Top Ten Greatest Authors

I've only just started reading books by him (the first book I read being Carrie) and he is already my favorite author of all time. Carrie is my current favorite book ever made, but I bet that'll change once I read more of King's books. He is the most influential author both in movies and books, having written books like The Shining, It, Different Seasons, The Green Mile just to name a few, none of which I've read yet but will be reading soon, and having movies based on the books like The Shining, It, Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile just to name a few. King can write about everything and somehow make it work. I mean, if he can write about a clown monster that isn't really a clown and is called Bob and make that good, you know he can write everything. I've become hooked to his writing, it's fantastic. King is absolutely my favorite author and he deserves to be as high as he is on this list.

Yes, Rick Riordan's books are good. Yes, J.K. Rowling's books are good. There are many authors out there that have published marvelous books, such as Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Lord of the Rings, Hobbit; I'm sure you all know. But those terrific books have only appeared once. However, Stephen King can produce so many books that are simply masterpieces. He never runs out of good ideas; I am dying to know what even gets his inspiration and creativity to such a superb amount. The most complex and long thing can be written flawlessly by him; for example, the Stand. This book is so incredibly long; in fact, it would've been longer, however the printers couldn't handle it and the publishers told him to cut off a large chunk of the book. But even as he did do that, it was still perfect. Beautiful. Amazing. It will stick with me forever.

It is really laughable to hail J.K. rowling as the best writer when all she has done a series for children and nothing else. Ten years later her name will be lost in the mists of time unless she manages to follow her current success. On the other hand Stephen King has been in the game for 4 DECADES and he is still going strong -check out his last book 11.22.63, one of his best and hailed by Newyork Times as one of the best ten books of 2011. He is not only master of horror but one of the masters of contemporary American fiction. From horror classics (the shining, the stand, IT, salem's lot) to excellent short story collections (night shift, just after sunset) to novellas (Different seasons, Full Dark No Stars) to epics (the Stand, It, Under the Dome) he produced so many great things that it is astonishing and is horrifying in itself as if King is not a human but an outworldly creature. His awards are numerous.

Stephen King is to me the only author that will never run out of good idea's. Sure Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings were amazing books but it seems to me those are the only good idea's they have. Stephen King on the other hand has an immense amount of stories I mean 57 books! This also contains a few books loaded with short stories. This man's imagination is vast. I mean look at the facts people, most people voted for J.R. R Tolkien and J. K Rowling because everyone know's how iconic their work is. Most people probably read their works (just guessing here) because everyone else reads it, but it's to me like this quote :If you read the same books as everyone else you'll think like everyone else.

JRR Tolkien was a master of literature and art. He created not only a compelling story describing the very essence of good versus evil, light versus dark, but on top of this Tolkien created a world. Rich with real languages, cultures, and history. Tolkien's Middle Earth is up there with the greatest artistic achievements of man. I say there is none other universe save our own as beautiful in craftsmanship and depth as that of Middle Earth.

Tolkien is the best writer ever. There is something special about his books. Something about the style of writing and the plot or storyline of the story. I read The Hobbit and book 1 of Lord of the Rings and I showed it to my teacher and she said that I should have read Harry Potter instead of those stuff. But I disagreed with her. It was definitely hard to come up with book titles and character names, but Tolkien created a whole new, different language for his books! How amazing is that! Most of the people hate reading, especially teens and children, because parents and tutors and teachers FORCE them to read it. As my father always say,' When don't let your child do something, They'll start wanting to do it.' People should attract and encourage teens and kids to read classic literature not force. My parents used to make me read a chapter of a book before I go to bed, but I always hated them doing that. But then, I saw my friends reading happily and I picked up a book about dinosaurs ...more

I love Harry Potter as much as the next person, but what Rowling did was not nearly as powerful nor did it encompass the genius associated with the greatest writer of all time. Tolkien created a world, a language, and one of the greatest Hero's Journeys in the history of literature all from scratch. He commented on the corruption of the human soul and the lust of evil found within our hearts, and yet he still made each and every reader believe in the quiet dignity of the hobbits and the triumph of Good over Evil. Harry Potter is a wonderful and empowering story for children, but Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit touches humanity at its core. Now what am I doing? I have an English essay to be writing right now.

