15 Authors

I came across this activity at My Reader's Block & thought it sounded like an interesting exercise in literary self-analysis.  Here goes:

*Don't take too long to think about it.
*List fifteen authors (poets included) who've influenced you or who stick with you.
*Select the first fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. No particular order required.

Mostly, my list consists of novelists, but I included 3 of my favourite poets.  All of these authors are influential to me in a variety of ways too countless to name.  As an added bonus, I've also added a recommended title in ( ) if you are new to the author.  If I've reviewed the title, click the link :)

1)  Stephen King (The Green Mile)
2)  John Irving (The World According to Garp)
3)  Margaret Laurence (The Diviners)
4)  Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tale)
5)  Percy Shelley ("Ode to a Skylark")
6)  Edgar Allan Poe ("The Raven")
7)  John Keats ("Ode on a Grecian Urn")
8)  Audrey Niffenegger (The Time Traveler's Wife)
9)  Virginia Woolf (A Room of One's Own)
10)  Anne Tyler (The Accidental Tourist)
11)  Ken Kesey (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
12)  Barbara Kingsolver (The Poisonwood Bible)
13)  Jane Hamilton (A Map of the World)
14)  Anna Quindlen (One True Thing)
15)  Mark Haddon (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time)

If you participate(d), include your link in the comments below.  I'd love to see what authors influence or stick with you :)