Pride and Prejudice
discussion
Favorite Authors of All Time (Based Off Writing Skills)
I love Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte. For more recent novelists, I really enjoy Kate Morton.
I recently read Great Expectations after seeing someone else here commenting on Dickens' wit. And I have to agree. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Margaret Atwood
Ray Bradbury
James Joyce - I just got done reading Ulysses and I just got a kick out of it, even if I didn't understand three-quarters of it.
John Updike - I was blown away by his style in Rabbit, Run, enough to go back to some other of his works, although they didn't have the same effect on me.
Even though I've only read Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury, I agree that he does have a unique style of writing, at least from what I remember.
BubblesTheMonkey wrote: "Even though I've only read Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury, I agree that he does have a unique style of writing, at least from what I remember."Actually, I think some of his best work is his non-SF. Dandelion Wine, as an example. Some find his prose to be sort of over-the-top, but I do love it.
Gabriel García Márquez
Richard Flanagan - he is just spectacular with what he can do with a sentence. Goulds Book of Fish and The Narrow Road to the North are head and shoulders above most other booksJoyce goes without saying, though for all the credit he garnered with Portrait and Ulysseys he worked very hard to destroy it with Finnegans Wake
Jean Rhys - Good Morning Midnight, what a stunner
I absolutely love Jane Austen, Sarah Dessen, John Green, and E.M. Forster.
Jostein Gaarder, after reading Sophie's World, Charlotte Brontë, for Jane Eyre and Villette.
Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" was mentioned on a recent episode of "The Big Bang Theory". Sheldon wanted to find a flaw in one of Amy's favorite books and couldn't find one. "It turns out Prejudice is a flawless masterpiece." -- Sheldon Cooper.F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edgar Allen Poe and James Baldwin
I have very many favorite authors, but I think my very favorite author is still Edgar Allan Poe. "The Telltale Heart" is still my favorite short story of all time. I have yet to find a story like that that I can still remember it after all these years.
Upto now:1.The Alchemist(It changed my life.)-Paulo Coelho
2.God of small Things-Arundhati Roy.
3.Chicken Soup for the Soul series
4.Essential Rumi.Rumi
5.A Thousand Splendid Suns.Khaled Hosseini
3.Susanna Tamaro
I would say absolute genius...J.K Rowling, a photo finish with Diana Gabaldon; they don't just weave stories, they weave entire lives. then J.R.R Tolkien, Douglas Adams and Maria Doria Russell. Anne Rice can describe a scene or a person till you know how many zits are currently breaking out on their faces.
Gene WolfeOscar Wilde
Marcel Proust
Sheila wrote: "BubblesTheMonkey wrote: "Even though I've only read Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury, I agree that he does have a unique style of writing, at least from what I remember."Actually, I think some of his ..."
I never knew that he even wrote nonfiction.
that's difficult for me to say...let's see... Murakami, Poe, Shakespeare, Hesse, Austen, Wilde, King (Stephen) and Baricco, above all.And I've just realized Miss Austen is the only woman...
there must be others...
oh, yeah. Virginia Wolfe.
BubblesTheMonkey wrote: "I never knew that he even wrote nonfiction."Yeah, he probably did write some nonfiction pieces... he wrote a lot. Even poetry. I like his other fiction better than his science-fiction though.
My favourite authors of late are PD James and Richard North Patterson. Having loved James' certain justice, I am now on the trail to hunting down all that she has ever written. Her writing style is keen, simple yet very insightful. Her crime stories offer good insight into the human mind and the plots are very sophisticated too. Patterson's fall from grace and loss of innocence were my initial books, and I have been hooked on to him since. His books are usually legal thrillers and he is tauted as the "thinking person's grisham". He has a terrific writing style too and an excellent way with words especially when he is painting a character and narrating their background.
I have also loved Elizabeth George, yet another crime writer but not all her books are that good. Nonetheless she is really good and offers very detailed plots and a great background.
