Favorite Author
 

Who is your favorite contemporary author? Mine is Michael Connelly. He has written a series of Murder mysteries with this tough LAPD detective as the central character.

But each book stands on its own so you don't have to read them in any particular order to enjoy them. One has been made into a major motion picture and ironically is the only one not involving this LAPD detective. It was called "Blood Work" starring Clint Eastwood and was good but not his best.

As an added bonus the LAPD detective, Harry Bosch, was married to a woman whose passion was playing poker in the California card rooms. She eventually turned pro and their marriage fell apart and now she plays in the big money games at the Bellagio.

Probably not the greatest that literature has to offer but very entertaining stuff. His books always have great plot twists at the end that literally have me shaking my head sometimes.

Anybody else read any of this guy's stuff and what do you think?

Re: Favorite Author
 

Patrick O'Brian

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John Irving

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Bill Pronzini

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I read The Poet recently and thought it was pretty good, but I wouldn't put him in my first tier of favorite contemporary authors.

Re: Favorite Author
 

Poet was good, try some more.

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This is gonna sound really dumb, but I don't read much new stuff cause I'm always afraid its gonna suck. I'm a pretty slow reader, so it becomes something of an investment.

My favorite author is John Steinbeck. Does that make me boring?

Re: Favorite Author
 

David Sedaris

Re: Favorite Author
 

Connelly is excellent. I've read everything he has written, except the latest, which is in the stack.

If you like him, I recommend Dennis Lehane. One of his is Mystic River, which Eastwood also made into a big movie recently.

Also excellent, writing about the west today, is Michael McGarrity.

Saving the best for last, James Lee Burke is a must. Most of his books are about an ex-Nawlins cop named Dave Robicheaux. Burke's ability to convey a sense of the bayou country is incredible. I suggest starting with the earlier novels to watch the character develop.

Re: Favorite Author
 

Yes I liked Lehane's Mystic River too, which of course was much better than the movie. I'm going to try those other authors that you cited as your tastes seem to run parallel to mine.

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I am not sure contemporary would describe both of these, but two of my favorites are Anne Rice and Isaac Asimov.

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Martin Amis (London Fields, Money, The Information) and Richard Russo (Mohawk, The Risk Pool, Nobody's Fool [which was made into an ok movie with Paul Newman]).

I have recommended these two great writers to many people, and everyone thanks me.

Re: Favorite Author
 

I like Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy, etc) quite a bit. Movies - meh - but his novels and his style are good.

I also like Michael Chabon. Great sense of plot and great awareness of myths/tropes within American literature and culture.

I don't really read fiction very often, though - so my favorite writers are poets or political theorists.

The former - Bukowski
The latter - Arendt, Robert Paul Wolff

NT

NT

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Terry Brooks, hands down.

He has a new book, Tanequil, coming out the 15th of this month.

Re: Favorite Author
 

[ QUOTE ]
I like Nick Hornby
...
I also like Michael Chabon.


[/ QUOTE ]

Odd. I was going to mention those very two.

I also like Chuck Palahniuk a lot. And I really like about half of Doug Coupland's stuff.

I read a lot of non-fiction as well. Some of the most moving stuff I've read is by Jonathon Kozol.

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Kurt Vonnegut

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Good choice. I've read "Master and Commander" and "Post Captain" and am looking forward to reading the rest of the series over the next year or two.

~ Rick

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I'm not sure he is contemporary any more but during the cold war the spy novels of John Le Carre were fantastic (especially the George Smiley trilogy).

Favorite book is Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, my pick for the great American novel. But some of his other stuff was weak.

Just read Mystic River by Dennis Lehane and also recommend it (as others have in this thread).

For non fiction this guy Ed Miller seems to be pretty good [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

~ Rick

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Madonna

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[ QUOTE ]
Nick Hornby, Doug Coupland

[/ QUOTE ]

I would likely have mentioned these two. If you like Hornby, read John O'Farrell, especially a book called The Best a Man Can Get which is astonishingly Hornby-esque.

I'd also mention Philip Roth (is he still writing or even alive?), Zoe Heller, Colin Bateman, Barbara Kingsolver, Jeffrey Eugenides and possibly James Hawes.

Also, J.K. Rowling. Screw you all, I'm 18 and Harry Potter is great.

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Irvine Welsh

And like El Diablo, I like about half of Coupland's stuff. All time favorite is Bukowski, but I suppose he doesn't really qualify as contemporary.

Non-fiction I'm a big fan of Mark Bowden: Black Hawk Down, Killing Pablo, Doctor Dealer etc

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nick hornby and john irving are fantastic writers

peter carey is my favourite

stripsqueez - chickenhawk

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[ QUOTE ]
Terry Brooks, hands down.

He has a new book, Tanequil, coming out the 15th of this month.

[/ QUOTE ]

one of my favorites. my absolute favorite is R.A salvatore though. if you like brooks youve prob already read salvatore stuff before.

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Favourite contemporary novelist: Kazuo Ishiguro.

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Among still-living writers, my favorite is probably David Foster Wallace. His most well-known work, Infinite Jest, is long and self-indulgent, but it's also at once lyrical and crisp, insightful without often seeming preachy or hackneyed, funny enough to make me laugh out loud at times but also deeply sad. You will probably either love DFW's writing style or hate it -- but if you hate it, don't let me know, because I might have to hurt you. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

If you want to sample the waters a bit before diving into IJ, try "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again." It's a collection of non-fiction essays about a variety of topics, most of which are really really good. I can't really talk about most of his stuff without just sounding like a drooling fanboy, so I'm not going to try. Just read it.

Other authors I like, in no particular order: short stories by George Saunders. "civilwarland in bad decline," "the falls," etc. sometimes I like Nicholson Baker, but mostly for non-fiction. Don DeLillo, though frankly some of his stuff bores me to tears. Ask me if you want to hear more. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

later,

mn

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Which Kazuo Ishiguro novel would you suggest starting with Nick?

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My favourite is The Unconsoled but probably the best to start with is Remains of the Day - short and pretty typical(and excellent), will give you a very good idea of whether you like his style or not.

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I always knew I never wanted to step foot on a cruise ship, but Wallace's essay confirmed it. Great stuff.

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My favorites are Douglas Coupland and David Foster Wallace. (I missed out on the entire posting SAT scores thread so I figured I'd try to sneak in a way to say I've read Infinite Jest).

TY.

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I like Hornby a lot, but while I enjoyed High Fidelity immensely, personally I thought the film version was even better. Songbook, a collection of his essays on music, is terrific.

I haven't read anything very recent by this writer but Paul Auster's stuff is among my favorites.

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Rushmore, what about Empire Falls??

Re: palahniuk
 

nt

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[ QUOTE ]
Rushmore, what about Empire Falls??

[/ QUOTE ]

I bought it when it came out, read 20 pages, was in the process of many things, back-burnered it, and never picked it back up.

I will, though.

Anyway, I have a hard time imagining it might be better than Mohawk or The Risk Pool.

Re: Favorite Author
 

Some favs-
Neal Stephenson
Steven Brust
George RR Martin
Robert Jordan (although he is declining rapidly)
Ed Miller [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]