Oh man, where to start?!? I loved Nubian's picks (especially the Milton, the Irving, the Dostoyevsky, and the
Confessions), and Boru's suggestion of Morgan Llewellyn, and like NY I'm a big fan of Ray Bradbury and of Roald Dahl (Who isn't? Both his kids' stuff and his more grown-up work is fabulous)... I've read and enjoyed Bryce Courtenay and Nicholas Sparks too, at various times... And Zora Neale Hurston! Of course! And Tolkein too...
But it should come to no surprise to those who have read my other threads that I have a certain passion for Canadian Literature (CanLit).* My all-time favourite author has to be Carol Shields --- I love all of her novels and plays (especially
The Stone Diaries and
Larry's Party) but her short stories and poems are absolutely exquisite, though they're much harder to find now. Then there is Alistair MacLeod (short story collections:
Lost Salt Gift of Blood,
As Birds Bring Forth the Sun; novel:
No Great Mischief. Or Michael Ondaatje (novels:
The English Patient or
Anil's Ghost, or poems:
The Cinnamon Peeler), Ann-Marie McDonald (novel:
Fall On Your Knees), Anne Michaels (novel:
Fugitive Pieces or poems:
Skin Divers), Jane Urquhart (novel:
The Stone Carvers), or --- of course --- Margaret Atwood (novels:
Alias Grace and
The Handmaid's Tale)... I think there's something magical about reading words that have come out of your own home landscape and your own specific culture, and that something is what always draws me back to my CanLit... That said, I read and love books from around the world whenever I get the chance.
On another note, for anyone who likes to write, I definitely recommend looking at
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg --- it's a constant source of inspiration for me, in both my academic and my creative writing.
--- sweetstuff,
unveiling yet another of her little obsessions
* What I'm including here are just my favourite titles, not all the works by each author... although my list is long and it might start to feel that way at times...
But, LOL, if you think my list is long, you should see the list of books I want to read but haven't yet had time to indulge in!