I enjoy reading and have read strictly non-fiction for quite a while. Not that I don't enjoy fiction but as a history buff the non-fiction world entices me more. Who is your favorite writer? My all-time favorite is Willie Morris. He was a Mississippi native, educated at the University of Texas and Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, was a longtime editor of Harper's Magazine and wrote several books, most of which connected his life and experiences back to the South, particularly growing up in Mississippi. He lived away from the South for many years but eventually moved back, taught at Ole Miss, and ended up dying in his beloved state. The memoir "North Toward Home" about his adolescence is incredible. Let me know about your favorite writers!
This is an interesting thread Perry. Tough to decide, however. IF, I had to choose only one, it would be Cormac McCarthy. NEVER in my life have I had to work so hard to read an author's opus, but the rewards are amazing.
His Border Trilogy is some of the best fiction I've ever read. As far as favorite author, it changes almost as often as my favorite shave soap, but I'd have to say Jack London almost always wins out.
Definitely London and le Carré, Herbert, Harlan Ellison, L'Amour, King, GRRM, McMurtry, Follett and more!
Just one? So hard, but I’m gonna go with Michener. Some of them take a while to really get caught up into, then you’re lost inside til it’s over, and just bummed it ended.
Cormac McCarthy always makes me feel like I have been abused and then gotten in a near death level car accident. So sad. I guess since he can evoke that means he's really good but I couldn't call him my favorite. I am really diggin' Chuck Palhaniuk right now. Rant is a super fun book. I like an author who is a friend of mine too named Andrew Craven. His books are pretty short but they are really good too. Wintercity Crossing and Moshiah were really good.
I'm assuming Stephen King, and if so, I'd highly recommend his son, Joe Hill. He's definitely on par with his father, and he inherited the short story/ novella gene as well.
Ernest Hemingway Robertson Davies Paul Theroux Pulp fiction authors would be numerous and change over time for me.
My high school art teacher got me hooked on L'Amour back in 1982. Haven't read him in a while. Anytime I'd try to read a different western author it just wasn't as good. L'Amour has a way of making you visualize being there. The Sackett novels, Comstock Lode, and Sitka come to mind as my favorites!
Gore Vidal-I just claimed his book on President Lincoln from my Mom's old files. I recall as a teen-ager reading his bio on Aaron Burr. Good stuff. Ambrose Bierce-Also as a teen-ager I read his book on World War 1. His style made me understand things about that war, at a young age.
Terry Pratchett - pointed satire about politics, but driven primarily by humour. His collaboration with Neil Gaiman (Good Omens) is hilariously dark.
