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Who is your favourite author, and why?

I've seen scattered episodes of the TV show. That's what got me interested in reading the books. No, haven't seen the whole series though...only like 2-3 episodes. What I saw was awesome. I think the first 5 ish episodes cover only one book. I'm starting book two soon.
 
I used to be a huge Grisham fan, but haven't read any of his recent works. I agree that The Firm and The Pelican Brief were his best.
 
mrsfabrianni said:
It can change depending on the day or my mood, but I have to say Anita Brookner consistently delivers for me. I enjoy her studies of people in mid-life, often living in London, with nothing much to do and to whom nothing much happens. But the joy they find in the day-to-day is endearing. I admire her ability to keep the reader engaged with little or no action, and only the sparsest dialogue. She won the Booker for Hotel du Lac in 1984 but my favorite is Lewis Percy.
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I remember taking Brookner's The Next Big Thing on holiday when I was about 16 or 17 and found it very, very hard going!
 
John Fowles

Also I am a big fan of John Fowles...or I should say specifically his book The Magus. Awesome, disturbing, beautiful and bizarre.
 
Hands down favorite is Jodi Picoult. Her stories really make you think. I read them and feel like I want to be a kinder and more open person to others. You never know what another person is really going through. All of her books put you really living in someone else's shoes through some sort of life struggle. She has a fantastic way with words.
 
That would be for me, David Wiltse. His charcter John Becker is the most awesome guy! Wiltse has only 5 Becker books. There was a 16 year span but he's writting the 6th book NOW!!! Then Sanford, Child, Coben, Slaughter, Cook, Palmer, Cornwell, Gerritsen, Reichs, Iles, Deaver, Patterson, Dreyer, Critchon,DeMille, Kava, Baldacci, Evanovich,Pearson,Johansen. What was the question? ha-ha!
 
New favorite is Thomas W. Young. He writes modern war thrillers that are pretty violent but realistic and quick paced.
 
Can there be only one favorite author? Some of my favorites: Dorothy Sayers, Margery Allingham, Charles Todd, David McCullough, Dick Frances, Stephen Lawhead.
 
This thread has been going for a decade now. One of you more industrious BARF'ers should mine the data and post the top five authors.

In fiction, I try to expose myself to as many different authors as I can to enjoy the diversity of stories and writing styles. However, some authors are so good, I come back to them. These are Dean Koontz, Danielle Steel and John Grisham. The book Northern Lights by Nora Roberts was so good that I immediately proclaimed her my favorite author and went out to get a basket full of her other books. And I kind of went meh after attempting to read them. Northern Lights will always hold a special place in my heart though, and I will read it again some day.

If Stieg Larsson were still alive, I would camp out in front of the bookstore to ensure I got his latest release.

Do not think you can insult me by calling me a low brow reader of potboilers. I take pride in it.
 
After about eight years and many new and old authors read in the meantime, still my favorite:

Vladimir Nabokov.

Why?

Plot, style, character, humor, setting, suspense you name it,

as expressed in, for a few examples,

Lolita,
Pnin,
Speak Memory,
Pale Fire,
Look at the Harlequins,
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight,
Springtime in Fialta,
Glory,
Mary,
The Gift
and many more novels and short stories, all worth reading.
 
So many to choose from, this is a very small sample from my favourites in the fiction category:

Patrick O'Brian: for combining literature quality writing with the Nelsonian Navy at war

Philip Kerr: For writing classy detective noir in the background of WW2 Germany

Sharon Penman: For bringing medieval England to glorious life

Bernard Cornwell: As above

George Macdonald Fraser: While the Flashman books are great books that bring to light the background stories in events like Balaclava, Waterloo and the like, his McAuslan books about the immediate post WW2 British Army are brilliant.

James Herriot : Vet in the Yorkshire Dales, not entirely fiction I am sure

And so many more:)
 
Kumar said:
So many to choose from, this is a very small sample from my favourites in the fiction category:

James Herriot : Vet in the Yorkshire Dales, not entirely fiction I am sure

And so many more:)
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Kumar: I just picked out one of the authors you like and I love his stories - he is/was a veterinarian in Yorkshire - James A. Wight, also known as Alf Wight. When we were travelling in Yorkshire we visited his former vet clinic in Thirsk. I still love the re-runs on television of All Creatures Great and Small.

Favourite authors - they change for me from year to year. Right now I would say I like Linwood Barclay and Giles Blunt for their mystery novels. Also Peter Robinson, Stephen Booth and many more.
 
canuck said:
Kumar: I just picked out one of the authors you like and I love his stories - he is/was a veterinarian in Yorkshire - James A. Wight, also known as Alf Wight. When we were travelling in Yorkshire we visited his former vet clinic in Thirsk. I still love the re-runs on television of All Creatures Great and Small.

Favourite authors - they change for me from year to year. Right now I would say I like Linwood Barclay and Giles Blunt for their mystery novels. Also Peter Robinson, Stephen Booth and many more.
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I recently re-read Herriott after years, and they read well even now.

Haven't heard about the two authors you mention, though I am familiar with Robinson and Booth. I will look up the first two on Amazon. A new mystery/crime/detective author is always welcome. I am currently reading my first book by Charles Todd, an American mother and son writing team, whose detective is based in the UK, post ww1. Looks promising so far, the book.
 
haven't heard anyone mention James Herriot in awhile.... Loved his books. you may be interested to know, if you don't his son wrote a biography of Alf Wight a few years after his death, and one of the things he talked about was how his dad disguised the real stories, including changing the time period a bit, so the Real people involved wouldn't realize he was talking about them. once in awhile that didn't work.
 
MaryJo Dawson said:
haven't heard anyone mention James Herriot in awhile.... Loved his books. you may be interested to know, if you don't his son wrote a biography of Alf Wight a few years after his death, and one of the things he talked about was how his dad disguised the real stories, including changing the time period a bit, so the Real people involved wouldn't realize he was talking about them. once in awhile that didn't work.
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I'll have to have a look in the bookcase - I know I have a Herriott book but it may be just a collection of his stories. If it's not the biography I'll have a look for it in the library - thanks.:)
 
Kumar said:
All his books are story collections, very fine ones. They are also now available in Omnibus format, three books or so in one large volume.
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Thanks for the information Kumar, good to know. Maybe the library will have the Omnibus format.:)
 
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