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1. John GRisham

2. Lee Child

3. Jake Arnott

4. David Baldacci

5. Patrick Redmond

6. Sue Townsend

7. John Lanchester

8. Dan Brown

9. Ken Follett

10. JP Donleavy

Anybody else have any favourite top 10 authors list?

john8pies wrote: 1. John GRisham

2. Lee Child

3. Jake Arnott

4. David Baldacci

5. Patrick Redmond

6. Sue Townsend

7. John Lanchester

8. Dan Brown

9. Ken Follett

10. JP Donleavy



Anybody else have any favourite top 10 authors list? ;)You like some of mine, Ken Follett, John Grisham, David Baldacci. Also, Frank Delaney, Robert Ludlum,Frederick Forsyth, Karen Slaughter and a new kid on the block Jilliane Hoffman.

It's hard to nail it down to 10, but .. in no particular order.

George RR Martin

Joyce Carol Oates

Anita Shreve

Mark Sprague

Robert B Parker

Greg Bear

Ian McEwan

Jonathan Carroll

Tad Willams

Robert P Jordan

Minnette Walters

okay, that's 11 .. :-6

Bonnie

Different authors for different days, of course. John Grisham works well, on a beach holiday, he has an interesting perspective on small-town American ways and how they've disintegrated over the last few decades. He constructs pretty plots and paragraphs.

JP Donleavy, definitely yes, and Frank Delaney. I'd put Tom Paulin and Frank McCourt there too. McCourt exaggerates but his heart goes into his writing. Paulin is just amazing. OK, Will Self's writings too, in the same small pile here.

So, I found three I agreed with out of those mentioned so far. Those listed that are simply not on are Tad Willams, for twee twaddle; Minnette Walters because I hate books that concentrate on negative aspects of life, Greg Bear because he's not prepared to work more into his plots before he cuts down another ten forests by publishing, and Robert Ludlum, Ken Follett and Frederick Forsythe for their dismally uninspired use of language.

So, here's my list - my favorite authors in the sense of the ten writers I'd most like to take on holiday if I hadn't read all they'd written already, and the book to start on if you've never come across them before:

David Brin, "The Practice Effect"

Terry Pratchett, starting from the beginning

Douglas Adams, "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency"

Seamus Heaney, "Beowulf: A New Verse Translation"

Magnus Magnussen's Penguin translation of Burnt Nyal

Christopher Logue's translations from the Iliad - http://slate.msn.com/id/2082824/ discusses a bit of it

Bill Bryson, "The Lost Continent"

Sir Norman Davies, "The Isles"

Clive James, "The Silver Castle"

Claude Cockburn, "Bestseller: the books that everyone read, 1900-1939"

spot wrote: Different authors for different days, of course. John Grisham works well, on a beach holiday, he has an interesting perspective on small-town American ways and how they've disintegrated over the last few decades. He constructs pretty plots and paragraphs.



JP Donleavy, definitely yes, and Frank Delaney. I'd put Tom Paulin and Frank McCourt there too. McCourt exaggerates but his heart goes into his writing. Paulin is just amazing. OK, Will Self's writings too, in the same small pile here.



So, I found three I agreed with out of those mentioned so far. Those listed that are simply not on are Tad Willams, for twee twaddle; Minnette Walters because I hate books that concentrate on negative aspects of life, Greg Bear because he's not prepared to work more into his plots before he cuts down another ten forests by publishing, and Robert Ludlum, Ken Follett and Frederick Forsythe for their dismally uninspired use of language.



So, here's my list - my favorite authors in the sense of the ten writers I'd most like to take on holiday if I hadn't read all they'd written already, and the book to start on if you've never come across them before:



David Brin, "The Practice Effect"

Terry Pratchett, starting from the beginning

Douglas Adams, "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency"

Seamus Heaney, "Beowulf: A New Verse Translation"

Magnus Magnussen's Penguin translation of Burnt Nyal

Christopher Logue's translations from the Iliad - http://slate.msn.com/id/2082824/ discusses a bit of it

Bill Bryson, "The Lost Continent"

Sir Norman Davies, "The Isles"

Clive James, "The Silver Castle"

Claude Cockburn, "Bestseller: the books that everyone read, 1900-1939"Aye. A wee bit of Irish blood in ye there Man;)

Some really good authors listed there.



