We’ve covered a lot of ground on the weekly You Tell Me. We’ve talked about the future of e-books, whether reviews matter, how you like to write, and whether Justin Bobby will someday find it in his heart to forgive Lo for calling him Justin Bobby (ok, well, we didn’t talk about that one, but only because I restrained myself. Which wasn’t easy.)
So, now that the blog is back (no, really this time), I thought I would ask quite possibly the hardest, most difficult, most agonizing You Tell Me OF ALL TIME.
Brace yourself. Are you ready? It’s going to be tough. I bet you’re dying to know what the question is going to be. Oh, er, I guess you already know what I’m going to ask because of the subject line. Curse you, subject line!!! Curse you!!!! Ahem.
So You Tell Me: Who is your favorite author of all time? Whose body of work do you wish was yours? Who makes you throw away the pen because you could never hope to write as well so you might as well just give up (only to pick it up again because writing is kinda fun)? And remember, you can only pick one!
My favorite novel is MOBY DICK, but when we’re talking body of work, as much as I love THE CONFIDENCE MAN and TYPEE, I’d have to go with William Faulkner (sorry, Ghost of Herman Melville! You can stop haunting me now! You were on some boats, I get it!).
What about you?
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Katherine Paterson
(Jerry Spinelli is a close second)
Stephen King is indeed the king…
Right now, it would have to be Neil Gaiman. I am simultaneously inspired and discouraged by reading his work. He wows me beyond belief with his imagination, characters, world building, plots and beautifully written prose. Anything is possible! Then I sit there and think, why bother? I’ll never be that good.
Ten years ago my answer would have probably been Ayn Rand.
Not a novelist, but I’d give almost anything to craft dialogue like Joss Whedon.
ONE? Just ONE!?! Oh! Arg! Ack! Should I say Franz Kafka ? Or Christopher Moore? Or maybe John Irving? (Ok, so I cheated a little.)
I think I’m going to have to go with… Moore. That’s my decision, and I’m sticking with it. For today anyway.
PhilipRothPhilipRothPhilipRoth.
Goodbye,Columbus, Defender of the Faith, The Ghost Writer… I had more fun teaching Deception and Operation Shylock than I can say. Can’t wait to read Exit Ghost.
Neal Stephenson, hands down, without hesitation!
And, Stephen King is also a pretty damn good writer, despite his being all wealthy and famous and all.
Jane Austen.
Pride and Prejudice is the most perfect novel ever written.
She pretty much single handedly invented the modern novel.
Her prose is spare with no self-indulgent “poetic” writing, just the details that make her characters come to life. Her wit is devastating and yet there is an emotional depth in her work, too, which makes the wit that much more powerful.
Though she wrote centuries ago, you can still learn all you need to know about writing fiction from her books.
Thackeray.
But I write with a computer, not a pen, and I’d never throw it down. I’d just spend all my time reading blogs, instead.
james joyce fo’ sho’
Diana Wynne Jones.
Hands down, without a doubt, no hesitations, she’s my favorite writer. If I was stranded on a desert island, I’d want at least Dogsbody, and preferably Deep Secret and all the Chrestomanci books–but mostly, I think I’d want How to Build a Boat Out of Coconuts, although I’m pretty sure that was written by The Professor and not DWJones.
If there ever comes a day when I can look at my own writing and think, “Yes, I believe Diana Wynne Jones couldn’t have done much better,” I’ll die happy.
I have many, many faves, but the one who makes me want to “throw down the pen”? The one and only, my TGO – John Steinbeck.
Yes, Mr. Steinbeck is The Great One.
J.F.Constantine
Flannery O’Connor. No question.
I think it’s pretty clear that Shakespeare was the best English author. No one has had their work endure like his work.
As for American authors, Hemingway and Melville are probably the two best.
I think that the best modern author is Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
All this said, my favorite writer of all time is Abraham Lincoln. He wrote some incredible speeches (and he wrote them by himself, no speech writers). His second inaugural address is probably my favorite piece of writing.
I’m with Jenny — Jane Austen all the way!
James Ellroy for his intricate plotting, dense characterisation, and his ability to make the most ignoble man seem heroic. See The Black Dahlia or American Tabloid for examples. I pick him because of the consistency across a body of work.
My favourite as a kid was Stephen King, and he’s still right up there as a story teller, though his work has been patchy since the early nineties.
If Thomas Harris had stopped after Silence of the Lambs, he would have been top of the list. But he wouldn’t let it lie…
Poe.
C.S. Lewis. Hands down.
John Irving.
There are many authors whose work I admire, but Irving was the one who made me want to write.
