meldy

I am always on the hunt for new reading material.

And there seems to be alot of book specific, or particular author specific threads but I havent found one that contains favorite authors or series books.

My fav authors right now:
Jack Whyte
Micheal Crichton
James Herriot
Rowling (but she is all done now)
Stephen R Donaldson

Fav series:
Harry Potter(ya I know, I suck )
Eagle series (Jack Whyte)
Thomas Covenant Series (Stephen R Donaldson)

On the hunt for something a bit more meaty as all of these are pretty easy reads.

Farmurr

I'm currently reading Covenant On book two at the moment, though my progress has been slowed by the fact I am now writing my own story.

Not sure about a top 5, but here's a top 3 (I've only read several, but long series, and therefore authors).

1) The Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan
2) A Song of Ice and Fire, George R R Martin
3) Sword of Truth, Terry Goodkind

Sword of Truth wasnt quite of a calibre as the other two series', but I still enjoyed them. Serpentwar Saga is another I've read, which was good as well, but I prefer books with a "Hero" character, rather than a simple soldier.

SFeigley

I'm going to answer the series question because to be honest, I've never read an author yet that I thought was just head and shoulders above the rest. It seems that most of what I've read one author will be strong in one area and lacking in another while the next author will be the reverse of that.

So my favorite 5 would be:

1) The original Shanarra books (Sword of, Elfstones of, Wishsong of...) by Terry Brooks.
2) Icewind Dale Trilogy by R.A. Salvatorre.
3) The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.
4) The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.
5) The Dragonlance Chronicles Trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

They are listed in no particular order. Both the Dark Tower Books and the Sword of Truth books had books in the series that I did not care for but persevered through to try and finish the series.

Terry Brooks I remember to be quite good and the same with the Dragonlance books. The Icewind Dale books and all other dark elf chronicles etc... are just fun for me to kill some time reading.

__________________
Learn more about the Twinblade Chronicles at:
http://www.twinbladechronicles.com &
www.myspace.com/twinbladechronicles

Book 1: The Blood in the Sand - In draft now!!

enron1982

I've never read ANY series of books that i liked. At all.
My top fav. authors (modern) would be:

1. Stephen King
2. Michael Chabon
3. Kurt Vonnegut
4. Anne Rice
5. Ray Bradbury (he can still be considered modern i guess.)

Balrog

__________________
Website
Plague Serial Novel

writingkeys

1. Terry Brooks (he is amazing!)
2. David Eddings
3. Sarah Dessen
4. J.K. Rowling
5. D.J. MacHale

__________________
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible--Walt Disney"

DLFerguson

Lester Dent (Kenneth Robeson)
Robert R. McCammon
George C. Chesbro
Michael Moorcock
Chester Himes

__________________
BETTER IN THE DARK--Movie Talk Straight Outta Brooklyn
Hosted by Thomas Deja and Derrick Ferguson
http://betterinthedark.podomatic.com

Johnnyelvis

1: Ambrose Bierce

2: Stephen King

3: Norman Mailer

4: Algernon Blackwood

5: Hunter S Thompson

__________________
www.allthingshorror.blogspot.com

Beccerella

I like a lot of authors and a lot of different genres. I'll read anything really, except Cowboy/Western type novels. Never have been able to get into them. And Lord of the Rings. It's just so boring and drags on and on. How it ever became a movie I'll never know.

But my favourite authors right now are:-

1. Jane Austen. Always loved her. She's probably the reason I stopped being happy just reading literature and wanted to write it.

2. Laurell K Hamilton. Anything written by her I just cannot put down, even though at one point her novels turned into nothing but erotica. Thankfully now they're back to being entertaining and more supernatural once more.

3. Garth Nix. A pretty new addtion to be in my top authors. And I only read a book by him (Mister Monday) originally because it came free when I pre-ordered the seventh Harry Potter book. I'd previously never really enjoyed books by a male author (Sexist I know but it's how I felt) until I read Mister Monday. I couldn't put it down and progressed onto reading other novels by him despite them being "children's literature".

4. Kelley Armstrong.

5. Sophie Kinsella/Madeline Wickham. I just can't put anything she's written down and I think she's an extremely gifted writer.

7deadlysins

1. Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time is amazing)
2. Kurt Vonnegut (All of his work is so comical and witty)
3. John Updike (Only read Rabbit, Run. However, it changed my life)
4. J.D. Salinger (A Perfect Day for Bananafish is a must read!)
5. Stephen King (Because it's Stephen King)

red lantern

Dune Series by Frank Herbert and Brian Herbert (the prelude and new books)

Anything by Robin Hobb (Liveship Traders, Golden Fool)

Peter F Hamilton (Fallen Dragon, Judas Unchained (part of a duet of books)

__________________
When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you: Friedrich Nietzsche.

I live in a cemetery full of good will and integrity: Silverchair

DavidGil

Depending on what you like, I can reccomend starting The Briar King, the first book in an ongoing series from Greg Keyes. What's more, it is nearly complete with the fourth book left to publish.

Honorable mention must also go to Steven Erikson's Malazan series and Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing seeing as they aren't mentioned on anyone's list. (these aren't the typical fantasy stories however. Probably why I mention these two a lot.)

You can do a search of the last author to read excerpts from the series, on his official website. (the trilogy is complete also though he is working on a fourth book.)

I too like Salvatore and Martin. All fantasy series as you've probably guessed.

__________________
My Helium portfolio:

http://www.helium.com/users/404647/show_articles

I aim to have a wide selection of articles eventually, covering different topics.

strangedaze

- Mordecai Richler (especially Barney's Version; Solomon Gurksy Was Here; Duddy Kravitz; The Street)

- Salman Rushdie (especially Midnight's Children; Haroun and the Sea of Stories)

- JD Salinger (especially Nine Stories [especially A Perfect Day for Bananafish])

- Bret Easton Ellis (especially Less than Zero; American Psycho)

- Craig Davidson (especially Rust and Bone)

__________________
His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.

sam_kempton

David eddings rocks, the tamuli trilogy

terry brooks, word and the void omnibus

Elizabeth Moon, deed of paksenarrion

steven king, dark tower (just finished the series, and loved every scrap of it)

and last but by far least juliet e mckenna, the tales of einarinn

__________________
CTRL ALT DELETE.
CTRL ALT DELETE.
Damn it, I need to reboot my grill.

g-paw

Top 5? Not right now, I'm only on my first cup of coffee.

My All Time Favorite Book is STILL the first book I ever owned, Alice in Wonderland. It's true, I have read many a good book since then, but Alice is the one I always remember. What a fantastic story!


Favorite Series: The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K LeGuin. I love her writing, and it's possible that I've read all her books by now. But, every time I say that, someone comes up with another that I haven't read.