For me, I'm an avid reader but if I have to chose a genre it would be either fantasy or horror and my favourite authors for both categories are Anne Rice and Stephen King for horror and Marissa Meyers and George RR Martin for fantasy

I love fantasy and mysteries. Jim Butcher,Tolkien, Charlaine Harris,Sarah Caldwell,Donna Andrews among others.

Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, John Scalzi, too many others to mention.

I love reading also. Will read lot's of different genres but my favorites are Scifi and fantasy. Stephen King, Terry Brooks, Isaac Asimov are a few.

For me, Lord of the Rings and the other works of Tolkien are set on a pedestal above all other works of literature. They're just so amazing, Middle Earth is easily my favourite fictional universe.

As you might be able to guess, my favourite genre is fantasy, but I'm also quite fond of historical fiction.

Top authors for me are... obviously, Tolkien. Robin Hobb as well, in the fantasy genre; her Farseer saga is masterful.

In historical fiction, I'm most fond of the works of Conn Iggulden, Simon Scarrow, Bernard Cornwell and Robert Fabbri.

Honourable mention must also go to The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.

Carlos Castaneda, Chris Hitchens and Jim Butcher. All types of genres.

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

John Irving (even though religion is a part of most of his stories... He's a master of the craft)
Lawrence Block
Jonathan Ames
Robert Parker
Are some of my favorites.

Pulp. Edgar Rice Burroughs, Mickey Spillane, Robert Howard. I used to like Mercedes Lackey books but she just tanks in ever third volume of a series.

Dean Knootz, James Patterson, Stephen King, Mark Twain many others

Fantasy and science fiction. Jim Butcher, Terry Goodkind, Brandon Sanderson, Frederick Pohl, the late great Richard Jordan, and Kurt Vonnegut come to mind.

Nora Roberts, Linda Leahl Miller, Rc Ryan,Dan Brown--sometimes even the backs of cereal boxes--reading is my sanctuary

Did anyone read "Fifty Shades"?

There are as many answers, as there are contributors, every one valid, its good to hear that so many people are still reading so long, and thanks for all the fish !

Authors: Me, Hemmingway, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Asimov, Dick, Heinlein, Clarke, etc.

Genres: Hard/Soft Science Fiction, Science Fantasy, Urban Paranormal, Urban Horror, Urban Fantasy. Those are the favorites pretty much in order, but I enjoy any well written fiction and much non fiction.

My latest novel (actually a severely edited and rewritten round robin), Heaven Help Us, hopefully to be released this Fall, is an Urban Fantasy in which the main protagonist accidentally winds up in Heaven and is promptly arrested as an illegal alien.

Little patience here for entertainment fiction but it isn't entirely excluded. My favorites are writers displaying courage and pioneering spirit in non-fiction and they include sociological, scientific and political realms more heavily.

Top ones are:

Sciences

Wilhelm Reich, M.D. - 'Ether, God and Devil, Cosmic Superimposition', 'Character Analysis', The Function of the Orgasm' and 'The Mass Psychology of Fascism'.

Arthur Koestler - 'Janus'

Eric Fromm - 'The Art of Loving' and 'Anatomy of Human Destructiveness'.

Lewis Thomas - 'Lives of a Cell'

Candace Pert - 'Molecules of Emotion'

James DeMeo, Phd., - 'Saharasia, The 4000 BCE Origins of Child Abuse, Sex-Repression, Warfare and Social Violence, In the Deserts of the Old World'

Ashley Montagu - 'Touching, the Human Significance of the Skin"

Sociology

H.L. Mencken - 'Treatise on the Gods' 'In Defense of Women' and other socially critical writings.

George Schuyler - 'Black No More'

Mark Twain - ....anything!

Christopher Hitchens - .... ditto

Political and Historical

Ilan Pappe, Phd. - 'The Ethnic Cleansiing of Palestine'

Miko Peled, - 'The General's Son'

Alice Rothchild, M.D., - 'Condition Critical'

Alison Weir - 'Against Our Better Judgment'

J.M.N. Jeffries (1939) - 'Palestine the Reality'

Rashid Khalidi - 'Brokers of Deceit'

Norman Finkelstein, Phd., - 'The Holocaust Industry' and 'Method and Madness, The Hidden Story of Israel's Assaults on Gaza'

History/Biography/ Fiction

Zora Neale Hurston - Anything!

Myron Sharaf, Phd., - 'Fury on Earth' Biography of Wilhelm Reich,, M.D.

Flavius Josephus - 'Wars of the Jews' and 'Antiquities of the Jews'

Leon Uris - 'Mila 18' fiction

Chaim A. Kaplan - 'The Warsaw Diary of Chaim A. Kaplan'

Max Dimont - 'Jews, God and History'

Ethel Waters - 'His Eye on the Sparrow' autobiography

Sophie Tucker - 'Some of these Days' autobiography

Robert Penn Warren - 'All the King's Men' fiction

Many more but special affection for these.

Ursula K. LeGuin, Nell Irvin Painter, Marilyn Frye, Elmore Leonard, Walter Mosley to name a few.

I am a voracious reader. I read both fiction and non-fiction. My favorite books are Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, Snow Falling on Cedars, The Shipping News by E Annie Proulx, I also love anything by Barbara Kingsolver, Debbie Macomber, I loved Mean Streak by Sandra Brown. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, Romances by LaVyrle Spencer, especially Hummingbird and The Hellion. Also by Rosamucd Pilcher and a couple of other British authors. I love Sue Grafton, Michael Connelly, and Patricia Cornwell

I would read all day every day if I could get away with it. (Well, maybe that's not true but I don't get nearly as much time to read as I'd like). I mostly like non-fiction -- books about cosmology, archeology, evolutionary biology. I like biographies if I'm interested in the person. My fiction tastes are kind of all over the place. Loved everything Anne McCaffrey wrote (by herself; some of the collaborations not so much). Love Diana Gabaldon (but no, I don't watch the Outlander series on TV). I don't generally like mysteries but just read all 13 of Louse Penny's books and loved them -- her characters are terrific. My book club gets me to read things I would otherwise not read, which is good for me.

I love historical fiction. Phillippa Gregory is a favorite. And I like the Outlander series a lot. I've also read a lot of books about JFK's murder and his presidency. I read a lot of nonfiction books, too, especially stuff on prehistoric culture and neuroscience.

I love reading non-fiction. The best book I have recently read is: David Benatar (2006). Better Never To have Been. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Oh, haii!! Voracious reader here!
I love me some romance and I read all flavors, depending on what mood strikes or what kind of kick I'm on: paranormal, romantic suspense, friends-to-lovers, enemies-to-lovers, rockstar romance, xters with disabilities, M-M romance, other lgbtqia etc.

Paolo Coelho, Rumi, Terry Pratchett, James Alexander Thom, Dave Barry, Ogden Nash, Robert W. Service, the list goes on.... Genre doesn't matter to me as long as the mind is stimulated.

My favorite GENRE is short stories. Garcia Marquez, Alice Munro, Joyce Carol Oates, Evan Connell, Richard Burgin.... the list could go on!