Asha wrote: "My favourite authors of late are PD James and Richard North Patterson. Having loved James' certain justice, I am now on the trail to hunting down all that she has ever written. Her writing style is..."You mentioned Richard North Patterson. I see his books in the library and bookstore all the time and have not yet read any of his. After mentioning what type of books he writes, I think I will pick one of his books from the library to try it out! Thank you!
Edgar Allen Poe, A.S. Byatt, Jane Austen, Gabriel García Márquez, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro & Diana Gabaldon
Marisa De Los Santos, I just love the way she writes.
I can't fathom how Michael Crichton got on that list.
I love Cormac McCarthy's writing and Elmore Leonard they are so simple and concise they don't waste a word and yet you see, know and feel everything they want you to. They are different types of writers. Elmore Leonard is very witty too. I love Jane Austen. I just reread To Kill a Mockingbird and that book just kills me(in a good way). I love Dickens and Mark Twain too. In the detective realm I love Ian Rankin. I enjoy Shakespear as long as I have help with it. For fantasy I love Neil Gaiman's writing. Those are a few.
Kenneth wrote: "I can't fathom how Michael Crichton got on that list."It's just my own opinion. I'm not saying that he *is* a good writer, I'm saying he's one of my favorites.
I love Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Nabokov except Lolita, Pushkin (partial to Russian writers) Edgar Allan Poe and Steinbeck, Hesse and I could keep going.
Jane Austen, Barbara Pym, Agatha Christie, E.M. Forster, C.P. Snow, Joseph Conrad, M.C. Beaton, James Boswell.
Elisabet wrote: "I love Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Nabokov except Lolita, Pushkin (partial to Russian writers) Edgar Allan Poe and Steinbeck, Hesse and I could keep going."I just read a book by Dostoevsky this year (Crime and Punishment). He was a good writer but I didn't enjoy the story very much.
The last few replies have restored my faith. :)
Evelyn Waugh, Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, Jack Schaefer, Robert B. Parker, Raymond Chandler, Elmore Leonard, Ian Fleming.
I've always loved Ray Bradbury's writing style. The way he begins Fahrenheit 451? Stunning. I'm also a big Shakespeare fan. Of course, half the time, I'm a little confused as to what in particular he's referring to, but the words and phrasing are absolutely beautiful. In addition, Dickens and Tolkien are always great fun because of the unexpected wit. And of course, Victor Hugo (you simply can't get enough of Les Misérables).
Melody wrote: "I've always loved Ray Bradbury's writing style. The way he begins Fahrenheit 451? Stunning. I'm also a big Shakespeare fan. Of course, half the time, I'm a little confused as to what in particul..."Goodness, how could I have left Shakespeare off my list? Thanks Melody and lets put it down to very early in the morning and old age :)
Jane Austen's the best!
Elizabeth Gaskell ... the chapter after Mr. Thornton's proposal to Margaret which describes the fallout of her answer. The words practically leap off the page they're so tactile.
One of the best authors I know is Patricia Veryan. She just knows how to weave a story together and create great characters while making sure to have a happy ending. The way she fits certain things together is fantastic.
It's a huge question. Where do you start? But I'd have to put John le Carre somewhere in the mix. He's thought-provoking, clever, sharp and yet really subtle. Brilliant!
I have 100's of books I consider my "favorites" for one reason or another. If I had to pick out a handful of authors from that list just based upon their writing style, then thses would be some of them:James Joyce - there are always passages in his novels that I end up reading over and over again just to savor the way he phrased things.
Tim O'Brien - His novel of short stories, "The Things They Carried" is one of my favorite books and "On The Rainey River", in particular, is one of the most powerful and moving stories I've read in awhile.
Cormac McCarthy - "All The Pretty Horses" is full of beutifully descriptive passages.
James Lee Burke - I love the way he writes and I want to visit Lousiana just based on how he describes it
Junot Diaz - I loved his sriting style in "The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao"...brash and full of rhythm and style.
I see lots of classics but I gotta go with Sherrilyn Kenyon. Her characters and entire universe she writes is extremely complex and she still manages to go back and write prequels, sequels and in betweens without screwing up her timeline. Now that takes some serious talent. (and amazing planning).
