My favorite authors are Jackie Collins, Dean koontz, Iris Johansen, and J.K. Rowlings

I tend to favor suspense, fantasy, and sci-fi horror.

Margaret Atwood - All her stuff really
Juliet Marillier - Sevenwaters books
Jaqueline Carey - Kushiel books
Emily Maguire - Taming the Beast (highly sexual)
Many many more

Mainly Japanese author simply because I'm Japanese, but these books are worth to read. I'm not sure if these books are translated or not.

Natsuo Kirino---"Out"
Murakami Haruki---"Five Spot After Dark"
Hanamura Mangetsu---"Jin Jin Jin"
Kenzo Kitamura---"Waiting For The Wind"

1. Tim Dorsey (Triggerfish Twist, Florida Roadkill)
2. John Kennedy Toole (A Confederacy of Dunces)
3. Elmore Leonard (Get Shorty)
4. Carl Hiassen (Strip Tease, Lucky You)
5. Kurt Vonnegut (Breakfast of Champions, Sirens of Titan)
6. Rita Mae Brown (Rubyfruit Jungle)
7. Frederick Forsyth (Day of the Jackal, The O.D.E.S.S.A. File)
8. Maya Angelou (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings)
9. John D. MacDonald (Pale Grey for Guilt, The Tourquoise Lament)
10. Robert B. Parker (Spenser detective series)
11. W.E.B. Griffith (Brotherhood of War series)
12. Allen Drury (Advise and Consent)

My favotite author is Sarah douglass she's writes fantasy novels... personally I think she's one of the best Australian authors since tolken... (The Wayfarer Redemption Series = 6 books in total so far I think.. 3 during "present times" and 3 from their children's lives 40 or 30 years later..

I just love the whole gang from MAD magazine. All of them... the whole crazy bunch of them.

Good Question.

Wally Lamb (She Comes Undone-I Know This Much
Is True)
Shakespeare (The Taming of the Shrew)
Jane Austen (mmmm... Mr Darcy)
Janet Fitch (White Oleander)

Also I am a closet Nora Roberts reader. Her books are great for when you just want your brain to have a holiday. Perfect beach reading.

Hg Wells great: Sci Fi
Louise Amore's: great Westerns
Alfred Lord Tennyson: great poetry

Dean Koontz is interesteing to read as well. Never a dull moment. Some authors having tremendous reputations test the reader's patience. Some of these I have forced myself to read based on their reputation. But it shouldn't be that way.

Exploring this great website and found this question -- couldn't resist.
In the SF and fantasy genres: Terry Pratchett, Frank Herbert, Ann McCaffrey. Also liked Stephen King's Dark Tower series, Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders trilogy, Robert Holdstocks' Mythago Wood books, and Louise Cooper's Indigo series.
Of course, there are the single favorites: Songs from the Drowned Lands, Bridge of Birds, and Moonwise.
Westerns :anything by Louis L'Amour; I also enjoyed Don Coldsmith's Spanish Bit series about Native Americans.
Horror/Thrillers: Dean Koontz, Charles Grant
Classics: Finnegan's Wake, Beowulf, most of Shakespeare's plays, Le Mort d'Arthur (and the numerous versions of the Arthurian legends), The Oddessy and the Iliad (and versions surrounding the people and events surrounding the battle of Troy), Celtic myths and legends, fairytales and The Poetic Edda.
I love poetry, too, but not much of the contemporary stuff. Favorites include Yeats, Kipling, Pope and Service plus a hefty collection that ranges from ancient Greece and Rome to the Oriental dynasties to the British Isles and more.
Oh, and I'm still a sucker for beloved children's books such as Heads Up! By Patsy Gray and Shamrock Queen by Marguerite Henry.
The rest of my reading is non-fiction.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by educatedhorse_2005

Who is your favorite author.

What kind of books do you like to read.

Mine are William W Johnstone and Louis Lamour.

Western novels

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My favorite author is Sigrid Undset and my favorite book is her work, "Kristin Lavransdatter." Other favorite authors are Hemingway, Hill, and Rolvaag.

I enjoy reading historical non fiction and fiction, documentaries, biographies, and family histories.

