I am a big fan of Kathy Reichs, Michael Palmer, Patricia Cornwell and have recently discovered Julie Garwood. Has anybody read any of these authors?

I have read some Cornwell... she is quite good! Intersting stuff...

my favorite is anything Hemingway..

I've read the first three, and I think maybe Julie Gardwood as well. Cornwell I just loved when I started reading hers, but she's pretty much run it into the ground now, the Kay Scarpetta series at least. It's time she tried something different.
I tend to get Michael Palmer confused with Michael Connelly. Palmer writes medical thrillers, right? Conelly wrote "Blood Work", which is also a medical thriller (and now a movie), but that's not usually what he writes. He's very good, also.

Julie Garwood's good. If you like her, try Jude Devauraux (sp?), Judith McNaught and Nora Roberts.

ShadowHippie

Nora Roberts---she's an oldie but goodie! Has she written anything lately?

I think Jean M. Auel is perhaps the best author ever.

I would have to agree with you there, DakotaNorth

And yes, MsBatt, Roberts has written a LOT recently. Her best ones (I think) are Jewels of the Sun and Dance Upon the Air, both of these are the first in a trilogy.

ShadowHippie

Discovering a new author is a bit scarey for me. If I like them I have to read EVERYTHING! If it's fiction I like them funny or at least witty. Len Deighton, Douglas Adams, Ben Elton, Tom Robbins, Clive James and Steven Fry to drop a few. Tom Clancy's first 900 books were good, but the last 3-400 haven't been as good (kidding). Their all good

The author I still consider the best is Stephen King. I started reading his books when I was 13, which is of course a bit early, but since then my admiration for him has only grown...

Another author I love is Jeffery Deaver. He wrote "The Bone Collector" and "The Coffin Dancer" which I still think are some of the best crime stories ever written. Then there are some other writers of detective stories I like, e.g. Patricia Cornwell, Elizabeth George, and the unforgettable Agatha Christie.
My favorite German authors (I am german, so I feel like I should mention them, too) are Wolfgang Hohlbein (the "German Stephen King"), Charlotte Link, and Michael Ende (he wrote "The Neverending Story" which some of you might have heard of).
I'm sure I forgot some, but these are the most important ones... maybe I should also mention Edgar Allan Poe, my favorite poet.

My favorite author is Umberto Eco. Some people find his books difficult to read, but I love them all, at least the fiction ones. I 've managed to read "The name of the Rose" in only 2,5 days. I just couldn't leave it. But my favorite one is "Foucault's Pendulum". I think that it was one of the three books that changes my life.
Another author I really like is John Steinbeck, and especially his "East of Eden".

My favourite author is Eva Ibbotson, both her adult and children's books. You can work out what is going to happen in each book very early on, but it is a pleasure following her well crafted characters.

I think the wizard watcher from which witch may have been the inspiration for Fluffy in Harry Potter.

I'm a big fan of Patricia Cornwell especially the Scarpetta books and I've just started to read her book on Jack the Ripper which is quite interesting. I also like to read James Patterson, I've found he has a way of keeping you guessing all the way through.

I LOVE Rauld Dahl and Lemony Snicket!!

My favourite authors are Stephen King and Terry Prachett. I just can't get enough of them.
I also like reading Willy Russells plays (I always seem to bring him in somewhere! Considering Blood Brothers is fantastic and my favourite musical.)

I enjoyed Name of the Rose, too, very much.

Roald Dahl was a wonderful writer! I have several of his books: James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter books, and LOTR.

The author I keep rereading is Dame Agatha Christie. Her books are light but engrossing, too. Reading one of her mysteries lets me unwind.

I have never read Lemony Snicket, but I'm fixing to start on the first one. It looks like great fun.

Phillip Pullman is one of the best authors I know... Er . . . J.K. Rowling (no duh - lol) Lemony Snicket, the pen name guy.

I almost forgot - Jenny Nimmo, author of Midnight for Charlie Bone, even though I have no idea what the book has to do with midnight.

J.R.R. Tolkien and Roald Dahl.

Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman and Patricia Cornwell are my current favorites.

I would like J.K. Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkein. I think J.R.R. Tolkein is more creative than J.K.

I absolutely love Sarah Dessen and all of her books. I also like Jenny Carroll (well,I suppose she's going to go by Meg Cabot full time now) but her books are good as well.

It has to be Lemony Snicket, Roald Dahl, and Eva Ibbotson!

I read constantly and have found that I like mystery novels the best. I used to read Patricia Cornwell because I adored Dr. Kay Scarpetta, but lately I've notice that nothing 'good' ever happens to her. She's such a miserable person nowadays. James Patterson writes some good novels also, albeit a little bloody.

I do like Dean Koontz and have read all of his books, along with Stuart Woods, and Sidney Sheldon, and now I'm getting to really like Lee Child' s Jack Reacher stories.

And, of course, Jean Auel and Diana Gabaldon will always top my favorite lists.

J.K.Rowling
J.R.R.Tolkien
Roald Dahl
Madelien L'Engle
Lemony Snicket
Eoin Colfer

Ever see the movie "High Fidelity", where the guy puts his records in autobiographical order? That is, the order in which he obtained that particular piece of vinyl. I'm going to attempt to do the same thing here, listing my favorite authors in order from childhood onward.

Philip D. Eastman*, Dr Seuss, Jay Williams, Robert A. Heinlein**, Ian Fleming, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Erich Maria Remarque*, William Golding*, Andre Norton, Robert Sheckley**, Mark Twain**, George Orwell, Jerzy Kosinski, Philip Jose Farmer, Roger Zelazny, Robert E. Howard, Ron Goulart, H.P. Lovecraft, Tanith Lee, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, L. Sprague DeCamp, Stephen King, Voltaire*, Milan Kundera*, Ernest Hemingway**, P.J. O'Rourke, Judy Jones and William Wilson*, Anatole France*, Stendahl*, Umberto Eco*, Jim Thompson, Robert Graves, William Gibson, Sinclair Lewis, Larry McMurtry, Mary Renault**, Alfred Bester, James A. Michener, Edward Rutherford, Paul Johnson, Edward Gorey, Homer, Tom Holt.

* Listed as a favorite because of one particular book that had an impact. Just because there was only one doesn't lessen the impact, necessarily. "Lord of the Flies" means as much to me as, say, the collected works of Arthur C. Clarke. I went back to these singular books again and again or they were somehow very significant to me.

** A major favorite for at least a few years. Reading Heinlein today can make me cringe but from my late childhood through adolescence I thought he was the greatest. Even so, there are usually some books by these authors that I've never read.

Looking back I wish someone would have discouraged me as a teen from reading all the fantasy, horror, and science fiction and found me some better books. The only way I can think of to remedy the situation is to build a time machine, which is a symptom of my problem.

What's wrong with fantasy? What's wrong with books like Harry Potter?

Good question, but beyond the scope of this thread. I'll try to answer it in a new thread.