best novelists

I was one of the contributors in Normblogs "best novelist" poll - - no surprise at the top, of course, but no Salinger, no Chatwin, no Burroughs (probably the biggest miss from my POV), and a very low position for E.M. Forster, who, in my humble opinion, is probably the best British novelist of the 20th century - get real people! I put my top 10 in and knew I'd forgot someone - it was D.H. Lawrence, and yes, he's not there in the top 40 and now I feel really guilty, because, if Lawrence isn't better than P.G. Wodehouse then we might as well give up! Maybe everyone else is the same, we've forgotten Lawrence, left him in our childhood memories. On a more pleasant note, no J.K. Rowling or Philip Pulman, a nice reminder that, however good children's fiction is, it's still children's fiction. There are a few surprises: Cormac Mccarthy so high for instance is probably a sign of a writer on the rise; and Ian McEwan at 5, is a little high for someone who has trouble writing novels; otherwise, I do think this is a poll that has more value than many others, probably because its mostly literary bloggers (a much maligned community!) who are having a say - though I'm still pissed off that I didn't include Lawrence!