Hmmmm....this is tough. I think some of my authors are safer than others for a later pick-up. So I'm going to go with Stephen King here. I've read almost 20 of his books. Some are definitely better than others, but all are fun to read. Of those I've read, my two favorites are
It and
The Stand. I also like his novella,
The Body, which was made into the movie,
Stand By Me.
His bibliography would take up too much room. Here's a link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King_bibliography
A couple of reasons why I like him: he writes great female characters and I love the children in his books, because they are written as full characters, not as superfluous. His imagination seems overflowing, as his production is prolific. I don't think I'd want to have his dreams/nightmares.
EDIT: Children are quite often the main characters. I think its because he sees them as good, pure and therefore able to defeat evil. He's written so much, that his books should fill up loads of my abundant free time on this island.
EDIT 2: Something weird happened with the picture I posted. So hopefully this one doesn't mysteriously turn into a red X again. And I forgot to say how much I liked
The Green Mile.