Favorite NonTPM Writers and Books

[achooxp]

So I was curious as to what writers we like and admire, whether it be for their works of some other attribute. I was going to name the topic "Favorite IRL Writers," except I realized that despite not being published and whatnot, all of you are IRL writers and it's only me who is creating a virtual reality inside of my head. In the famous words of Mya, "...like wo!"

Anyway, back to the point- who are some of your favorite authors, what works of theirs do you like, and, if you'd like, share what you like about them.

Joan Didion
-i must admit, I don't like everything by Joan Didion that I read or see. I say "see" because she (co?)wrote the screenplay to "Up Close and Personal." (Am I showing my age by referring to that movie?) Nor am I particularly fond of her novels. But her journalism and personal essays are so captivating and real. It's true that her writing somewhat portrays 'la vie en rose' and that there are unnecessary words here and there, but it's all about style. And her writing is writing that isn't just for the sake of the story, but it's writing that concretely matters. And that's the kind of writing I aspire to do, at least for a bit, before I retreat to my book store (privately owned non-chain, of course), and begin to write my own novel. I really really really love her book of essays entitled "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" and my favorite essay of hers would be "Goodbye to All That," which, if you'd like, you can google and read online (much thanks to Mt. Holyoke).

Roald Dahl
-Along the lines of J.M. Barrie, Lewis Carroll (sp?), C.S. Lewis, and possibly some other non-Tolkien British fantasy writers, I particularly love how Roald Dahl manages to portray absurd or fantastic things with a sense of wonder, yet with a simple enough language that it all becomes credible. There's a lot of charm to his writing and though simple, the words are often deep. Or at least I make them deep because I want to. I particularly liked "Danny: Champion of the World," "the BFG," and "Matilda."

Neil Gaiman
-Everybody's favorite author nowadays, it seems. I do like his writing for the amount of imagination that goes into it, but his writing doesn't strike me as particularly strong writing. I just think he's a really really really cool guy with some very neat ideas. I rather like "Smoke and Mirrors" for the innovativeness and "Neverwhere" for being serious without seeming to take itself too seriously.

Charles Dickens
-The man is, contrary to popular belief, quite funny. But only if you read him in short spurts and pay close attention to the wording. Then again, I think most of his works were published bit by bit in magazines before they were published in a complete bound edition. I might be totally wrong, however. Some parts of his stories are rather insipid, the reality of his character portrayal leaves much to be desired, and yet... the stories move me and I find myself sad when it's all over. So that must mean it's good. ^^;

Bill Watterson
-"Calvin and Hobbes" is pure genius. Enough said here.

Albert Camus
-I adore this man's writing. It is sparse and does create an empty feeling, but it paradoxically feels full in itself. I feel like Camus and Hemingway have a similar aesthetic, but I find that as much as I like Hemingway, I like Camus more. Maybe it's just because I have a foreign fetish. xP My favorite work of his is "The Stranger." One work of his that I really did not like, however, is "La Chute," which is, I believe, "The Fall" in English.

Shel Silverstein
-It's cute. It rhymes. It's poetry that I can appreciate. And it's also more than slightly kooky.

Robert Frost
-Oh I know, EVERYBODY loves Robert Frost. But there's a reason for that! I'm not great at poetry, but I appreciate a simple poem much more than a fancy one, and simplistic beauty, or seemingly simplistic beauty, is Robert Frost's forte.

Some other books I liked, many whose authors I have forgotten:

"The Giver" by Lois Lowry
"The Phantom Tollbooth" by I-Forget-Who
'J'accuse!" by Emile Zola
"No Longer Human" by some Japanese dude
"Madame Bovary" by Gustave Flaubert
"Falling Leaves" by Adeline Yen Mah
"Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
"On the Road" by Jack Kerouac

Of course there are others, but I'm tired. xP

[Pig on the Wing]

Interesting bunch, and here's mine.... *drum roll*

Terry Pratchett ~ His Discworld series although can get quite repetetive from book to book the further along you progress can seem to combine the works of fantasy, comedy and even suspense at some parts. His writing style in itself is very creative and unique.

Richard Adams ~ Richard Adams and his famed Watership Down. He's a very good writer, heading more into the suspense department then anything else. His writing his incredibly imaginable; you picture evreything he writes clearly in your mind as you read it. Thus, his description is also very good. His writing his incredibly gripping, and in a lot of places leaves you guessing what'll happen next, why something happened or even throw something completely unexpected into it. It's also filled with... I think action is really the only word for it here, so yeah, very action filled.