Ask me if I’ve read something and I liked it, I’m happy to spout off with my 2 cents. But favorites? I’ve never had one. My memory doesn’t keep lists well at all.
Madeleine L’Engle, may she rest in peace. Her writing informed my beliefs about the world in many many ways.
Another one for John Irving
Have to go with John Steinbeck. I agree with Conduit on Stephen King. Great in the good old days but tough to read lately.
Shel Silverstein (Where the Sidewalk Ends. There is none other like him.
Apparently I am going to have to fight Graham to the death for C.S. Lewis. *draws rapier and strikes a martial pose, Reepicheep-like*
Guy Gavriel Kay. Loved him for 20 years now. I tried so hard to write fantasy but I’ve settled for reading it instead. I have his newest, YSABEL, on my shelf and I’m saving it for a nice quiet time when I can soak it up!
I’m seriously on a Neil Gaiman phase right now too. I can’t believe it took me this long to find him. I have some catching up to do.
I throw away all claim to having sensitivity and good taste when I admit this, I’m sure.
Terry Pratchett.
Toss up between Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary…okay if I have to choose one.
Judy Blume.
Virginia Woolf. no question.
Lewis Carroll- Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There..next fave would be C.S Lewis
This is hard because there isn’t a single author whose body of work I’ve read in its entirety. Since C.S. Lewis has a duel going for him that I wouldn’t want to interrupt (I’ve only ever dueled with a foil, never a rapier, sorry folks!), I’ll have to pick someone else!
I’ve read most of Jeffrey Deaver’s books, but I wouldn’t want to claim him as my favorite. Tamora Pierce made me want to be a writer, back in the day, but again, hesitant to claim her.
Although the book I read that sticks out as a fast favorite, and if her other books are anything like it, I would be happy to say Naomi Novik.
The only question that could be harder is, favorite book?
George Eliot (Marian Evans)
Neal Stephenson. Blast him!
Before Neal, it was Mark Twain and I might still go back to Mark some day.
George R. R. Martin
Diana Gabaldon
I can’t believe nobody has said J.K. Rowling! Anyone?
I’d have to say Muriel Spark. Her short story collection is insane.
Lewis Carroll. What an imagination and what an incredible way of expressing it.
Mark Twain. No contest.
The lovely imagery of Alice Hoffman.
Coll
Just one? That’s tough. I have a four-way tie. So, here is my one favorite author (yeah, one for each cardinal direction, but together they make one literary godhead):
North: Halldor Laxness
South: Mark Twain
East: William Shakespeare
West: John Steinbeck
I note that Nathan cheated by listing a favorite book AND a favorite author. So I’m going to cheat too and say that while Pride & Prejudice is my very favorite book, if I had to pick the novelist working today whose works I wish I’d written, it would be Laura Kinsale.
Flowers from the Storm. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Oh crap, I forgot, there’s also Dorothy Dunnett.
Ursula K. Le Guin
She can write anything she puts her mind to: novels, short stories, poems, essays, SF, fantasy, YA. She has imagination, humor, conscience, wit, and can write sentences that stun me with their precision and care. And she makes it look easy.
Whose body of work do you wish was yours? I’d have to say George R.R. Martin. He has the most compelling characters, who you despise and admire at the same time.
Another Faulkner fan here. I reread his novels pretty obsessively, to the point of memorizing some passages. Somewhere on my hard drive, there’s a photo of me bowing down in front of the Faulkner home in Oxford, MS.
Just one? Isn’t that a little like eating only one chocolate chip?
H.G. Wells
Lucy Maud Montgomery
Okay, maybe that’s weird, but I also like Weird Al and opera.
My favorite novelist is Jane Austen, but I wouldn’t wish that her body of work be mine. That distinction would probably belong to Elizabeth Peters. But if we’re talking about forms besides the novel, then I might well say William Butler Yeats. And then there’s always Shakespeare….
Darn, what a hard question to answer!
Easy! Agatha Christie!
The only way to pick one is to ignore all but one facet of my being. Seriously. There’s different faces we wear, and each mindset has its own unique craving.
Literary: Herman Hesse
Sci-Fi/Fantasy: Robert Heinlein or Anne McCaffery (depending on my mood).
Humor: Janet Evanovich or Sophie Kinsella (above disclaimer).
Children’s: L. Frank Baum or Edward Eager (yada-yada).
There’s just too many things I’d want to write!
–Chiron O’Keefe
I have to mention that reading Susannah Clarke’s JONATHON STRANGE & MR NORRELL kind of made me want to give up. It is just incredible. I felt like I could never write something that imaginative and poetic and scary and beautiful and creepy.
Another vote for Flannery O
WendyNYC
Poe, put the pen in my hand.
H.G. Wells is my hero!