Favorite Authors and Books

I read widely in some areas.

In the area of Science Fiction, my favorites are Samuel R. Delany, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, although I also have enjoyed many others starting with the old masters and going on from there. For more notes on SF, let's dig into this on a separate page.

For mysteries, I like John MacDonald (especially the Travis McGee series), James Lee Burke and more recently, Dennis Lehane. I'm pretty much a lifetime New Englander, but a newcomer to the Boston area, so the local detail colored in by Lehane in his novels really brings this locale to life. Among the Brits, I've always enjoyed Iris Murdoch and P.D. James since I was introduced to their work some 15 years ago.

I don't read too much poetry, but can highly recommend just about all of Marilyn Hacker's work, to which I was introduced by Delany's "Babel 17". For some lucid criticism about modern poetry, try Tom Disch (yes, the same one who is among the best of the living science fiction writers).

Among some of the classic or mainstream writers, I have read and enjoyed Thomas Mann (The Magic Mountain is stunning!), Tolstoy (Anna Karenina), most of Hesse, some of Dostoyevsky, various and sundry Dickens and many others. Among fairly recent contemporaries, I like Robertson Davies (wonderful wry humor and insight), John Fowles, and, delving into the dark areas, James Ellroy.

Among travel books, Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast" says things about Paris that will be familiar territory even if you visit Paris as an American in these times.

There are also some interesting books on the spiritual side. Thomas Cahill's book about the life, times and contemporaries of Jesus, "Desire of the Everlasting Hills" brings these times and people to life in ways which gave me new perspectives. Philip Yancey's book on "The Jesus I never Knew" covers some similar territory and is also thought provoking.

For humor, Peter Mayle is quite good, especially in his initial foray into "A Year in Provence".

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