My favs are

1. John Grisham

2. Val McDermott

3. Alex Kava

4. James Patterson

5. Dean Koonz

6. Kathryn Slaughter

7. Johnathon Kellerman

8. Stephen King

9. Ian Rankin

10. Richard Patterson



I could probably mention more but you said ten.

spot wrote: . OK, Will Self's writings too, in the same small pile here.


when I read this I was sure I'd read something by him, but had to check my book journal, wrong Will, it was Will Ferguson that I'm familiar with. Out of your list, I do love Bill Bryson, but mostly his earlier stuff. I've tried Terry Pratchett and I should like him, given my reading tastes, but we've just never hit it off.

pina wrote: Some really good authors listed there.



My favs are

1. John Grisham

2. Val McDermott

3. Alex Kava

4. James Patterson

5. Dean Koonz

6. Kathryn Slaughter

7. Johnathon Kellerman

8. Stephen King

9. Ian Rankin

10. Richard Patterson



I could probably mention more but you said ten.


Good list, you have a few on here that I really enjoy and a couple I've not heard of, (Kava and Slaughter) so I have to go look them up.

busydoin'nothing wrote: Good list, you have a few on here that I really enjoy and a couple I've not heard of, (Kava and Slaughter) so I have to go look them up.


Sorry I got a little confused with two different authors, its Karin Slaughter:D

spot wrote: Different authors for different days, of course. John Grisham works well, on a beach holiday, he has an interesting perspective on small-town American ways and how they've disintegrated over the last few decades. He constructs pretty plots and paragraphs.



JP Donleavy, definitely yes, and Frank Delaney. I'd put Tom Paulin and Frank McCourt there too. McCourt exaggerates but his heart goes into his writing. Paulin is just amazing. OK, Will Self's writings too, in the same small pile here.



So, I found three I agreed with out of those mentioned so far. Those listed that are simply not on are Tad Willams, for twee twaddle; Minnette Walters because I hate books that concentrate on negative aspects of life, Greg Bear because he's not prepared to work more into his plots before he cuts down another ten forests by publishing, and Robert Ludlum, Ken Follett and Frederick Forsythe for their dismally uninspired use of language.



So, here's my list - my favorite authors in the sense of the ten writers I'd most like to take on holiday if I hadn't read all they'd written already, and the book to start on if you've never come across them before:



David Brin, "The Practice Effect"

Terry Pratchett, starting from the beginning

Douglas Adams, "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency"

Seamus Heaney, "Beowulf: A New Verse Translation"

Magnus Magnussen's Penguin translation of Burnt Nyal

Christopher Logue's translations from the Iliad - http://slate.msn.com/id/2082824/ discusses a bit of it

Bill Bryson, "The Lost Continent"

Sir Norman Davies, "The Isles"

Clive James, "The Silver Castle"

Claude Cockburn, "Bestseller: the books that everyone read, 1900-1939"Frank Delaney's new book ''Ireland'' a good read. Time-Warner books

1. J.R.R. Tolkein

2. J.K. Rowling

3. Ann Bishop

4. J.D. Robb

5. Jane Austen

6. Thomas Hardy

7. William Shakespear

8. Louisa May Alcott

9. D. H. Lawrence

10. Meg Cabot

Didn't really see any of mine here,,,,,,,

1) Andrew Vachss

2) John Sandford

3) Lawrence Block

4) Sue Grafton

5) Kim Harrison

6) Mary Janice Davidson

7) Kelley Armstrong

8) Laurell K Hamilton

9) Charles de Lint

10) Jennifer Cruisie

W.E.B. Griffin

Dale Brown

Lee Child

Jonathon Kellerman

John Connelly (Great Cop Writer)

Mark Behrent

Patricia Cornwell

James Patterson

Steve Hamilton

Tom Clancy

ewvictor;675762 wrote: W.E.B. Griffin

Dale Brown

Lee Child

Jonathon Kellerman

John Connelly (Great Cop Writer)

Mark Behrent

Patricia Cornwell

James Patterson

Steve Hamilton

Tom Clancy


I've read a lot of the other authors mentioned. Karin Slaughter has some very interesting stories. However, I find them rather vile in language and graphic descriptions.