One author makes a high school full of magic that children can relate to when they don't finish their homework or they get bullied because they bullied other kids only to make money. Another makes an entire world of relating to politics, how bad power can be, how gold and riches close people's minds, friendship and how everyone can change the coarse of the world. Guess what happens, the author who only cares for kids to relate to their stupidest dilemmas at school gets more fans than the one who explained some very important life lessons to us. Why? Because nobody wants to think what is the story telling you, no body thinks that stories are just filters that makes the light of the lesson behind them more interesting, except every one thinks "look some one was racist on me today like this story" but not how to stop it. This is why I love LOTR, because every page has a life lesson in it, you just have to think.

I think the reason why many of us teens and children think his books are boring is because the school forces us to read it. In school, we have to stop every 5 seconds and "analyze" it. That isn't immersive at all! It makes it hard to lose yourself in the world of the story when you have to stop reading every so often. Teachers say that the beauty of literature is that it contains so many hidden messages if you look between the lines. But really, the real beauty of books is that it creates a whole new world to the reader that they can experience at their own pace. I think this also relates to why children today prefer video games to school reading, but I'm going off topic. Dickens was a great author. After reading Great Expectations in my free time at my own pace, I found it to be a masterpiece.

How can anyone place King--a horror story writer-- ahead of Dickens, or for that matter, any of the world's great writers. Dickens is one of the greatest writers in history. King is definitely not in this class. And, by the way, when it comes to the horror genre, Mary Shelley is a horror story writer, not KIng.

A great author and before people could record meaningful songs to campaign for civil rights he was writing novels that were very deep and meaningful and showed the dark side of Victorian life, and complain about how hard life as a kid in the Victorian era is. He has a range of classics to his name, and deserves no. 1.

I've read David Copperfield and let me tell you, I'm a Filipino I'm not that good in understanding deep English, but the thousand times I consulted the dictionary the thousand times I'm loving this author. Try to read Oliver Twist and A Tale of Two Cities (200million copies, no. 1)

Mark Twain should, at the very least, make the top five. He wrote the most highly anthologized book in the history of the U.S. His grasp of irony and dialect was, and still is, astounding. Their are very few people in this country who do not recognize his name.

I believe that he should be ranked #1. This needs to be based on something other than who your writing hero is or who's writing you enjoy the most. It should be based on historical impact.

One of my favorite books of all time was The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It was amazing. I may go read it again later, now that I think about it.

He is the first modern writer of this fair country; humorist extraordinaire he helped define the American wit and wisdom.

My great, great grandmother was buddies with him. Not that close, but they still knew each other. Let's just I stared at my grandma for a bit without moving when she mentioned that casually like it was nothing when we were eating lunch... LOL...

About ten percent of his work is horror, his essays, poetry and the first detective story ever written that leant much to Sherlock Holmes are what? Forgotten!

A master among masters. His ability with words stands unrivaled.

I really love his poems , I remember reading his poetry in school and I simply fell in love love with them especially my favorite poem the Raven and the Tell tail heart . Edgar Allen is awesome

I am a big fan of Edgar Allen Poe poems and poetry , my favorite poems from Edgar Allen is the Raven and the tell tale heart . All of his poems are awesome .

If madness had a tongue it wold speak the words he wrote. He has the ability to make the macabre seem beautiful and to make death seem desirable.

I love The Chronicles of Narnia! Best Series ever! It's not like Twilight, I mean Twilight is about a girl who has to choose between a vampire and a werewolf! But Narnia makes a person's imagination grow wild and spread! It can make a person imagine they are a part of Narnia!

I love C. S Lewis he is truly a inspiring person I am eleven and for my 9 birth day we went and saw voyage of the dawn treader. Narnia makesv you imagine things you never could it lets your thoughts run wild and free. Lewis has such a vivid imagination.

Oh god C.S. Lewis should be in the top 3! When I read Narnia I literally fell IN LOVE with that book! And the movie was fantastic, too! I used to think his books would suck, oh man I was wrong!

C S Lewis is a wonderful author of my favorite book series the chronicles of Narnia and I really love every single one including horse and his boy , the dawn treader . and also the silver chair . I really love them and I really enjoy Cs Lewis

Yes, his books are primarily for children. But any person living in a 21st century first world country has to have read one of his books. In addition...
-Even after death, his books are still being adapted into books.
-The Cat In The Cat and Grinch have become household names.
-He was one of the first people to realize how terrible cutting down trees was for the environment.
-He invented the word nerd.

