Topic: Five Authors

[Andy @ Allerton!]

If you could pick just five - which authors influenced you the most or impressed you the most or you just like?

For me:

1. Charles Dickens. He comes across as a real gentleman - a socialist ahead of his time and one that put his views across in fiction and non-fiction. I love his books and have read every one several times. A wonderful writer and a witty commentator.

2. Philip K. Dick. One of the most influential Science Fiction writers around. He seemed to have a knack of knowing what was coming and even his simplest works seemed to have deeper and darker meanings once you've re-read them.

3. Stephen Donaldson. An  amazing writer with such depth of vision. I've read all his works and there is some astounding imagination there.

4. Raymond E. Feist. Tricky one this - I was going to go with Tolkein for his vision of middle Earth, but the Magician series is simply an amazing piece of story telling. The way he turns it around and writes is fantastic. I get that the Game of Thrones is all the rage now - and I've read that and been very impressed by it - but as a fantasy story teller, Feist to me is the master (Behind Donaldson).

5. George Orwell. His insight into the workings of Society and Government I found incredible. His non-fiction is even more powerful.

Honourable mentions: J.R.R. Tolkein, Michael Moorcock, H.P. Lovecraft, George R.R. Martin, Arthur C. Clarke, August Derleth, Stephen King, Colin Dexter, Ian Fleming, Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stephen Baxter, Robert Tressel,  William Gibson, Robert Louis Stevenson, Ray Bradbury, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Franz Kafka.

[UntouchableLuis]

Tough one!

Here's mine so far:

1) J.D Salinger - Catcher in the Rye remains my favourite book, having read it around 5 or 6 times. I first read it when I was around 19 or 20 I think and every time I pick it up I'm quickly lost in Holden's word again. It's the first book that really 'spoke' to me as the saying goes. I think it captures the hurt in Salinger very well and gives us an insight into why he chose to spend much of his life as a recluse. I also love Franny and Zooey for the amazing characterisation and pathos in the book too; it's actually maybe a greater literary work than Catcher. His short stories are mostly wonderful as well.

2) Haruki Murakami - I spent last year working myself through his entire catalogue. I started with Norwegian Wood, went on to Kafka on the Shore and before I knew it I couldn't get enough. I've posted in the Murakami thread quite a bit about which of his novels I consider the best but all things considered I think The Wind up Bird Chronicle is his greatest work. IQ84 up until book 3 is up there too. South of the Border, West of the Sun is a beautiful short novel.

3) William Faulkner - His novels are bloody tough going at times and admittedly I haven't read too many. I enjoyed As I Lay Dying at Uni and considered it to be fairly difficult but then I realised it's actually one of his more straightforward narratives! I've tackled The Sound and the Fury and Absalom Absalom! as well - both of those are incredibly difficult reads, filled with pages of no punctuation, grammar...but Faulkner is the true master of stream of consciousness and his works are rich with imagery. Just don't expect to have a nice easy reading session with him - I'm staying clear for a while!

4) Emily Bronte - I had to get a Brit in there somewhere and this girl is very worthy! Ok, it's for one novel but Wuthering Heights changed my perception of Victorian literature. I went into it expecting a typical romance tale where the woman is scorned or fights against societies' pressures but it's so much more than that. It's dark, entertaining, a masterpiece. Heathcliffe is one of my favourite characters of all time.

5) Stephen King - I went through a King phase like many but I have to say I sort of got bored with him after a while. I consider The Stand to be one of my favourite reads but everything else seemed to pale in comparison after that. Misery and IT are also excellent. But I read some stinkers from him as well. As a story teller he's up there with some of the best but I think it's a well known fact that lots of his works needed a hell of a lot more editing and some you could tell when he was high off his mind writing them.

[Andy @ Allerton!]

Tough one!

Here's mine so far:

1) J.D Salinger - Catcher in the Rye remains my favourite book, having read it around 5 or 6 times. I first read it when I was around 19 or 20 I think and every time I pick it up I'm quickly lost in Holden's word again. It's the first book that really 'spoke' to me as the saying goes. I think it captures the hurt in Salinger very well and gives us an insight into why he chose to spend much of his life as a recluse. I also love Franny and Zooey for the amazing characterisation and pathos in the book too; it's actually maybe a greater literary work than Catcher. His short stories are mostly wonderful as well.

2) Haruki Murakami - I spent last year working myself through his entire catalogue. I started with Norwegian Wood, went on to Kafka on the Shore and before I knew it I couldn't get enough. I've posted in the Murakami thread quite a bit about which of his novels I consider the best but all things considered I think The Wind up Bird Chronicle is his greatest work. IQ84 up until book 3 is up there too. South of the Border, West of the Sun is a beautiful short novel.

