i have so many faves i barely know where to begin, but in no particular order and with no disrespect to those i leave off the list, here are some writers, sometimes with a specific book recommendation (which may or may not be in print) and sometimes just "whatever you can get your hands on": carl sagan, t.h. white (the once and future king), stephen becker, robert a heinlein (stranger in a strange land, the door into summer, the moon is a harsh mistress, podkayne of mars), rachel carson, harpo marx (harpo speaks), oscar levant, t.e. lawrence, chaim potok, james baldwin (the devil finds work -- his other books are good but i would start with that and/or the short story "tell me how long the train's been gone" )barbaba tuchman, aleksandr solzhenitsyn (cancer ward, the first circle), joanna russ (the female man, any of her nonfiction), lewis mumford, bernard malamud (the fixer), charles dickens (our mutual friend), thomas hardy (jude the obscure), jane austren, fran leibowitz, ursula think leguin, dostoevsky (try NOT to get a translation by david magarshak; i like andrew mcandrew a lot better), maya angelou, primo levi, elie wiesel, carson mccullers (the heart is a lonely hunter), harper lee (to kill a mockingbird), laura z hobson (gentleman's agreement), robert graves (i claudius, claudius the king), john lennon, lucy davidowitz (i am sure i misspelled her name lol but anyway she wrote the war against the jews), john steinback (the grapes of wrath), j m barrie (peter and wendy -- make sure it says peter and wendy, not peter pan or something else), edgar eager (half magic and some sequels to that lovely children's book), danny kaye (the danny kaye around the world story book, editor) okay that should start you off, anyway!

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