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Since there's a favourite music thread.

I'm a total Harry Potter fan [although oh god movie 5 is terrible] who hates Twilight (who doesn't?).
That said, Marley and Me is also a favourite book. I couldn't stop crying at the end.

Other than that, my favourite authors are Jacqueline Wilson and Roald Dahl <3 I love everything by them!

I've also observed that British people are the best writers. I don't have a favourite author who's American :/

I'm a bookworm. Doesn't show, right?

karisama wrote: I've also observed that British people are the best writers. I don't have a favourite author who's American :/

I used to be under this impression as well, but what occurred as I got older is that the American writers (especially of the mystery genre) were generally much more masterful with their wordplay, while the British authors of the Golden Age came off as better storytellers. There are exceptions, of course--John Dickson Carr was American yet wrote like Agatha Christie, for starters.

Here's a completely subjective comparison from two already on my desk. I hurried and typed these early exploratory portions, so forgive any typos that may have gotten through:


The Maltese Falcon (1930) by Dashiell Hammett

• A voice said, "Thank you," so softly that only the purest articulation made the words intelligible, and a young woman came through the doorway. She advanced slowly, with tentative steps, looking at Spade with cobalt-blue eyes that were both shy and probing.
  She was tall and pliantly slender, without angularity anywhere. Her body was erect and high-breasted, her legs long, her hands and feet narrow. She wore two shades of blue that had been selected because of her eyes. The hair curling from under her blue hat was darkly red, her full lips more brightly red. White teeth glistened in the crescent her timid smile made.

Murder on the Orient Express (1934) by Agatha Christie

• Mary Debenham had had little sleep since she left Baghdad on the preceding Thursday. Neither in the train to Kirkuk, nor in the Rest House at Mosul, nor last night on the train had she slept properly. Now, weary of lying wakeful in the hot stuffiness of her overheated compartment, she got up and peered out.
  This must be Aleppo. Nothing to see, of course. Just a long, poorly lighted platform with loud, furious altercations in Arabic going on somewhere. Two men below her window were talking French. One was a French officer, the other was a little man with enormous moustaches. She smiled faintly. She had never seen anyone quite so heavily muffled up. It must be very cold outside. That was why they heated the train so terribly. She tried to force the window down lower, but it would not go.

I think that, while they are both very effective in their own right, I generally find myself basking in the actual writing itself more often with American authors than British ones. The Brits were always very straight-laced with their (detective) stories and never really got to the point where I would stop and just be like, "Wow, this is absolutely amazing writing."

As stories, they are amazing. There were so many times when I was younger that I would very anxiously read the end of a Christie novel just with the knowledge she was about to trick me, but I never knew how. At the end of so many of them, including Death on the Nile, Five Little Pigs, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Murder on the Orient Express, and of course Curtain, I was always completely taken in by the methods. At the time, they were all very unique twists--now, not so much. So many of the turnabouts Christie first utilized have now been recycled time and time and time and time again, sometimes with only a little influence, sometimes with a lot (here's looking at you, Gosho!).

In short, I call the American style evidenced above the raindrop approach. It is so descriptive in the way it paints a picture that, if described properly, you can imagine the exact dimensions of a raindrop. All the same, the British style is much more reminiscent of a campfire story: very direct, very linear with details, and painting only a broad but all-encompassing yet somehow sweeping picture.

Thanks to the wonders of the English language, we can have and love both equally.

(Oh, and I'll post a list later tonight. Good idea for a topic; can never have enough book discussion here. )

All of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novels.

My favorite would be the Gallagher Girls series. GO CAMMIE!!!!!!

I like Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesmen, The Stranger by Albert Camus, I am Legend by Richard Matheson,
The Hobbit by Tolkien, Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck, and Farenheit 451 by Bradbury.

Lemony Snicket, hands down. I know many people don't like his writing style, but it appeals greatly to me.

still.looking wrote: Lemony Snicket, hands down. I know many people don't like his writing style, but it appeals greatly to me.

Lemony Snicket: If you're reading this book, put it down right now because its oh so tragic, trust me you don't want to read this, you should close this book right now.