Even if I rarely read anything written by him (which I regret) I still have a very high respect for Dr. Seuss. In my opinion, the man was a genius. Almost all of his books are allegories that teach us valuable lessons while being enjoyable for young audiences at the same time. It's actually amazing how he put messages into his books, which were super creative and memorable.

Although his books are for children, he is one of the most legendary authors of all. His books were the first many kids ever read, and they're so imaginative! Green Eggs and Ham, Oh, the Places You'll Go, and The can in the Hat were my favorite books growing up. Dr. Seuss is truly a legend, and I hope his books are never forgotten.

YES! Man he is amazing, he is legendary!
He wrote the first children book that not only had an amazing message, but they are funny and full of his great AND wild imagination.

Most of us probably read him in translation, so I don't know if it's fair that he's up high on an "all time" list, when we haven't been reading Dostoevsky, but a translator's interpretation of him.

The books with Dostoevsky's name on them are good. I've mostly read the Constance Garnette translations, and though I hear that they're utter crap and don't do F.D any honor, they are still some of the most engaging and thought-filled books I've ever read. Scenes that would be boring slogs in the hands of any other classical author are rendered into something impossible to stop reading. His best stories are ones you'll be thinking about intermittently through your life after you've read them.

Is Stephen King seriously at the top of this list? His works are basically shallow serials, his use of self referencing within the text is nonexistent because he's not a planner he's a discovery writer. The guy is basically the adult version of R.L. Stein. Dostoevsky is already setting up every stage of the story at the beginning, his complex stories feature some of the strongest psychological depth and use of archetypes, impeccably written characters and just overall storytelling power. Seriously Stephen King this blows my mind.

I really hate to see that J.K Rowling, J.R.R Tolkien and Stephen King are above authors like Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Victor Hugo. Is nice to read books like Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, The Shining because they will give you nice action, good characters that you will fall in love with, bad characters that you will hate and a good plot. But there is a difference when you read ''The Brothers Karamazov'', ''War and Peace'' or ''Les Miserables''. Fiction is a good genre to read when you're bored, but these books present the human nature so well that it will make you sad. It's a shame if you won't read them, believe me.

Tolkien, Rowling and Stephen King in front of Dostoevsky? That's like snails outpace a Ferrari! If you are really into literature, you read Tolstoy and Goethe and Kafka and Joyce and Proust and all the others... compared with Dostoevsky, it's no contest. Sometimes I'm scared how huge he is. In my opinion the world is still not ready to grasp his thinking. If you read - let's say - Stephen King, you'll have a good story, some funny lines and some tention. If you read a novel like "Karamasov", you are not the same person you were on the first page. Dostoevsky forces you to overthink your life, your deepest opinions, emotions and even the people around you. He is going to whisper you secrets, which were always in you, but you could never give them a voice. He does it by creating real people! After crime and punishment you know Raskolnikov as well, if not better than your relatives. That's the difference: he doesn't need horror or a whole new world to spark your fantasy. He tells you ...more

I fell in love with her type and style of writing. She has created a magical empire which surrounds every single childhood memories. She is clearly amazing and outstanding. Plus, she has now written a new novel for other public, which has received excellent comments and evaluation it's name - the casual vacancy and the cuckoos calling-. In addition, I think she brought a new world to ours. She is clearly better than Stephenie Meyer. Interestingly enough, I have tried to write a magical novel as her, but I could not finish it cause she included all the possible facts and creatures in her -Harry potter- serie. Finally, I want to stand out her narrative style, it's full of adventures and knew discoveries mixed with love and respect.

I love reading classics and thought that modern authors wrote nothing. But after reading the first Harry Potter book, my point of view changed completely. Beautifully written, it contains bravery, sacrifice, love, friendship, deceit, war against evil, and humour in perfect proportion, written in beautiful simplistic language. I am 40 now, but whenever I pick up a Harry Potter book, no matter how much I have read the book before it is always new to me. She fought depression, personal problems and went on to give the best literary series in history, her life story is an inspiration. She has invoked a whole generation who showed a cool indifference to reading to read. She is the best

Anyone who says her books are the greatest they've ever read is clearly an illiterate with no taste in decency. Read a book like Crime and Punishment, you'll have to work for it but it will be a much much more fulfilling experience in the end.
To help out the illiterates and stains of society like you all clearly are, I will give you some authors to expand your palette. Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Ernest Hemingway, Leo Tolstoy, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Truman Capote, J.D. Salinger, George Orwell, Sylvia Plath, Ken Kesey, James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald or John Kennedy Toole. Expand your mind and you will come out a more fulfilled person.

