Here is a list of fiction writers who are among my personal favorites (with a representative book listed alongside). These are not the usual suspects, but some of the lesser-known writers I like.
Richard Yates, "Revolutionary Road";
John Fante, "Ask the Dust";
Nelson Algren, "The Man with the Golden Arm";
Frederick Exley, "A Fan's Notes";
Charles Portis, "The Dog of the South";
John Williams, "Stoner";
Patrick Hamilton, "Hangover Square";
Richard Russo, "Empire Falls";
Richard Ford, "The Sportswriter";
Don DeLillo, "White Noise";
Jim Harrison, "True North";
Raymond Carver, "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?";
Willy Vlautin, "The Motel Life";
Michael Chabon, "The Wonder Boys";
Ian McEwan, "Atonement";
Colson Whitehead, "John Henry Days";
Orhan Pamuk, "Snow";
Junot Diaz, "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao";
Avram Davidson, "Vergil in Averno"
Recent reading: recommended fiction
The Secret of Lost Things (2006), Sheridan Hay; Absurdistan (2006), Gary Shteyngart; Five Skies (2007), Ron Carlson; Citizen Vince (2005), Jess Walter; On Chesil Beach (2007), Ian McEwan; We're in Trouble (2005), Christopher Coake; Returning to Earth (2007), Jim Harrison; The Lay of the Land (2006), Richard Ford
Duke of Gloucester to Edward Gibbon, author of the six-volume “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”:“Another damn’d thick square book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh, Mr. Gibbon?”—Court
Not, not me! Steve Martin, of course. Martin's new book, "Born Standing Up," is a memoir of his years as a stand-up comedian. It's a shortish book, about 200 pages, with ample spacing between the lines of text and with pictures scat
One pitfall of globalization is that business people sometimes get caught up in international politics, and most of them have no idea what they are doing. For example: Jerry Yang, CEO of Yahoo.Yang is taking a lot of heat lately — and justly so
