Because it's one of those lazy Saturdays when I can't be arsed to write something longer, today's SBD question is a simple one, akin to choose your favorite book: who is your favorite author? You must choose one and only one.
Not easy to choose one, right? Should your favorite be the one whose writing you admire most, the one who consistently writes good books, or the one who wrote that one book you love above all others? The one who writes your favorite series, or the one you most admire personally?
There are authors who have never written a stinker that I know of, authors who have only ever gotten 5 stars from me, but in many cases, I've only read a couple of their books, often in the same series. One great book, even one great series, isn't enough for me to consider someone my favorite author. So David Brin, Vernor Vinge, Octavia Butler, Catherynne Valente, Jessica Amanda Salmonson, Jane Austen, John le Carré, Jorge Luis Borges, and one-shot wonders like Susanna Clarke and Nick Harkaway are all potential favorites, but I just haven't read enough of them.
There are authors who have consistently written books I enjoy, but who have occasionally displeased me enough that I don't entirely trust them. Neal Stephenson (could not get through the Baroque Cycle), Charles Dickens (love ya, Chuck, but sometimes you're just too damn Victorian), Larry Niven (loved Ringworld and the Known Space series, but at heart you're just an increasingly conservative crankypants), Haruki Murakami (dude has some serious Freudian issues), Cormac McCarthy (I have a love/hate relationship with his writing), Sherri S. Tepper (feminist sci-fi ranging from "seriously thought-provoking" to "batshit insane"), J.K. Rowling (you stumbled at the finish line, Jo), and Tony Hillerman (R.I.P. Tony, you should have stopped writing when you passed your prime) have all been "favorites" in one way or another, but none of them are authors I'd unreservedly read no matter what my mood.
There are authors who are "comfort reads" — I've liked all their books to some degree, but they just don't wow me. John Scalzi, Brandon Sanderson, J.A. Jance, Suzanne Collins, I'd read them all again, but none of them make me excited when they have a new book out.
So who do I pick as my favorite?
Stephen King
He's not the best author I read regularly; his quality over the years has been inconsistent. He's not a perfect writer (diarrhea of the word processor is a frequent malady of his), but he is a great one who I believe is not taken as seriously as he should be. I've read more books by Stephen King than any other author. He has written a few of my favorites (It, The Stand, Salem's Lot, Firestarter, The Long Walk), and while the list of books he's written that I haven't read is very long, I know I can always pick up a Stephen King book with confidence.
So, I name Evil Stevie as my overall favorite.
Who is yours?
Who is your favorite author?
Previous Saturday Book Discussions.
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- 12 Aug 2022, 06:36Barker's best work is Imajica. Its absolutely amazing. For something shorter I'd suggest The Great and Secret Show and Weaveworld. And his Books of Blood are equally awesome.
- 19 Jun 2022, 02:27looks interesting
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- 21 May 2022, 04:30Goodreads.com is great for book group discussions
- 16 May 2022, 00:42The more the merrier!
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And yet, the question sits there, begging an answer.
I chose Tolkien against the judgement of my inner snob — surely Delaney, or Heller, or Melville, would have been more impressive options; and with Delaney, I'd have picked a writer whose oevre I have read almost in its entirety, many of them many times more than once — but did it because, well, The Lord of the Rings really is my favourite book. It is the book I have read probably 30 times, the one that never fails to bring me to tears, that transports me utterly to its world for the duration of its story.
In short, it is the book I love most, whatever its flaws or limitations. I can't in good conscience argue that it is the best book I've ever read, let alone that Tolkien is the best writer. But favourite? Oh yes.
I have only started reading his works a few months ago and I haven't read that many of them, but so far there hasn't been one I have read and didn't fall in love with. And he is awesome as a person too.
I thought about choosing Tolkien since I have loved his stories since I was very little... but well, almost everything he wrote was a single story, so it would feel like choosing my favorite author because he wrote my favorite book. He is a close second though.
Don DeLillo
I discovered my parents copy of his complete works at a young age. He was basically my gateway drug to more modern horror, mystery, sf, and fantasy.
Plus his stories and poems still hold up pretty well without my nostalgia filter overloading. :)
Other serious contenders for favourite authors are; Mervyn Peake, Mikhail Bulgakov, Dostoyevsky, Angela Carter. Elizabeth Knox, Tad Williams,
I thought about Gene Wolfe, the Latro books knock me out. But O'Brian it is. As Mammy Yokum used to say "Ah has spoken"
Well...my single favorite book is the Jacques LeClercq translation of Rabelais.
But my favorite author would be Lois McMaster Bujold, who wrote my 3rd favorite, is the only author to make my top 100 list three times, and has never actually disappointed me in over 20 volumes. That could be why I took my online name from her most famous character.