Best living writers?

[Lord Mhoram]

Obviously I know writers in English the best. In the United States, I think the best living novelist is Philip Roth -- for his sheer prolificness (he's at about a book a year, well into his 70s), versatility, and consistently excellent output. A recent New York Times poll ranked Roth very high; had it been a poll of writers and not novels, he'd have won (literally). I do think that until his death two months ago John Updike edged Roth out, and about four years before that the great Saul Bellow gave them both a run for their money. Other popular choices might be Toni Morrison, Thomas Pynchon, and Don Delillo. The latter two I imagine are most popular among a fantasy crowd. For various reasons I think they are all inferior to the ones I've mentioned (could go on if anyone cares). In Canada, I have to say that Alice Munro is probably the best living writer; her short stories are little marvels, almost as fully realized as novels. I confess I am far less familiar with Canada's literature, though. As for the UK, as many problems with him as I have I still think Salman Rushdie is the finest Britain has today. He's a great stylist and his output has also been long and consistently excellent.

What do you think?

Another good source to consult might be Time's "All-TIME 100 Novels".

[danlo]

Fascinating discussion on Joeblo.com Now that Updike is gone, who is America's greatest living author? From Thomas Pynchon, Cormac McCarthy, J.D. Salinger to Ray Bradbury and Chuck Pulnuik...

I love McCarthy and Pynchon (when I can understand him) funniest American writer: Tom Robbins

I also like this guy Donaldson too!

[Lord Mhoram]

Very interesting! I don't think I'd list Salinger or Bradbury; it'd be a little like saying the Rolling Stones are the best operating band, you know? A lot of those guys in that thread seem to think it's Delillo or Pynchon; the prose of those two is too crowded and noisy and bleak for my taste even if I do appreciate it.

[sgt.null]

for entertainment value? Stephen King. in a couple hundred years people will still be reading him.

[Krazy Kat]

You know sometimes when you are blind to the obvious...
My bookshelf has been bugging me recently. Everytime I walked past I was aware that something was missing. I havn't read a novel for a few months (except the 1st chrons). I've been reading mostly computer, electronics, music, and art books; but have been itching to write down a sci-fi story that has been swirling around in my head for ages. When I read this thread I realised that 99% of my books are by authors no longer living. I did notice Gene Wolfe, Clive Cussler, Margaret Attwood, and Micheal Moorcock. Anyway, I went out today with a list of authors: Philip Roth, Melvyn Bragg, Carol Ann Duffy, Andrew Motion...well, I returned with a Salman Rushdie book. I was hoping to find Salimar the Clown but I'm about to read, The Moor's Last Sigh.

Just wanted to comment on a good thread.

[Lord Mhoram]

Krazy Kat, I loved The Moor's Last Sigh. Highly fantastical like most of his stuff. I haven't read Salimar though, but I'm sure you'll enjoy what you got.

[aliantha]

I'd put in a vote for Margaret Atwood. Maybe Toni Morrison as well -- I recently read "A Mercy", which was good. What about Annie Proulx? She's got that whole Wyoming thing going on now, but her earlier stuff was really good, too. "The Shipping News" was terrific.

Haven't read Roth, Pyncheon or McCarthy, that I remember, so I can't say anything about any of them. I do agree with you about Salinger and Bradbury, LM -- neither of them would be on my short list for best living author.

Too bad Vonnegut's gone....

[Lord Mhoram]

I intend to read Toni Morrison this summer.

[aliantha]

I intend to read Toni Morrison this summer.

Good for you! I did a paper on her stuff in grad school. Turned out she was among the prof's favorite authors; he ripped my paper up one side and down the other.

[Montresor]

Umberto Eco.

[Vader]

If it's about American writers, I always enjoyed Paul Auster a lot.

If it's author's in general Montresor deserves kudos for mentioning the great Eco.

[Orlion]

Richard Matheson- Great stories, great structure, terrific execution, easy flow, highly influential.

The only reason he isn't my favorite author is because he isn't Donaldson

[Vraith]

I think Joyce Carol Oates has to be at least in the running.
Maybe Barbara Kingsolver, too...only read a smattering of her, but it was good stuff.

[aliantha]

Kingsolver is great. I loved the trilogy that includes "Animal Dreams".

