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Unread 14 Dec 2007, 14:44   #1
All Systems Go
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Top Five Authors

My top five authors are, in no prticular order:

Noam Chomsky
Bertrand Russell
George Orwell
Oscar Wilde
Franz Kafka

What's yours?
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Unread 14 Dec 2007, 15:02   #2
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Re: Top Five Authors

I can't choose a top five list of authors, only a top five list of books/articles.

It'd be easy to say Steinbeck/Orwell/Rand/Hitchens/Beevor, but I don't think that'd be a proper reflection. Instead, it'd just show who my favourite writers and books are at the moment. It'll probably change once I've finished my latest stack of unread books.



Essentially I don't see any point in writing a list now that wouldn't survive for more than a few months.
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Unread 14 Dec 2007, 17:57   #3
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Re: Top Five Authors

Louis de Bernieres
Isaac Asimov
Sebastian Faulks
Iain Banks (and Iain M Banks)
Carlos Ruiz Zafon
C J Sansom

Ok that's 6 but I can't decide which one to lose
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Unread 14 Dec 2007, 20:04   #4
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Re: Top Five Authors

Quote:
Originally Posted by furball
Beevor
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Unread 14 Dec 2007, 20:05   #5
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Re: Top Five Authors

Roald Dahl
Robert Swindells
Terry Pratchett
Harry Harrison
Brian Jacques

those were my 5 favourite authors when i was a kid

Now, i dunno, but i know any list i made now would be much more pretentious.
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Unread 14 Dec 2007, 21:13   #6
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Re: Top Five Authors

Roald Dahl is actually great - his kids books are brilliant when you're a child and I've only discovered his short (and also long - My Uncle Oswald is pretty risque for the time period) stories in the last year or so - esepcially the ones written while he was in the war.

I've been reading books recommended to me by my mother and my girlfriend recently* - which isn't as bad as it might sound. Most of these are singular books, and having read other books by the same author have left me a bit disappointed ("The Five People you meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom being a prime example, or perhaps "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold).




*you can make the "recommended by richard & judy" jokes.......... now
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Unread 14 Dec 2007, 21:31   #7
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Re: Top Five Authors

Noam Chomsky is a man unfamiliar with, or holds some deep disdain towards, full-stops.
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Unread 14 Dec 2007, 21:32   #8
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Re: Top Five Authors

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomkat
("The Five People you meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom being a prime example, or perhaps "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold).
I thought the five people you meet in heaven wasn't very good, i got it because the back looked interesting and felt really misled.

The lovely bones is great though, i cried when the dad smashed all of the ships in bottles
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Unread 14 Dec 2007, 21:35   #9
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Re: Top Five Authors

I recently finished the Time Traveller's Wife, that's also pretty good Henners!
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Unread 15 Dec 2007, 02:15   #10
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Re: Top Five Authors

Quote:
Originally Posted by furball
I can't choose a top five list of authors, only a top five list of books/articles.

It'd be easy to say Steinbeck/Orwell/Rand/Hitchens/Beevor, but I don't think that'd be a proper reflection. Instead, it'd just show who my favourite writers and books are at the moment. It'll probably change once I've finished my latest stack of unread books.

Essentially I don't see any point in writing a list now that wouldn't survive for more than a few months.
I don't see how you can say that they will change after a few months if you're really a fan of those people. Assuming that you have taken 20 odd years to read everyone you have, and that you will only read a fraction of that many authors in the next few months, it's statistically unlikely that you will change your opinion.

You can read lots of authors that you heard are great literature (or in the case of rand and hitchens (christopher hitchens? or another one) god knows why you read them) and the chances are you will only really like one or two of them. In my experience at least, all the ones i would put in my top 5 have included sublime passages and it would take something quite exceptional to displace them; and exceptional books take me months to read anyway.

Basically i find the idea that you can change your top 5 authors in any meaningful way in a few months pretty insulting to books in general.
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Unread 15 Dec 2007, 03:24   #11
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Re: Top Five Authors

Quote:
Originally Posted by Deepflow
I don't see how you can say that they will change after a few months if you're really a fan of those people. Assuming that you have taken 20 odd years to read everyone you have, and that you will only read a fraction of that many authors in the next few months, it's statistically unlikely that you will change your opinion.

You can read lots of authors that you heard are great literature (or in the case of rand and hitchens (christopher hitchens? or another one) god knows why you read them) and the chances are you will only really like one or two of them. In my experience at least, all the ones i would put in my top 5 have included sublime passages and it would take something quite exceptional to displace them; and exceptional books take me months to read anyway.

Basically i find the idea that you can change your top 5 authors in any meaningful way in a few months pretty insulting to books in general.
Ouch man.


Steinbeck is on the list for two of my favourite books - The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. I consider both to be superb.

Orwell is another one that's easy to justify - 1984 and Animal Farm. Both books are always re-readable at any time. I really should get round to reading his essays as well.

Rand I enjoyed, despite not agreeing with her arguments. Her books (well, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged) make you think about the basic concepts of human existence. They helped me to work out my essential views on duties and responsibilities, and I didn't even turn out an Objectivist at the end.

