Top 5 Authors You Would Read Regardless

[Cecily]

Hmm.

1) Susanna Clarke
2) Philip Pullman
3) Donna Tartt

Dunno about the other two. I think those may be the only ones I would (and have) read unconditionally.

I guess Jane Austen and Charles Dickens would go on the list, too, but they aren't likely to be publishing any new books.

[Kellie]

1) Dennis Lehane-I have everything he has written and can't wait till his new one comes out

2) Michael Connelly-I haven't read one I didn't like

3) Mary Kay Andrews-My picture was actually posted on her website. I have met her twice and love her!

4)Khaled Hosseini-Both of his books are legends

5) Elizabeth George-I am addicted to the Havers/Lynley series

[Liesl]

There are authors I love because they wrote one (or maybe more) books that I absolutely loved, but that doesn't mean the rest of their books were spectacular or even interesting to me. Then there are what I call my "phase" authors, those I read everything they write for a long time, but then get tired of them (like Sidney Sheldon, Stephen King, Victoria Holt, Eileen Goudge, and others). But these are the ones I currently will read unconditionally (though I may end up tiring of them as well):

Maeve Binchy
Belva Plain
Dorothea Benton Frank
J.K. Rowling (if she decides to continue writing)
Steve Martini (if he decides to write something
besides his Paul Madriani series)

[BK]

Stephen King

Chuck Palahniuk

Neil Gaiman

Clive Barker

Douglas Preston/ Lincoln Child

Dave Eggers (Because I liked "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" that much)

Okay, so maybe I couldn't really pick just five. There are probably even more that I am forgetting at the moment.

[Dietmar]

1) Gabriel Garcia-Marquez
2) John Steinbeck
3) Dimitre Dinev
4) Mario Vargas-Llosa
5) Jorge Luis Borges

Only 5 authors...why not a top-ten?

[Lori, Super Mod]

You can add more if you like...

[BK]

Yes, I am commenting myself, lol. I realized that I mentioned Dave Eggers even though I haven't read anything else by him. So I don't think he counts (yet). I apologize. But hey, now the list is down to 5, right?

[Dietmar]

Just kidding Lori, 5 authors is ok - quality is more important than quantity ;-).

[Lori, Super Mod]

ha ha Dietmar...

[She'Davia]

Just Jodi Picoult, I cant really think of anyone else

[Sharee]

Stephenie Meyer
Scott Westerfeld
Eva Ibbotson
E.B. White
Jane Austen

And in the poetry section...
Emily Dickinson
Robert Frost

[Lisa]

I couldn't whittle it down to 5 . . .

1. Barbara Kingsolver
2. John Steinbeck
3. Joyce Carol Oates
4. David Guterson
5. Alice McDermott
6. Amy Tan
7. Alexander McCall
8. Kaye Gibbons
9. Harper Lee (wish she'd written more!)
10. Sophie Kinsella (pure fun)

[Cheri Howard]

Can't narrow it to 5:

John Irving
Jonathan Safran Foer
Amy Tan
Christopher Moore
Jasper Fforde
Stephen King
Chuck Palahniuk
Stephanie Meyer
J.K. Rowling

[Nikki]

1. Michael Chabon
2. John Irving
3. JK Rowling
4. Barbara Kingsolver
5. Augusten Burroughs
6. David Sedaris
7. Kurt Vonnegut (sniff...)

I'm sure there are others, this was just from the top of my head.

Can you believe I am 31 years old and I JUST finished reading my first Stephen King novel? I read Carrie! I actually read On Writing a couple months ago (I picked it up because I like King's column in Entertainment Weekly!) and I decided to give his fiction work a try. I wasn't sorry I read it, but I didn't really go ga-ga over it either.

[Lori, Super Mod]

Nikki, Stephen King was my first real "grown up" author... I read tons of his novels.... he was great then, but i dont really like him now. Musta been the drugs.... sad to say...

[Mandy]

Okay....here proves that I am addicted to mindless chick lit.

1. Jane Green
2. Sophie Kinsella
3. Marian Keyes
4. Nicholas Sparks
5. James Patterson

[Mandy]

Kellie ~ I like Mary Kay Andrews too!!

[Sherry]

Well having finihed book 4 of The Dark Tower series the world they land in is the world that The Stand takes place in,which is separate from the world he takes Susannah and Eddie from.Very interesting how he managed to find a way to weave the stories together.

[Lisa]

1. Guy Gavriel Kay
2. Janet Evanovich
3. Brandon Mull
4. James Patterson
5. Collen McCullough

[Maurean]

So many of my favorites have already been discussed here (I'm a big S.King fan, too), but I didn't see a few I'd like to mention:

1. Vince Flynn (Mitch Rapp is my kinda guy!)
2. Carl Hiaasen (always makes me giggle)
3. Phillip Margolin
4. L.Child/ D.Preston (as a team, their thrillers are hard to top IMO)
5. Kelley Armstrong

[Symbol]

I usually take each book on an individual basis so, there aren't many authors that fit this category for me. I can think of only 1 off the top of my head.

