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Question 53

Who are your favorite writers of any kind and what are your favorite books?

• Edmund Wilson. Bjorne Strostrup. Larry Niven. Richard Fineman (Charles Fiterman #376)

• My all time favorite book is "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.

  For enjoyment, my favorite authors are John Irving, Carl Hiiaasen, Frank Herbert, David Brin, Larry Niven, Steven King, Ken Follett and (please don't chuckle) Clive Cussler. (Liz Huth #658)

• "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok ranks high on my list of fascinating reading. It deals with an exceptionally gifted child of a Hasidic rabbi who was raised in a very strange atmosphere where his father deliberately did not speak to him except for teaching Torah. (Chris Ho-Stuart #150)

• I'm a big science fact and science fiction fan. I also enjoy a good horror read.

  Authors? Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Carl Sagan, Anne McCaffrey, Piers Anthony, Louise Cooper, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, John Saul.

  Books? Dune. The Stand. ANY of Asimov's science essays. Oh, all right. I have a weakness for Star Trek books, too. But don't tell anyone. (Magyckme #554 )

• I'd take Lois McMaster Bujold (for the Miles Vorkosigan series, of course), Asimov and C.J. Cherryh. Add to that Frank Herbert, David Weber (that whole Honor Harrington series) and Patrick Tilley (Amtrak wars) and you've got my faves.

  Oh, and don't forget the greatest sci-fi novel ever written: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Beats the crap out of Dune imho (even if the rest of the series got god-soaked).

  Hm, can't forget non-fiction, as long as I'm writing: Richard Dawkins and Carl Sagan. (Greg Gyetko #911)

• I read fiction for the entertainment, but I like to read authors with whom I can identify mentally.

  One of my all-time favorites is the late Edward Abbey. His fictional works include "The Monkey Wrench Gang" which is still an inspirational piece for eco-warriors everywhere. His non-fiction elicits my own feelings of love for the natural word and sadness over what humans, especially those who worship at the altar of "growth" are doing to it.

  Aldo Leopold's "A Sand County Almanac" is another of my favorites for some of the same reasons. It is a classic in forming the foundation of the conservation ethic.

  Lately,the novels of Carl Hiaasen, including "Lucky You", "Skin Tight" and "Tourist Season" have been entertaining me with their dark humor, larger-than-life (or low-life) characters, and so unreal as to be real plots. I really recommend him for a good, entertaining and irreverent read.

  The all-time classics are the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Demon-Haunted World, Stranger in a Strange Land...well I could go on and on. (Joe Zawadowski #249)

• Arthur C. Clarke #1. His fiction and non-fiction had a tremendous impact on me.

  S. J. Perelman, #2.

  Shakespeare #3. I have just finished reading the complete works, and it is much better read on your own than in school. (Scott Davidson #1045)

• Since I almost always like the last book I read best, it must be "The rise of Endymion" by Dan Simmons. His Hyperion series is grand, breathtaking....

  But I also like: Frank Herbert, Orson Scott Card....hey, I read other things besides sci-fi..... I have favorite books like Ulysses from Joyce, I love reading Hölderlin and I'm very fond of Samuel Beckett....

  Books I definitely hate: the Bible and the Koran. Never read the Torah, but I think I'll hate that as well. But I did enjoy reading other religious texts, like old mythology (loved that) and the Indian Mahabharata..... (Don Antropos #1001)

• I have to put shakespeare 2nd, first for me is Peirs Anthony, both his S/F and Fantasy. However my all time favourite book is Ringworld. (Alan Ferris #1211)

• The Bible!

  OK, OK. Joking!

  Recently, the past year or so, I've been reading a lot of science fiction, so my favorite fiction authors have included Philip K. Dick, David Brin, Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, and William Gibson. I've also read a lot of Elmore Leonard (Rum Punch, Out of Sight) whose work is kind of cheezy and simplistic, but pretty cool and intriguing, for fluff.

  Favorite fiction books:

  Man in the High Castle Catch 22 Ubik The Natural Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said Dune The Left Hand of Darkness The Anvil of Stars 1984 Interview with the Vampire (a lot of recent Anne Rice books have REALLY sucked) The Last Temptation of Christ

  That's off the top of my head, so I know I'm forgetting some biggies.... (Organic Machinery #284)

• Writers: Harlan Ellison, Robert Heinlein, Philip Caputo, Spider Robinson, Tom Clancy, Carl Sagan, John Le Carre, Richard Bach (for the aviation, not the mysticism), Larry Niven.

  Books: "Stardance" by Spider Robinson, all works by Heinlein except for the last two rewrites of "Time Enough for Love" :-) "DelCorso's Gallery" by Caputo.

  I'm also a military adventure fiction junky, so most any book where the author includes the official designations of weapons systems is OK with me :-) (Paul Chefurka #913)

• I've been reading the responses to this thread with interest and have noticed that most atheists are big science fiction fans. I can understand why religious fundamentalists would not like SF, since its concepts go against their beliefs, but I was wondering what it is about the genre that appeals to atheists.

  For myself, I'm also a big fan of horror and SF (Steven King, Dan Simmons, Robert R. McCammon, Harlan Ellison, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark, Larry Niven). I also enjoy reading medical thrillers (Robin Cook, Michael Palmer). For non-fiction, I usually read real life adventures like "Alive" and "Into Thin Air". I just finished reading "An Underground Education" by Richard Zacks and found it fascinating. I don't know if Zacks is an atheist, but he's very hard on religion, especially Catholicism. He has a section in his book devoted to the RC popes and their various mistresses and illegitimate children. I would like to read his first book "History Laid Bare", but it's out of print, and I haven't been able to find a used copy. (Sally Seymour #939)

• In no particular order: Edgar Rice Burroughs: John Carter of Mars series H. P. Lovecraft: all of his Cthulhu Mythos stuff Stephen Brust: Vlad Taltos series Larry Niven: Ringworld L. Frank Baum: Oz series Greg Egan: Diaspora Carl Sagan: The Demon-Haunted World Richard Dawkins: The Selfish Gene (Jeff Dee #366)

• What a tough question to answer! I almost decided to not even bother trying, since I know I can spend hours typing this. And I will still beat myself up tomorrow, when I realize I left out a favorite. Oh well, here goes:

  Authors: Ayn Rand, Robert A. Heinlein, James P. Hogan, and then about 25 all jostled together, constantly changing. Books: Atlas Shrugged (Rand) *anything* by Heinlein (current fave? The Moon is a Harsh Mistress) the "Giants" series (Hogan) any dictionary (and I'm not joking here; I can sit for hours, just reading at random.)

  Beyond that, it can be just about anything, from sci-fi, to science, to classical literature, to Shakespeare, to math, to biographies, ad nauseum. In case anyone is wondering, I have *tons* of books. I have so many books, I use them as furniture. I used to spend so much time at the library, when they had a job opening, the librarians asked me to work for them. (Carl Funk #1229)