults(I know he's written books for adults, but I haven't read any of them). I also love Stephen King, Madeline L'Engle(I think I spelled that wrong), Lemony Snicket, and a few others.


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## Svalbard (May 5, 2007)

George R.R. Martin, Steven Erikson, Steven Pressfield and the late David Gemmel to name a few. But there are so many that have caught my imagination.


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## broadwayenthusiast (May 18, 2007)

I love time travel too, but practically all my books that I read are historical fiction. I read fantasy sometimes too.
As for authors, Jim Butcher writes amazingly! He writes in the _exact_ style I want to write in.


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## Swift84 (May 19, 2007)

Alan Moore - He may be a comic book writer, but Watchmen is better than most regular novels. He also writes the best Superman stories. 

Frank Miller - Like Moore, this guy crosses over into the literary realm frequently, most notably with The Dark Knight Returns and Sin City. 

Kurt Busiek - Another lesser known but still excellent comic book writer. He penned Untold Tales of Spiderman, Avengers, and Astro City among others.

Mark Waid - OK, I'll stop being a nerd after this one. But he fucking wrote the Kingdom Come miniseries, tying in the book of Revelation with DC super heroes. 

Arthur C. Clarke - It's hard to top Childhood's End when it comes to mindblowing science fiction. 

H.G. Wells - The Invisible Man should be required reading in high school, goddamn it. 

Jonathan Swift - He wrote the greatest essay of all time (A Modest Proposal), the funniest poem of all time (The Lady's Dressing Room), and is just plain wacky sometimes (Meditation Upon a Broomstick). 

Kurt Vonnegut - I would call him Swift's most worthy successor, although his satire is usually more subtle. 

Edgar Allen Poe - The greatest American writer. I have seen many compilations of American literature that don't even mention his fucking name, yet they revel in the works of Faulkner. I'm from and live in Mississippi, and I'll be the first person to say that Faulkner's short stories and work in general is child's play compared to Poe. Poe is also one of the most technically gifted poets out there. 

Nathaniel Hawthorne - Forget his novels. His short stories are where it's at. A close second to Poe, even though Poe didn't like his work. Twice Told Tales is a must-have collection.

Robert Louis Stevenson - What a versatile little bastard. I had already finished Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll, thinking that I had read his best work. Then I fell upon a short story of his, Markheim, and was blown away by its depth. 

C.S. Lewis - You have those who read this guy just because they're Christians, and then you have those who don't read this guy because they're snobby cynics. The truth is, fuck all of those people. The Screwtape Letters is one of the most brilliant pieces of writing that you can lay your hands on.

Stephen King - I really like his short stories, The Shining made me uneasy, and his fantasy novels are better than Harry Potter by a long shot. 

Percy Bysshe Shelley - A lot better than his overrated wife. While his poetry remains his strongest work, try reading his tragic play, The Cenci. Definitely interesting.

William Blake - He deserves to be on this list just because of his utterly simple but profound The Poison Tree.

T.S. Eliot - What can I say, I like believing that I can understand some of this shit.

Thomas Hardy - I've only read his poetry. At times darkly funny, at times dead serious. But always capable.

Felix Dennis - The best living poet. I've never seen anyone tackle so many themes with such vigor.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Faust. The Erlking. That's all I have to say.

I'm tired of listing. Throw in a few others, like Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Asimov, and you pretty much know everything.


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## Rahvin (May 21, 2007)

I'd have to say... Douglas Adams and Ben Elton. Their writing might not be the most techinically brilliant, but it definetely makes me laugh. 

Others would be Steven Erikson, Robert Jordan (hey, the Wheel of Time is well written and interesting, even if it does drag on a bit...) and Dan Abnett.


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## strangedaze (May 21, 2007)

Travmire said:
			
		

> Chris Genoa is the young author I'm most interested in.



has he done anything since FOOP! ? those self-labeled 'bizarros' can kind of be a turnoff, since most of them revel in being weird for weirds sake, or what have u. chris is pretty decent, tho.


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## bluromantic (May 21, 2007)

I love Douglas Adams too! 

But not as much as the Brontes, Elizabeth Gaskell && Jane Austen.  I have no idea why, but it seems like I'm going through a romantic period piece thing right now.  It used to be Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, I need to inject myself w/ fantasy... type of mindset.


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## BoyWithBayonet (May 22, 2007)

Right now:

1. S.E. Hinton (I love *The Outsiders*)
2. George Orwell (Currently reading *1984*)
3. Edgar Allen Poe (_Great_ short stories and poems)


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## Leyline (May 30, 2007)

Most of them are dead.

R.A. Lafferty
Theodore Sturgeon
Robert A. Heinlein
Manly Wade Wellman
Roger Zelazny
Clifford D. Simak
John Brunner


Some, thankfully, are still kickin':

Joe R. Lansdale
Kelly Link
Robert Reed
Dave Marusek
Ted Chiang
Neal Gaiman
Neal Stephenson


Many many more.


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## blackbones (Jun 3, 2007)

Tolkien, King, Straub...


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## Sundown (Jun 8, 2007)

In no particular order. . . 

Stephen King - haven't really enjoyed much of his stuff after Bag of Bones, but I still love a lot of his earlier stuff.  The Shining forever changed my view of bathrooms.  

Jim Butcher - The Dresden Files are just lots of good fun.  Haven't tried his other series, but a friend of mine loves it.  

John Fowles - The Magus and The Collector.  Need I say more?  

Dean Koontz - Watchers, Night Chills, Strangers, Mr. Murder. . the list goes on and on.  

J. K. Rowling - It took me forever to actually try one of her books, but once I did I loved it.  

Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451 is good, but it's really his short stories that I love most.


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## strangecs (Jun 11, 2007)

Oh I love this topic...

Jacqueline Carey
Sara Douglass
Laura K Hamilton
J R R Tolkien
Anne McCaffrey
Anne Bishop
Mercedes Lackey
Anne Rice
Susan Wright
Francesca Lia Block


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## Newyorkknicks07 (Jun 16, 2007)

1. Walter Dean Myers
2. Mike Lupica
3. K'Wan


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## Funwriter (Jun 16, 2007)

I have a list so big, I don't have time to write it all down. Here are a couple:

Roger Zelazny
Robert E Howard
Ursula La Guinn
Kim Stanley Robinson
Philip K Dick
James Harriot
Arthur C Clarke
Ann Rice
Eric Van Lustbader
Michael Moorcock
H. P. Lovecraft
Charles Dickens
Heinrich Heine
Goethe
Robert Ludlum
Noah Gordon
Steven Pressfield
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Karl Edward Wagner

and so many more


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