Favorite American Author

[Emboldened Chimp]

Name your fav....

(for the record, I chose Dos Passos)

[Character Assassin]

1. Dan Simmons

At present

[Aristus]

2. "When I was fourteen years old, I thought my father was the

stupidest, most ignorant man that had ever lived. By the time I turned twenty-one, I was amazed at how much he'd learned in seven years."

Favorite quote from Mark Twain. :-)

[LearnedHand]

3. Alice Walker? Annie Dillard? Pat Conroy?

???

[JitterbugPerfume]

4. My user name should be

a real big ole clue to who my favorite author is




Tom Robbins

[JitterbugPerfume]

13. Actually it is impossible to pick one favorite

Vonnegut, Alice Walker, Mark Twain, Hunter Thompson How do you compare Zora Neale Hurston to Ann Rice ? I love both of 'em for different reasons

[BlueEyedSon]

5. Kurt Vonnegut

[bowens43]

7. Me too

[TrogL]

17. same here

[HERVEPA]

20. Vonnegut also

[Redleg]

38. Kurt Vonnegut is missing from your list!

Must have just forgotten to add the greatest American author of the 20th century..

[Emboldened Chimp]

49. That's because I don't like him

Sorry, but I'm not a fan.

[Loonman]

6. J.D. Salinger

n/t

[catzies]

8. Sinclair Lewis

n/t

[Terran]

39. Oh, good choice

Another great writer from the 1920's that's sort of falling into obscurity, I fear.

Dirk

[jdsmith]

9. I second Vonnegut

Not (by far) the Greatest--that's Melville--but my favorite because he has remained decent through some very indecent times.

"God dammit, babies, you've got to be kind."-- Eliot Rosewater

[DemVet]

10. Where's Tom Clancy?

Sorry, but as an ex-military guy, I like reading his stuff. :)

[mac56]

11. Twain, then Steinbeck, then Vonnegut.

nm

[DoctorMyEyes]

16. oh that's creepy

are you me?

That's my three favorite, in order, also.

[mac56]

18. Cool!

Happy to know you!

[DoctorMyEyes]

29. Nice to meet you, too!

Now that I know we share such similar literary tastes, I'm sure I'll pay closer attention to your posts, and probably agree with you a lot.

(I'm so weak!) :pals:

[CanuckAmok]

12. Kurt Vonnegut!

Hmmm... he didn't make the poll---this IS still DU, right?

[Emboldened Chimp]

33. Sorry, but I'm not a big fan of his

not a fan at all, actually.

[CanuckAmok]

51. then you should have said "name manco's faves" ;) n/t

[Emboldened Chimp]

55. Well, it's more than that

I just didn't think of him. Some of the writers I mentioned I've never read before (Wharton, Morrison, Ellison.) They're really the first that came to mind.

[BurtWorm]

Sentimental favorite: Henry Miller

Not so much for the dirty books but for the essays and New Direction Paperback booklength rants, like The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, The Colossus of Maroussi and Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymous Bosch. But I liked the sex books, too, despite their utter misogyny.

[Emboldened Chimp]

32. I've just read the Air-Conditioned Nightmare

I loved it!

[BurtWorm]

45. I loved Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymous Bosch even more.

In that literary mode, Miller is one of the most generous spirited creatures who ever lived, and his writing is ecstatic.

[stanwyck]

14. John Irving, Richard Ford

Anne Tyler, Alice Hoffman, Anita Shreve, Jonathan Franzan -- living authors. Willa Cather, Faulkner, and Steinbeck from the past.

[cedahlia]

40. Great choices, stanwyck!

Anne Tyler and John Irving are two of my absolute favorites! :) Love, love, love the Cider House Rules, a Widow for one Year, and pretty much everything by Tyler.

[stanwyck]

15. John Irving, Richard Ford

Anne Tyler, Alice Hoffman, Anita Shreve, Jonathan Franzan -- living authors. Willa Cather, Faulkner, and Steinbeck from the past.

[regularguy]

19. Phillip Roth!

Not that the ones on the list aren't all great authors......

[Gato Moteado]

34. yeah roth!

roth, robbins, vonnegut, irving.

[regularguy]

42. I thought I might be the only Roth fan here.

Phillip Roth: More than masterbation. Much more. :)

[Tripper11]

21. 1st - Poe, then Kerouac

I started reading Poe around grade 10 and just fell in love with the whole mood and sawy of Poe's words. His life was also a real tragic thing that I read about as well, along with the mystery of his death

[Zuni]

28. Poe is great

I remember having to read some of his stuff in junior High and fell in love with it.

[jobycom]

22. What?! No Marilyn Qauyle?

I guess we've all gotten over that era.

[phaseolus]

23. Raymond Chandler

n/t

[devilgrrl]

37. Chandler was born in Britain and fought with Canada during WWII...

But I think he's great too. :-) I was going to choose Dashiell Hammett.

[thebigidea]

24. William S. Burroughs & Philip K. Dick

[Khephra]

44. I'll second PKD

In a heartbeat. There isn't another writer who is more relevant today on this entire thread, imo, of course.

[terrya]

25. Gore Vidal

Both fiction and nonfiction.

His novels of the history of the United States...from "Burr" to "The Golden Age" are some of the most readable history ever written.

[kimchi]

26. Edith Wharton.

Once you get a grip on Victorian language patterns--she is great at pointing out the hypocrisy of the rich.

[cedahlia]

41. She's great

Ethan Frome is in my top ten favorite books...it's been a while since I read it, but it's one I've been meaning to reread...have to add it to the list!

[Zuni]

27. Where is hunter S. Thompson?

He is a great read, always exciting.

[thebeaglehaslanded]

30. Walt Whitman. You can't discuss American literature without him.

[Terran]

31. How utterly cool of you include Dos Passos!!

Certainly my favorite from that list--I did my Master's thesis largely on him.

Folks, you should all read his U.S.A. trilogy. There are few older works that are more relevant to our times than these three novels--antiwar, anti-corruption, anti-corporation, and in particular, a passionate hatred for those who twist language to achieve and abuse power. Highly recommended, and high time I re-read them myself.

Dirk

[blueraven95]

35. Alice Hoffman,

and Charles De Lint (is he American or Canadian? I'm not sure). But I tend to prefer British authors.

[blueraven95]

36. Alice Hoffman,

and Charles De Lint (is he American or Canadian? I'm not sure). But I tend to prefer British authors.

[RebelOne]

43. The great Stephen King

[piece sine]

47. Flannery!

Iahve read and re-read "The Collected Short Stories" more than any other book, excluding Webster's Unabridged...

[SmileyBoy]

46. Think you should have put Kurt Vonnegut on there.

I'm currently reading my second book written by him.

[Cottonball]

48. Can't believe you forgot...

Philip K. Dick

[curse10]

50. Kurt Vonnegut

By far.

[kyrasdad]

52. hel-LO Stephen King!

[Emboldened Chimp]

56. Don't mean to sound like a snob

but he doesn't deserve to be on that list.

[NashVegas]

53. Edgar A. Poe, &

Tom Robbins.

[Snellius]

54. Melville

Surprising that the 19th Century authors are so out of favor: Thoreau, Emerson, Hawthrone.

[Emboldened Chimp]

57. Forgot Melville

Should be on that list. I'd switch-out Kerouac.