# Favourite authors and books?



## Northerner (Apr 4, 2009)

Most of my book collection is non-fiction, but over the years I've read a wide variety of fiction too, of all types - basically, I love reading! A few favourites have emerged over the years:

Ernest Hemingway - I have read everything by Hemingway - got really hooked into his style and how closely his work matched his own remarkable life.

Fyodor Dostoevsky - Again, I've read all his works - partly because I did a Russian degree, but also because he became my favourite author. I actually read 'Crime and Punishment' when I was 15, so it was long before uni! Other Russian favourites are Gogol, and Zamyatin. I was never keen on Tolstoy - too long-winded for me!

Larry Niven - a science fiction author, best known for 'Ringworld' and his 'Tales of Known Space' - really imaginative, but very much 'hard' science and very believable - some of the most astonishing alien creations ever imagined!

Ben Bova - another sci-fi author, who concentrates on the near-future possibilities of exploration of the solar system.

Laurie Lee - 'Cider with Rosie' was the first book that we 'pulled to pieces' at school, so I disliked it, but later went on to read all his other stuff and really enjoyed it - autobiographical, mainly.

Elizabeth Gaskell - 'North and South' and 'Mary Barton' are brilliant - the female Charles Dickens! (Hard Times is my favourite Dickens!)

Lionel Davidson - a thriller writer - 'The Night of Wenceslas' particularly gripped me, and 'The Rose of Tibet', which I couldn't put down!

Mervyn Peake - Gormenghast trilogy - again, found this hard to put down, the most evocative descriptions I've ever read - like reading a huge gothic painting!

Well, better stop there! I'd be interested to know what others have read and enjoyed - many of the best books I have read over the years have come from others' recommendations!


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## Caroline Wilson (Apr 4, 2009)

My favorite books, The Lord of the Rings is the one I come back to most often, I wont watch the films. Also like The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula Le Guin, The Chronicals of Narnia by CS Lewis, The Black Magicians Trilogy by Trudi Canavan and The Disc World Novels by Terry Prachett.

I like fanatsy novels, but will also read historic romance too, and went through a phase where I was reading things about Geishas in Japan. The best romance I ever read was The God of Small Things by Arunditi Roy


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## katie (Apr 4, 2009)

I could easily list all the books ive ever read  i hardly ever read, so I couldn't really recommend any - you will have heard of them all 

My favourite book is 'To Kill a Mocking Bird'.


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## Ikklemo (Apr 5, 2009)

I love reading and usually have at least 2 books on the go - one at home, have to have a read before I can sleep, one at work and sometimes one in my bag to read on my journey to/from work.  I read mostly murder mystery books, some of my favotite authors (and not in any particular order) are:


Peter Robinson, 
Linda Fairstein, 
Martin Edwards, 
James Patterson, 
Jeffery Deaver, 
Reginal Hill
John Connolly, 
Faye Kellerman


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## mikep1979 (Apr 6, 2009)

i like lots of different books and im never tied down to 1 type either!!

faves at the min include clive cussler, dan brown, wilbur smith, tom clancy, michael crichton just to name a few. i also love military history books and also collect the janes books ( mostly for reference purposes). i also have a very good collection of books written by historical figures like churchill and also stalin. but my fave book that i own has to be hitlers diary, gives you a superb insight into the mind of this crazy crazy man. well thats basically my books in a nutshell


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## Northerner (Apr 6, 2009)

katie said:


> I could easily list all the books ive ever read  i hardly ever read, so I couldn't really recommend any - you will have heard of them all
> 
> My favourite book is 'To Kill a Mocking Bird'.



You sound like my sister, she's two years older than me and I bet she hasn't read more than 6 books since leaving school - funny how we can be so different to our siblings! I read 'To Kill A Mockingbird' when I was 14, that was another book we 'pulled to pieces' in English Lit. It was quite funny because our English teacher was ex-RAF fighter pilot with an upper-crust accent, and he insisted on putting on a 'Gone with the Wind' Southern accent when reading it out!


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## Northerner (Apr 6, 2009)

Ikklemo said:


> I love reading and usually have at least 2 books on the go - one at home, have to have a read before I can sleep, one at work and sometimes one in my bag to read on my journey to/from work.  I read mostly murder mystery books, some of my favotite authors (and not in any particular order) are:
> 
> 
> Peter Robinson,
> ...



