Mickey Spillane’s favorite writer was Frederic Brown.

“When Ayn Rand was asked who her favorite writer was, she replied: Mickey Spillane. When asked why she admired Spillane’s writing so much. Rand said: ‘Because he is primarily a moralist.'”–from The Armchair Detective

Ralph Ellison claimed Man’s Fate to be his favorite book, as said in Conversations with Ralph Ellison.

Emily Dickinson’s favorite novelist was Charles Dickens.

Charles Dickens loved Shakespeare.

Poe enjoyed the poetry and essays of Samuel Taylor Coleridge above most others,

Joyce loved the plays of Henrik Ibsen so much that he studied Norwegian at University College Dublin in order to be able to read them in their original form.