David Clement-Davies ~ I've only read two of his books, Firebringer and The Sight. From those two closely linked books (I think there's a reference mid-way through one of them two the other) I've found him to be a very good writer, for, well pretty much the same reasons as Richard Adams; great description, suspensefull, surpruising, action-packed... the list goes on and on.

Robin Jarvis ~ A great fantasy writer. One of the best. His books Deathscent and his trilogy, The Wyrd Museum were my favourites. His writing combines action, suspense, fantasy, originality, great description, almost flawless writing techniques and one hell of a good read. His books are however, incredibly blashpemous (sp?) so if you're religous, you might want to pass this one up.

Philip Pullman ~ His Dark Materials. The greatest written trilogy of all time. Ever. His writing combines originality, suspense, action, romance and fantasy, but not your cliched fantasy, pure originality. You can never seem to guess what actually happens next, with surprises round every corner. Incredibly written; it'll have you on the edge of your seat, and it's just a book. In fact, why don't you stop reading this and go read His Dark Materials? Perfect description, flawless writing style. Definately the greatest writer of our time.

Well, there's a few of mine, go read books by them, you'll like it.

[classy_cat18]

You've read His Dark Materials? I love that trilogy! I didn't like the ending that much though. I'm a fan of happy endings.

Stephen King ~ My favorite horror writer. He does dialects and accents (same?) flawlessly, and his description of bloody scariness makes me wanna puke. In a good way. I've read several of his books and I can honestly say that the Salem's Lot movies did not do the books justice.

I also like Shel Silverstein, especially his poem Hungry Mungry.

[Dragonfree]

I loved His Dark Materials too, except for the ending because I was still recovering from the sheer confusion out of the book's sudden lovey-doveyness. It seems just strange to me that two kids can in such a short time apparently start to love each other more than anybody has ever loved...

Well, I like Harry Potter. They're written in the type of style I like. Just comparing them to Tolkien, for example - I've been trying to read Lord of the Rings for ages, but I always feel like stopping after I've read one chapter, and Tolkien's description really tends to tire me. When I read Harry Potter, chapters fly past and I suddenly notice that I'm on chapter thirty but I was on chapter seventeen when I started reading. Although a possible explanation of that is that I've seen the Lord of the Rings movies so I'm not exactly driven forward to see what happens.

I like Roald Dahl too. His books are really unique and unpredictable.

Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl books. They're really original, humourous and interesting. Mix of many genres, too.

Jostein Gaarder's The Solitaire Mystery is very original, interesting, philosophical and funny in a few places. I didn't really like the ending of Sophie's World, but this one's brilliant.

Michael Ende's Momo and The Neverending Story. They have so many layers, a deep meaning behind everything and get really creepy in a few places.

Finally, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. It's so funnily written and crazy, I can't help loving it.


You may have noticed that I don't read much that's not fantasy.

[The Decapitated Mole]

Phantom Tollbooth, man, excellent book. I believe the author is one Jules Pfiefer [or something close to that]. I also enjoy Watterson, I have most [if not all] of the Calvin and Hobbes anthologies. And...

Douglas Adams

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, man, gotta love it. Although I found the 2nd and 5th books to be somewhat depressing. I can't wait for the movie to come out [whenever it does, I think it's 2005], I think it's awesome that Adams wrote the screenplay for it before he died. I haven't even had a chance to read any of his other stuff, but I've seen it [Monty Python, Red Dwarf, etc.] and he is just brilliant.

Brian Jaques

I haven't read one of those damn Redwall books in years, but I do believe I had, at some point, read every one of them. Great books, great books. I'll have to check one out some time.

Louis Sachar

Author of legendary books such as Holes[also a major motion picture], Dogs Don't Tell Jokes[I still enjoy that one], and the ever-popular Wayside School books[he has a moustache of many colors!]. Although most of his shizzle is meant for younger audiences, I still enjoy some books like Wayside[they're just plain funny] and Holes[which is good no matter what age you are, so **** off]. Another brilliant writer.

Sam Conrad

He's a good friend of mine who wrote the hilariously unpublished Hairy Rotter parody series[I believe he's working on book three now]. He almost never fails to keep me in stitches with characters like Groovy 60's Double-Door[a hippie], Ron Beastly[he's constantly savage for Blood], and Hyper Hagrid[who drinks too much Red Bull]. If you ever get the chance to meet this kid, do it. He's the man.