I always have several books on the go too. Love Reginald Hill!


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## Corrine (Apr 6, 2009)

I love reading - I've read Dostoyevsky's The Idiot, Huxleys Brave new World and Orwell's 1984.  Favourite author at the moment is Christopher Brookmyre - if you like crime fiction with a funny twist then you'll love him.  I've also just read Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and The Nineteenth Wife (cant remember that author).  Am off on hols on Thursday so need to stock up on paperbacks......


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## Northerner (Apr 6, 2009)

Corrine said:


> I love reading - I've read Dostoyevsky's The Idiot, Huxleys Brave new World and Orwell's 1984.  Favourite author at the moment is Christopher Brookmyre - if you like crime fiction with a funny twist then you'll love him.  I've also just read Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and The Nineteenth Wife (cant remember that author).  Am off on hols on Thursday so need to stock up on paperbacks......



Hi Corrine - you should get a copy of 'We' by Yevgeny Zamyatin - similar dystopian futuristic novel to Brave New World and 1984, that pre-dates both of them!


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## carolyn (Apr 6, 2009)

I read quite a bit when I have the time. I like Lyn Andrews book My sisters child, Audrey Howard reflections from the past, Anna Jacobs High Street and a very moving story by Isobel and Alex Kerr No one listened (keep a hankie handy it is a true story of a horrific act of violence and no one to trust except each other) I also have read Sharron Osbournes latest and Ringo Star, several Diana books and alot of biographies.
________
LovelyWendie99


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## kincaidston (Apr 6, 2009)

i'm really liking christopher brookmyre at the moment but i'm not sure how some of the central scotland references play out to a wider audience

beyond that i love just about anything written by william gibson, neuromancer being a personal fave

I'll admit to a liking of some of stephen king's books - crap english but boy can he tell a story

i did read lanark in the past year which is a stunnigly well written story, lots of layers, bleak but compelling


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## Corrine (Apr 6, 2009)

Northerner said:


> Hi Corrine - you should get a copy of 'We' by Yevgeny Zamyatin - similar dystopian futuristic novel to Brave New World and 1984, that pre-dates both of them!



Thanks for the recommendation Northerner - I'll look out for that one.  I've recently had my one and only card cloned  so I'm hoping it turns up before I go away so I can visit Waterstones!


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## Lizzie (Apr 6, 2009)

I have loads of favourites but the ones I come back to are crime novels. Sara Paretsky is great, her character V I Warshawski is so fierce. I also love Ian Rankin's Rebus books, yes they are depressing in a way but its like when you listen to Leonard Cohen or Radiohead music - sometimes something really depressing sort of makes you feel better. I love Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May novels - they are about a pair of grumpy old detectives, and like Rankin, Fowler clearly knows and loves his city, in this case London rather than Edinburgh. 

I am currently reading a series by a Russian called Sergei Lukyanenko. Its about a kind of alternative world with vampires, shape shifters and witches. The books Night Watch and Day Watch have been made into films.

I also love Tolkien, I always go back to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, I love the films too.


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## DiabeticDave (Apr 29, 2009)

If you haven't read either 'Sunbird' or 'Eagle in the Sky' by Wilbur Smith, then my friend, you haven't read a truly great..IMHO of course. He is the best thing since  sliced bread, I've read all his books, over and over....'Sunbird' I 've just finished for the Eighth time.


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## Steff (Apr 29, 2009)

I really only like 1 book form my childhood which was the iron man by ted hughes , shows how much i read these days ha it it aint about diabetes these days im not intrested


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## insulinaddict09 (Apr 29, 2009)

ummm..... the lord of the rings {all of them} anything by james herbert, twilight { all the books} harry potter... loads more will add more later


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## vince13 (Apr 29, 2009)

DiabeticDave said:


> If you haven't read either 'Sunbird' or 'Eagle in the Sky' by Wilbur Smith, then my friend, you haven't read a truly great..IMHO of course. He is the best thing since  sliced bread, I've read all his books, over and over....'Sunbird' I 've just finished for the Eighth time.



