Author ! Author !! (who do you like)

[ANGRY]

stephen king...more than just the fabled horror king, his books are some of the best dramatic reads around. his horror books work so well because he has this talent for depicting very real people, puts them into very real situations, and then twists those same situations into something bizarre..and yet his characters often react realistically. this creates the very sense of horror or dread better than dripping fangs or ghoulish deaths ( though, he resorts to that , easily, when needed). i've often tried, often in vain, to convince people of that most of his books could hardly be called horror, but, he has "that mantle", and, to this day is unable to shake it.
i can remember a day, just a couple of years ago, while watching
the charlie rose show' on PBS, they had a round table of some of the pre-eminant book critics, and they went off for a while on the underratedness of kings work. one said, and the others agreed, that he was one of americas best writers and possibly its most gifted storytellers. all agreed that he is a master of characterization, and of creating both real, and then unreal stituations.
these were regular book guys, not some rejects from a star trek convention.
best reads: salems lot, the shining, the stand, the dead zone, the dark tower series (7 books), misery, dolores claiborne, the mist, pet sematary, the long walk, the running man, different seasons ( 3 excellant short novels, one gruesome little tale)..and that is just some of the really great ones...

...so, who do you read regularly ?

[ddr]

Hi Angry,

I have read many of Steven Kings earlier books, the ones I bought back when I wasn't so busy having a life and all. I read the Shining, Cujo, Pet Sematary, Christine, Firestarter and I have many more that I haven't ever gotten time to read. I just bought his latest Cell but haven't started it yet. I have always been disappointed when his books are brought to the big screen because so much of his writing is impossible to duplicate in film and often times they change the story around from the book.

besides King I enjoy reading autobiographies and biographies of musicians such as John Kay of Steppenwolf his book "Magic Carpet Ride" was good and Eric Burdon's "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and Grace Slick's "Somebody to Love? were also great reads as well.

Wish I had more time for reading.

ddr

[maccastheman]

Bret Easton Ellis. All of his work has incredible bite to it. One of the greatest commentators on modern urban life and the shallowness involved. American Psycho is his masterpiece, but I also liked Less Than Zero and Rules of Attraction.

Glamorama was alright, but dragged a lot more than his other novels.

Then of course there are the music authors. I've included those in another thread.

[Henry The Horse]

A good read.......... try, "The Once And Future King" by T H White

[chris]

Angry, once again, great topic. I have probably read everything SK has ever done. While I haven't exactly loved every one of them, I have enjoyed most and even think that as many as ten are classics. He is a true story teller, that rarely gets the recognition he deserves, because he is known for writing horror stories. He is often really funny, too. But as we (the constant readers ) know, he can do that and so much more. How many people for instance know that he wrote the book (novella, actually) that the film Shawshank Redemption was based on. Or Stand By Me. Or the Green Mile?

I also try Koontz, but I find myseld disappointed in about half of what he writes. Tom Wolfe is awesome, but writes only 1 book every 10 years or so. David Baldacci has written some great ones too.

Once, while feeling guilty about the books I read, I decided to try some of the classics. I have "discovered" Shakespere (also a very funny guy) and Stienbeck (not really funny at all, I'm afraid) But there are lots of good books out there. I make a point of reading at least an hour a night. Wait, do comic books count? Kidding

[ANGRY]

reading is reading...it's all good..my brother and some friends were into comics, i never could seem to get the drift......then i read howard chaykins 'american flagg'... whew boy ! then, baron and rudes 'nexus'...awesome...'hellblazer'...'v for vendetta' .. 'watchmen "...nothing wrong with a well written comic...don't dabble as much anymore, mostly because i just don't have that much time to read, but, every blue moon or two, i dip into my small collection or go to the local shop and see if there is anything like those i remember so well...

a few more favorite authors...peter straub...douglas adams...john mortimer...george macdonald fraser..paul auster....gary brandner (miss him, great, pulpy-type horror)

[BruceMirken]

Some favorites --

Harlan Ellison
Mark Twain
Charles Dickens
J.K. Rowling (yes, I WILL be at my local bookstore at midnight when the next Harry Potter is released)
Isaac Asimov
E.L. Doctorow

[Rene]

Hi Angry...been a while.

I LOVE Leo Tolstoy. No, I haven't read War and Peace, but his Anna Karenina is pretty amazing and his short stories are some of the best literature (in my never to be humble opinion) ever. I mostly read political type books or the classics. Oh, and of course the Bible.

[theDingle]

Some favorites --

Mark Twain...Isaac Asimov

Two of my favorites as well Bruce.

My all-time Twain favorite is The Tragedy of Pudd'n'head Wilson. Asimov is a pleasure; funny, so rational and logical.

[BruceMirken]

"Pudd'nhead Wilson" is a great obscurity. While on vacation lately, I read a book of Twain stories that mostly I'd never read before, including several that are just utterly brilliant: "The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg," "The Second Advent," and the truly eerie unfinished novella, "The Great Dark."

There are exactly two writers whom I can honestly say changed my life. Twain is one, the other is Rachel Carson ("Silent Spring").

As for Asimov, what can one say? I refused to see the movie of "I, Robot," because I couldn't imagine them doing the book justice.