Fifteen Authors

Dave did a Facebook thing the other day that said to name 15 of your influential or memorable authors, within 15 minutes, with no need to rank them (and presumably without editing or revision - at least that's how I did it). After providing his list, he tagged me to do it as well. I threw the following list together in about 5 minutes, but ran long as there are 17 authors here and not 15. The order is the exact order I scribbled them down in. Notes of course came later.

1. JRR Tolkien - Still probably my best loved books of all time for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is feeling like a kid again every time I re-read parts of them.
2. John D MacDonald - Prolific writer of crime and suspense thrillers. Active from 1945 to his death in 1986. Stunning body of work. Wrote over 100 novels and many stories, almost all of which I read back in high school and college. Not widely known anymore, but wrote the book The Executioners that became the movie Cape Fear (once with Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum, and later remade by Scorcese with Robert DeNiro in the Mitchum role).
3. James Lee Burke - Another prolific mystery writer whose books transcend the genre.
4. Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favorite books (and one of my favorite movies). Who wouldn't aspire to be an Atticus Finch?
5. Thomas McGuane - A favorite novelist and short story writer I began reading in high school and college.
6. Philip Roth - One of the great novelists.
7. Ron Rash - A newer discovery for me, but he has quickly become one of my very favorite authors.
8. Steve Yarbrough - Contemporary southern novelist.
9. JK Rowling - The Harry Potter series are tremendously fun books to read, and are not just for kids. The depth and texture of her world is a marvel.
10. William Trevor - Irish master of both short stories and novels.
11. Raymond Carver - A favorite short story writer from my earlier years.
12. John Irving - One of the earliest "serious" novelists I read thoroughly. Missed much of his middle stuff, but have begun reading him again. Last Night in Twisted River was a gem.
13. Peter Mayle - Light-hearted easy reads generally set in the south of France, both as comic non-fiction (A Year in Provence and followups) and fiction. I especially loved A Good Year, which also has a good movie version starring Russell Crowe. Each book feels like a vacation.
14. Tom Robbins - Irreverent, satiric, comic novelist who is a perfect author to read in your late teens and early twenties. From Wikipedia: "His novels are abstract, often wild stories with strong social undercurrents, a satirical bent, and obscure details". That sums it up well. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and Still Life with Woodpecker are must-reads.
15. Richard Russo - Similar to Irving, another serious novelist I started reading early on. I remember reading his first novel, Mohawk, which I believe may have been a Vintage Contemporaries paperback original. Probably best known for Empire Falls on HBO and Nobody's Fool starring Paul Newman.
16. Tobias Wolff - Another great contemporary novelist and short story writer.
17. Frederick Busch - Yet another great contemporary writer.

Looking over this list, I am very happy with it. If I were to take the time to think about it and revise it, I don't know that I would make many changes...if any.

Additions (11/5/2010)

OK, I couldn't resist mulling this over a little more to see if I would make any changes, but instead of making changes to a list of 15, I would just add a few people that should go on a short list for me but weren't included above.

• Russell Banks
• Richard Bausch
• Dan Brown - I don't read much page-turner stuff, and think what you will of the whole premise that the book is written around, but The DaVinci Code is one of the single most entertaining reads ever.
• James Crumley - Wonderful little-known detective writer.
• Norman MacLean - On the strength of A River Runs Through It alone.
• Ross MacDonald - Great early noir detective stuff.
• Dashiell Hammett - Classics
• Marilynne Robinson - Housekeeping and Gilead...
• Elizabeth Strout - Amy and Isabelle and Olive Kitteridge are both fantastic.
• John Updike - For my taste, more the short stories than the novels, but I haven't read the Rabbit books, which is a gap to be sure...