Favourite authors?

[Jack]

This section needs some life in it.

Who are some of your favourite authors and why? And which works of theirs would you recommend reading? Doesn't matter how obscure or mainstream.

[wafb]

Aside from the titans like Joyce, Hemingway, Mailer etc..I like Cormac McCarthy, his book Blood Meridian is highly entertaining. He also wrote The Road which was turned into film. Jonathan Franzen is one of my guilty pleasures, although I found his latest book, Freedom, a bit contrived. I've been on a pulp fiction binge lately
and buying up works by Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, George Pelecanos, Mickey Spillane and Elmore Leonard.

[JT42]

I don't generally stick to one author and read everything of theirs. When I was young I read all of Michael Crichton's books which I enjoyed but other than that I have just read a couple of series; The Dark Tower Series by King and the Millenium Trilogy by Larsson.

I always check Amazon for book reviews and kind of base what I read on if its well reviewed and if the premise sounds interesting to me. Has only led me astray and disappointed me a couple of times.

[wafb]

I prefer to discover a book on my own rather listen to reviews.

[bail3yz]

I DONT KNOW HOW TO READ

[FunkYou]

Favourite living author is Terry Pratchett. Any of his 40 discworld books are worth a look but the police procedural ones are probably the most accessible starting with Guards! Guards!

Close to Pratchett is Richard Morgan. Altered Carbon is a modern classic of both the detective noir and the cyberpunk genre. Also market forces is fantastically nasty.

[JT42]

I prefer to discover a book on my own rather listen to reviews.

How do you discover them? Do you just pick random books and read them?

[bail3yz]

hes just lying.. he doesnt know how to read

[wafb]

How do you discover them? Do you just pick random books and read them?

I go to the bookstore and look at the new releases. I read the synopsis on each book and go from there.

hes just lying.. he doesnt know how to read

Yeah, my mum neglected me. You and your bff VP are very lucky.

[FunkYou]

Other authors that I like are Kurt Vonnegut because he writes brilliantly and Lee Child because sometimes I like to be able to turn my brain off and let a story wash over me.

I also recommend Jasper Fforde for those.who are interested in literature, how it works and why it is inherently ridiculous.

[Jack]

Other authors that I like are Kurt Vonnegut because he writes brilliantly

Vonnegut writes brilliantly indeed. I got another couple of his books for Christmas, so will be reading them soon.

I've read a couple of Fforde's short stories, I think, and liked them. Will check out more by him.

[FunkYou]

Vonnegut writes brilliantly indeed. I got another couple of his books for Christmas, so will be reading them soon.

I've read a couple of Fforde's short stories, I think, and liked them. Will check out more by him.

The Eyre Affair is bizzare but entertaining. His best book IMO is Shades of Grey.

Have you read Sirens of Titan or Cats Cradle by Kurt? They are his two best I think. Sirens is probably in my top 5 books of all time.

[Jack]

The Eyre Affair is bizzare but entertaining. His best book IMO is Shades of Grey.

Will check them out, although my to-read list is mentally long right now.

Have you read Sirens of Titan or Cats Cradle by Kurt? They are his two best I think. Sirens is probably in my top 5 books of all time.

Yeah I've read them both (I think you recommended Sirens of Titan to me) and thought they were brilliant. They're better books than Slaughterhouse-Five, IMO, although I loved that, too.

My Mom bought me God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (and something else by Vonnegut that I can't remember) for Christmas. I think I might read that when I finish with Dubliners. Not sure yet.

Have you read Player Piano?

[FunkYou]

Yes, that was the third one I was thinking of as it has been nearly 20 years since I read it. Stupid Wikipedia being blacked out meant I could source the info. Thought Player Piano was good but on a level below Sirens (possibly on a par with Slaughterhouse)

[ThatGuyJae]

My favorite Author is Harlen Coben. He has a series that's up to about 10 books now as well as stand alones. They are all based in the NYC/NJ area which is what originally got me into them but they are all fun mystery reads.