I just saw the thread...
Let me second Kurt Vonnegut.
I didn't see Orwell on anyones list... although Orwell leads to Huxley which brings us back to the UK...

Find a new genre or two - try Hemingway or Forrester

Good luck

Kurt Vonnegut is an absolute genius. Some of his best stuff is not his most popular. But in a lot of ways he's not similar to the other stuff you've mentioned.

If you haven't read Mark Twain, you absolutely have to. Both Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are brilliant through and through, and tons of fun. Americans too often have to read Twain in high school or college, which ruins the experience.

A modern author who I recommend without reservation is T. R. Pearson. He writes like nobody else in the world, although some Faulkner is sort of similar to his style. His stuff is funny and wonderful and yet at the same time deals with the absolute dregs of the world doing incredibly horrible things to each other. He's a southerner like Faulkner. If you can read the first five pages of his book Polar without laughing out loud several times and being completely hooked, well, then you're different than I am. (Pearson is even better read aloud.)

My other favorite contemporary American authors (lately, anyway) are Michael Malone (southerner; funny-but-serious) and Richard Russo (northeasterner, also funny but hard-core good sh*t).[/u]

For American authors I'd recommend Don Delillo, Libra is fantastic, as is Underworld, a very vivid writer and held in high regard by literary critics, though don't let that put you off, he's readable.

Molina

Tetsuo, did you find any of our suggestions helpful? I'd love to know what you've chosen to read.

Most definitely - thanks to all who made suggestions!

That list will keep me busy for a long while. I'm finishing up the last lot I bought at the moment.

Next week I'll start on some Twain and Vonnegut and go from there.