JK Rowling

She's a good writer simply because she made reading cool again [at least in the US]. Everyone has read at least one Harry Potter book. I of course owned them all until I gave them to my mom as a last minute birthday gift [well, her birthday's 5 days before christmas, so I kinda forgot to get her something]. The books are good, the movies are decent[still haven't seen the third one], and she's just an all-around Cool Guy.

Michael Moore

I've read all of his books and they're absolutely great. There are better, but not many. What can I say? They can be a bit depressing at times, just because what he's saying is true, but he manages to put a humorous edge on everything and make it come out all right. Check him out.

Me

I'm just cool, alright? GIVE ME MONEY!!!

I'm sure there are others, but I'm a bit rushed at the moment and so... yeh.

o_0
jimm

[Gavin Luper]

Hmmm, there's just so many fantasy buffs around here, I feel outnumbered. As for my favourite writers:

J.K. Rowling - Absolutely brilliant, her imagination is so amazingly vivid it surprises me all the time. The plot, every aspect of it, is genius, really. As for her writing style, it's superb, it makes reading any of the Harry Potter books a real pleasure to read. Probably the best writer I can think of - and on top of it all, she's really a cool, likeable person!

John Marsden - When he writes in first person, as he always does, he really gets into the character's head and makes the entire story great to read. For those who don't know him, he wrote a series called The Tomorrow Series ... or Tomorrow, When the War Began. They're a great series, for the most part at least, and his characters are great - especially Ellie. He's a very good writer.

C.S. Lewis - He wrote the Chronicles of Narnia, which I hear are now being made into a movie. Absolutely awesome books, kept me captivated for hours, and although they are quite old now they never fail to encapture me; great writer.

I'm sure there are more but those would have to be some of my definite favourites. Odd how they've all written series of seven books each - coincidence?

[Tainted]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned a well-known fantasy writer dubbed David Eddings. In my opinion, his books are much better than Tolkiens-- because they aren't as dragged out, and Eddings has such a damn good character development working for him-- that, well, we even get to see the "normal" side of characters.
All the while an epic fantasy story is being unraveled, a large, beefy man enjoys fishing-- his wife nags him because he always wants to fish, etc. His first two five book series follow Garion in his quest of sorcery and such, they're good books-- I've read the first ten, and I'm starting on the first of the third series containing only three books. That's about it. I enjoy Stephen King's works as well, but too many have already mentioned him.

Adieu,
Zak Hunter

[phaedrus]

I'M ****ING SUPRISED NO ONE SAID J.R.R. TOLKIEN

Also, Michael Moore is decent, but there's better.

Dan Brown also rocks my socks. Angels and Demons is by far one of my favorite books.

[Tainted]

I'M ****ING SUPRISED NO ONE SAID J.R.R. TOLKIEN

Also, Michael Moore is decent, but there's better.

Dan Brown also rocks my socks. Angels and Demons is by far one of my favorite books.

Tolkien is overrated. I read the books before the movies and thought they were mediocre at most, then watching the movies sort of made me think twice about the books, because half the time I was bored to death reading the trilogy. Tolkien was descriptive. If anyone could ever O.D. on description, it would be Tolkien-- he was so descriptive that it was a bad thing.
During a huge ass battle, he's describing the flowers, the rocks, the sun and the moon-- and the little wisps of insignificant cirrus clouds, all the while the action is served in tiny chunks, and such.

At least from what I can remember.

Adieu,
Zak Hunter

[Suite Madame Blue]

People have already mentioned most of my favorites already, but I'll try to bring new names to the table.

Douglas Adams: His Hitchhiker's Guide and Dirk Gently series are both awesome. He also contributed to Starship Titanic with one of the Monty Python Terrys - Gilliam, I think. If you can manage to track down the H2G2 radio scripts it's well worth it.

Piers Anthony: I received Dragon on a Pedestal for Christmas when I was 13 and have been hooked ever since. Yes, he's extremely liberal, but I love his style and imagination. The series that stand out for me are Xanth, Mode, and Incarnations of Immortality.

Jasper Fforde: He writes the Thursday Next books, book #4 is due out this September. It's an AU world in which the Crimean War has lasted for almost 150 years, and people can enter into books and even change the endings. Original, very imaginative, and funny as hell.