Christopher Hitchens is again someone I don't always agree with, but he's witty, doesn't pull any punches and gets straight to the point. He's also not on the list as a book author per se, but instead for his magazine articles and opinion columns which are always a superb read. In short, he's a **** and doesn't care. We need more people like that.

Last but not least, Beevor's on the list because I'm moving towards non-fiction historical books at the moment. I'm reading Stalingrad at the moment and it's simply fantastic. I can't give you any great reasoning other than that, except that I couldn't think of anyone else. Azimov or Arthur C. Clarke, perhaps, but I'm not quite sold on them as my actual favourites.



Finally, a commentary on the thread itself. If you actively read, your top five list will always be susceptible to change. How depressing must it be to believe that you'll never read an author as good as the ones you've already read? I don't see Steinbeck/Orwell/Rand being displaced from my list any time soon, but that doesn't mean that it'll never happen. I'm not going to start tying myself to any particular mast and refusing to let go. Call me fickle if you like, but that's just the way it is.
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Unread 15 Dec 2007, 11:10   #12
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Re: Top Five Authors

why do you find it acceptable to list favourite songs / albums / whatever as you've done through time but not books, furball? without pre-empting it out with a 'hey man i'll read more with time so don't judge me on this..' that is.

listing your top x doesn't have to be building an image of how well read you are of fantastically cool literature. it should really be about how they've affected you well enough to be called a favourite. there is room for exclusivity between the paths of "liking"/favourites and objectively "good" literature, same with music and pretty much anything else really though.
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Unread 15 Dec 2007, 12:50   #13
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Re: Top Five Authors

Quote:
Originally Posted by jerome
why do you find it acceptable to list favourite songs / albums / whatever as you've done through time but not books, furball? without pre-empting it out with a 'hey man i'll read more with time so don't judge me on this..' that is.
Honestly because there's far more highly-regarded books that I haven't read than music I haven't listened to. I've never read Dostoevsky, P. G. Wodehouse, Goethe, any of the philosophers.....you get the picture. There's lots out there that I plan to read and I just haven't done it yet. On the other hand, I already know what genres of music I like and we're far more exposed to music than we are to books.


It takes 4 minutes to listen to a music track and at least a day to read a good book.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jerome
listing your top x doesn't have to be building an image of how well read you are of fantastically cool literature. it should really be about how they've affected you well enough to be called a favourite. there is room for exclusivity between the paths of "liking"/favourites and objectively "good" literature, same with music and pretty much anything else really though.
I don't believe you can be truly objective about your own opinions.
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Unread 15 Dec 2007, 12:58   #14
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Re: Top Five Authors

As was said this is a lost of my favourite authors rather than those who I appreciate as being "the best" authors (of course they can be the same thing and they can be different).
  • Robin Hobb - I just love her books and her style of writing.
  • Luther Blisset (Q) - Combines Politics, religion and action.
  • Frank Herbert - Just truthfully written and with vision.
  • Kurt Vonnegut - Funny, truthful, sad and thought provoking.
  • Len Deighton - Just great page turners.


This will always be subject to change but this is how I would class them atm. Top 5 books might be a different matter, would possibly include; Zorba the Greek, Last English king. Non Fiction would include; Perfect Heresy (Stephen O'Shea), and might also include; Stalingrad (Beevor), Fall of Carthage (Goldsworthy)
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Unread 15 Dec 2007, 13:37   #15
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Re: Top Five Authors

Quote:
Originally Posted by furball
Honestly because there's far more highly-regarded books that I haven't read than music I haven't listened to. I've never read Dostoevsky, P. G. Wodehouse, Goethe, any of the philosophers.....you get the picture.
Right... so what are your top 5 authors (or whatever!) at this moment in time...?
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Unread 15 Dec 2007, 13:41   #16
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Re: Top Five Authors

What, so you mean we don't have to see into the future to do so? What a novel idea!





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Unread 15 Dec 2007, 14:47   #17
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Re: Top Five Authors

Quote:
Originally Posted by furball
Ouch man.

Steinbeck is on the list for two of my favourite books - The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. I consider both to be superb.

Orwell is another one that's easy to justify - 1984 and Animal Farm. Both books are always re-readable at any time. I really should get round to reading his essays as well.

Rand I enjoyed, despite not agreeing with her arguments. Her books (well, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged) make you think about the basic concepts of human existence. They helped me to work out my essential views on duties and responsibilities, and I didn't even turn out an Objectivist at the end.

Christopher Hitchens is again someone I don't always agree with, but he's witty, doesn't pull any punches and gets straight to the point. He's also not on the list as a book author per se, but instead for his magazine articles and opinion columns which are always a superb read. In short, he's a **** and doesn't care. We need more people like that.

Last but not least, Beevor's on the list because I'm moving towards non-fiction historical books at the moment. I'm reading Stalingrad at the moment and it's simply fantastic. I can't give you any great reasoning other than that, except that I couldn't think of anyone else. Azimov or Arthur C. Clarke, perhaps, but I'm not quite sold on them as my actual favourites.
OK fair enough, I guess; but that wasn't really what I was talking about.

