Thetownend.com

Just a thought about everyone's favourite writers, not narrowed down by any genre.

My favourites are:

Bill Bryson: knows how to inform and entertain in equal measure.

Nick Hornby: Not just for Fever Pitch - his novels, particulary How To Be Good, are great reads.

Kipling: A leftover from studying - very descriptivr and entertaining.

AJP Taylor - useless as a proper source these days, but one of the most entertaining historians there have been.

Thoughts anyone?

I'd add baldacci to that list

I prefer his cakes.

Oh I know. Weak and obvious. I just wanted to get in there first.

Congrats fB.  Now I want to know your real answer, I'm guessing Douglas Adams?

 Eric Hobsbawm. Michael Burleigh's book on The Third Reich is also a good read.

For fiction I'd go with Earl Thompson and Paddy Doyle. 

I prefer his radio/telly work.

I used to read all the time when I was younger but don't really bother any more. Even something easy going like Pratchett's latest effort I've downloaded the audio book for instead of actually reading. That's how lazy I am. Well it's not just laziness, means I can do other things at the same time.

I used to enjoy a bit of Robert Rankin's stuff now and again.

I think the last time I was properly reading stuff was about 5 years ago when I went through a stage of stealing whatever my English degree uni mates were reading. I remember that Lolita is a bit boring, The Buddha of Suburbia was great fun, some book written about by a rape victim was a load of self pittying nonsense (which I felt bad about, I can't remember who wrote it or what it was called but it really was pretty bad), and that The Picture of Dorian Gray was pretty good. Bit of a random mix. I'm sure there were others as well.

I always feel as if I should read a lot more. It's something I used to do a lot of. I just somehow lost the enjoyment along the way.

Ive not read much this year probably only 6 books and dont really have a favourite author.

Ive been thinking about reading some of the classics ,but im not really sure what they are :D

Im going to read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein next,I think its available free online.

I quite like the idea of reading the Harry Potter books as well.Yep im pretty childish..

Iain Banks and Bernard Cornwell are two I keep coming back too.

Used to read quite a bit of Robert Rankin as well Ben. Some of it was quality.

King, Koontz and Coben

Like Ben and John I've read some Robert Rankin and enjoyed it. Favourite author is Bukowski though by a long way.

The last thing I read was an Irvine Welsh book, his books have some very strong characters. And as Si mentioned Dean Koontz is quite good. I don't read as much as I used to now though, I must find the time to do so.

i hate bill bryson for his repetative unamusing style

i like pratchett, douglas adams and will self.

thank you

Harlan Coben, an Irish fella known only as Bateman (think he wrote Murphys Law), and Dostoyevski (yes, really...)

Lucien - I agree with Coben

I also like Robert Jordan, Robert Harris, CJ Sansom but I'll read almost anything

Kurt vonegut. Read something of his such as Timequake and you'll See the man throws away more brilliant ideas in a line than most authors string together in a lifetime.

I only seem to read autobiographies now.

I've read them all and think they're ace, so i guess i'm childish as well. I found the first 2 a bit boring, but loved the rest. The twists are so much better executed than in the films.

I don't think i have any favourite writers, although, i've read a lot of Chris Ryan this year, despite always thinking his books looked shit, and found his books entertaining, which is all i really want from a book.

I'm on my 3rd successive Fredrick Forsyth at the moment and they're bloody good. A few months ago i read a book called Accident Man by Tom Cain, because it cost £1 from Asda, and that was a superb book and have ordered all his others.

Joseph Finder is bloody good thinking about it and he would definitely be a favourite.

I love carl hiaasen's comedy crime capers, but also PJ Tracy, Jonathan Kellerman and the dude who wrote the book the wire was based on, David Simon

JG Ballard (RIP). Peerless.

Neal Stephenson
Allan Massie
John Conolly
C J Sansom
Louis de Bernieres
Gore Vidal

For an easy read you cant really go wrong with James Patterson. They move quickly, and whilst you somethimes think you dont understand the depths of the characters in the way you do with other more serious authors, you cant help racing through them.

