re: America's greatest literary critic about to release new book ranking authors

I just recently decided to read Henry James, I am about half way through The American, I have a rather mixed opinion so far. If I decide to read another James novel after this what do you recommend and why?

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I'm sorry, but Stephen King deserves to be on that list of top-12.

I know there is a bias against recent authors, but King is a God among men.

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I like King as much as anyone, but King has a very workmanlike style. It's simple, and effective for storytelling, but there's little identity, flourish or innovation.

His output is outstanding, and his consistency is rock solid minus a few books. But there's a world of difference between a King and a Hawthorne (who I'm surprised got this much recognition on this list. Hawthorne is a true genius.)

If this list is about writing, then I'm sorry to say his exclusion is warranted. And this is coming from someone who's read nearly everything King wrote.

I agree with whoever said we needed Poe.

Emerson was a hippy. Too high on the list and irl.

Giant eyeball....OKAAAYYYY

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Actually you may have a case in a way. I read an interview with him once where he was lambasting Harry Potter and JK Rowling, saying it was awful literature and children (or people) were better off not reading it at all, which is frankly ridiculous.

That said, his pedigree is unquestionable and he's an absolute genius.

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Reads a thread about respected authors, uses lots of big words when little words will do just fine.

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but there's little identity, flourish or innovation.

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This is exactly why Hunter S Thomson should be on the list.

Someone who would suggest that the public would be better off having not read Harry Potter is a person who has spent decades getting high off of his own farts.

That book got a lot of people reading who might have not ever bothered to read books - and many of them discovered they liked reading in the process.

Honestly, I think a statement that elitist and disconnected from reality discredits a lot of what he's accomplished professionally. It's not only snobbish, it's stupid on its face.

First of all, the list criteria is utterly ambiguous and, therefore, ridiculous. Writers whose inner spirits exemplify the American Sublime? What the frick does that mean? It's just pretentious talk for this clown to list his favorite writers while having the mere semblance of legitimacy so he can further his pompous view of literature.

The fact that he has no Poe, no Fitzgerald, no Steinbeck, and no Hemingway is confirmation enough of his biases shining through. If we were worried about including short fiction writers, which, as said by another, does seem to be the American format for storytelling, at least historically, he cannot exclude Raymond Chandler.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, while clever and filled with turns of phrase, is a travesty at 1. Dickinson can't hold Whitman's jock. Hawthorne is a fine writer, but Poe is every bit his equal and more influential.

Hell, there's no Tennessee Williams on here, either. And, frankly, Toni Morrison must at least have been on the shortlist. And Vonnegut. Bradbury, London, McCarthy, Updike, King, Hughes, and Ginsberg should at least be considered.

Mark Twain should be #1.
William Carlos Williams should be on the list, in the top 5.