That is so difficult,as for the classics I would go for Jane Austen, George Eliot, Thackeray, Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo and Leo Tolstoy.Modern writers at the moment I would go for Adichie, Philip Pulmann, J.K. Rowling.
The Germans I would go for Hans Fallada, Bertholt Brecht and Max Frisch.
And unadultorated gore and enjoyment nothing like Ian Ranking, Henning Mankell, Mark Billingham and Arnaldur Indridason.
But that is today. It is one of the most difficult question ever.
I really like writing style of Leo Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Diana Gabaldon, Bronte (sisters).
Jane Austen is amazing, but her books focus more on romance and comedy than social issues, so she is only my third favourite. George Eliot is best, and Charles Dickens would come in second place.
Louisa May Alcott, Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, a few different HF authors.
Jon wrote: "I have 100's of books I consider my "favorites" for one reason or another. If I had to pick out a handful of authors from that list just based upon their writing style, then thses would be some of..."Love Cormac McCarthy.......I loved All the Pretty Horsed, No Country for Old Men, which I lent to someone and never got back there are some passages by the sheriff I would want to read over and over , even The Road was beautiful even though it was a tough one to get through.
As someone above said, I have hundreds of favorites. These came to mind.A.S. Byatt - Possession is my favorite book - um...well see above
Diana Wynne Jones - I love them all; have to throw in for Deep Secret, Fire and Hemlock, (get 2 DWJ fans together and ultimately they have an impassioned discussion of F&H), Hexwood and Archer's Goon and...
Jane Austen - Love them all, even Northanger Abbey
Agatha Christie - almost anything
JK Rowling - HP obviously
Edgar Allan Poe - Since I was 10
Anton Chekov - The Cherry Orchard and The Seagull are my favorites. Made me think of Ibsen, so have to add...
Henrik Ibsen - Gotta love Hedda Gabbler
John Patrick Shanley - Awesome play write. I just re-read Doubt.
Ray Bradbury - Amazing Storyteller. I re-read Something Wicked This Way Comes which of course reminds me of...
William Shakespeare
Colum McCann - If he worked with thread instead of words he would be a weaver
Charles Dickens - Someone who knew how to do plot
Gregory Maguire - Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is my favorite. Obvious to me that he was influenced by Dickens - PLOT!
Daniel Handler - the man's brain is a jigsaw puzzle.
Jane AustenCharlotte Bronte
Elizabeth Gaskell
George Eliot
J.R.R. Tolkien
Frank Herbert
Stephen King
Margaret Atwood
John Steinbeck
Emily Bronte
Flannery O'Conner
Edith Wharton
Daphne Du Maurier
The brilliance of the classics notwithstanding, I believe that a few more contemporaries deserve an emphasis. The masters of post-modern literature can turn a phrase just as skilfully as our good old friends, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Woolf, Poe and Dickens. I'll offer Yann Martell, David Mitchell and Salman Rushdie. For the non-fiction genre, I simply must put forward Gerald Durrell.
Edgar Allan Poe, Victor Hugo, and Marcus Zusak.
This is a hard one but Leo Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Jane Austen, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, Daphne Du Maurier, Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, John Steinbeck
It IS difficult, especially if you really do primarily define it by the style and quality of the writing.Modern writers: Jack Cady, Steinbeck, Faulkner, Anne Rice, Peter S. Beagle, Ray Bradbury, Paul Bowles, John Fowles, Phillip Roth. I'm going to include Daphne DuMaurier here because she had a more modern sensibility in her time.
Then, I go back to O. Henry, Guy deMaupassant, Edgar Allan Poe, Jane Austen, Emily and Charlotte Bronte, Abraham Merritt, Nathaniel Hawthorne (Rappaccini's Daughter was masterful).
Playwrights, of course there's Shakespeare, then Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams.
Based on writing skills my favorite word smiths are Pat Conroy, Lionel Shriver, Barbara Kingsolver and Joyce Carol Oates. These are the authors I go back to again and again. When you read a sentence over just for the beauty of the words, the feelings they evoke or because the meaning strikes you to the core you know they were written by someone with special talent.
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I would say Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway, Charlotte Bronte, and Michael Crichton.