Who are your five most favorite *LIVING* authors? As in, writers who are still writing and publishing work? (or J.D. Salinger.)

ALSO: Suggest a book or two by each of them.











Your turn!

Anxiety said:

I wonder if you could ever get into "Fever Pitch"? Have you read that one?

senik said:

it's the only one i haven't read...it's like all about sports, right? i remember there was something offputting about the description of that book. oddly enough, i wasn't wild for "about a boy", either - though i liked the movie just fine.

John Irving -- Prayer for Owen Meany, Widow for One Year
Chuck Palahniuk -- Choke, Fight Club

that's all for now.....

madartista said:

oooh, i like palahniuk too..."choke" and "lullaby" are my favorites of his.

Oh my damn, this thread gets me wet...

Cynthia Ozick's gotta be on there. Read her essays to get a taste of her incredible mind. For the novels try The Cannibal Galaxy and The Messiah of Stockholm. Her new one's good too, just didn't blow me away. But she's not one of those writers who "blows you away" anyhow.

David Remnick's books on the fall of the Soviet Union are good stuff. Lenin's Tomb and Resurrection.

Poet's? Karl Kirchwey and Les Murray (my token Aussie )

I need to think of another...
[Edited 1/20/05 17:28pm]

Anxiety said:

Arsenal Football Club That might have been less well received across the pond because of the culture aspects/differences associated with that particular sport.



Sorry to just butt in like that without having a list of five living authors for you baby boy

Anxiety said:

I just finished Choke and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!!

senik said:

butt in any time!

i don't think i'd have a problem with the culture differences of the book...it just looked too sportsy for my tastes, too much of a lad book or somethin...i liked "songbook" a lot, though!

Anxiety said:

Did you guys ever read Guts?

deebee said:

i hear people pass out or puke or have 'issues' when they read that story. i didn't know it was online, but i know he reads it at personal appearances. i'll have to print that story out and read it when i'm feeling a bit more hale and hardy.

C'mon! Other people mention some!

I always get good ideas from here!

George R. R. Martin: The Song of Ice and Fire
J.K. Rowling: Potters
Ursula LeGuin: The Earthsea-trilogy, The left hand of Darkness
Joanne Harris: Chocolat, Coast line, Holy fools
Robin Hobb. The Farseer trilogy, The Tawny man Trilogy and the Liveship traders

as for starters

edits
[Edited 1/21/05 5:53am]

john irving: the ciderhouse rules

chuck palahniuk: fight club and invisible monsters

david sedaris: naked

michael cunningham: the hours

j.k. rowling: goblet of fire

1. Eric Jerome Dickey
2. Zane
3. Sister Souljah
4. E. Lynn Harris
5. John Grisham
Not gonna name their books because I read all of them and liked them.
[Edited 1/21/05 7:37am]

Jeffrey Eugenides - Virgin Suicides and Middlesex
Joyce Carol Oates - Garden of Earthly Delights and Them
Chaim Potok - My Name is Asher Lev and The Chosen
Toni Morrison - The Bluest Eye and Sula
Arthur C. Clarke - Childhood's End and Rama (silly in parts, but lots of fun for sci-fi geeks )

senik said:

I thought it was pretty good, but its no Hi Fidelity (or How to be Good, for that matter). I am also a big Hornby fan. His Songbook (or 31 Songs, if you live in Europe) is a good one too.

1. Hornby
2. Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
3. David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day
4. Toni Morrison, Beloved, Jazz
5. Kathrine Dunn, Geek Love

Tom Robbins- "Skinny Legs and All" is my all-time fave, but "Still Life With Woodpecker" is a close second.

endorphin74 said:

jitterbug perfume?

cborgman said:

wait, forgot... scratch rowling (guilty pleasure), replace with alice walker - the color purple

cborgman said:

D'oh! I misread the first post, and thought we absolutely had to name 2 books by each author. The Color Purple is one of my all-time favorite books (and movies), but outside of that book, I've only read Alice Walker's poetry.

cborgman said:

that's number 3 on my list!

RipHer2Shreds said:

same river twice was pretty good, but is non-fic.

Stax said:

Nonfiction, I'm going with:

1. Sarah Vowel, Take the Cannoli, The Partly Cloudy Patriot
2. Molly Ivins, Bushwacked
3. Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, Reefer Madness
4. Chuck Klosterman, Fargo Rock City, Sex Drugs & Cocoa Puffs
5. Simon Winchester, The Professor & the Madman.
[Edited 1/21/05 8:08am]
[Edited 1/21/05 8:09am]

Stax said:

I've seen his name and books around a lot lately for whatever reason.

Is he that good?

2the9s said:

I think he is good. He also wrote Wonder Boys.

Stax said:

LOOOOOVE that book!!

OK...my turn.

Donna Tartt - The Secret History & The Little Friend
David Foster Wallace - A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again & Infinite Jest
Sandra Cisneros - Caramelo
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day & Barrel Fever
Bret Easton Ellis - Glamorama

cborgman said:

Oh yeah!!! Totally forgot about him. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh was his first novel. I liked that and Wonder Boys loads, but I couldn't get into Cavalier and Clay. I oughtta try it again.

And Hey u, CBorgman!!!!