Comparatively Fantastic! Our favourite authors

[raisindot]

So first because he's the one I've read longest - Tom Sharpe. Too sharp sometimes - I was actually physically nauseated by The Throwback (condoms, scouring powder and cheesegraters.... ) - but the South African novels and of course the Henry Wilt series are brilliant books that satirise some of the truly nastier social mores of modern times.

Has he written anything since "The Midden"? That's the last book of his I've seen in the U.S., and that was ages ago. I wish he were more prolific.

[pip]

Julian Barnes has produced some wonderful books . Read Arthur and George earlier this year and its absolutely fantastic.

[Jan Van Quirm]

He's actually more active than I thought Jeff - I knew there was another Wilt book out recently but there's 2 more I haven't read (last one I read was Wilt on High) but he's written other stuff in between - here's his wiki entry so you can check it out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Sharpe

Have you read England, England and Metroland Pip - they're pretty good fun to read but with underlying caustic commentary Talking it over was quite good as well

[pip]

cool. I'll keep an eye out

[SpyViolette]

Oh, there are quite a few. Let's see, besides Pratchett of course, my top three favorite authors are:
- Markus Zusak (The Book Thief is one of my favorite books ever.)
- Maggie Estep (Not very well known, but she wrote an amazing book called Diary of an Emotional Idiot.)
- Sarah Waters (for all things lesbian romance...)

And that's not even counting my favorite poets.

[pip]

Markus Zusak's The Book Thief is brilliant one of the better books i've read.
I bought another of his I Am the Messenger a few months back but still haven't got around to mit.

Jan picked up Metroland by Julian Barnes . Nice crisp first edition

[SpyViolette]

I also have I Am the Messenger and I've been meaning to read it, but I got a bit distracted by Discworld...

[Antiq]

Authors I'm currently loving to bits - apart from Sir Terry (lovelovelove) -

Kazuo Ishiguro - started reading him ages ago, love his "watercolour" style of writing.
China Mieville - Such extraordinary originality, something that's hard to find these days. The Iron Council is stunning, The City and the City mind-bending.
Iain M Banks - the sci-fi books. Best science fiction book I have ever read to date is The Algebraist. The Player of Games and Feersum Endjin follow closely.
Edward Rutherfurd - he writes historical novels about places - hugely entertaining and epic. Sarum, Russka, New York, London, Dubin, Ireland-The Awakening etc.
Tracy Chevalier - she wrote Girl With a pearl Earring, and I have like all of her books so far.

There are many more authors I love, but this list could go on...and on...

[Danny B]

Have you read China Miéville's Embassytown yet, Antiq? Amazing.

I'm with Antiq on including Iain (M.) Banks and China Miéville amongst my favourite authors, but I'll also add the following.

Donald E. Westlake (including his alias of Richard Stark): An incredible crime writer, able to shift effortlessly between light and frothy capers, pitch black and violent noir and slick contemporary fiction.
Christopher Fowler One of my absolute favourites. Whether he's writing weird urban horror stories, dark fantasies or dense mysteries, he's always top quality.
Clive Barker Is he horror writer or a fantasy writer? It's hard to tell where one begins and the other ends, but his writing is always magical, hypnotic and beautiful.
Robert Holdstock Arguably the most important British fantasy writer of the 20th century, for my money.
Ursula K. Le Guin She hasn't written anything I didn't love to bits. Even her lesser works have a grace in the prose and a fierce intellect behind them that most SF or fantasy writers can't match.

[Antiq]

Have you read China Miéville's Embassytown yet, Antiq? Amazing.

No, I haven't!! Another for my "to read" list