BEST WRITER EVER! Those other authors have nothing compared to her genius. Harry potter wasn't just a book series or fictional world it was and still is a remark of exellence and true meaning of literature. Unlike all the other authors instead of just putting big words in the text from time to time she grips you in her her story so easily that it's even hard to blink because you don't want to look away from her books. She even puts meanings behind everything she writes so it goes to show how much effort she put into writing the Harry Potter fantasies because who knew there was actually a meaning to the first dialogue Snape ever said to Harry. She is also an inspiration to all young minds who never think outside the box because they don't think it would help them but Rowling shows everyone that you can achieve anything with just a bit of imagination.

1984? Animal farm? Two incredibly influential novels that over time have changed the views of whole societies and warned us of the dangers some political systems pose. Without George Orwells influence through these incredibly well constructed novels the world could be a much darker place. Orwell should be in the top five at least. The fact he is outside the top ten at this present moment in moment is abysmal! I urge anyone who is reading this comment who has not heard of the works of Orwell to firstly read 1984 and animal farm, then secondly come back onto this site and vote Orwell.

George Orwell, the best writer of all time. His writing whether novels, short stories or essays evokes a sense of experience, when the piece of writing is finished, you have a deep sense of having been there, of actual involvement and leave the experience with understanding and further knowledge. His writings are a window into historical social boundaries, ideologies and inadequacies, which were not only prevalent in the early twentieth century and times of the empire, but also ring true today, and will ring true in the years to come. Genius.

I loved animal farm a whole lot. It's one of the first classics that actually taught me that reading is great. I mean, he got me into loving the history of the Soviet Union, as well as getting me into communist China, and what not. He actually explains very well what happens in communist countries, which I find to be great. I still find it to be disappointing that Ray Bradbury isn't here. He's my favorite author; then goes Orwell. But yeah. Orwell can really get you into books.

There are many great writers that deserve to be on this list, however Orwell's prose is second to none. From the incredible journalistic skills he manifested into 'Down and Out in Paris and London' to the greatest political work of the 20th century (and possibly beyond) '1984' his writing skills are simply sensational. (Emily) Bronte, Austen, Hemingway, Stevenson, Fitzgerald, Eliot, (amongst others) could make you see a world, Orwell could make you feel the world. 1984 is an absolute masterpiece, and the fact that he wrote it whilst dying exemplifies his magnitude as an author.

The only authors I consider being close to Orwell are Shakespeare, Swift, Hardy and Dickens. Not only is it his novels that are sensational, his essays are just as readable as his novels. The only essayist I have enjoyed like Orwell is TS Eliot.

How anybody can rank JK Rowling above one of the greatest political minds of the 20th century is beyond all reasonable comprehension.

Just read ...more

I used the LONGEST time to decide who is my favourite author between Roald Dahl,Dav Pilkey and Mary Pope Osborne and I chose Dahl. His books are like the best and I am a BIG fan of his books. Dahl's books are completely amazing, especially the books The BFG and James and the Giant Peach. I enjoyed his books a lot. In this list, I think Roald Dahl deserves the Top 3 places. His books are not funny and Hilarious, but the stories were very creative and no other authors can write such interesting books as him.The stories Dahl made up completely match up to Quentin Blake's incredible illustrations.Dahl's books are simply the BEST.

Charlie and the chocolate factory, James and the giant peach and his autobiographys! They're all amazing books! And you can't miss out the BFG. His humour is amazing! For me he is the best author by far. He's lived such an amazing and he has written fabulous books. He has great imagination. He has books for every age. Even I have most of his books and autobiographys. I was thinking so hard weather I should go for Dahl or Dickens. But you just can't say no to Dahl.

Roald Dahl was basically the essence of my childhood. I befriended the BFG, journeyed on the Giant Peach, explored the wonders of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, and grew up with little Matilda. I owe my love of literature to Mr. Dahl and his wonderful world of stories.

