My favorite author is Henry David Thereau. I love Civil Disobedience. My favorite quotes are as follows:

Quote:

I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe--"That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which the will have.

Quote:

Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.

Hard to say, I've read a lot of good ones, but I think one of my favorites would be Mary Roberts Rinehart, she wrote great mysteries and in fact started the whole 'the butler did it' thing and in her writing there's what's called the had-I-but-known element. And without her book, The Bat, Bob Kane probably never would've made Batman, so I'd say she deserves a lot of credit for her great writing.

Either Jeanette Walls or Anne Lamotte.

"....he said it was interesting. He used the word 'textured'. He said 'smooth' is boring but 'textured' was interesting, and the scar meant that I was stronger than whatever had tried to hurt me."
— Jeannette Walls (The Glass Castle)
"For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die."
— Anne Lamott (Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life)

I don't have one honestly. Although I hope to BE one to at least a few people one day.

Terry Pratchett

And I'm pissed that he has Alzheimer's.

I am really in to sci-fi fantasy, so the late and missed Robert Jordan, also gone Robert Heinlein, Margaret Weis, Mercedes Lackey and the lamented Marion Zimmer Bradley top my list. Urban fantasy would be Kim Harrison, Kelley Armstrong and Charlaine Harris. Thrillers would be Dan Brown and James Patterson. Stephen King is back from what ever dark place he was, so I am enjoying his books again. I could go on and I know I have missed a lot but those are the ones I have thought of right now.

I'd have to say Kurt Vonnegut. Since his passing I've been lucky enough to come across two volumes of short stories that I didn't know existed. Bagombo Snuff Box and Armageddon in Retrospect. I just to make sure I had the names right and discovered that he has another posthumous collection, Look at the Birdie. Ah...serendipity!

fetaby wrote:

Terry Pratchett

And I'm pissed that he has Alzheimer's.

That's a shame on many levels. I know my wife and I are keeping our fingers crossed that notheing happens to George R.R. Martin. At least until after he finishes the Fire and Ice series

I would say Vladimir Nabokov. He had this great gift for word play. In one of his novels (I believe it was "Laughter in the Dark") he mentioned how there was a play called "Cunning Stunts" and how you'd better not say those words too fast!

MandyPerfumeGirl wrote:

I would say Vladimir Nabokov. He had this great gift for word play. In one of his novels (I believe it was "Laughter in the Dark") he mentioned how there was a play called "Cunning Stunts" and how you'd better not say those words too fast!