I know, I know, it's really hard to pin point one, at least for me, but the person who I think is the most talented author alive today is Chuck Palahniuk..... I've never been so blown away! Who do you love?
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I know, I know, it's really hard to pin point one, at least for me, but the person who I think is the most talented author alive today is Chuck Palahniuk..... I've never been so blown away! Who do you love?
I like to read Jackie Collins....her books are so trashy - I love it.
Alive today? Jasper Fforde, Ali Smith.
Honourable Mentions (ie they've only had one book out): Julian Gough, Stephenie Meyers (aka the Fort Wonder :teeth)
In general? Thackeray, Austen, Trollope & Hardy.
Hmmm... if I define my favorite author by whom I buy each and every last one of their books.. that would be David Baldacci, Maeve Binchy, and Barbara Delinsky.
No question my favourite writer is PG Wodehouse. He's certainly not everyone's cup of tea, but I find him laugh out loud funny. What HO!
I love the classics, but as far as the authors whose books I have bought all of, it is Kristin Hannah. They are very close to my heart.
I really enjoy reading Jasper Fforde and Kelley Armstrong.
If I had to narrow it down to just one, it would probably be Joyce Carol Oates. I read everything she publishes religiously, which says a lot, since she writes a minimum of two novels a year. I always buy her books as soon as they're out in hardcover - this weekend, I'm going to pick up her brand new novel Missing Mom. She never disappoints me: the language is always razor sharp, her characters always engaging and I always feel like I learned something new about myself or the world after I've finished a novel by her. She can be realistic, she can be Gothic, she can be epic; she does it all equally well. In my book, she's the best American writer alive today.
Other contemporary writers I'm willing to "go hardcover" for, which is a sign that I really, really like them: Paul Auster, Haruki Murakami, Margaret Atwood, Jeanette Winterson, Stephen King, Donna Tartt, Alice Hoffman. In the crime genre, I love Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, Patricia Cornwell (although her latest books have been a disappointment) and Agatha Christie - I think I own about fortyfive Agatha Christie books.
Favourite classic authors: The Brontė sisters, Jane Austen, Dostojevskij, Virginia Woolf, Thomas Hardy.
Probably John Irving, with Pat Conroy and Larry McMurtry fighting for second place. I like Maeve Binchy, too; her books are just so relaxing.
My favourite writer of all time is Sinclair Lewis. Currently I seem to be on a mystery kick that shows no signs of stopping. Those whose books I'll actually buy are Jonathan Kellerman, Minette Walters, Elizabeth George, Peter Robinson, Caroline Graham, Jeffery Deaver, P.D. James, Dennis Lehane and Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine.