Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Babayaga]

1) Since we've been on the subject of writers, who is/are your favourite writers?

What do you like about them?



2) Who is your least favourite writer?


And why?

[AbbeFaria]

My all time favorite writer is probably Orson Scott Card.

(I've often wondered, Babayaga, if you've gotten your name from one of his books, since she is a central charachter in his novel Enchantment. I know the story of her has been around a lot longer then the book, but it reminds me of it, none-the-less.)

Also, Nicholson Baker tells a very good story. The Fermata and Vox are great books. Alexander Dumas, also. Edgar Allan Poe. Cask of Amantialldo(I know I spelled that wrong) is just one of many great stories.

Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Haydon, Peter F. Hamilton, Nancy A. Collins, Laurell K. Hamilton. Steve Martin (yes the actor) wrote a great novel called The Pleasure of My Company.

I don't know that I have a 'least favorite' but one I have grown to dislike is Terry Goodkind. He started a very good fantasy series then turned it to crap. Very disapointing. Beyond that if I didn't like an author I simply wouldn't read any more of their works. I also stopped reading Stephen King because they tend to end badly. I get really annoyed when charachters I enjoy are killed off. I also dislike Edith Wharton, but then again, I'm a guy so I suppose that's expected. Her writing is entirely to...feminist for me to get involved with her charachters. She writes beautifully, but I just don't care about the story.

-S-

[Babayaga]

[quote="AbbeFaria"]

(I've often wondered, Babayaga, if you've gotten your name from one of his books, since she is a central charachter in his novel Enchantment. I know the story of her has been around a lot longer then the book, but it reminds me of it, none-the-less.)

/quote]


Actually, I got the name from the Russian folk tales. Babayaga is an interesting folk character, in that she can be both evil as well as kind and wise. Depends on who comes into contact with her---good, pure--hearted people benefit from associating with her, whereas evil people are punished. That is not quite my character, though, although annoying people do bring out the worst in me.

[ChimpumCallao]

i usually dont like fiction but...(sorry bad spelling)

J Kennedy Toole

Kurt Vonnegut

George Orwell

C.D. Payne (only Youth in Revolt!)


I like them because they are not boring and they tend to be either 'ha ha' funny or 'hmmm' funny. I like funny.

everything else i read is non-fiction and therefore useful.

[Babayaga]

[oneiros]

[Tiger Beer]

Favorites:

Jack Kerouac
Louis Ferdinand-Celine
JD Salinger
Russell Banks
Charles Bukowski
Nick Hornby
Thomas Wolfe
Philip Roth


Ones I don't like:

Victorian fiction
K-Mart Best Seller Lists
99% of what you'd find at Kyobo Bookstore

[death from above]

favs:

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Paul Auster

Hermann Hesse

Flannery O'Connor

Albert Camus

Nikolai Gogol

George Orwell (yeah me too)

Lewis Carroll



but i would like to applaud the previous selections of my fellow pseudo-intellectuals:

Louis Ferdinand-Celine - yay french cynicism!!

J Kennedy Toole - yay new orleans!!

[skinhead]

Dead:

Kesey - sharp, funny, rebellious, spirit of his generation, non-prolific (in a Kubrickian sense) but greatly admired for the works he gave us
Kerouac - as above
Shakespeare - as above, plus... well, you know...
Conrad - well-travelled, dark, brooding, pessimistic, stuck it up the empire
Orwell - as above
Tolkein - best imaginative fantasy fiction ever created - still re-reading the trilogy after 10 years
Asimov - second best of the above category
CS Lewis - third best of ^
Emily Bronte - coz it hurts so good


Obviously, I didn't dive too deeply into the litterary pool at uni.

Alive:

Tim Winton - my favourite writer of all-time after Dirt Music. He captures my imagination with the first paragraph every time. For me as an Aussie, nobody portrays the peculiarities of Australians or the idiosyncrasies and turn-of-phrase of the Australian language quite as accurately or with as clever timing and humour. And he spins a fantastic yarn. Dirt Music is simply the best book I've ever read.
Roddy Doyle - funny Irish scripting and has a great take on the kid's-eye-view
Patrick McCabe - the underside of Dublin of a few years ago; rotten but moreish
Ben Elton - always a good laugh and very accessible characters
Kate Grenville - a feminist conspiracy waiting to pounce on the unwitting stereotyp
& Tiberious aka Sparkles - ubiquitous utilizer of the expletive. *beep* yeah!
*Honourable mention to Patricia Wrightson for children's book - The Nargun and the Stars. Loved it in print and on TV as a kid. (I think she lives)

Untouchables:

Di Morrissey - vulgar romantic misrepresentation of just about everything. Australia's K-Mart millionaire hack.
Can't think of any others that made me wanna throw up.
Virginia Woolf

[PolyChronic Time Girl]

Tom Robbins:

Jitterbug Perfume
Skinny Legs and All
Still Life with Woodpecker
Half-Asleep in Frog Pajamas
Another Roadside Attraction

Damn fine read.....he's the best. Imagine inanimate objects turning animate and spinning witty monologues about philosophy and religion. Damn funny!

[riley]

The writers I tend to go back to to read again are,
Christopher Moore- He's damn funny and has an odd view of the world
Terry Pratchett- also funny, sometimes repetitious, but good light reading.
Richard Russo- enjoyable books, especially Nobody's Fool.
Christopher Brookmyre- good murder mysteries w/ odd humor in Scotland
David Brin- good sci-fi, especially his Uplift series.

Bad- a good share of the shared series stories in the Scifi section.

[krats1976]

[jjurabong]

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

Dostoevsky

Maugham

London

Sparkles*_*

[Maserial]

Previous posts have already mentioned several great authors, and in addition, I'd like to add:

Bret Easton Ellis: Sure, his characters are wealthy (by lineage), apathetic, degenerate, and despicable individuals. Rightfully so, yet gazing into a funhouse mirror is quite revealing, as well as enthralling.

William Blake: While often categorized as 'poetry' (and that is, perhaps, justifiable), I think that Blake's works deserve praise in whichever venue they arise. Furthermore, his artwork accentuates, if not elevates, the literary experience.

and, depending upon how one interprets the moniker of 'writer', I'd say that one my favorites is, unquestionably, Matt Wagner, creator of the Grendel comic book series.



I couldn't precisely explain just why I liked his style so much, or why the various incarnations of Grendel were so entertaining. 'Just because.'

My least favorite author would probably be James Fenimore Cooper. There's nothing really wrong with him, or his novels, but I just couldn't get too excited about the events contained within The Last of the Mohicans or The Deerslayer. I really had to force myself to read them all the way through.


I'm totally immature though, so you shouldn't trust anything I have to say about literature.