American or English Authors

[vinay87]

I've never really bothered where the writer came from. One of my favourite writers is Burmese by birth (H H Munro "Saki") and one I recently discovered was Sri Lankan by his own choice (Arthur C. Clarke). I think it doesn't matter to most people.

 

 

Though if I had to choose, I'd choose the English for their spelling. Or anyone who uses English spelling. I prefer "ise" to "ize". But that's not the point now is it?

Edited August 18, 2011 by vinay87

[chesilbeach]

Actually, it's a common misconception that -ize is not English and that -ise is. If you look at the etymology of words ending in -ize, the OED tend to use -ize which comes from the Greek and Latin conjugations of verbs, but they do mention that some people prefer to use -ise for words originating from French and English, as the modern French language uses -iser. Nothing to do with British English verses International English. *exits geek mode*

Edited August 18, 2011 by chesilbeach

[vinay87]

oh!!! Wow that's good to know!

 

I really didn't know that.

[shirley]

I don't distinguish where a writer is from when I read the cover, its only at the end when I read about the author when I find out where they are from.

As long as I link the story, it doesent matter to me.

[dawnbirduk]

I also don't tend to go by what country the author is from, however, I do like books set in the UK, so often I gravitate towards British authors, but this is not intentional.

[busy91]

I don't think one is better than the other. I'm American so I tend to read more American authors, but that is not because I don't like to read British Authors. I tend to read Classic British Authors and Modern American Authors.

[LittleW]

Most of the times I only know that the author has an English name, but I usually don't know if they are British or American. And there are good (and bad, of course) authors on either side of the Atlantic.

[Boatman01]

Depends on the epoch, I guess.

 

Back in the late 16th Century, the Brits were certainly better, including Chris Marlow.

 

American authors started to assert themselves in the second half of the 19th Century, even though Edgar Allan Poe wrote before that. American originality began to manifest itself in Bret Harte and Mark Twain's writings, and in Longfellow's sporadically tedious, yet deservedly famous, poem. Jack London is certainly an American author, while his contemporary Henry James is an imitator of some pretty idiotic European standards of the time.

 

The father of today's science fiction, Henry Cuttner, is all but forgotten at home as well as abroad; a great American author, to be sure.

 

Tennessee Williams and Eugene O'Neil and Arthur Miller compare but poorly to George Bernard Shaw.

 

Kurt Vonnegut was way ahead of anyone writing in Great Britain at that time.

 

The late Douglas Adams was a stylist at least as good as Vladimir Nabokov, and a lot less bookish.

 

Depends.

[sadya]

Both countries have amazing and boring authors. (of course, what I consider boring might be exciting to someone else)

 

There are many amazing authors all over the world, as others already have pointed out. I just agree.

 

 

[Kirsty_S]

If I was to look at my book cases, I'd say I have more american authors than british, however I also have books by authors who are actually Irish and English but their books take place in America, I think they may live in America now. Having said I have more American Authors than British, that's not because I think the American books are better, just that the story appealed to me. A couple of my favorite authors are Terry Pratchett and Sophie Kinsella and they are both British. And I agree with the point that both have good and bad authors. Also I've noticed the influx of Swedish authors and they seem to be popular.

[Michael Keyth]

I have read quite a few books of both American and English authors. Since being Polish, I had more problems with understanding English books. They were filled with lots of difficult (unnecessary) words, that only made the reading more difficult. However, the American writers were more appealing to me. Maybe, language is not the only problem here, but also the way of putting words together.

[julie]

Very interesting topic !

 

I'll have to admit that my knowledge of English authors is greatly lacking,unless there are some of the older classics writers . I'm not up to date on the new authors that are probably on the charts as bestsellers over there currently . I LOVE Robert Goddard but havent read nearly all of them .

 

 

I agree with the others who say we both have good and bad ones, depedning a lot on the type of books you like .

 

This is only a guess from the limited reading of English authors :

 

It seems to me that Americans are a lot more OUTSPOKEN ,or rough around the edges. Hard to explain .

The English authors I have read seem a lot more mannerly and proper .

 

I am sure there are books from both places that would definitely prove me wrong . It depends a lot on the type of books you like, too, I think .