Authors' Favourites

Description
For each author, add only the work(s) they consider their best, their favourite, their magnum opus, ... (NOT YOUR OWN favourites, and only favourites from THEIR OWN WORK!). Ideally, one per author, but more than one (ties) are possible. If their preferences changed throughout their life, let's follow their final opinion. Always add a sourced quote and possibly your own interpretation/explanation, please!
1
Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut
49,347 members
779 reviews
4.1
4 Members
hipdeep, ianreads, gypsysmom, ahef1963
Explanations
ianreads: "A-plus" [1 of 2] Source
2
David Copperfield
by Charles Dickens
24,212 members
326 reviews
4.1
3 Members
ianreads, gypsysmom, ahef1963
Explanations
ianreads: "Of all my books, I like this the best. [...] I have in my heart of hearts a favourite child. And his name is DAVID COPPERFIELD." Source
3
Cat's Cradle
by Kurt Vonnegut
24,891 members
350 reviews
4.1
2 Members
ianreads, ahef1963
Explanations
ianreads: "A-plus" [1 of 2] Source
4
To the Lighthouse
by Virginia Woolf
20,422 members
313 reviews
3.9
2 Members
ianreads, ahef1963
Explanations
ianreads: "Woolf herself thought it ‘easily the best of my books’." Source
5
The Sound and the Fury
by William Faulkner
19,614 members
249 reviews
4
2 Members
ianreads, ahef1963
Explanations
ianreads: The Sound and the Fury, because I worked at it the longest and the hardest. [most splendid failure!] Source
6
Men at Arms
by Terry Pratchett
11,668 members
148 reviews
4.2
2 Members
hipdeep, ahef1963
Explanations
hipdeep: "Always the last book -- although I have a long-term affection for Men at Arms." Source
7
Lisey's Story
by Stephen King
9,788 members
202 reviews
½ 3.6
2 Members
ianreads, ahef1963
Explanations
ianreads: "Lisey’s Story is my favorite of the books" [2017] Source

"Misery, The Stand and Lisey's Story" [2021] Source

Singling out Lisey's Story due to its subject.

8
Last Chance to See
by Douglas Adams
4,427 members
87 reviews
½ 4.3
2 Members
hipdeep, ianreads
Explanations
hipdeep: "In 1990, Adams, with zoologist Mark Carwardine, wrote Last Chance to See. It’s one of his hardest books to find and his favorite." - Daily Nexus, April 5, 2001
9
Endless Night
by Agatha Christie
3,579 members
85 reviews
½ 3.6
2 Members
ianreads, ahef1963
Explanations
ianreads: "my own favourite at present" [1972] Source
10
The Bridge
by Iain Banks
2,337 members
32 reviews
½ 3.7
2 Members
anglemark, ianreads
Explanations
anglemark: "Iain Banks frequently cited The Bridge as his own favourite of his own novels." Source
11
East of Eden
by John Steinbeck
27,604 members
483 reviews
½ 4.4
Member
ianreads
Explanations
ianreads: "It has everything in it I have been able to learn about my craft or profession in all these years"; the author later said, "I think everything else I have written has been, in a sense, practice for this." Source
12
The Abolition of Man
by C. S. Lewis
7,878 members
72 reviews
4.1
Member
hipdeep
Explanations
hipdeep: “Almost my favorite among my books...” Source
13
Wonder Boys
by Michael Chabon
4,595 members
105 reviews
3.9
Member
hipdeep
Explanations
hipdeep: "whether it’s my best book or not, I don’t know, but it’s definitely my most beloved, because it made me feel that sense of gratitude toward it. Writing it rescued me." - Source
14
The Ambassadors
by Henry James
4,443 members
50 reviews
½ 3.7
Member
ianreads
Explanations
ianreads: "frankly, quite the best, “all round,” of all my productions" Source
15
Joan of Arc
by Mark Twain
2,600 members
30 reviews
4
Member
ianreads
Explanations
ianreads: "I like the Joan of Arc best of all my books; & it is the best; I know it perfectly well" Source
16
No One Writes to the Colonel {novella}
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
2,101 members
41 reviews
½ 3.5
Member
ianreads
Explanations
ianreads: "García Márquez considered it his best book, saying that he had to write One Hundred Years of Solitude so that people would read No One Writes to the Colonel." Source
17
The Last Chronicle of Barset
by Anthony Trollope
2,025 members
52 reviews
½ 4.3
Member
ianreads
Explanations
ianreads: "Taking it as a whole, I regard this as the best novel I have written." Source
18
Helena
by Evelyn Waugh
853 members
17 reviews
½ 3.6
Member
ianreads
Explanations
ianreads: Waugh considered this novel his greatest literary achievement: he told his biographer that "it's far the best book I have ever written or ever will write". Source