Favorite non Sci-fi/Fantasy Authors . . .

Gerald Durrell (Humourus real life adventures)
Stephen J Gould (Excellent natural history essays)
A A Milne (Winnie the pooh)
Dr Seuss (I'm not sure if you can classify him as non-fantasy)
Isaac Asimov (Still one of my favourites even if you do not include his sf stuff)
Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbs)
 
Ah. I'm a big Bill Waterson fan too, nobody. Half for his artwork, half for his writing.
 
Originally posted by Bear
Ah. I'm a big Bill Waterson fan too, nobody. Half for his artwork, half for his writing.
Click to expand...

And half (making too many halves) for knowing when to quit.

I think that many authors these days drag out series beyond there best before date and they turn rotten.

Ok, partly it is our fault as fans, Pratchet has tried to stop writing disc world but can't for fear of his life.
 
Agreed. Waterson didn't fizzle out. He just stopped when he was through and left with a beautiful, unblemished record. Some other people out there should certainly take notice.
 
Robert Crais

He's one of my all-time favs. His Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series is excellent. A lot of humor and great plotting. Each book get's better and better.

L.A. Requiem is one of the best novels I've read.

I highly recommend him.
 
For The Term of His Natural Life - Marcus Clarke


Got given this one for christmas about 5 years ago. It's about convicts in Colonial Australia and has a slightly different style to what I'm used to. I really didn't think I'd like it, but when I eventually read it for a lack of anything better to do, I was pleasantly surprised.
 
Stephen King

Rex Stout - His Nero Wolfe mysteries are some of the best in my humble opinion.

Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle - Have read all of his Sherlock Holmes stuff and a few of his non-Holmes story collections. Next I plan to read The Lost World and its sequels.

Agatha Christie - Have read almost all her Poirot books, have about 5 left and then it is on to Miss Marple.

Clive Barker - Used to read alot by him, but haven't read much in recent years. Will give his Abarat a try.
 
I'd have to say Mervyn Peake (I'm pretty sure he's classed as Fiction, at least it says so on the back of Gormenghast)

I'd also have to mention Bill Bryson (mainly for A Brief History of Nearly Everything)
 
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Two of mine are non-fiction authors, can they count too? Bill Bryson & John Keegan. Extremely readable non-fiction, reliably, every time.

Other than that there aren't any non-genre fiction writers that I really return to over and over. I generally read one thing, and then move on, classics such as Shakespeare not withstanding.

Wait, I must make one exception. G.K. Chesterton. Love his stuff.
 
Dennis Wheatly
James Herbert
Stephen King
Edward Rutherford
John Grisham
David Hunt
Clive Barker
Agatha Christie
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
 
When did the GENERAL FICTION Forum start.? this is great.
I read Fantasy/Horror and some Sci FI but mostly "general fiction".

Oh yea, favorite authors presently: (not FSFH)
DAN BROWN
James Patterson (Alex Cross series)
John Sandford (Prey series)
Matthew Reilly
 
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Robert Crais
Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
Steve Hamilton
Dennis Lehane
John Sandford
Mo Hayder
John Grisham
Michael Crichton
Michael Connelly
John Connolly
James Rollins
Mark T. Sullivan
Thomas Harris
Frank Peretti
Paul L. Maier
George Pelecanos
 
Outside of the genre I guess I mostly read Historical Fiction, and Mysteries.


If you love mysteries with exotic settings and lots of meat to the story:
Elliot Pattison, he has a Tibetan Mystery series that starts with Skull Mantra

Barbara Hambly's Mystery series set in pre-civil war New Orleans with a free black hero.

Donna Leon, Modern day mystery series set in Venice
Lindsey Davis, her Marcus Falco mystery series set in Ancient Rome.
Pauline Gedge, Ancient Egypt
Mary Renault, Ancient Greece
Collen McCullough's Master's of Rome Series
Anya Seyton
Amy Tan
Lynda Robinson Ancient Egyptian mystery series
Lauren Haney Ancient Egyptian mystery series
Laura Joh Rowland Medieval Japanese mystery series
Kathy Reichs
Ian Rankin
Allen Drury
William F. Buckley Jr., Blackford Oakes series
Haruki Murakami
Gary Jennings
Sharon Kay Penman
Sharan Newman, her medieval French mystery series
John Masters


Thats All I can think of now
 
I like light mysteries so here's my list:

Rita Mae Brown
Anne George
Sarah Shankman
Agatha Christie
Dorothy Sayers
 
Favorite non-genre authors

William Faulkner
Ernest Hemingway
Jorge Luis Borges
John Steinbeck
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (the Holmes stories, at any rate)
Ross Macdonald
Raymond Chandler
Dashiell Hammett
Angela Carter
Herman Melville

There are others who might become favorites when I get a chance to read some more by them: William Gay, William Kennedy, Toni Morrison, Wallace Stegner (think that's the right first name).

Randy M.
 
My comfort novel: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin!!!!!!!!!!!!
How could I have forgotten Maeve Binchy? I love reading about Ireland in the 50's and the 60's. I've read a lot of Rosamund Pilcher and her son Robin Pilcher as well.

Amy Tan's heartbreakers and Rita Mae Brown's non-mysteries are musts for me too.

Now I'm thinking back (with reminders from some of you) and my list goes on and on:
James Clavell - Shogun
Frank McCourt - Angela's Ashes
Zora Neale Hurston - Their Eyes Were Watching God
Paul Zindel - Pigman (I might have been 12 but I loved this book)
Langston Hughes - any "Simple" story
Fannie Flagg - Coming Attractions
Anita Shreve - The Last Time They Met
Louisa Mae Alcott - Little Women - Little Men

ADMISSION BELOW:
I read these in the early 80's - don't laugh - Princess Daisy by Judith Krantz - I loved it back then as well as "The Other Side of Midnight" by Sidney Sheldon. I might do a re-read to see what i think 20 years later.
 
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i keep adding novelists

Martha Grimes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Michael Connelly - Author of top notch detective mysteries set in LA. His main protagonist, Harry Bosch, is an interesting and likable character.

David Sedaris - Mentioned in the first post in this thread, author of hilarious and insightful essays. I highly recommend Me Talk Pretty One Day t0 anybody needing a good laugh who isn't offended by homosexual themes.

Chuck Klostermann - Pop culture essayist of our generation, also a regular contributor to Spin magazine. The funniest author I've ever read, period. His first book, Fargo Rock City, is about growing up listening to metal in midwest America. At times tear-jerking and at times hilarious, it is probably the greatest book on rock n' roll ever written. His book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs is a fabulous dissection of popular culture. I.E., he has a chapter on The Sims, a chapter on Saved By The Bell, a chapter on why the heck country/pop is so popular, and my favorite, a chapter on born again Christians that will really make your average spiritualist, anti-Christian (read: me, Klostermann) think twice about talking smack about the born-again community.
 
For history, John Toland and Barbara W. Tuchman.

For historical fiction, James Clavell and James Michener.

Also, John Steinbeck; Harper Lee; Agatha Christie; and John D. MCDonald.

And many others, which I will no doubt remember as soon as I sign off.
 
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