I'm with you on this one - not all Wilbur Smith books make the top for me but Sunbird - fantastic - like you, I've read it over and over again.............but then I've always been a great fan of reading as it takes me away from the mundane, if it's a really good book, into a different world.


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## DiabeticDave (Apr 29, 2009)

I have just bought a Sony e-book............what a great buy. To date, I have put 220 books on there. All my favorite Authors, Wilbur Smith, Dick Francis, karen Slaughter, James Clavel, Lee Child, John Grisham, Dan Brown etc etc....Indeed a great bit of kit.


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## angel30eyes (May 1, 2009)

*Reading*

I love reading so much am about to do an open uni course on creative writing leading to a BA honors in Literature, my fav books at the moment are the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer, i loved all the Harry Potter books, also Phillip Pulman and the His Dark Materials trilogy, anything fictional that is fairies, vampires, magic, or just different lol, as a kid i was such a bookworm my mum even bought me undies with every day of the week on them but each had a different picture of a worm in a book (sad cow i know lmao)


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## Northerner (May 1, 2009)

angel30eyes said:


> I love reading so much am about to do an open uni course on creative writing leading to a BA honors in Literature, my fav books at the moment are the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer, i loved all the Harry Potter books, also Phillip Pulman and the His Dark Materials trilogy, anything fictional that is fairies, vampires, magic, or just different lol, as a kid i was such a bookworm my mum even bought me undies with every day of the week on them but each had a different picture of a worm in a book (sad cow i know lmao)



I'm reading a non-fiction book at the moment called 'Proust and the Squid'. It's all about how reading developed and how the brain copes with it - I think in this modern age we forget that reading/writing are very new things, and our brains did not evolve to deal with them in the same way as they did with things like speech and vision. The book goes into the great benefits to be gained from reading, especially from an early age, because of the way several parts of the brain have to work together to manage it - fascinating stuff!


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## mikep1979 (May 5, 2009)

well i am looking forward to thursday evening now as me and a friend are going to watch angels and demons. the book was fab so i hope the film does the book justice!!!!!!!!!!


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## Steff (May 5, 2009)

have a good time mike hope its all good x


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## DiabeticDave (May 5, 2009)

mikep1979 said:


> well i am looking forward to thursday evening now as me and a friend are going to watch angels and demons. the book was fab so i hope the film does the book justice!!!!!!!!!!




Dan Brown............great book.


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## mikep1979 (May 5, 2009)

DiabeticDave said:


> Dan Brown............great book.



he has a new one out later on this year and if it is anything like the others he has written it should be good 

it should be good steff  the d vinci code was good for a film adaptation but the book is far better


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## Steff (May 5, 2009)

I aint into reading really or films i have a real short attention span the film or book had to be soo gripping to get me interested


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## mikep1979 (May 5, 2009)

steff09 said:


> I aint into reading really or films i have a real short attention span the film or book had to be soo gripping to get me interested



dan brown books are really edge of your seat stuff. loads of twists and turns and probably some of the best plots i have ever seen in a book


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## Steff (May 5, 2009)

yeah well maybe he can change my ways then ha


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## mikep1979 (May 5, 2009)

steff09 said:


> yeah well maybe he can change my ways then ha



i would defo recomend him, but you have got to read angels and demons first otherwise you wont get some of th things going on in the da vinci code.


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## Steff (May 5, 2009)

well you will love channel 5 next sunday then all day tis about the da vinci code


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## mikep1979 (May 5, 2009)

steff09 said:


> well you will love channel 5 next sunday then all day tis about the da vinci code



not much about it i aint seen lol. but i will still have to have it recorded for me


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## Steff (May 5, 2009)

ohh have it recorded for you will you , you got a band of merry servents that see to your every need then


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## David B (May 5, 2009)

*recommendations*

I'd like to recommend a few books I've read recently: 
'Saturday' - Ian McEwan
'Cloud Atlas' & 'Black Swan Green' - David Mitchell (I must read all his other books)
Currently reading 'A spot of bother' by Mark Haddon who wrote the excellent 'Curious incident of the dog in the night-time'.


