Good TeaDay everyone and welcome to our TeaRoom. Please share what is in your cup today.
Yesterday responders shared fave movies of all time. The answers and results were both interesting and surprising. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.
Today's TeaRoom poll and discussion topic. BEST SELLING NOVELISTS (specifically novelists, not authors in general) of all time, from this list, are any of these your favorite(s)? Please share your favorite novelist of all time.
I am looking forward to sharing authors and tea today with everyone. Bottoms up!
May 3rd, '09, 02:12
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May 3rd, '09, 02:42
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An Ji Bai Pian this morning.
My favourite books are Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift and The Dream of a Red Mansion by Cao Xuequing. I loved War and Peace by Tolstoj.
More uptodate books that I keep re-reading are The God of Small Things by Arundati Roy and A Suitable Child by Vikram Seth.
Today I'm going on with The Adventures of Ten Princes by daNDin.
My favourite books are Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift and The Dream of a Red Mansion by Cao Xuequing. I loved War and Peace by Tolstoj.
More uptodate books that I keep re-reading are The God of Small Things by Arundati Roy and A Suitable Child by Vikram Seth.
Today I'm going on with The Adventures of Ten Princes by daNDin.
Jean Auel would be my favorite and the Earth's Children Series.
Valley of the Horses is probably my fave of the series.
Oh yes and Arthur Conan Doyle, another fave - love Sherlock Holmes.
From the list I guess J.K. Rowling is my pick.
Ended the day with steeps of white rose which has apparently
kept me awake.
Valley of the Horses is probably my fave of the series.
Oh yes and Arthur Conan Doyle, another fave - love Sherlock Holmes.
From the list I guess J.K. Rowling is my pick.
Ended the day with steeps of white rose which has apparently
kept me awake.
May 3rd, '09, 03:13
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Geekgirl
My top two books: Dune, and Fahrenheit 451. My top novelist: Neil Gaiman. I will read ANYTHING he writes, and buy it too, including his audiobooks.
If I were forced to choose from the poll list... I'd plead the 5th. Seriously, there isn't an author on there that I enjoyed enough that I'd read one of their novels a second time, though I've read something by almost all of them. (Embarrassing but true.) Haven't read Rowlings, guess I should get with it, eh?
Closest thing to a re-read on that list would be the first novel in the Gunslinger series by Stephen King, which I did really enjoy, and might be persuaded to read again if I ran out of books (yeah, right.) I read a lot of Christie when I was younger, and liked it. (Dorothy Sayers was better.)
Now, I do read a lot of new fiction, sci-fi and "pop" fiction, but for favorites, I have to go with modern classics like Bradbury, H.G. Wells (sort of "modern"), Herbert, Gaiman, Stephenson, I loved "Memoirs of a Geisha," classics like Shelley's "Frankenstein," which I've read many times, Stoker's "Dracula."
I've never read Shogun, but I have a hunch that when I do, it will make its way to the favorites list.
If I were forced to choose from the poll list... I'd plead the 5th. Seriously, there isn't an author on there that I enjoyed enough that I'd read one of their novels a second time, though I've read something by almost all of them. (Embarrassing but true.) Haven't read Rowlings, guess I should get with it, eh?
Closest thing to a re-read on that list would be the first novel in the Gunslinger series by Stephen King, which I did really enjoy, and might be persuaded to read again if I ran out of books (yeah, right.) I read a lot of Christie when I was younger, and liked it. (Dorothy Sayers was better.)
Now, I do read a lot of new fiction, sci-fi and "pop" fiction, but for favorites, I have to go with modern classics like Bradbury, H.G. Wells (sort of "modern"), Herbert, Gaiman, Stephenson, I loved "Memoirs of a Geisha," classics like Shelley's "Frankenstein," which I've read many times, Stoker's "Dracula."
I've never read Shogun, but I have a hunch that when I do, it will make its way to the favorites list.
May 3rd, '09, 04:17
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I haven't read most of those on the list, so I'll pick Tolstoy, although time has not been kind to his style.
I'm reading a lot of SciFi and cyberpunk these days, so my personal list would include Neal Stephenson (probably my favorite current author), Tolkien (I re-read TLOTR this past winter), Iain M. Banks (fantastically intelligent and inventive SF), Douglas Adams (just brilliant), and Frank Herbert (Dune is my favorite SF novel).
White Symphony to go with Stephenson's The Diamond Age this morning.
I'm reading a lot of SciFi and cyberpunk these days, so my personal list would include Neal Stephenson (probably my favorite current author), Tolkien (I re-read TLOTR this past winter), Iain M. Banks (fantastically intelligent and inventive SF), Douglas Adams (just brilliant), and Frank Herbert (Dune is my favorite SF novel).
White Symphony to go with Stephenson's The Diamond Age this morning.
May 3rd, '09, 06:52
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these are on the top of my to-be-read pile!!Jayaratna wrote: More uptodate books that I keep re-reading are The God of Small Things by Arundati Roy and A Suitable Child by Vikram Seth.
Great idea for a poll, Chip! but then I love love reading esp with a good cup of tea
It would be easier for me to pick fave books than authors (the only writer I consistently read, get excited about the next new book, and own lots of books by is Mary Oliver and that's poetry not fiction) but for this discussion I'll give it a go...
faves in general- Michael Ondaatje (loved Anil's Ghost) and Marilynne Robinson
fave in the classics- John Steinbeck
fave new to me- Salman Rushdie- I met him last fall at DC's book festival and actually got to talk to him briefly- I have a whole new appreciation for him
this seems to be a place that loves sci-fi and fantasy so my fave author there would be- Tolkien, Bradbury, Neil Gaiman
pop fiction- Carl Hiaasen, Jodi Picoult although I need time and space between their books
as for my cup- I found some sakura sencha! thought I had finished it
May 3rd, '09, 07:36
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Good choice, Salsero.
P.G. Wodehouse is certainly the greatest author in the English language with the exception of Wilde.
I like Mark Twain quite a bit too, but he isn't serious enough about humour. I do take everything he writes as absolute fact, which leads to many entertaining arguments. Innocents Abroad was his best selling book during his lifetime, and for good reason.
Drank Marukyu Koyamaen Sencha in new tea ware!
P.G. Wodehouse is certainly the greatest author in the English language with the exception of Wilde.
I like Mark Twain quite a bit too, but he isn't serious enough about humour. I do take everything he writes as absolute fact, which leads to many entertaining arguments. Innocents Abroad was his best selling book during his lifetime, and for good reason.
Drank Marukyu Koyamaen Sencha in new tea ware!
茶也醉人何必酒？
With pleasurecherylopal wrote:could you rec a book by him that would be a great first go? i'd love to read something by him...Trey Winston wrote: Iain M. Banks (fantastically intelligent and inventive SF), .
I started with The Player of Games, and I'm glad I did. It had me playing chess again for the first time in years.
This first one, Consider Phlebas, tends to drag on in places in my opinion, but I know that many consider it their favorite. PoG is much tighter and gives you a fine introduction to The Culture. It would be my first pick, also because it's probably not the best one - you'll be at the start of a rising curve.
I can recommend all his later SF, with some reservations for Use of Weapons. It is exceedingly brutal, even for Banks. Most of his stuff has sequences that are not for the squeamish.
Banks does not appeal to everyone, but if he hits you where you live, there isn't a weak book among the ten or so he's written this far. He's one of the few authors I almost wish I could discover all over again.
If you do get around to trying him out, I'd love to hear what you think!