Ooh, I hadn't noticed this topic! But I definitely love British authors. They just have this quality and style that I haven't noticed in any of the other authors I've read.
I'm one of the people who thinks that Shakespeare is absolutely superb. Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and Romea and Juliet are a few of my favourites. He has had such an influence on all of the writers to come after him and I find it unlikely that anyone can say that their writing hasn't been influence by Shakespeare in one way or another. From his characters to plotlines to everything in between, everything is so incredibly original and unique and so well tied together. Oh, and his sonnets rock my socks.
No one I know seems to like Dickens, but I love the way he writes. His descriptive language and attention to detail are quite admirable and his characters are some of the most memorable in literature. I had such an obsession with Sidney carton after reading A Tale of Two cities for the first time!
Milton, as well. He writes with such eloquence and flair, that of all the authors I've read, I wish I could write like him most of all. Paradise Lost is quite a difficult book to read, but it's so beautifully written that you can't help but enjoy it.
I'm ashamed to say I haven't read an Austen.
I know that I need to, it's just that every time I try, some other book comes along and I find myself putting Austen aside. Will definitely lock myself in my bedroom with nothing but Pride and Predjudice sometime this summer.
Oh, and the Bronte sisters. I can't, for the life of me, remember which one wrote it (and am too lazy to walk upstairs and look at the book,) but I'm reading Wuthering Heights at the moment (in addition to my re-reading of OotP,) am am liking it quite a lot. Some of the characters seem a bit contrived, but the story is wonderful.
It'd be superfluous to mention Rowling, Tolkein, and Lewis. Lewis and Tolkein had such an influence on the Fantasy genre and without them, it wouldn't be as appreciated as it is today. And Rowling, for creating such a vivid and realistic, though completely imaginative world.
I've read three of Nick Hornby's books, About a Boy, High Fidelity, and How to be Good. I'm not sure if he's written any others, but all three were entertaining. About a Boy was my favourite of the three, and found it to be just a v amusing book. I read it shortly before the movie came out and was quite pleased with how well it was adapted!
Whew. Have now been inspired to go read everything in my bookshelf!
) in the mini-series, "Pride and Prejudice" is simply luscious! 
I've been watching the mini-series *again*, hence my new screenname! 
She's simply spectacular! Anyone else as big a fan of British authors and movies and such? I hope so! 
]; I've read some of C.S. Lewis's 'Chronicles of Narnia' when I was younger; and of course I love Beatrix Potter! 
Good on you for pointing that out . . . I didn't realize that! 
