Welshman

I am interested in comparing who is among the 'in' authors in the States at the moment. Over here in the UK it tends to be the usual old familiars, although I am noticing a rising trend in poor quality light fiction hitting the stands.

Other good ole boys (and girls) who seem to be in favour include -

Ian McEwan
James Herbert
Jeffrey Archer (God help us)
Ian Rankin
Anita Brookner
Bernice Reubens (love her to bits)
Vikram Seth
Kazuo Ishiguro
Iris Murdoch

Now if I were to read between the lines of some of the threads here I would believe you were all consumed by Ken Follet, Clive Cussler etc. Now I am convinced this is wrong and that in reality you are all far more discerning - but who are you reading? I know many Canadians are big on Carol Shields, but who else is hitting the headlines?

D

buyjupiter03

1. Sundays at Tiffany's / Patterson, James, 1947- 2. The whole truth / Baldacci, David. 3. Twenty wishes / Macomber, Debbie. 4. Hold tight / Coben, Harlan, 1962- 5. Unaccustomed earth / Lahiri, Jhumpa. 6. Where are you now? / Clark, Mary Higgins. 7. Dead heat / Rosenberg, Joel C., 1967- 8. The miracle at Speedy Motors / McCall Smith, Alexander, 1948- 9. Child 44 / Smith, Tom Rob. 10. Certain girls : a novel / Weiner, Jennifer. 11. Days of infamy / Gingrich, Newt. 12. Quicksand / Johansen, Iris. 13. The appeal / Grisham, John. 14. Santa Fe dead / Woods, Stuart. 15. The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao / Díaz, Junot, 1968- 16. The plague of doves / Erdrich, Louise. 17. A thousand splendid suns / Hosseini, Khaled. 18. The Third Circle / Quick, Amanda 19. Change of heart : a novel / Picoult, Jodi, 1966- 20. Belong to me / De los Santos, Marisa, 1966-

NYT Bestseller List, so help us. (Last Sunday)

__________________
Dennis: Oh but if I went 'round sayin' I was Emperor, just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away.

http://www.theskepticsguide.org/logicalfallacies.asp

PageOfCups

Ian McEwan sounds familiar but I have no idea what the guy wrote. The only one of those I know for certain is James Herbert. Then again I always walk right past the bestsellers section to the fantasy section so it's not that surprising. If I even glance at the bestsellers I can't help but think "people actually read that crap?"

buyjupiter03

McEwan wrote Saturday, Amsterdam, Atonement, etc. Atonement was really good. On Chesil Beach was good, and the novella format worked really well for this story.

As to bestsellers, I don't read many of them. I make exceptions for stuff by ethnic authors (Marquez, Hosseini, Allende, etc) because they're typically written better than Patterson or Steel. (But like you Page, I tend to skip most of that crap and head straight for fantasy.)

__________________
Dennis: Oh but if I went 'round sayin' I was Emperor, just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away.

http://www.theskepticsguide.org/logicalfallacies.asp

Xx Kane xX

Whomever Oprah endorses is "In" over here... and an instant Bestseller thereafter.

Welshman

Oh God .. you have Oprah ... we have Richard and Judy!!! May the Lord protect us all.

Xx Kane xX

Haha, tell me about it.