British Author Thread!

[Guy Fawkes]

My favorite two british authors are Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimen. How about you? (And yes, Gaimen lives in Wisconsin now! SO THERE!)

[DemBones DemBones]

1. Margaret Drabble is my favorite British author and

for British mysteries, I like Ruth Rendell.

[miss_kitty]

2. Gotta go with

Jane Austen

[khashka]

6. A woman after mine own heart

What's your fave Austen novel? (If you love Austen, I have the best book for you)

What? Nobody said Muriel Spark or Iris Murdoch or Fay Weldon?

Khash.

[FuzzySlippers]

7. Pride and Prejudice.

[miss_kitty]

8. I love both Pride and Prejudice

and Sense and Sensibility.

What's the book?

[khashka]

9. The book is

Letters To Alice On First Reading Jane Austen by Fay Weldon.

She discusses why literature (rather than just books) matters, why Austen matters, what her life and times were like and why her books were revolutionary and still are. And it's gossipy and chatty and not at all heavy. Fictional letters to a fictional niece studying Austen at university.

Weldon has several times adapted Austen for the screen, she's very familiar with Jane's work and life. There is no doubt Jane was a genius, when you know about her life and the time she lived in, you truly appreciate what a genius she was.

I had a prof in grad school. He was a professional psych so he was there to give us an insight into actually doing the job. First day, he threw a copy of Emma onto his desk and said that was all we would ever need. In a strange way, he was absolutely right.


Khash.

[miss_kitty]

10. Thanks!

I'll check it out...

Knowing about her life, how she just kind of sat back, watched then wrote about it is what makes her books so enjoyable for me.

[gmoney]

3. Martin Amis and (of course) George Orwell... (n/t)

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

4. Shakespeare

watch out for this guy. He's got a promising future ahead of him.

[khashka]

5. So I guess you liked "Good Omens"?

Gaiman is a god.... Sandman, Stardust, Neverwhere, American Gods. I worship the paper that man writes on.

But since you voted for him...

I choose either Iain M. Banks or E.F. Benson.


Khash.

[philosophie_en_rose]

21. Anansi Boys is coming out soon.

The first chapter (written and audio) is on the website. Very neat.

[oneighty]

11. Martin Booth

Hiroshima Joe. Jade Pavilion. And many others.

180

[NMMNG]

12. George Orwell and Charlotte Bronte

[blindpig]

13. Edward Gibbons and China Mieville

and TE Lawerence, JRR Tolkien and Gerald Durrell. Strange but true.

[BigMcLargehuge]

14. E.M. Forester and John Wyndham and H.G. Wells

[billyskank]

15. Douglas Adams

You are sorely missed. :cry:

[terrya]

16. John LeCarre and E.M. Forester

[BigMcLargehuge]

19. Which of Forster's is your favorite

My favorite, in order from most favorite to least are -

Where Angels Fear to Tread
The Longest Journey
A Passage to India
Maurice
A Room With a View
Howards End

[khashka]

22. For me it's a tie

between A Room With A View and Howard's End.

Maurice is very special to me but probably his least well written book. (The ending is simply ridiculous - they run off and live in a pastoral homosexual idyll? Who buys the groceries?)

Where Angels Fear To Tread was really really good. He was very good at writing short stories too. I highly recommend "The Life Still To Come and other stories" if you haven't read it yet.

Khash.

[terrya]

28. My favorite is "Maurice"

I only wish he allowed it to be published in his lifetime. But, in his place and time, I can understand why he was reluctant to do so.

[Robb]

17. Conrad

The 17 year-old is doing BritLit this year. :thumbsup:

[bicentennial_baby]

18. Neil!

and Clive Barker :)

[mitchum]

20. Graham Greene...who was criminally cheated out of Nobel consideration...

for the unforgivable sin of writing the introduction for Philby's memoirs

[yorgatron]

23. P.G.Wodehouse and Douglas Adams

BTW i read "The Salmon of Doubt" recently,turns out Adams was a huge fan of Wodehouse.

[Joe Chi Minh]

24. Or his novella, "Dr Fisher of Geneva",

which is as devastating a depiction of the shameless depths to which the psychopathic plutocrats of the far right would be prepared to stoop, as you could even imagine.

[hatredisnotavalue]

25. P.D. James

One of the best mystery writers. Great big books as big as the bible. I went thru an entire library shelf one winter. Also love Forster.

[Flaxbee]

26. Yes! I love P.D. James... also Le Carre, and the classically

wonderful Jane Austen. Austen just is hard to beat.

[hatredisnotavalue]

27. James

I think no one does the mystery novel better than P. D. James.

[tigereye]

29. Virginia Woolf

DH Lawrence, CS Lewis, Reginald Hill