Authors whose books I would always read

1. Diana Athill
2. Kate Atkinson
3. Pat Barker
4. Iain Banks
5. Michael Chabon
6. Jonathon Coe
7. Jilly Cooper
8. Michel Faber
9. Tibor Fischer
10. Neil Gaiman
11. P. D. James†
12. Liz Jensen [will be removed from this list if her next book is as bad as The Rapture]
13. John Irving
14. Barbara Kingsolver
15. George MacDonald Fraser†
16. Patrick McGrath
17. Thomas McGuane
18. Allan Massie
19. Lydia Millett
20. John Julius Norwich
21. Chuck Palahniuk
22. Orhan Pamuk
23. K.J. Parker
24. Iain Pears
25. Daniel Pennac
26. Arturo Perez-Reverte
27. Thomas Pynchon
28. Julian Rathbone†
29. J.K. Rowling
30. Salman Rushdie
31. Alexei Sayle
32. Will Self
33. Jane Smiley
34. Neal Stephenson
35. Barbara Trapido
36. Rose Tremain
37. Barbara Vine
38. Jo Walton
39. Sarah Waters

Dead authors are only included if they were living when I first wrote this list.