3) William Faulkner - His novels are bloody tough going at times and admittedly I haven't read too many. I enjoyed As I Lay Dying at Uni and considered it to be fairly difficult but then I realised it's actually one of his more straightforward narratives! I've tackled The Sound and the Fury and Absalom Absalom! as well - both of those are incredibly difficult reads, filled with pages of no punctuation, grammar...but Faulkner is the true master of stream of consciousness and his works are rich with imagery. Just don't expect to have a nice easy reading session with him - I'm staying clear for a while!

4) Emily Bronte - I had to get a Brit in there somewhere and this girl is very worthy! Ok, it's for one novel but Wuthering Heights changed my perception of Victorian literature. I went into it expecting a typical romance tale where the woman is scorned or fights against societies' pressures but it's so much more than that. It's dark, entertaining, a masterpiece. Heathcliffe is one of my favourite characters of all time.

5) Stephen King - I went through a King phase like many but I have to say I sort of got bored with him after a while. I consider The Stand to be one of my favourite reads but everything else seemed to pale in comparison after that. Misery and IT are also excellent. But I read some stinkers from him as well. As a story teller he's up there with some of the best but I think it's a well known fact that lots of his works needed a hell of a lot more editing and some you could tell when he was high off his mind writing them.

I'll give some of those a go that I haven't read. With Stephen King - IT, The Stand, Christine, The Shining, Doctor Sleep, The Green Mile, Rita Hayworth Shawshank Redemption, Skeleton Crew, The Gunslinger Series (Though a few of them are a bit crap - like when they wait a whole book to have a scrap) are probably my favourite books by him. I've read Catcher in the Rye a few times, but I've never really got that into it.

[Nobby Reserve]

My literature tastes are very much low-brow, but I do love a book that catches my imagination in terms of story or concept. Quality of prose rarely plays a part in my judgement, certainly second to story crafting, imagery and character development. Compiling the list I've tried to think about influences on my outlooks, on books I've loved, on authors I've sought out repeatedly.

1) Enid Blyton. Thinking this thread through, I realised that I've read more of her books than any other - from the Faraway Tree series to the Famous Five books. The Faraway Tree books gave me my first real taste of 'fantasy genre', even if in a juvenile way (I was well under 10 when I first read them), a love of which has stayed with me. I was about 10 or 11 when I read all of the FF books. We used to holiday in Devon every summer, where close friends of my mum & dad lived with their kids, and I used to think of the similarities (although we never solved crimes!). The imagery of the Cornish coast, blissful, sunny summers, and remote cottages has remained vivid, and my absolute dream is to live by the sea. I think part of this stems from the FF books. So in terms of both propagating a love for the bizarre, and laying the seed for coastal living, she was a huge influence.

2) James Herbert. The Rats terrified me witless. So I read Lair. Then pretty much all other JH books I could get my hands on. I've read several Stephen King & Dean Koontz books, but I liked the Britishness of Herbert.

3) Clive Barker. A chance purchase of Weaveworld, and I was utterly sold. It helped that it was set in Liverpool, but it was the far-out ideas that had me hooked. Loved his other books, too - although his bloody annoying habit of seemingly losing interest in sequels that he's promised (and not finishing the Abarat series) is selfish in the extreme.

4) George Orwell. A true visionary, who could take complex concepts and present them in way that is easily accessible. A principled man, whose views were highly nuanced, and his works serve as a testament to not just his own times, but to ours.

5) I need to think about this final place 

[telekon]

1) Albert Camus - Didn't know it was possible to be moved by diction to such an extent until I read L'Etranger. I had to put the book down every so often just to pause in awe.

2) Marguerite Duras - It's probably not excluded to the French, but they seem to have an innate ability to explore and explain the human condition. I like her later more abstract and poetic works, but it's books like The Lover that captures me the most.

3) JD Salinger - What Luis said basically. Also For Esmé—with Love and Squalor is my favorite short story ever.

4) Jack Kerouac - Classic.

5) Zelda Fitzgerald - Scott both stole from her and made her remove parts of Save Me the Waltz because he was going to use them in Tender Is The Night. In many ways she was a better writer than him.

[Nessy76]

If you could pick just five - which authors influenced you the most or impressed you the most or you just like?

Some great names in there. Never been able to get into Dickens myself. Phililp K Dick just seems to get more and more influential and prophetic every year. There would be no Black Mirror without Dick. Donaldson, not read much, tried the Thomas Covenant bit, didn't get very far past the gratuitous rape scene (and others who have read the whole thing have told me that never really goes anywhere) Feist I found enjoyable but derivative, and the things he may have done before others have since been done better if you ask me. Orwell, obviously a giant, but not one I'd read for pleasure. Read the Road to Wigan Pier at Uni, essential stuff, but grim and drab.