Oates is certainly prolific, anyhow. She's got a new one out, springing out of the Jon Benet Ramsey murder, that I'd like to read.

While looking up Oates on Amazon, I thought of Jane Smiley, who wrote "A Thousand Acres" ("King Lear" set in the American heartland) and "Moo" (a farce set in academia), both of which I enjoyed.

If we're doing only American authors, then Atwood is out; she's Canadian.

[Cail]

Chuck Palahniuk is an interesting choice. I didn't realize that Richard Matheson was still alive, so that sort of invalidates a lot of what I'm about to say.

I think when people ask questions like these, they (tend to) blind themselves to everyone but the "prestige" authors. Maybe this is just my blue collar showing itself, but I enjoy PJ O'Rourke or Dave Barry infinitely more than Tom Wolfe, JD Salinger. I vastly prefer Elmore Leonard or Carl Hiaasen to Pynchon or Updike.

Why?

Simply because I get more out of them. They're enjoyable reads (Palahniuk too). I'm enveloped in the narrative quickly, and I'm engaged in the story. So many of the "prestige" authors seem to forget that for many people, the magic of reading is being able to lose oneself in the story, and I find that most critically acclaimed books fail utterly to do so (for this reader).

Take a guy like Cussler. The man has basically written the same book 20 or so times. BFD, I'll buy them anyway, because they're a pleasure to read.

Or King for that matter. King's written some absolutely awful stuff, but when he's on......He's on, and no one, living or dead, can touch his skill at putting the reader into the story. I've said this in the King Forum, but I think "Duma Key" is arguably the best thing he's ever written, and it gives me faith that the man can still spin one helluva yarn.

Yeah, I think I'm gonna agree with Null on this one, King's the man.

[Orlion]

Yeah, unless someone is starting some sort of Matheson cult, the guy is still around (I'm always surprised when I think of this)

Some good sensible posting, Cail, I find myself agreeing with quite a bit of it.

[Vraith]

Chuck Palahniuk is an interesting choice. I didn't realize that Richard Matheson was still alive, so that sort of invalidates a lot of what I'm about to say.

I think when people ask questions like these, they (tend to) blind themselves to everyone but the "prestige" authors. Maybe this is just my blue collar showing itself, but I enjoy PJ O'Rourke or Dave Barry infinitely more than Tom Wolfe, JD Salinger. I vastly prefer Elmore Leonard or Carl Hiaasen to Pynchon or Updike.

Why?

Simply because I get more out of them. They're enjoyable reads (Palahniuk too). I'm enveloped in the narrative quickly, and I'm engaged in the story. So many of the "prestige" authors seem to forget that for many people, the magic of reading is being able to lose oneself in the story, and I find that most critically acclaimed books fail utterly to do so (for this reader).

Take a guy like Cussler. The man has basically written the same book 20 or so times. BFD, I'll buy them anyway, because they're a pleasure to read.

Or King for that matter. King's written some absolutely awful stuff, but when he's on......He's on, and no one, living or dead, can touch his skill at putting the reader into the story. I've said this in the King Forum, but I think "Duma Key" is arguably the best thing he's ever written, and it gives me faith that the man can still spin one helluva yarn.

Yeah, I think I'm gonna agree with Null on this one, King's the man.

First...I just noticed your new avatar, Cail...spec-f'ing-tacular.
I thought we'd get to this discussion on this thread eventually, especially considering LM's original post. The great divide between "best" and "most important." in a way. Lot's of great 'storytellers' aren't necessarily important, lot's of 'important' writers aren't great storytellers. And some cross the gap.
I love Pynchon and Joyce because I can walk into a classroom [and certain bars] and talk [sometimes fight] about the ideas, and "WTF does this MEAN?"
That's not the reason I love reading King or even [blush] Robert Ludlum [dead now, but Eric Lustbader does nicely...though his really early stuff is aweful]
I mentioned Oates earlier..sometimes she's just BORING...but sometimes..wow..and she's a line-crosser. So is SRD. And Eco, and Rushdie.
Should I be embarrased that I've not heard of Palahniuk? I'm going to look it up.

[Cail]

You've heard of Chuck, he wrote Fight Club.