Have to say my favourite author is Stephen King. I also really enjoy books by Clive Barker, Irvine Welsh, Patricia Cornwell, Thomas Harris, C.S. Lewis, also Tennyson's poetry is beautiful. And I also love Robert Burns.

I love to read - so any kind of book really. I always have a book on the go and it doesn't matter to me the genre really! Apart from fiction I also love reading true life stuff - like books about mass murderers, mysteries etc!

This is a fantastic question. It's really interesting to read about others opinions on this too!

I like the usual Stephen King and Dean Koontz

However, my favorites are:
Comedy : Janet Evanovich (One For The Money 1 out of twelve in the series!)
Gothic Type: Anne Rice (Interview With The Vampire or The Witching Hour) - Trust me start
With these ones as they are the first of two series
Suspense/Detective: Michael Connelly ( Blood Work, The Black Ice or The Poet) Warning! -
Not for those who easily get attached to the characters, I've cried
More than once.
Classic: Alexandre Dumas ( The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, Count of Monte
Christo, Man in the Iron Mask)

Hope this helps anyone looking for a good reading workout! Most of these are long books that one has to stick with and pay attention to.

Like many respondents I have several favourite authors. When I was a child I was limited to Enid Blyton and JM Barrie, but now I am grown I have enjoyed and been moved by so many, some of which are:

The Anglo Saxon Chroniclers
Jeffrey Chaucer
William Shakespeare
Bede
Louis Golding
Richard Llewellyn
John Steinbeck
Nikos Kazantsakis
Pushkin
Winston Churchill
Charlotte Brunty
William Dawes
John Bunyan
Edgar Allen Poe
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Great McGonigle
Charles ens
Rudyard Kipling
Etc...

Not enough credit goes to John Steinbeck or J.D. Salinger on this board lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wizzkid89

Not enough credit goes to John Steinbeck or J.D. Salinger on this board lol

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Steinbeck is on my list of favourites.

But, to be fair, wizzkid, the question asked for personal preferences, so who does and who does not get 'enough credit' is moot. Choosing a favourire anythings is not rocket science. It is nothing more than what appeals to each person. I havre read Salinger, but he does not rank among my 'favourites'.

:)

I have to agree with Val... [U]Atlas Shrugged[U] changed the way I look at the world more than any other book has.

Favorites though... Robert Jordan, Tad Williams, George R. R. Martin, J. R. R. Tolkien, Sara Douglass, Mercedes Lackey, Stephen King, Raymond Feist, David Eddings, Terry Goodkind... the list goes on and on.

My favorite author is John Irving. The Hotel New Hampshire and A Prayer for Owen Meany are amazing pieces of literature. His last few books have been less than inspiring, though.

Donald E. Westlake's Dortmunder series. If you haven't read them you should.
It's a series of comedy/crime novels.:)

Hmm, how did I miss this?

I don't read enough anymore, even though I spend half my life in a used bookstore. Talking about favorites doesn't mean much, as that varies quite a bit based on the types of books I'm in the mood for. Right now, I'm in the middle of:

The Masks of God by Joseph Campbell (four book series on comparative mythology)
A Brief History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
Ulysses
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin, 4 books thus far of probably 8 total
Welcome to the Monkey House by Vonnegut... actually, it's rare that I'm not in the middle of this one.
Dark Seas of Infinity and The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft, collections of H.P. Lovecraft stories... same as the Vonnegut above
Shamela by Fielding... haven't actually started it, but I've had it sitting on my desk for two weeks. Maybe I'll actually do that (and then re-read Richardson's Pamela for a laugh) tonight.
Harry Potter
Life is Elsewhere, The Joke, and Farewell Waltz by Milan Kundera.
Anthem, Ayn Rand
Justine, Marquis de Sade

...

That seems short... I know I'm reading something else now, even leaving out textbooks and other research materials.

In terms of fiction, it would have to be Jostein Gaarder, Lemony Snickett and Milan Kundera (probably in that order too), they write so well. When it comes to non-fiction at the moment it would have to be M. Scott Peck I just enjoy his writings.