1. John Wyndham - I read Chocky when I was 11 or 12... and I was hooked. Wyndham is the only author for whom I would even consider committing myself to reading everything he wrote. It wouldn't matter what the book was about or what genre it fell under (as far as I know he only wrote sci-fi, but I'm just sayin'...) - I'd read it. Wyndham was my first literary love. Even though I don't always exactly like the endings he chooses, I do find a certain satisfaction in them.

Two other high-ranking writers that almost fit the category:

2. Carol Berg - I loved Song of the Beast. I started reading her Bridge D'Arnath series after that. Not as good, but good enough to keep me reading. I recently finished Flesh and Spirit and Breath and Bone. AMAZING! Even better than Song of the Beast. Although she's written some stellar stuff, I just can't quite bring myself to pick up any of the books from her Rai-kirah series.

3. William Shakespeare - Okay... so, technically he's a playwright, not an author. But I still feel like his name (almost) belongs on this list for me. I find reading anything by Shakespeare (minus Romeo & Juliet) immensely enjoyable. Give me any play or poem with his name on it and I'll read it. With the exception of the histories. I've never read a history and I never intend to.

[Emma]

E.M. Forester
George Orwell
Stephen Fry (which is how I came to read some pretty awful books)

[Coalbanks]

Wyndam, Shakespeare ( not read Richard III ?), Forster plus Anthony Burgess, Umberto Eco, George Orwell, Soltzenytsen, Dostoyevski, Gunter Grass, Carlos Fuentes, Robertson Davies, Truman Capote, Patricia Hightower, Borges, Moliere (if you get Shak' in I can have Moli", no?), a few more, ie, Dante, & the Scandinavian bards but these will keep me busy for a fairly long & enjoyable time. Strangely no Asians, few women, no one modern of even born in the late 20th Cty, all caucasian, no muslims, no Arabs (Mafouz is a possible), no Jews or Israelis (Eli Weisel & Frank Oz?). Guess that defines me as mid 20th Cty caucasian male, eh?

[[deleted user]]

Hey Emma, I enjoyed a couple of Stephen Frey books. But only for the plot. His writing was very thin IMHO.

[Emma]

It's very hit-or-miss for me. I loved The Hippopotamus and I love Stephen, the character that he's built up for himself. But The Star's Tennis Balls was unbearably bad, quite laughable at times. It was hard not to imagine him absentmindedly jotting it down in the few spare hours of a single dreary month. And then not editing it. The Liar was also a little simplistic and on-the-nose.

Still, he's a genius writer and I love what he can do with language when he makes even the slightest effort. If you need any proof just watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvtZci...

[Kendall]

1. Jeffery Deaver
2. Kathleen Slaughter
3. Val McDermid
4. W. Michael Gear and Kathleen Gear (People Series)
5. Jackie Collins (stop laughing, she is my closet addiction)

[Catamorandi]

Anne Perry
Agatha Christie
Andrew Greeley
Stephen King
Kurt Vonnegut

[Kellie]

Oooohhh
Sammesmom
I am a big Deaver fan. Love the Lincoln Rhyme series.
Have you read all of those?

[Kendall]

Hi Kellie, yep, I've read them all and loved them all. Some are better than others but he is an author that can't write a bad book, IMO of course. LOL

[Courtney]

Kellie and Sammesmon, I am the hugest Jeffrey Deaver fan! I have to buy the hardcover the day it comes out and it goes straigh to the top of my to-reads (I've even been known to quit the book I'm reading if it's crap anyway or put it back in the pile and read the Deaver first!).

He is one of my facebook "friends" but I've been too intimidated to write to him because I don't want him to think I'm a gushing stalker fan and I'm sure I would come off that way. I never even forward "Cause Applications" (places where a click a day supposedly helps to grow trees, fight global warming, child abuse, save Darfur, etc.) because I wouldn't want to distract him from getting his next book out...LOL.

Peace!

[Kellie]

Courtney.
There was a video clip on Amazon on Deaver and his latest book. He talks about how he writes the book using outlines etc.
He has an incredible organized mind and it's obvious he does a ton of research.
I am fascinated by him.
I also heard there was some talk between him and Christopher Reeve before he died to possibly play Lincoln in a movie.
That would have been great!!

[Courtney]

Yeah it would, Kellie! Christopher Reeve and his wife were such an inspiring love story, and he was a fine actor. He would have obviously brought a realism to Rhyme that Denzel totally ruined for me in BONE COLLECTOR!

Peace!
c

[Kellie]

I liked Denzel in Bone Collector.
I didn't care for Angelina.
Loved Queen Lateefa (even thought the book character is a guy)

I loved Christopher Reeve in "Somewhere in Time" one of my all time favorite movies.

[Kendall]

I love Denzel in anything!

[Linda]

Kellie, Somewhere in Time is also one of my favorite movies. Have you ever visited the Grand Hotel on the island where they filmed it? If not, it is incredible.

