Who is your favorite writer?

[taylor93]

I really enjoy Edgar Allan Poe's poems and short stories, but my favorite author has to be John Grisham.

[Pitti]

Lately I find Tess Gerritsen great.

[osirus_4]

I've read the works of many a good author, but my favorite still has to be J.K. Rowling.

I am not too proud to admit that, while Rowling is not my "favorite" author ever,  the Harry Potter series was a very enjoyable read. Good call.

[Jann]

I read voraciously and omnivorously.  Like the late, great John Gross I would like to be able to read everything ever written -- an impossible task.

There are many great authors and many more who, though far from great, are entertaining within their own genres.  The compilation of a list of these approaches impossibility and is in any case always open to argument.

Overall, hands down, my all-time favourite author is William Shakespeare.

[osirus_4]

It is a hard question to answer honestly. People change and with that change in personality comes change in preferences to literature. I have read modern authors like Stephen King, James Patterson, Ken Follett and Harlan Coben at different times in my life as well as the "classics", and everything else i was forced to read in University.

Without trying to sound like a dick or an uncool "sell-out" i will say that most people that says that their favorite author is Machiavelli, Asimov, Dostoevsky or any author like that comes across as sounding like a pretentious hipster. Reading is about enjoyment and I have met very few people that enjoyed the "classics". It has always been my belief that something gets lost in the translation.

I am not trying to run anyone down or cause problems. I am just trying to state that it is okay to read "fluff" and enjoy it. Rowling, King, Patterson, C.S. Lewis and Stephanie Meyer all wrote entertaining books and most people read to be entertained not to "look cool".

[Jann]

My favorite writers are
1. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - with his novelles Terre des hommes – „Wind, Sand und Sterne”; Lettre a un otage – „Bekenntnis einer Freundschaft”, Pilote de guerre – „Flug nach Arras”, Le petit prince – „Der kleine Prinz”; L'aviateur – „Der Flieger”. I had read all books from him in both languages, the Frensh novelles are better then the German translation.

Great stuff in small packages.  The BF has actually been to Villa Cisneros and seen the lighthouse mentioned in Wind, Sand & Stars

2. Jules Verne - I have from this writer all books as paperback (128 Books)

Did you like Into the Niger Bend?  I thought that it was very different from most of Verne's books. 

[Jann]

Without trying to sound like a dick or an uncool "sell-out" i will say that most people that says that their favorite author is Machiavelli, Asimov, Dostoevsky or any author like that comes across as sounding like a pretentious hipster.

Reading Machiavelli seems like a penance to me and I cannot for the life of me imagine anyone enjoying Dostoevsky, while other people love them.  But I cannot imagine placing Asimov in the same court.  He wrote very good, readable, cutting-edge science fiction, not as flashy and maguffinish as most scifi authors but very absorbing and entertaining.

Reading is about enjoyment and I have met very few people that enjoyed the "classics".

While you must speak for your own circle of acquaintances from my own experience I simply cannot agree.   Reading is all about a love of language.  I like Shakespeare, Dumas, Dickens, Austen, the Brontes and a host of others, and so did many of my friends.  Some of the new classics-in-waiting are Tolkien, Rowling, Ruiz Zafon and others.  Should they be dismissed in advance because of the expertise of their authors?  Many modern authors make literary references to various classics and if you don't understand them they give you a Huh? moment.

[osirus_4]

Without trying to sound like a dick or an uncool "sell-out" i will say that most people that says that their favorite author is Machiavelli, Asimov, Dostoevsky or any author like that comes across as sounding like a pretentious hipster.

Reading Machiavelli seems like a penance to me and I cannot for the life of me imagine anyone enjoying Dostoevsky, while other people love them.  But I cannot imagine placing Asimov in the same court.  He wrote very good, readable, cutting-edge science fiction, not as flashy and maguffinish as most scifi authors but very absorbing and entertaining.

Reading is about enjoyment and I have met very few people that enjoyed the "classics".

While you must speak for your own circle of acquaintances form my own experience I simply cannot agree.   Reading is all about a love of language.  I like Shakespeare, Dumas, Dickens, Austen, the Brontes and a host of others, and so did many of my friends.  Some of the new classics-in-waiting are Tolkien, Rowling, Ruiz Zafon and others.  Should they be dismissed in advance because of the expertise of their authors?  Many modern authors make literary references to various classics and if you don't understand them they give you a Huh? moment.

I threw Asimov in there for the European sounding name. You are correct, I was being a bit hasty.

I can only speak to my own circle of acquaintances and it always come back to the ones that say they love the classics are the ones that are always looking for a way to feel smarter or more important than everyone else. It never fails, through 13 years of taking University classes. It is classic hipster nonsense, step 1 read a classic author, step 2 start talking down all other literature, step3 hold nose in air.

[Jann]

I can only speak to my own circle of acquaintances and it always come back to the ones that say they love the classics are the ones that are always looking for a way to feel smarter or more important than everyone else. It never fails, through 13 years of taking University classes. It is classic hipster nonsense, step 1 read a classic author, step 2 start talking down all other literature, step3 hold nose in air.

I do understand that there is nothing so sophomoric as a sophomore who has just discovered some writer of note and then can't stop himself from expounding on it and dismissing all others.  Instant experts are always so very annoying.  Those who discover dead and discredited political writers are usually more so.

As for fluff, it is all good in its time and place.  Few people I know keep War and Peace on the bathroom bookshelf or go to sleep having read a few chapters of Nietzsche, though God knows it puts me to sleep fast enough.  If I get tired of Shakespeare, Hobbes or Tolkien I can always turn to the complete works of Janet Evanovich.

You will find that the people on this forum are very respectful of the opinions of others.  We may not agree on everything but we do agree on the right to hold one's own opinion.

[osirus_4]

I believe that we are in agreement. You just articulated the argument better than I did.

[KamSza]

Thomas Bernhard, Elfride Jelinek, Miha Mazzini, Antoni Libera...

[chrisw91]

As a huge fan of poerty I would say William Wordsworth. In terms of books/stories I would say James Patterson

[bluetrain]

In English I like Virginia Woolf and Shakespeare, but I love classical literature (Homer and fellas) and I love sheerly and especially Brazilian Literature: João Guimarães Rosa, Mário Quintana, Carlos Drummond de Andrade. Can't have enough of it! :) João Guimarães Rosa actually is the best writer in the whole world and I'm sorry for non-portuguese speaking people because they can't read it. JK guise 

And although I recognize that so much hipster blabbering really annoys people (have a couple of acquaintances just like that), I swear that I'm sincere about it. I do not look down on other types of literature as inferior, though. That is stupid. But being judgmental about one who says he likes classicals is, too - actually, you are being just as prejudiced as the hipster kittehs. Why not let people love what they want without having to judge if he's this or that? One of the great things about naturism wasn't about learning how to live with the difference?

 

[Padraig]

My favorite author of books is definitely Terry Pratchett. Especially his series on the character Tiffany Aching. Ingenious books, amazing author.
My favorite poet is definitely Robert Burns, closely followed by Edgar Allen Poe. But Burns is the only one from whom I consistently read from, I pick up works here and there.
-Padraig

[viatorcr]

Pitti what do you think about Agatha Christie?