There's a point when reverse psychology doesn't work :/

Yeah, I'm.. weird that way.

Also there's a local author I like--but I've read none of his published book. Yes, just one. I love reading his blog more. =P~

karisama wrote: who hates Twilight

You're not alone in the world (It's overrated.) (Fans: that's just my opinion! No offense intended. Seriously.)

I can't avoid a topic like this one Reading is bliss. I've always wanted to be a book worm (a little weird I am, perhaps, for saying that?) but I'm just not the avid reader I wish I were.

Agatha Christie, Sidney Sheldon, Sharon Creech (more when I was a little younger, but her writing style is so amazing still!), Paulo Coelho (not so much any more, but a few of his books were very nice).

From Middle School times, I still love S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders.

In an Indian/American perspective, I absolutely loved Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's short-story collection, The Unknown Errors of Our Lives. Her language is very fluid, very sensual, very fragrant.

It's been difficult for me as of late to take up a novel and freely enjoy a good read, but I plan on a LOT of reading coming summer.

Oh dear, my favorite author tends to change every so often.  If I absolutely had to choose one it'd probably have to be Michael Crichton.  I've loved every single novel of his that I've read.  My first of his was Timeline that I read in 6th grade.  After learning that he'd also written Jurassic Park I pursued that book, loved it, and quickly found Sphere and Rising Sun.  Andromeda Strain is also another favorite. 

I'm also very fond of J.R.R. Tolkien and Gregory Maguire, especially his book Wicked. 

Mystery-wise... well I've read Doyle and I do like his works but he's not a favorite.  Back in Elementary school I read what seemed to be every Nancy Drew book though. 

Let's see....I grew up on Encyclopedia Brown and The Boxcar Children....nowadays I read various things. Latest favorite mystery series is The Cat Who series by Lillian Jackson Braun, but only the older books--the mysteries in the more recent Cat Who books are just not as good, and the bad guys don't get caught.
Mostly I like to read sci-fi/fantasy, though. Like Diane Duane's Young Wizards, anything at all by Tamora Pierce, or Sharon Shinn, and I also like the Enchanted Forest Chronicles (Patricia C. Wrede)...there's a lot of stories that I like. Unfortunately I haven't picked up much new stuff recently. ~_~* Well, I have time now, I should go to the library and find more interesting books to read, since I have the time to read them...

I really like books by Terry Pratchett and Christopher Brookmyre. They appeal to my warped sense of humour 

Pratchett is fantasy/parody, and it can be hard to get your head around, but once you get the hang of it it's genius 

Brookmyre is crime fiction, qutie adult crime fiction, but also hilarious, though most of the jokes will go over your head if you don't know who Rangers, Celtic and Margaret Thatcher are.

I was reading My Sister Jodie by Jacqueline Wilson [story was good but the ending was CRAP]
Okay, My Sister Jodie. DC coincidence right there.
Jodie's friend's name is HARLEY.
Harley has a classmate named Sakura.
JODIE'S MOTHER'S NAME IS SHARON.
D:

I can't remember a lot of good books that I've read already, it's too many.
Once I got ahold of a book that interests me, I won't put it down until I finished reading 'til the very end.

Lemony Snicket is one of my faves, though.

I don't know too many English authors, but I'm trying to read more in English so I don't speak internet in real life.  I r teh l337 sauce yo.

I read a mix of fiction and non-fiction.  Fantasy is okay though it usually reads like a male version of a sappy romance novel (which I don't mind either).  Detective fiction is love and Dan Brown is on my list of books I'll never be able to reread because it contains too much wtf.

I'm currently enjoying Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt and rereading 2001: A Hacker's Odyssey <3.  I just finished Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, it's enjoyable to read.  I still enjoy real-lifeish fantasy like Lev Grossman's The Magicians (mature reader only~) though.

Does anyone here like The House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski?  I actually enjoyed it quite a bit.  The whole book is like a puzzle, I love messed up shit like this.  As for story I just love The Whalestoe Letters by him, it's just touching and messed up.