[Kathy]

Kellie and Linda....if you are interested, Somewhere in Time was an amazing book written by Richard Matheson! If you like the movie, you will love the book!

[Zach]

1. Gabriel Garcia Marquez
2. Frank Herbert
3. Orson Card
4. James Clavell
5. S.M. Stirling

All but two are sci-fi, but the two that aren't are among my favorite authors (Marquez & Clavell)

[Joanie]

A lot of mine were already mentioned but here they are in no particular order:

1. Pat Conroy
2. Wally Lamb
3. Jodi Picoult
4. Marian Keyes
5. J.K. Rowling

[Ari]

1. Milan Kundera
2. Julian Barnes
3. Julio Cortázar

The remaining 2 are on the "maybe" list...

[Melissa]

I can only think of a couple. It's hard for me to read something I'm not interested in.
1) John Berendt- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is one of the most well written things I've ever encountered and the City of Falling Angels is close behind.
2) Sarah Dessen- She may be a young adult author, but I am of the opinion that it never hurts to switch to young adult reading sometimes (if we didn't, no one would have read Harry Potter or the Twilight series). I've only read one of her books, but the rest are definitely going on my to be read list because the one I read was completely amazing (Someone like You).
3) E. Lockhart- Another young adult author, but I love her!
4) John Steinbeck- It will take time, but I will do it.

[rebecca j]

I tend to pick an author I like and read all their books, until I get bored with them too! Here are some that I keep their books close to re-read.
Janet Evanovich
Andre Norton
Anne McCaffrey
Dick Francis
Scott Westerfeld
Katie McAlister
JRR Tolkien
Robert Heinlein
Patricia Briggs
Dean Koontz
Charlaine Harris
Mary Janice Davidson
Elizabeth Moon
Jennifer Crusie
Christine Feehan
Anthony Horowitz

[Dorie]

Here’s my top 5 authors whose every book (and I’ve read them all) has been delightful and has never written anything that disappointed me:

1) Dennis Lehane (can't wait to read his newest)
2) Michael Connelly (the master)
3) William Kent Krueger (the consistent quality of his books is amazing)
4) David Rosenfelt (fun, funny and light series)
5) Julia Spencer-Fleming (the mysteries are secondary to the intriguing forbidden attraction between the married police chief and the Episcopal priest)

Honorable Mention to:
Jack Kerley
Robert Crais
Jan Burke
Khaled Hosseini (I know there’s only been two, but I loved them both and know I’ll be first in line when his next book is released)

[Liz]

Dorie, Dennis Lehane has a new book out - quick, I've got to run to my library!! Love his books, moreso because the setting is in my neck of the woods!

Guess I should contribute to the thread ...

Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston
Michael Crichton

[silvia]

Paul Auster
Chuck Pallaniuk
Umberto Eco
Margaret Atwood (although I've only read 3 books by her so far...loved it)
Margaret Zimmer Bradley
Anne Rice
Clive Barker (I'm starting my discovey of barker, I've read the books of blood this year and got addicted)
Arturo perez-reverté

[Dorie]

Liz, I know. I love Dennis Lehane. Good luck getting it from the library. I have a feeling this one is going to be a popular request.

[Chloe]

Yay Rebecca! It's good to see some love for Heinlein! Sometimes I feel like the only one in the world who loves his works.

[Angela]

Yah! Logan and Rebecca, I love Heinlein and have for 20 years. We should start a special club!

[Krista]

In no particular order...

Ted Dekker - contemporary Christian - thriller, suspense, paranormal, and even drama sometimes - My favorite book by Ted is Three, but I'm truly a fan of all his books I've read.

Jodi Picoult - drama - I read My Sister's Keeper first and wasn't disappointed. If you haven't read it, you simply must! I've also read 19 Minutes, The Pact, and Second Glance. I enjoyed them all although not as must as my first book by this author.

Stephenier Meyer - YA paranormal, romance, science-fiction - What can I say? I loved the Twilight series, and while The Host wasn't as great, I still enjoyed it and will pick up anything else she puts out.

Dakota Cassidy - paranormal romance - I read Accidental Werewolf and Accidentally Undead. I laughed and cringed and just had fun with both. I can't wait for the next and would likely read anything else she puts out.

Melissa Marr - YA fantasy - Wicked Lovely is one of my favorite books and I recently picked up Ink Exchange. Now if I can just find it in my book stack, I'll get to reading.

[Jenna]

Here's my top 5...

1. C.S. Lewis - I fell in love at Narnia and have been making my way through the rest of them since.

2. Terry Brooks - His Sword of Shannara was the first "big book" I read as a kid and I've just rediscovered his stuff lately. It's fabulous.

3. Jane Austen - I know alot of people don't like her, but its a fun read and I love that old language stuff.

4. Edith Wharton - I think so anyhow, I keep re-reading the same two, so we'll see how that develops.

5. Jasper Fforde - the man cracks me up.

There it is.. I think it might even be a little accurate...lol

[Jeane]

Nicholas Evans
Patricia Cornwell
Agatha Christie
Tiziano Terzani
Jostein Gaarder