You also cant really go too far wrong with the likes of ian Rankin (Rebus books) Chris Ryan, Fred Forsyth, Dick Francis even Jeffrey Archer (an absolute twat but his books are surprisingly good), or Dean Koontz, Stephen King etc if you want something a bit darker.

The last couple of years since I joined the local library I've found myself reading more and more, mostly before I go to bed - after all I've been married 10 years, theres nothing else happening at that time of night !

ditto.
i used to like shaun hutsons books a few years ago

A few already mentioned plus -
Ian McEwan
Ernest Hemmingway
John Wyndham
JRR Tolkien
PJ O Rourke

Michael Cordy, John Grisham and also to some extent, Dan Brown.

Milan Kundera, Toni Morrison and Jasper Fforde for fiction.  Mark Steeles recent book (whats going on) and the 2 Mark Thomas books (as used on the famous nelson mandela, belching out the devil) because Im an old lefty.  I really wish I had more time to read more.

Conn Iggulden - Historical novels based on fact. I've read his series based on Julius Caesar & the ones based on Ghengis Khan.
Patrick Robinson - Similar to Tom Clancy (another favourite) Fictional woks but a good read because they could be true.
John Grisham always a good read.
As has been said Jeffrey Archer is suprisingly good as an author, but having come across him once,  I can confirm that he is definitely a twat. (he was so up himself it wasn't true).
My favourite has to be Animal Farm by George Orwell.

Enid Blyton is a favourite, although I thought The Secret Seven books weren't a patch on The Famous Five series. The Mallory Towers books are well worth a read as well.

Good old Enid.

are you sure you weren't up him,after coming across his twat?

Definitely Bukowski for a bit of debauchery.

I like J.D. Salinger too.

I recently read Salinger's 'To Kill A Mockingbird' and thought it was crap. Can you recomend another of his novels? One that's actually worth reading?

Will Self definitely, plus:

George Orwell
Sebastian Faulks
Sue Townsend

Salinger didn't write that, but The Catcher in the Rye is his only full length novel i think

I like Will Self a lot, but have never been able to get into his books. Though I was mainly trying with 'Junk Mail.'

Apologies. The Catcher In The Rye was the book I meant.

Thank God for that. The Catcher In The Rye is indeed a bit of a disappointment. Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, however, is terrific.

Ditto that, thepeoplesgame.  Never really got into any of the beat generation stuff myself.

I'd have to go with...

George Orwell
Phillip Roth
Albert Camus

Although I'll probably regret that list when I think about it more. 

I can see why you might not like it.

I read it when I was about 20, so it was highly relevant, and I liked the style of the writing. I don't know about books changing your life, but this had the biggest impact on me.

I don't think there's much else to recommend as Salinger has pretty much disappeared off the face of the earth since The Catcher in the Rye. He published a book of short stories, 'For Esme - with Love and Squalour', of which a couple are brilliant and others so-so. And after that two more books of longer short stories, mostly based on characters from Esme, but I've not got onto them yet.

I can see why The Catcher in The Rye appeals to people, but I couldn't get over how much of an insufferable twat the main character is. Which I guess is sort of the point? I just really didn't enjoy it.

I might now if I gave it another chance.

Same as...Kipling is exeedingly good,Faulks is my favourite modern writer...and i still flick through my bible at random times.......who wrote that.

If you have any love of writing rather than merely stringing words together then PG Wodehouse has to get more than just a mention. Forget the, albeit good, old fry and laurie fronted Jeeves and Wooster tv series - plot is immaterial in his works - it is the language, the jokes, the sheer intricate perfection in every line. Just read the opening line of something such as full moon and you'll discover a writer who makes even Orwell's lovely prose look like dan brown's brutal illiteracy.

He wrote every book by completing a draft and sticking each sheet to the wall around skirting board level. Then worked on each page time and again until each word had been chosen and the sheet had climbed to the picture rail. 