The best writer in the world. Wants kid to read book because they enjoy it.
You understand whatever he writes realistic. Is a great master.
Some books are real funny. Ex- Fantastic Fox, The BFG, Matilda, Charlie and the chocolate factory, Georges Marvellous Medicine.

He should be 1st, Ernest Hemmingway wrote four of the greatest books ever: The old man and the sea, for whom the bell tolls, the sun also rises, and a farewell to arms.

Some of the deepest, most meaningful authors of all time. The Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls, A Farewell to Arms, The Old Man and the Sea, and so much more. Stephen King's great but he didn't write nearly as many legendary novels.

A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises, Men Without Women, The Old Man and the Sea, and For Whom the Bell Tolls. Each one of these are better than that joke J.K. Rowling and her little fairy tales. thus list is terrible if Ernest Hemmingway is below all these laughable authors.

Hemingway can do more with one page than others can do with an entire novel.

Honestly, William Shakespeare is an incredible writer/author; his plays will leave a mark on you no matter how old you are, provided you have been taught to read the language. Believe me, as of right now, Stephen King is one of the best authors of all time, and his novels have impacted me. But I want to look at the overall effect, and William Shakespeare's impact is so much greater. I mean people; his works are taught in school for a reason. He is a genius, and has many of his plays vary in so many genres, and they're all wonderfully told. Honestly, this is a top 5 author/writer at the least. Rowling is good, but Harry Potter is all she has. Same for Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings + The Hobbit. Don't let one of the most influential people in history remain in 13 place because his series 'don't provide what modern society needs' because really, his works are what inspired these modern day stories (well, most of them anyway).

Why the hell is this guy number 13? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Stephen King, But there is no way by any stretch of the imagination that he could beat Shakespeare in terms of influence or originality. Shakespeare was the ultimate pioneer of the art of writing. Sure, there was Homer, but Homer's influence doesn't impact us as much today as Shakespeare's has. He has added many words and expressions that we use in our day to day life without even knowing that they are of Shakespearean origin. To sum things up, I cannot believe that this literary master didn't make the top spot. It shouldn't have even been a question.

Shakespeare was the greatest write, playwright, poet and actor of all time. He invented a mass amount of words that we use daily when speaking English. His plays were the ultimate classics and truly reflect on the history in the Elizabethan Era. His descriptions were extraordinary and even though most people find his plays hard to comprehend due to the old English, I say, give it a go to experience Shakespeare's world and it will change he way you thing about the power of words.

William Shakespeare, in my opinion, is the best writer of all time. He can write poems just as well as he can write plays, and uses very skilful language. Shakespeare has contributed thousands of words to the English language, and if it wasn't for William Shakespeare, Stephen King and many others wouldn't be good authors. William Shakespear, in my mind, will always remain the best writer in history.

READ THE BOOKS! Percy Jackson is my favorite book series. This not only lets me have fun while reading, but teaches me all about mythology and Social Science is exiting new ways. There are other books that I have read which completely fail when bringing the myths to life. They are a disgrace to books. (see what I did there! ) I highly recommend you to read them as well because you get to learn something new while you are at it. I could not believe my eyes that Rick Riordan is not in the top ten authors! I am a picky person when it comes to books, very picky, and the first ones that caught my attention at the library were these. I have read and re-read them so many times that I have memorized the story all together. Rick Riordan brings the myths to life. Many ages can read his books, starting at the Lightning Theif. The twists and turns in the story get you immersed into it and you just cannot stop reading. READ THE BOOKS!

I was gonna vote for Rowling, but then I saw that ROALD DAHL and JEFF KINNEY were in the top ten, but Rick wasn't! Roald Dahl's are pretty good, but seriously, Jeff Kinney? Rick Riordan is my favorite author! All of his books that I've read are in my favorites list. He wrote Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, Kane Chronicles, and sometimes 39 Clues. (Multiple authors. ) And also, his best book series was inspired by his son, who loved greek myths, but was found to have ADHD and dyslexia. Rick told him greek myths every night until his son finally told him to make his own greek myth. There he created Percy Jackson, the average ADHD and dyslexia demigod! The reason I know this is because of his Heroes of Olympus/Percy Jackson short stories collection. I hope you take your vote to vote for Rick Riordan

I love Rick! I love Percy Jackson even MORE than Harry Potter because the action starts sooner and doesn't take hundreds of pages to set everything up. His other series are just as good, if not better. He's definitely improved as a writer and I just finished his most recent series and enjoyed it SO MUCH! I also love Rick as a person. He literally started writing the Percy Jackson books as a bedtime story for his son who was struggling with ADHD and dyslexia. Also, he adds lots of diverse characters in his writing, which is a lot more than I can say about all the other writers here.