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## matts (May 6, 2009)

I have just read "The Damned United" by David Peace which was absolutely fantastic (I subsequently saw the film and as is often the case, was quite disappointed).  I would also recommend the Mark Haddon book, "A Spot of Bother" and the Willy Russell book "The Wrong Boy".  "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova is also pretty good


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## katie (May 6, 2009)

mikep1979 said:


> well i am looking forward to thursday evening now as me and a friend are going to watch angels and demons. the book was fab so i hope the film does the book justice!!!!!!!!!!



ooh i was about to come on here and mention this book.  I loved the book, it was better than the da vinci code 

I bet the film will be dissapointing but i'll go see it anyway!


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## mikep1979 (May 7, 2009)

katie said:


> ooh i was about to come on here and mention this book.  I loved the book, it was better than the da vinci code
> 
> I bet the film will be dissapointing but i'll go see it anyway!



i love dan browns book katie. they are so well written and also have so many twists and turns in them that you dont seem able to see who is doing what sometimes. yeah i agree that angels and demons was the better book, but i found as i had read da vinci code first when i read angels and demons it felt i had answered tons of questions from the other book. i eventuall read da vinci code again and found it most enjoyable the second time through.

yeah i cant wait for the film to come out, but agree it probably wont be as good as the book


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## Steff (May 7, 2009)

have a gd time tonight mike


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## mikep1979 (May 7, 2009)

steff09 said:


> have a gd time tonight mike



i txt my mate befor calling him a d**khead cos it isnt out till next thursday!!!!!!!!! he was the one who told me it was out today so i called the cinema before to book the tickets for us and the guy said not till next week mate. felt like a right k**bhead!!!!!!!


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## Corrine (May 7, 2009)

I've just finished reading The Kite Runner - yeah miles after everyone else had read it.  It was brilliant so I'm off to buy A Thousand Splendid Suns now......oh and I read Life of Pi on my hols which was great too!


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## Steff (May 7, 2009)

mikep1979 said:


> i txt my mate befor calling him a d**khead cos it isnt out till next thursday!!!!!!!!! he was the one who told me it was out today so i called the cinema before to book the tickets for us and the guy said not till next week mate. felt like a right k**bhead!!!!!!!



lol oops we all make mistakes


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## mikep1979 (May 8, 2009)

steff09 said:


> lol oops we all make mistakes



lol yeah but he always doing it lol i really do think if his head wasnt attached to his body he really would forget it!!!!! he is a numpty!!!!!! lol


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## MarcLister (May 15, 2009)

Lizzie said:


> II also love Ian Rankin's Rebus books, yes they are depressing in a way but its like when you listen to Leonard Cohen or Radiohead music - sometimes something really depressing sort of makes you feel better. I love Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May novels - they are about a pair of grumpy old detectives, and like Rankin, Fowler clearly knows and loves his city, in this case London rather than Edinburgh.


Hello.  I've got more Ian Rankin Rebus books than is good for me. I've even read some of them! 

I also have a heck of a lot of Clive Cussler books. Really cheesy adventure books. 



Lizzie said:


> I also love Tolkien, I always go back to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, I love the films too.


Well hello again! I read The Hobbit once years ago and really enjoyed it. Want to get LOTR as I reckon I'd like the book better than the films. I lost the will to live when I went to see the first LOTR film at the cinema with Mum and Brother.



angel30eyes said:


> i loved all the Harry Potter books, also Phillip Pulman and the His Dark Materials trilogy


The Harry Potter set and the Dark Materials trilogy are two sets of books I really want to read sometime.


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## runner (May 18, 2009)

MarcLister said:


> Hello.  I've got more Ian Rankin Rebus books than is good for me. I've even read some of them!
> 
> I also have a heck of a lot of Clive Cussler books. Really cheesy adventure books.
> 
> ...



Love the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and the Phillip Pullman books.  Have also read tons of Graham Greene, Thomas hardy, Mary Wesley, and I also really like Joanne Harris - Blackberry wine in particular and the Lollipop shoes and Chocolat.  Read some Paulo Coelho, but not my fave.  Isabelle Allende - House if the Soritis is reat too.  Love bools with a bit of spiritiualism (in a non-religious sense) and/or magic in them.  My daugher and I both share a liking for Neil Gaiman - his books that is, altho' his photo's not bad!


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