After Joseph Heller dying in 1999, with the death of Norman Mailer another one of my favourite authors has passed away. His later works I like best: An American dream, 1965; Ancient Evenings, 1983; Harlot's Ghost, 1991; The Gospel According to the Son, 1997.
A (non-scientific) QuickVote on the CNN webpage revealed that 22% of the voters had read one of his books; I have to say that I find that rather high judging by my colleagues and friends who can quote any TV program but think you are insane when you quote literature. ^_^;;