Rick Riordan is one of my favorite authors and has inspired me to write more and read more books. The Percy Jackson series was absolutely the best series that I have ever read and The Heroes of Olympus series was the best series for those Percy Jackson fans as the series is a follow up of the story. Rick Riordan is a talented and awesome writer. His books offer adventure and surprise at every twist and turn. So if you haven't read the Percy Jackson series or Heroes of Olympus I would recommend that you do. Also there are lots of other books and series written by him such as the Kane Chronicles, Trials of Apollo, Magnus Chase and tons of crossover stories.

Mystery genre is my favorite and no one can compare to him on this field. I love Sherlock Holmes and John Watson and they are the best characters that ever existed, yay! What would you do without you Doyle?

It's a surprise that authors like Doyle, Wells, Stevenson, Verne, Dumas etc. are so far down the list. Do only kids who despise literature vote here or what!

Wow amazing writer... Why don't he write some more sherlock holmes cases which he has written they ain't sufficient.

He is amazing, I love his books! I rad all the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The lost world!

In my opinion, the best horror author to tread the surface of this planet. I love Stephen King, but his works would not be what they are without Lovecraft: as he pointed out countless times, King was avidly reading Lovecraft as a child, and his works are influenced by Lovecraft.
Nobody else came close to inflicting terror on readers as Howard Philips Lovecraft; the fear in his work stems not from spooky sea monsters, but the incomprehensible cosmic horrors he hints at.
His works practicaly shaped the modern horror genre.
P.S. sorry if I seemed melodramatic, or was victim to grammer mistakes: I wrote this on a mobile device.

I believe that H.P. Lovecraft should be #1 on this list. I do believe that without him, there are some pretty famous authors that would not exist in the creative way that we know them today. He mastered the art of instilling fear in his tales, and it was not what he said, it was what he inferred that was terrifying. His writing is so powerful that you are able to put yourself into the story. The greatest writer of our time Stephen King, I was told, was a fan of HP Lovecraft, and his influence is felt in the style that King is famous for - letting you see through the eyes of his characters, pulling you in to the tale and instilling a thought, or idea. And once a thing is known, it can't be unknown. That kind of writing is powerful. If you have never read HP Lovecraft, please check out any one of his many books, you won't be disappointed.

Poor Lovecraft. He was never known until the 70's. He was never famous while alive. He was afraid of dying without fame and he did.
He is the Grandfather of Modern Horror. Some of today's best authors have been inspired by them. Stephen King is obviously inspired by his works. People just pass him as the guy who created Cthulhu. He is very underrated and a very interesting piece of history.

He basically took Poe's style and used to create a creatively terrifying mythos that is still regularly referenced to this day (Cthulhu). The only author of old pulp fiction that has withstood the test of time. One of the most accessible authors right now because none of his stories are copyrighted so you can buy big portions of his writings on eBook format or audiobook format for extremely inexpensive or for no cost at all.

Only author to explore the mind of a pedophile straying into the usual controversies while writing, Lolita, a book that is both hailed and condemned.

He's the greatest prose writer of all time, in my opinion. His style is pure, unadulterated genius.

A great Writer. Really enjoyed reading Lolita

"I need you, the reader, to imagine us, for we don't really exist if you don't."

Jeff Kinney does not possess any great talent when it comes to writing. I do enjoy "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" but Jeff Kinney definitely isn't the 16th greatest author in the world. In my humble opinion he wouldn't even be considered in the top 100. There is barely a difference between his books and his tendency to portray Greg as a sociopath has gotten out of hand. He is an imaginative novelist and he deserves credit for his writing but I truly do not think he deserves the very fortunate 16th place that he got.

This is stupid. He is not even a writer. He is a cartoonist who wrote a "novel". That novel is a sham, it is an insult to all these great novelists to even consider putting this guy's name on the same list as theirs (don't call me close-minded, I actually love Diary Of A Wimpy Kid, all I'm saying is that he does not have any literary merit).

