Interesting discussion and I thought I'd contribute my two pence worth. I don't read much in the way of detective fiction. Science fiction is generally more to my taste (and some fantasy but I'm quite critical of a lot of books I know many people like in this genre.) Favourite authors? This could be a long list... Philip K. Dick, Frank Herbert, Tolkein (I even like the Silmarillion which I know many readers find disappointing after LOTR. I admit it can be hard going!) Bradbury (particularly the Martian Chronicles), Bruce Sterling, M John Harrison etc.... I could go on but perhaps it's best to refer you to my own web site of personal reviews if you're really interested in why I like these authors and in some of my favourite all time books... Some Book Reviews Trying to stay on topic I was interested in dialyns observation about changing taste. There are some authors I really liked, which I now look back on with fondness but wouldn't go out of my way to reread (e.g. Asimov) or the E.E. 'Doc' Smith epic Lensman series (which I suppose even at the time I always knew was only a piece of rip roaring escapism, and none the worse for that). My most extreme example in this category is Robert Heinlein. When I was first beginning to read science fiction at school I loved the "juveniles" - stories such as "Tunnel in the Sky", "Farmer in the Sky" and the more sophisticated "Door into Summer". I even liked the questionable "Starship Troopers" and quite enjoyed "Stranger in a Strange Land". Now I know this may upset the die hard fans, but as I got older and my political views matured, I found his later books increasingly hard to stomach. The plots of books such as "Job" and "The Number Of The Beast" got very narcissistic and navel gazing and the oddball extreme libertarian anti-government stuff just strikes me as crackpot. I also suspected that I was being preached at rather than entertained. In fact I started to feel that if Jubal Harshaw (one of Heinlein's many "wise acre" characters) patronised me with just one more little homily I'd like to punch his lights out (and I am not a violent person at all!) So I ended up actively disliking (if not hating) his work. Not sure if this was the author changing, or me changing, or a bit of both (but I had to get that rant off my chest!)