Do you have a favourite author? Mine is...

[BumgrapesofWrath]

Margaret Atwood.

When I read her books I get whisked away. She has such a great imagination, and such a skill with words. And her books always make me "feel" something. Just got to the end of The Blind Assassin, and I feel like someone has winded me.

So who is your favourite author?

[WerewolfBarMitzvah]

I'm making notes here of authors to try - thanks folks.
Ahhhh so many books, so little time!

[Bolshybookworm]

I've found the same with EJH, Bunbaker. I like her other books but they're not a patch on the Cazalet series. I love those books so much, however, she makes it into my favourites list.

I wept when I read of mice and men, it's gut-wrenching. Have you read Pastures of Heaven? It's not as well known as some of his books, but I love it.

[LadyPeterWimsey]

MollyBdenum

[Balderdabble]

Rugbychick - if you're re-reading the trilogy, did you know Simons has released two more? They're prequels (if that applies to books!) about Alexander's parents and how they came to be in Russia. I don't think they're as good as the original trilogy and the second one is much better than the first, but if you're a fan, you might want to check them out. Judging by how those two end, I suspect there will also be a third at some point.

[MollyBdenum]

Oh, it was Sheridan LeFanu, not Wilkie Collins, wasn't it?

[Mintyy]

Fay Weldon.

[magimedi]

I would find it very, very hard to name a top favourite but as Rohinton Mistry has not been mentioned I'd like to put in a vote for him for 'A Fine Balance.'

[LouiseBrooks]

Mary Renault
Mary Stewart
Taylor Caldwell
Sharon Penman for medieval historical fiction (I can't stand Philippa Gregory)
Simon Mawer
Alan Furst for spy thrillers
Gore Vidal

Lots more probably and just realised half of my favourites above are dead. How depressing.

[LouiseBrooks]

Bunbaker I recently read the fifth Cazalet. It wasn't bad but not as good as the others. Still worth a read though. I also loved "Something in Disguise" which was on tv in the 1980s I think

[LouiseBrooks]

Has anyone else read Elizabeth Taylor? (not the movie star.) Some of her books have recently been republished by Virago. They're great.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Taylor_(novelist)


Oh - and Rumer Godden, absolutely wonderful

[waycat]

Like other posters here, I find it hard to pick just one. If I've just read a really good book that stays in my mind, then I might say "So and so is my favourite author", but then I'll read something else by another author and then they will be my new favourite!

Having said that, I do have some tried and tested favourites that I always read such as Harlan Coben, Linwood Barclay, Tess Gerritsen, Jodi Picoult, Jane Green, Mo Hayder, Mark Higgins Clark.....

[ShanghaiDiva]

Impossible to pick one:
Jonathan Coe
Atwood
Philip Hensher
Kate Atkinson
Lionel Shriver
Maggie O'farrell
Sally Gardner

[Cherrypi]

Scarlett Thomas
Marian Keyes
Jasper Fforde

[mupperoon]

I really love Edward St Aubyn - although he can be very dark and depressing, I have also laughed out. His last novel was a complete waste of my time and his talent, unfortunately.

Ian McEwan

Kazuo Ishiguro - although all his characters (middle aged men, young women) have the same voice.

Love Orhan Pamuk although I am suspicious of his translators. Given that I don't speak Turkish, this may be unfair.

[Joe3578]

Fiction: Kurt Vonnegut, Franz Kafka, James Baldwin, Vladamir Nabokov, George Elliott, Dubravka Urgesic, Marilynne Robinson

Non-fiction: Simone Weil, Zygmunt Bauman, Andrea Dworkin,

[insancerre]

Stephen king
I just get lost in his books
I also really like Charles Dickens

[INeedSomeHelp]

I love Marge Binchy and Rosamunde Pilcher - I realise these are very low brow compared to most that have been mentioned.
But they really do transport me away to a different time and place. RP in particular I find so comforting - like cosy slippers.

[INeedSomeHelp]

Obviously that's meant to say Maeve Binchy - not Marge!

[mmack]

It's a hard question to answer. I would say John Steinbeck and Edith Wharton as my classic favourites, Lionel Shriver and Wally Lamb as recent favourites and John Connolly as my favourite crime writer. I read Americanah and Purple Hibiscus this year and I'm going to buy myself Half of a Yellow Sun for Christmas so CN Adichie is my favourite writer of 2014.

[hooker29]

Love Tim Weaver!
I find him a brilliant,fast paced writer,easy to read without being too wordy.I like thrillers but find that a lot of writers waffle on too much about the main characters' (usually the detective) personal life,and, whilst I know it can be important to the story,it can also detract from the main story line too much.Tim Weaver touches on the personal life but that's all.

[magimedi]

Love Orhan Pamuk although I am suspicious of his translators.

mupperoon, I am also a great fan of Pamuk. Maureen Freely is far & away the best translator of his work. I read 'My Name is Red' many years ago, translated by someone else & re read it when it was translated by Freely. The difference was amazing.

I tried to read 'The Silent House' which ha been re issued & the translator is not Freely & I found it very hard going.

[MiddleAgeMiddleEngland]

Thomas Hardy, above every other author.

I also love John Steinbeck - read The Wayward Bus recently for the first time and really enjoyed it.

Iris Murdoch and Doris Lessing for more recent authors. George Eliot and Elizabeth Gaskell for more classics. Tolstoy, but not a huge fan of War and Peace. Margaret Forster for easy but not trivial reading. Arthur Ransome, whose books I have read and re-read constantly for about the last 40 years.

Louise Rummer Godden - I must get some to read. I adored The Diddakoi as a child but have read very little since except The Greengage Summer years ago.

Yes, far too many books and so little time. (Logs off to go and read)

[Quangle]

Dickens. All time favourite most amazing writer.

Agree with the description of Margaret Forster as easy but not trivial. Underrated too.

[QueenAnneofAustriaSpain]

Louis de Bernieres. I can still remember where I was when I read each if his books. His writing has the ability to make me laugh, cry, sigh, eye roll.

Jane Austen was my favourite dead writer and I love her BUT this year I discovered Alexandre Dumas and I have been questioning how I ever felt complete having not read his work. He is now my favourite dead author ever.

[fairnotfair]

Nancy Mitford
Edith Wharton
Wilkie Collins
Monica Dickens
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Ngaio Marsh
Daphne du Maurier