The first few were pretty good, but after a while, it became clear that he follows the same formula every year. In the recent books, he's edited the reality/ backstory of the first few books.
Book One: Greg met Rowley a few years ago when Rowley moved into the neighborhood
Wrecking Ball: Greg and Rowley have known each other since they were in elementary school.
Other authors, do the same kind of things with their books, (which makes me wonder if they actually READ their own books,) but it stands out more in Diary of a Wimpy Kid

There is a fine line within every story, his is just another persons perspective on what children want to read, really just another children's author who want people to read, He seems to have some eager inside for his viewers, same story inside each novel - lame.

Definitely the best mystery writer in my opinion. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is amazing, but Agatha Christie has written over 80 mysteries that ALL have a completely shocking and entertaining twist. She manages to make each ending amazing and different for EVERY book! That's what I call genius! Her characters are delightful too. Come on, you can't help being amused by Hercule Poirot's swelled ego, and stunned by his brilliance! She should have a higher ranking than this!

Let me give you some info. Agatha Christie is the second most best selling author of all time, with about 4 million copies of all her books combined ever sold. She is only second to Shakespeare, who only giant authors can compete with, such as stephen king, dickens, h.g. wells (who is probably the best sci fi author of all time), Tolstoy, dostoevsky, and, of course, Christie. She is the ruler when it comes to mystery novels.

To have Agatha Christie not be in the top 5 is a joke. Her mysteries are better than all of the authors in this list combined. After I read And Then There Were None, I realized how amazing an author she was. She should and will always be remembered as one of the greatest writers of all time.

I had to read And Then There Were None for summer reading. I never had read mystery until then, but I liked it quite a bit. However, it got pretty drawn out and vague towards the end. I'm not sure if all of her books are like that, but it makes it hard to finish them when you lose interest.

Goosebumps books are very interesting and exiting especially Night of the living dummy, Monster blood, Revenge of the lawn gnomes, and The curse of the mummy's tomb!

I grew up on Goosebumps. The books and the T.V. series. Now there are two live action movies. He is very creative and comes up with many good stories and monsters.

You have to say he did pretty good, and he didn't have many other books where he could write the same story, and give the characters different names...

He deserves to be at 1st position. What a great imagination he has! I just love his books. Goosebumps, Fear Street and Mostly Ghostly are AWESOME.

Undoubtedly the best ever in the human history. Past and Future.

One of the greatest authors ever. The Misareblas is the best novel I have read.

Why the hell is Jeff Kinney higher?

Socialism is explored in his novels, the western society owes him

Much like Percy Jackson, I loved the books but hated the movies. I just couldn't stay interested. I fell asleep once, even. Nonetheless, the books are good. At first, I couldn't finish the Hunger Games because it was a little unethical, but these days, I like it, and the rest of the series. (Okay, at Mockingjay, I got a little bored, but still, the other two are good.)

We're talking about the woman who wrote the Hunger Games, the greatest books of all time! She should NOT be 106th. At least in the top ten! If you haven't voted for her then 'May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favour! '

I hate reading but I find myself constantly wanting to re-read the Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins has made me enjoy reading and she deserves to be higher up on this list!

Seriously guys 38th? She deserves to be in the top 10. Who doesn't love The Hunger games, I find myself reading it over and over again. She is the Best!

The characters in Steinbeck's novels were everyday people who found themselves confronted with extraordinary challenges, and Steinbeck was extremely adept at capturing the down to earth nature of the challenges and the common man's struggle to endure them.

Wrote timeless classics like the Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and Of Mice and Men. A truly visionary writer!

"A guy needs somebody―to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick."

Of Mice and Men was phenomenal. One of my favorite books of all time.

I really love Hans Christian Anderson , I really enjoy his books and movies and his songs too . some of his songs are catchy and can get stuck in your head ! I also like Danny kaye because he has a great sense of humor and he is a great singer that I grew up listening to

His fairy tales has several dimensions and can be enjoyed by both children and grown ups.
He takes the 19th century society and puts it on the edge.

His stories are absolutely amazing. And they have been the inspiration for the movies "The Little Mermaid" and "Frozen".

I love his fairy tales!