The best books I've ever read are from Terry Pratchett. He was born in 1948 and is still not dead. He is also one of the funniest english authors alive.

Here is the list of titles I've read:

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A few quotes that explain my attitude to Discworld novel series:
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Another great author in my opinion is Frank Herbert as he proved that in novel Dune - that was later remade as movie and strategy game. However the following novels God empiror of Dune and Children of Dune disappointed me by making Paul Attreides the "bad boy".

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Pretty good, although probably less known, is also Gert Prokop and his books Who would steal legs and Five minutes of eternity.