I haven't read any Rand or Hitchens (beyond a couple of articles) or Beevor. I read Grapes of Wrath and thought it was pretty good but didn't really get why everyone bummed it so much.

Orwell is a solid choice, and possibly in more people's top 5s than anyone else I can think of.

Quote:
Originally Posted by furball
Finally, a commentary on the thread itself. If you actively read, your top five list will always be susceptible to change. How depressing must it be to believe that you'll never read an author as good as the ones you've already read? I don't see Steinbeck/Orwell/Rand being displaced from my list any time soon, but that doesn't mean that it'll never happen. I'm not going to start tying myself to any particular mast and refusing to let go. Call me fickle if you like, but that's just the way it is.
I wasn't talking about whether or not people would ever get displaced, im sure some of mine will someday too, more the fact that you were saying that it was likely that some of yours would in the next few months. I said why I thought that was silly in the post you replied to but you pretty much ignored everything i said and put up a massive strawman.
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Unread 15 Dec 2007, 17:58   #18
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Re: Top Five Authors

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomkat
Right... so what are your top 5 authors (or whatever!) at this moment in time...?
That'd be Steinbeck/Orwell/Rand/Hitchens/Beevor, as I said.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Deepflow
I wasn't talking about whether or not people would ever get displaced, im sure some of mine will someday too, more the fact that you were saying that it was likely that some of yours would in the next few months. I said why I thought that was silly in the post you replied to but you pretty much ignored everything i said and put up a massive strawman.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deepflow
Assuming that you have taken 20 odd years to read everyone you have, and that you will only read a fraction of that many authors in the next few months, it's statistically unlikely that you will change your opinion.
This is where you went wrong in the first place. I hadn't read any of the authors on my top 5 list (except for Orwell) until the age of 18, when my reading moved from Crichton/Clancy to the classics. So it's only been four years in which I've read those books, not twenty. I also haven't read much outside of law books for the last three years during term-time.


That's why my list is so open to change.
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Unread 16 Dec 2007, 00:00   #19
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Re: Top Five Authors

Quote:
Originally Posted by pablissimo
Noam Chomsky is a man unfamiliar with, or holds some deep disdain towards, full-stops.
It's a game Lefties play. Try reading Marx, he has sentances that stretch to over a page. In really SMALL writing.
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Unread 16 Dec 2007, 00:02   #20
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Re: Top Five Authors

Quote:
Originally Posted by furball
Honestly because there's far more highly-regarded books that I haven't read than music I haven't listened to. I've never read Dostoevsky, P. G. Wodehouse, Goethe, any of the philosophers.....you get the picture. There's lots out there that I plan to read and I just haven't done it yet. On the other hand, I already know what genres of music I like and we're far more exposed to music than we are to books.

Dostoevsky - over-rated, unless its much better in the original language, having read the house of the dead, and tried to read crime and punishment and failed, neither flowed very well and were a very hard read.

P.G. Wodehouse on the other hand is actually very good writer, who keeps your attention well.

my top 5..

Charles De Lint
Terry Prachett
Anne McCaffrey
Neil Gaiman
R. A, Salvatore
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Unread 16 Dec 2007, 00:05   #21
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Re: Top Five Authors

Crime and Punishment is long and rather dull but that doesn't mean it is not a good book. There is a great skill in saying something worthwhile and being interesting and most authors only manage one or the other. It all depends why you are reading a certain book I suppose.
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Unread 16 Dec 2007, 14:05   #22
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Re: Top Five Authors

the guy that made that god damn nice boook about DOS programation,
explain easily how to convert a old pc into a working bolo arcade....

just enough o i can create my own window , somethin to read on before i start trying .

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Unread 16 Dec 2007, 17:33   #23
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Re: Top Five Authors

Mt top 5 would probably be (in no particular order):
Jonathan Coe
Tom Wolfe
Douglas Coupland
Christopher Brookmyre
Terry Pratchett
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Unread 17 Dec 2007, 19:10   #24
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Re: Top Five Authors

Nancy Mitford
Evelyn Waugh
PG Wodehouse
Gogol
AG MacDonnell
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Unread 17 Dec 2007, 19:29   #25
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Re: Top Five Authors

Quote:
Originally Posted by Toccata & Fugue
Yay on Gogol. Dead Souls is brilliant.


EDIT: you know ... you might want to trust my taste on some of the others ... esp. nancy and AG (start with Autobiography of a Cad - even commies can't dislike it!)
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Unread 17 Dec 2007, 23:38   #26
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Re: Top Five Authors

well i will say it still made me laft :
god god god god god like is lifetime story , and is simpson , agaguk , programation book ,

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Unread 17 Dec 2007, 23:45   #27
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Re: Top Five Authors

The authors who I have enjoyed the most over several books have been:

Mark Twain
Robert Lewis Taylor
George MacDonald Frazier
Arthur C. Clark
Kurt Vonnegut
Isaac Asimov
James Clavell

Sorry if that isn't five but I wasn't a maths major.
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