4.30 avg rating — 4,428,737 ratings

"The original quality fantasy writer does brilliant work with TLOR, but this beginning novel will always be my favorite."

3.99 avg rating — 883,902 ratings

"This is the novel that gave me my mortality-is-real moment. A glittering satire, bitingly funny yet deeply profound."

4.15 avg rating — 13,163 ratings

"Santmeyer was a painter with words. A former dean of a women's college and professor of English, she was somehow stripped of her identity, as senior citizens often are, when this was published. She had worked on it for over a decade,but didn't have time to complete it till her retirement, so the book, which is as good as anything I've read and better than most, was sensationalized in the press as a book "Written by a little old lady in a nursing home". If you have the patience for quality fiction, this is it."

4.26 avg rating — 6,828,759 ratings

"Well."

4.33 avg rating — 91,578 ratings

"Pulitzer winner that made me take the American Civil War more seriously."

4.11 avg rating — 517,169 ratings

"The finest anti-war novel ever written, IMHO."

3.93 avg rating — 322,756 ratings

"Steve King never gets the credit he deserves. There are a couple of other titles I like as much as this one, but wanted to be sure one of his was in my top ten."

4.28 avg rating — 325,696 ratings

"Fannie Flagg is an artist, and this is the work I love best. The veiled reference to lesbianism is deftly handled, and the scene in which the racist ex-husband is taken out of action is a complete crack-up."

4.11 avg rating — 1,695,285 ratings

"Brilliantly worded, just the"

4.47 avg rating — 3,002,332 ratings

"Most people know about this one but if you don't, it is a wonderful look at the excesses to which household help in the south is/was subjected. The only thing that could make it better, would have been the inclusion of some Northern US racism, which is alive and well."

3.83 avg rating — 2,455 ratings

"One of the most hilarious crime novels out there. Definitely chick lit, and it's funnier during times one is disgruntled with one's partner, or divorcing, or newly divorced. But if not, it's funny anyway, and well written. I like nearly everything she's written."

3.82 avg rating — 12,725 ratings

"Straub is seriously scary, right up there with King. Once or twice he surpassed my "ick" threshold, and everyone's is in a different place. If you have read Stephen King and never found a book that went too far for you, try Straub. They have also co-written some things together, and I wanted to put that work up, but the system wouldn't acknowledge it, and I was unwilling to go to the librarians and make a fuss, so I'm telling you here."

4.01 avg rating — 260,102 ratings

3.78 avg rating — 244,535 ratings

"Why did I like this? I'm not sure. My spouse read it aloud to me about twenty-five years ago, and I found it remarkable, but it's not going to be for everyone."

3.97 avg rating — 708,331 ratings

"Tan is unique in her perspective on Chinese-American life and the expectations elders sometimes place upon the next generation. I thoroughly enjoyed her book, and those that came after."

4.05 avg rating — 11,506 ratings

"I like all of Barr's work, but if I had to choose just one of her gut-wrenching"

3.76 avg rating — 123,424 ratings

"King's inherent goodness comes out in the way he takes on domestic abuse. He's done it many times, but this book, along with Delores Claiborne, are the two I've seen where it is the central theme. I prefer this one to the second, and most days, I prefer to read King rather than most other writer."

3.78 avg rating — 1,940 ratings

"The late great Donald Westlake wrote some crime/humor gut-splitters, and this made me laugh even harder than Evanovich does. Brilliant.
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4.24 avg rating — 1,257,976 ratings

"I'm right in the middle of it. Have wanted to read it a long time; King stands alone in making me buy a premise that is completely preposterous, and then invest my time and attention in it. I sink so far into the world he unfolds that everything he adds to the storyline seems completely believable. NOT for those who genuinely fear clowns!"

4.10 avg rating — 15,525 ratings

"George is a word-painter, one of those whose descriptions are so sumptuous that I sit back and say, Ah, I'm going to like this. All of her books, a continuing series, are linked; this one broke my heart the hardest, so it must be effective writing!"

3.97 avg rating — 321 ratings

"Emerson wrote this incredible series with homeless heroes and mad adrenaline rushes interspersed with kick-in-the-butt humor, and it was awesome. Then he dropped it like a hot rock and started writing a series of straight-up mystery/thrillers that was amazing in a different way. Haven't heard from him in a long time; I hope he is still writing."

3.98 avg rating — 45,422 ratings

"I love this entire series. Grafton started out a bit grittier and more noir, and refined her characters and plots to be seamlessly suspenseful, with humor interlaced. Really skillful, in my book."

3.99 avg rating — 77,970 ratings

"This is not high brow humor by any means, but she made me laugh out loud as early as page 7. How does she keep trotting out the same stuff and make me laugh at it anyway? I guess she throws in a new twist. Anyway, I am not ashamed to add her to this list."