For me:

Douglas Adams: Not only a very funny writer, but a very intelligent one. Some of the best ideas in sci fi turn up in his books, and if you get past the gags, the ideas behind them are startling.

Jeff Noon: I read the Vurt cycle as a teenager and it totally opened my eyes to a lot of things. Again, massive ideas and such a unique voice. One of the few writers who actually creates original content on twitter worth reading, and re-reading.

Joseph Heller: Just for the one book, but what a fucking book. He was asked why he never wrote anything else as good as Catch-22. His reply - "Who has?" Spot on, too.

China Mieville: From the dizzying scale of the fantasy world he created for Perdido St Station (and the follow-ups) to the brilliant originality of the concept of The City and The City, Mieville's imagination is utterly magnificent and very weird.

Iain Banks: Either writing the ultimate story of twisted teen angst, identity and rage in The Wasp Factory, or creating the greatest Utopian Sci-Fi setting known to man with his Culture series (written as Iain M. Banks) there are very few writers who I can just pick up any book by and know I'm going to be taken somewhere compelling in the company of convincing, vital characters who stay in the mind long after the last page.

Others that might make this list any other day: Moorcock, Borges, Gaiman, Vandermeer, King. And Guy N Smith, author of the Crabs series of horror novels. Not because he was good, he was awful, but so readable.

[Ziltoid]

Jeff Noon: I read the Vurt cycle as a teenager and it totally opened my eyes to a lot of things. Again, massive ideas and such a unique voice. One of the few writers who actually creates original content on twitter worth reading, and re-reading.

Superb writer. I'll have to think about mine but Irvine Welsh is certainly there.

[jillcwhomever]

1 Mary Stewart As someone who loves the Arthurian legend, when I was growing up I read her Merlin trilogy. I had read all the old ones but I loved her version as she really fleshed out the characters, and brought new ideas into the genre. The other thing I really loved about her writing was the way she built a personality into Mordred who in most of the other books is just dismissed as a one-dimensional baddie. She really brought life into that particular character and gave him a fresh impetus. Not only was she a really good writer, but the way she described her background scenes were beautifully constructed. Just an all-around wonderful storyteller.

2 Charles Dickens I loved his books from when I was at school, and even now still enjoy reading the odd one when I have the time. My two favourites are Nicholas Nickleby and The Old Curiosity Shop. Neither of which is well-known, but are enriched by wonderful characters and stories, which range through so many emotions. More than any other author he probably told more about the age of his time, and all the social changes which took place in it.

3 Richard Adams When I was a kid I remember reading Watership Down and The Plague Dogs and those had a profound effect on me. From living in a cosy world, I suddenly turned into an environmentalist and questioned things. It is great when books knock people out of their comfort zone and suddenly make you take on issues that before you gave no thought too. His books were hard to read at times, but I was always glad that I came about them and persevered with them.

4 John Le Carre His books just got passed around our family and I had a real fascination for them as I was growing up. He is a masterful storyteller who has the ability to really get into the minds of his characters, and the way their life shapes their choices.

5 J K Rowling She is a bit of a heroine of mine, especially as I write myself. She is the lesson that perseverance can enable you to reach your dreams, and get a book published. I loved her Harry Potter books, and they are a real inspiration now.

Honourable mentions: C S Lewis, Graham Greene, John Steinbeck, Lewis Carroll, George RR Martin, Philippa Gregory, Bernard Cornwell.

[red mongoose]

1. J.D Salinger - I read "Catcher" in high school and it changed my life - it was the first piece of non-genre fiction that ever mattered to me, and showed me that there was something out there for me in the "boring, mundane" world of literature about real life. It didn't hurt that I shared his opinions in every particular. But what really cemented him atop this list forever for me was "For Esme - With Love and Squalor" - just a transcendent document of pain and loss.

2. J.R.R. Tolkien - for all of the obvious reasons, and for coming into my life when he did (age 10/11).

3. Kurt Vonnegut - to paraphrase White Zombie, Vonnegut was "more humanist than human" - the most sympathetic chronicler of the human condition that I have come across.

4. Tom Robbins - hilarious comic genius, but with plenty of gravity if you care to see through to it.

5. Roddy Doyle - when you think that he wrote the masterpiece 'Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha" AND the Barrytown Trilogy, it's pretty awe-inspiring. I have really, really missed him badly.

It's hard to believe I left Thomas Pynchon off this list. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.