Here ends the lecture.

...and for the same reason, one of my favourites is Kazuo Ishiguro.  Read the opening chapter of 'The Remains of the Day' and it's as near to perfection as an opening chapter could be.  He has written a couple of books that are, frankly, weird ('When We Were Orphans' being one), but I'm a big fan of most of his others.  He writes in a very simple way, but there's something about the simplicity and conciseness of the language that he uses that really gets me.

Could write for hours on a subject like this, but in the interests of brevity I'll just mention one other author: Harper Lee.  Bit of a one hit wonder, but purely on the strength of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' Harper's right up there for me.  I studied the text for GCSE and didn't think much of it, probably because I had 4 or 5 essays to write about it afterwards.  Then I re-read it years later and loved every second.  One of the most blinding books I've ever read.

Top 5 for me; 1 Graham Greene-the greatest English writer of the 20th century for me(recommend "Ministry of Fear)
                   2 Haruki Murakami(Recommend "Norwegian Wood")
                   3 Garrison Keillor(Lake Wobegon Days)
                   4 Dennis Lehane(Shutter Island)
                   5 Ian McEwan (Saturday)


                   

Irvine Welsh has written some superb books. Roger Hargreaves has also written some classics.

Irvine Welsh is a great writer. The book, Porno,his follow up to trainspotting is amazing all the way thru and the ending is fantastic.

Conn Iggulden is another favourite of mine. He wrote 4 books about Ceaser (is there a word for 4 books?) and a trilogy on Genghis Khan.

Dan Brown would also be on my list along with Chris Ryan and Andy Mcnab.

For me, David Foster Wallace, Joseph O'Neill, Graeme Greene, Salinger and Fitzgerald are favourites.
"Franny and Zooey" is my favourite Salinger.
PG Wodehouse is good too.

Dan Brown is bloody awful and quite possibly one of the worst writers of all time.

This paragraph, from the Da Vinci Code, is so bad it's good.

Captain Bezu Fache carried himself like an angry ox, with his wide shoulders thrown back and his chin tucked hard into his chest. His dark hair was slicked back with oil, accentuating an arrow-like widow's peak that divided his jutting brow and preceded him like the prow of a battleship. As he advanced, his dark eyes seemed to scorch the earth before him, radiating a fiery clarity that forecast his reputation for unblinking severity in all matters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._G._Wodehouse

I read recently that PG was nearly arrested for treason..certainly was a complex man....incidently i only recently realised it was wode...and not wood!

 I don't really have favourites, read shed loads of books down the years, they tend to go in one ear and out the other...especially the further back they go. Very occasionally I'll re-read something....the most recent newest read was Gould's Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan....apart from Fforde.

Pretty much died in disgrace and lived in America.

Wanted to put shouts in for Jeffrey Eugenides and Michael Cunningham. Cunningham writes the kind of prose that renders poetry redundant, while Eugenides' Middlesex is a novel of astounding brilliance.

Oh, and I'm reading an Agatha Christie at the moment. It's a yarn, and it rips :)

Nice to see a variety of opinion.  I'll chuck in at this point some of the heavier stuff - Karl Popper (interesting, often wrong) and Thomas Malthus (ditto) as social commentators.

Henry Winter as simply the best sportswriter there is. 

Homer - the Iliad is, simply, the best story ever told.

I've just read a work which is a collaboration of gifted young writers called Friday Lunches. It's an exhilarating tale full of twists and turns that is unfortunately let down by a shit ending.

Liked the four Shardlake novels but though Winter in Mardrid was not really up to his usual standards.  Recently I have also enjoyed the first two Robyn Young books.

Phyllis Stein and Hewlet Thevegburn are worth a read.

I do like welsh but I gave up on Porno as I found the scots language hard going.

I read the acid house recently, which I enjoyed thoroughly.

Oh, bollocks, I've just ordered that for the missus for Xmas. Ah well, it's something else to wrap at least