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Lewis Carroll
Ray Bradbury
Mary Renault
Isaac Asimov
Piers Anthony
Robert Heinlein
Taylor Caldwell
Thor Heyerdahl
Edgar Allan Poe
Eric Temple Bell
Anne McCaffrey
H. Rider Haggard
Mercedes Lackey
Michael McDowell
Zenna Henderson
William Shakespeare
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Thomas Burnett Swann
Andre Norton/Andrew North
Graham Masterton aka Thomas Luke ~ early works
H.P. Lovecraft and other writers of the Cthulhu Mythos
Stephen King ~ earlier works (downhill for me by the time of "Rose Madder")
The Journeys of McGill Feighan by Kevin O'Donnell
Book of the Beast trilogy by Robert Stallman
I'll probably have to come back when I'm more awake. I've been up all night from fibro-ouchies.
I forgot an important one: J.R.R. Tolkien! In the Seventies, I was fortunate enough to be in the first Tolkien Literature course started at EIU. It started in a regular classroom. By the next time it was offered, word had spread, and they had to move to an auditorium! We studied works that influenced Tolkien, including "The Song of Roland" and The Elder Edda.
I also enjoy Kenneth Robeson's Doc Savage series; early Anne Rice; and Stuart M. Kaminsky's Toby Peters novels (just about the only mystery series I really enjoy).
My parents taught me to read at the age of 4. Due to living in a very small town, we didn't have access to all of the books I craved. The closest library was in a city more than 25 miles away; I was allowed only three books a month, even when my parents explained how quickly I could finish a book. (I never skimmed; I actually read at a high words per minute-rate.) So, I relied on two sources: my older cousin bringing me books from the third-grade library and my parents allowing me to check out books from the adult section of the library. So, I skipped reading children's books most people consider usual and instead covered mythologies of the world, paleontology (my first real love and ambition), archaeology, and writers far beyond my age, including ERB and Richard Halliburton.
Growing up, I read my way through these:
Henry Gregor Felsen's car novels ~ His cautionary works definitely are one of two reasons I've always been an exceedingly careful driver. Even the protagonist could die; one novel ends with the boy (our hero) and his date killed in an accident after he is careless while driving.
Erle Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason series) aka A.A. Fair (his other mystery novels)
Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle (among the few "kiddie" books I read)
Leslie Charteris' The Saint novels
Ian Fleming's James Bond novels
^
Tolkein was a gifted writer when it came to geographical discription, besides being a good writer overall.
I read Anne Rices' Interview with a Vampire, and found it, well, rather erotic. It just got me excited in an odd way. I think she was using 'vampire' as a sort of metaphor for something else. Impressive @@@
Recent writers I liked...hmm...well...
Stuart Dybek who writes of Chicago neighborhoods in a magical realism style. His stuff is pretty good.
I agree with
Mark Twain (though I really haven't read much of his writings- what I have read I really enjoyed)
Bill Bryson (becoming a major fan- have recently read A Walk in the Woods, Neither here nor there, and presently enjoying Mother Tongue). I think he could write about practically anything and it would be a good read. The man is a masterful storyteller.
Jane Austen (enjoyable as it is, I do find it "work" because of the old language/sentence structure)
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