SRD can certainly be both, but then again, I've not enjoyed his latest two. Ludlum's like Cussler.....Like putting on an old pair of shoes. Clancey's a wannabe Cussler; a decent writer that can be engaging but lacks a soul (if ya know what I mean).

[Holsety]

I thought we'd get to this discussion on this thread eventually, especially considering LM's original post. The great divide between "best" and "most important." in a way. Lot's of great 'storytellers' aren't necessarily important, lot's of 'important' writers aren't great storytellers. And some cross the gap.
I love Pynchon and Joyce because I can walk into a classroom [and certain bars] and talk [sometimes fight] about the ideas, and "WTF does this MEAN?"

It's a matter of personal preference, but if I don't feel at least slightly confused about the meaning of the book I'm reading I will probably lose interest in it. Anyways, I've never really been able to cross the gap and enjoy or respect an author for their importance. At the same time, I think I am probably easy to please: even if I dislike an author and find myself consistently arguing/disagreeing with them (no living ones come to mind, but some dead ones I tend to fight with include Dryden, Swifte, some Yeats, Thomas Moore) still have a strong impact on me that I appreciate, and there isn't anything "stylistically" that I disapprove of.

There are some famous poets who I find intolerable to read even if I admit that there style seems to "work". No matter how many teachers smack me around with perfectly viable interpretations that prove there are interesting things to be found in "The Wasteland", it can't change the fact that I have never been (will never be?) pulled into the poem enough to actually enjoy it (I do like Prufrock though). But I can't say the same for most of the well-received authors I personally dislike. When I read a novel and find something unsatisfying, I tend to think about what I would do to change the novel and make me like it better. While that's extraordinarily conceited, it's also enjoyable, and I don't mind authors who force me into that process with meager and unsatisfying sensibilities.

One living author whom I think kicks ass is John Barth. I admit I've only read two works by him (Sot Weed Factor and Chimera) but I think he does a terrific job at blending the ludicrously hilarious with the serious and tragic in a manner that leaves my image of myself as a good person very seriously challenged. Kind of reminds me of the smatterings of Wilmot I'm familiar with...? Anyways, I'm not sure if he's still writing but I'm pretty sure he's still alive, and IMO his work is pretty awesome.

I kinda hate Atwood's comments along the lines of "I don't write sci-fi, I write speculative fiction" because I think she's dead wrong. In fact, I think there are few/no extrapolations on the development society in "Oryx and Crake" or "The Handmaid's Tale" which can be isolated from scientific developments, thus I think they are some of the most strongly sci-fi dystopias I've ever read (certainly moreso than Fair 451 or 1984). That being said, once I get down to actually reading her books the author's commentary on herself goes out the window (well, this is true for a fair number of authors I read) and I enjoy the books very, very much for what I get out of them. I guess that in terms of American authors this is a moot point but *shrug*

Not too much to add to the discussion of him, but I think McCarthy is really, really good from what I've read (haven't gotten to Blood Meridian; what I have read is the Border Trilogy, The Road and No Country for Old Men). I think the highest praise I can give him is the following: while I thought the film version of No Country for Old Men was an absolutely excellent adaptation that betrayed much less of the source material than I would have expected it to, I still find it rather unsatisfying when compared with the book.

I think I would class much of Gene Wolfe's work that I've read as some of the best stuff I've read (a too large category at this point). I love the book of new sun, peace, fifth head of cerberus and the latro series. There Are Doors isn't quite as good, but still worthy of praise. The Wizard Knight books are IMO bad. The Book of Long Sun is good, but nowhere near New Sun. The short stories in Innocents Abroad (don't know what it has to do w/ Twain's though I've read both) are mostly meh but there are some good ones

The topic title didn't seem to be restricted to english/american books, so I'll go ahead and mention a couple other internationals. If no one wants to pick up on the discussion that's OK with me. I really enjoyed Carl Ruiz Zafon's "The Shadow of the Wind", and while I'm kind of disappointed that he's following it up with a prequel (I don't really think the story needs further elaboration), I will probably go ahead and buy it someday. One favorite international of american readers is haruki murakami: I appreciate the nonfiction works and short stories I've read by him, but the only novel I enjoyed was Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (I actually left Wild Sheep Chase unfinished, it's pretty rare I dislike a book enough to stop before finishing).

[danlo]

You've never read Giles Goat Boy? You really should.