>>>>I'm not quite finished yet, so don't anybody spoil it for me. But if anybody wants to read something quite astonishing, pick up a copy of "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. What a duo. Two of the best there is writing together.
>>>>
>>>>Death and Famine and War and Pollution continued biking toward Tadfield.
>>>>
>>>>And Grievous Bodily Harm, Cruelty to Animals, Things Not Working Properly Even After You've Given Then a Good Thumping But Secretly No Alcohol Lager, and Really Cool People travelled with them.
>>>
>>>Maybe I will check it out on your recommendation. Conceptually, though, I wonder how successful a book written by a duo can be. IMO one of the defining qualities of a book is that it comes from a unique, personal POV.
>>
>>I think that must be a joke and not a serious comment given the amount of reading you've done...
>>
>>Bill Crider and Willard Scott
>>Perri O’Shaughnessy
>>Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgens Clark
>>Janet Evanovich and Charlotte Hughes
>>Faye Kellerman and Jonathon Kellerman
>>James Reasoner and Davis Dresser
>>etc
>
>No, ir wasn't a joke at all. I don't respect any of them.
>
>I expect I will be booted from here momentarily, having replied indiscreetly to Kevin, so will leave you with a few recommendations.
>
>Graham Greene -- my favorite writer ever, period.
>Jim Thompson -- dark as night, the source of many movies
>Jhumpa Lahiri -- an emerging legend
>Raymond Carver -- see my post a couple of weeks ago
>Richard Russo
>Richard Price
>Amy Tan
>
>And on and on and on....

Coincidentally I've just started re-reading Graham Greene. Wouldn't go so far as to say he's top of my list of best authors - but right up there.....
Taking them off the shelf at random I just finished 'The Comedians' and now back to 'Travels with my Aunt'. In Paris:
"I went restlessly out and crossed the little garden where an American couple (from the St. James or the Albany) were having tea. One of them was raising a little bag, like a drowned animal, from his cup at the end of a cord. At this distressing sight I felt a long way from England......."
:-}