JK Rowling: She'd hit me upside the head for this comment, but anyone who creates a character like Severus Snape is my hero. Beyond that, one of the most creative writers there is.

CS Lewis: I've read his books to my kids for bedtime stories. Beautiful writing style.

Gregory Maguire: Turns those well-known fairy tales on their heads, and approaches them from unexpected angles. Wicked is my favorite so far, about the Wicked Witch of the West.

Stephen King: Pet Sematary gave me nightmares! I love his short stories too. Lately he seems to have lost his edge, though. Black House wasn't nearly as scary as The Talisman. Also, I never really liked his Dark Tower series, and he seems to be concentrating on that now. Oh well.

JRR Tolkien: Only because of The Hobbit. I read that and the Lord of the Rings trilogy in college, and would rather have read entire textbooks than a single chapter of Lord of the Rings. The trilogy seemed to weigh more than my backpack, and took me 2 years to finish. I even wasted vacation time on those books, all because of some misguided concept that I needed it for a "solid fantasy foundation, " or some such drivel. I should have just waited for the movies.

William Shakespeare: Lordy, that man could write! I can only imagine what went on in his mind, and probably most of never made it on paper, or left his desk. More's the pity. His strong female characters sealed my admiration for him. His writing also rings true whatever the topic, and whatever the format. He may not have said some things first, but he said them best.

[mistysakura]

In no particular order:

J.K. Rowling: So imaginative, and I love her writing style. I find her books very easy to read, and the language really flows well. You hardly notice how many pages you've flipped.

Philip Pullman: Again, great imagination. I like his detailed approach to stuff, and there's always that aura of fantasy around his books.

Maureen McCarthy: Don't reckon half the people here have heard of her. Anyway, her characters are some of the most realistic I've ever seen, and there's no exaggeration or anything, and the characters always have interesting backgrounds and stuff. (In fact, half the time their background story is what the book's about.)

Dan Brown: Very easy to get hooked on his books, Angels and Demons I didn't like too much though, as I found that half the time the mysteries were resolved not with wit, but with information that was not known previously to the reader, so I wasn't into it as much, because I couldn't try to solve the clues like I could in the Da Vinci Code. Anyway, enough blabbering about that, he's got pretty good plot twists and there's always surprises around the corner.

[mr_pikachu]

I've been trying to read Lord of the Rings for ages, but I always feel like stopping after I've read one chapter, and Tolkien's description really tends to tire me.

You are not alone, my friend! I've never understood how anyone could get through those. I forced myself to read the first half of The Fellowship of the Ring over a few years, and then through it aside saying something like, "The hell with it." I just can't struggle through the incredibly slow plot and description. I finally saw Return of the King a while back, and I'm sure it must be better than the books. They are so dang slow!

Michael Moore

I've read all of his books and they're absolutely great. There are better, but not many. What can I say? They can be a bit depressing at times, just because what he's saying is true, but he manages to put a humorous edge on everything and make it come out all right. Check him out.

Me

I'm just cool, alright? GIVE ME MONEY!!!

This explains a lot.

*looks around*

*sees angry Democrats baring teeth*

*flees in terror*

Ahem... but anyway, I'm a big fan of Eoin Colfer (who I found out recently is a guy), just because he thinks up creative plots with excellent characters, description, and flow. I've enjoyed every one of his books. Although, I did find a few grammatical errors in some of them... *laughs nervously* I guess editors aren't perfect. Hm.

J.K. Rowling is good, obviously, and I was a big fan of Louis Sachar when I was in elementary school. I really enjoyed those books. I also liked the Angel Park All-Stars books, which nobody on the planet besides me has heard of. (Yes, I'm aware I ended the sentence with a preposition. I'm in a hurry, alright?) I forget the author, but I really liked those books. After all, I'm a huge baseball fan, and was a pretty good Little Leaguer myself. Those were the days. *sighs wistfully*

[The Blue Avenger]

Okay, even though he writes comic books, I must mention Jeff Smith. His cult classic Bone recently ended, and upon rereading it, I was struck by what a talented author slash illustrator he is. Bone has a nice mix of humor, action, a hint of romance, a trio of cousins with huge noses - one of whom is obsessed with money and wants to turn greed into a religion and a political party, talking possums, stupid stupid rat creatures, and an enigmatic villain called the Lord of the Locusts. In short, if you haven't checked his work out, what the heck are you waiting for?