Favorite books and authors (non-erotica)

Any other avid readers out there? What are your favorite books and authors that are not erotica?

My favorite book is probably To Kill a Mockingbird. My favorite modern author is Colton Whitehead. I especially love The Nickel Boys and The Underground Railroad. For pure fun, I really enjoyed all of the mystery/thrillers by Richard Osman. They work as good thrillers on their own, but I also love the British humor injected throughout.

I'm adding Dracula by Bram Stoker as one of my all-time favorites thanks to the reminder from Seeker4. In general, I don't like horror, but Dracula is fantastic. No movie that I have seen has ever done it justice.

Not sure I have a favorite, but three I read at least once a year are the Dragonflight trilogy by Anne McCaffrey and the originals. I like the other in that world two, but I REALLY identify with Lessa

Many favorites, but to name a few:

Nevil Shute -- One the Beach, A Town Like Alice

John Fowles -- The Magus, The Ebony Tower, Mantissa

Louis de Bernières -- Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Robert Heinlein -- Starship Troopers, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Quote by Mandapanda2025
three I read at least once a year are the Dragonflight trilogy by Anne McCaffrey

I have not read those in like 40 or 50 years. Read the original trilogy and, I think, some of the Harper Hall books and then kind of nope'd out of the rest. The series felt complete after the original trilogy. And, yeah, part of that was the end of Lessa's story.

My taste in literature evolved over time. Favourite writers over the years have included J. R. R. Tolkien, Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell (lesser known UK horror writer), Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman and then a lot of pulp and earlier writers like H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, William Hope Hodgson, M. R. James, and others. That pulp influence really shows in my fantasy and horror on StoresSpace moreso than in what I write here.

As for actual books, Dracula by Bram Stoker remains an ever-golden favourite of mine. Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are up there, too. William Hodgson's novels are excellent reads for their time (he died in WWI to give you an idea of the time period), if a bit old-fashioned today. His end of time epic The Night Land remains in my head forever, even if it is a difficult read that I don't go back to as often as some other works.

Dracula is one of my faves too! I should have included that on my list.

Anything by Robert Crais, John Sanders, Jeffrey Deaver, Robert Parker, Michael Connelly and John Kellerman

I grew up on fantasy and sci-fi and have spread from there. I've only read three books twice, mostly because there are so many new good authors to explore. McCaffrey's Dragon books were a nice read though I doubt I'd pick them up again. I enjoy many of the Discworld books for their dry humour. Recently I have enjoyed Brandon Sanderson's books and the wonderful First 15 Lives of Harry August by Clare North, and then read all the rest of hers. For a historical bent, The Chronicals of St mary's are an easy and fun read, and for female heroines in older times, Shelley Adina's Magnificent Devices series are nicely crafted. Hard Sci-Fi, no one beats Iain M. Banks, though Neil Stephenson also created wonderfully deep backstories to his cultures. I have 4,500 e-books and can only read a tenth of them, so I like to pick good things rather than bad.

My favourite author is Stephen King, I have all his books. I also enjoy Dean Koontz, Lee Child, Clive Cussler, Brian Lumley and Terry Pratchet

Quote by hornyscot
Brian Lumley

Oo, I don't meet too many Lumley fans outside of s-f/f heavy sites. He did some amazing horror and dark fantasy but also laid a few bad eggs. He also had a bad habit of flogging dead horses (i.e. some of his series went a few books too long). On the whole, though, a very good author who is sadly little known outside a niche literary community. His short story "Fruiting Bodies" will haunt me forever, if nothing else. And the Wamphyri started as an amazing revisionist take on vampires but see the line about dead horses. Another one I enjoyed was his Dreamlands series about Hero and Eldin, even if the feel was more Fritz Lieber than H. P. Lovecraft.

(/fanboi rant off)