The Favorite Books of 50 Famous Authors

By John Farrier in Book & Literature on Apr 18, 2010 at 2:03 pm

For Joyce Carol Oats, it’s Crime and Punishment. For Carl Hiassen, it’s Catch-22. The blog Online Degrees has a list of the favorite books of fifty famous authors. Here’s a selection:

10. John Irving: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens: The author of best-selling novels like The World According to Garp loved this Dickens classic

14. Norman Mailer: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: Himself an innovator of New Journalism, a style that blended non-fiction and essay, Mailer’s favorite book was this renowned piece of realist, though highly romantic, fiction.

43. Stephen King: The Golden Argosy edited by Van H. Campbell and Charles Grayson: King chose this fiction anthology as his favorite, though he has stated that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a close second.

Link via Marginal Revolution | Photo: National Science Foundation

Tags: authors, fiction

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felixthecat
Apr 18th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
We all have our own tastes; many of the above listed books I have no desire to ever read no matter what famous person liked them. My favorite is “The Wind in the Willows”.
J. Peder Zane
Apr 18th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Hi,

These picks are drawn from my book, “The Top Ten: Writers Pick their Favorite Books.” You can see all the Top Ten Picks of Oates, Mailer, King and 122 other writers at http://www.toptenbooks.net

- J. Peder Zane
Shirley Thomas
Apr 18th, 2010 at 8:43 pm
Thanks for featuring my fave author, John Irving.

From his On Writing book, I found out that Stephen King reads literally thousands of books a year, L0L. I guess being interviewed for this article was pretty difficult for him.

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