jane austen, michael chabon, dave eggers, david sedaris, emily giffin, j.d salinger, maureen dowd, and neil gaiman.

Edward Rutherfurd
Mary Higgins Clark
Janet Evanovich
Anne Rice
Dean Koontz
John Case
Jean M Auel
Mary H Herbert
Walter Farley
Chuck Palaniuk
Erik Larson
Michael Crichton
Philippa Gregory

I'm pretty much all over the place with my reading.

Paul Bowles, Nevil Shute, oh and Dean Koontz for when I want something fluffier and scarier!

F. Scott Fitzgerald
Elaine Dundy
Ahdaf Souief

These are all authors I've read more than one book by if not everything they've ever written:

Michael Connelly
Kate Atkinson
Amy Tan
J.M. Coetze
Avarind Adiga
Ruth Rendell
Pete Dexter
Kurt Vonnegut
Jon Krakauer
Alison Weir
Margaret Atwood
Edith Wharton
David Sedaris
Stephen King
Dan Chaon

Oddly many of the authors of my favorite books do not appear on this list, either because they only wrote one book (Margaret Mitchell, Harper Lee) or because I've only read one of their books, or because I read more than one but only loved one.

what is you'r best Author ?

Does it have to be just one?? I love Stephen King. Except for the Dark Tower series (not into fantasy) I have read and loved evey one of his books.

Originally Posted by Cindi

Does it have to be just one?? I love Stephen King. Except for the Dark Tower series (not into fantasy) I have read and loved evey one of his books.

No as you like , best authors , and what is the best book or novel .

I love books by Robert Goddard - his first novel, Past Caring, is one of the best books I have ever read.

My favourite author, by virtue of his book being my absolute favourite novel of all time, is Victor Hugo. I loved his Notre-Dame de Paris. I recently acquired a 1930's edition of his Les Miserables, divided into two books, but I haven't had the time to read it yet.

Other favourites:

Marquis de Sade-Les 120 Journées de Sodome, The Magistrate Mocked, Emilie de Tourville, Florville et Courval, Justine.
Gaston Leroux-The Phantom of the Opera
J.M. Barrie-Peter Pan
Michael Jackson-Dancing the Dream
Aleksandr Pushkin-Eugene Onegin
J.K. Rowling-Harry Potter 1-7
Vladimir Nabokov-Lolita, The Enchanter
Honoré de Balzac-Eugenie Grandet
Anton Chekhov-The Sea Gull, Uncle Vanya
Antoine de Saint-Exupery-The Little Prince
Anthony Storr-Solitude: A Return to the Self
Christopher McIntosh-The Swan King: Ludwig II of Bavaria

Interestingly enough, only a handful of books/plays out of all the ones I've ever been required to read for a class have made any impact on me. These are it:

Harper Lee-To Kill A Mockingbird
William Shakespeare-Julius Caesar
Ivan Turgenev-Fathers and Sons
Theodor Fontane-Effi Briest
Nathaniel Hawthorne-The Scarlet Letter

I'm inclined to say pretty much about 90% of the stuff we were assigned to read in school was garbage, but then I look at Stephenie Meyer's Twilight and realize perhaps there are worse things in life.

martina cole
marain keyes
ian rankin- only the rebus series

Charles Dickens
Sidney Sheldon (the original, not his ghostwriter)
JK Rowling
CS Lewis
Jane Austen
Jeffrey Archer
Judith McNaught
John Grisham
Mary Higgins Clark (particularly her older books)
Dan Brown
Jodi Picoult
Nicholas Sparks
Robin Cook
Elie Wiesel
VC Andrews
Og Mandino
Paulo Coelho
Erle Stanley Gardner

The list is not in any particular order (except for Dickens--he's always my number 1 for creating Madame Defarge). Right now those are the ones I can think of. :)

If I had to pick just one, I'd probably go for Michael Ende. I haven't read every single one of his books (some of them are hard to find), but I've loved the ones I have read, no exceptions. Also, Chuck Palahniuk is a fave (Survivor is awesome). Anything by Lovecraft and Phillip K. Dick, Oscar Wilde... I like a lot more authors but those are the ones I reach for the most.

Maguerite Duras, Anais Nin, Salman Rushdie, Hyemeyohsts Storm... Erotica and stories within stories within stories.

Augusten Burroughs
John Rechy
Naomi Klein
bell hooks
Charles Dickens
Oscar Wilde
Shakespeare - but I'm not bright enough to get the comedies, so just the tragedies
Thomas Hardy
Jane Austen
Stephen Fry
Anthony Bourdain (with the exception of Medium Raw)
Chuck Palahniuk
Maureen Dowd