Top Ten Tuesday: Popular Authors I've Never Read

Hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish.
Today's topic is: Top Ten Popular Authors I've Never Read. I'm interpreting "popular" as "contemporary," so this shouldn't be too hard for me. :-P

1. John Green.
I've heard so much good stuff about him. This guy is definitely on my TBR. Definitely.

2. Stephanie Meyer.
Twilight never sounded like my "thing," and I also doubt her writing prowess, so nope, never gonna read any of her stuff.

3. Stephen King. 
Hmm... Not sure about this guy. I know he's a good writer and all, but horror - well, horror scares me, plain and simple, and I don't like to be scared. I just don't find it entertaining. (Unless it's Poe, of course.)

4. Cassandra Claire. 
Yup. I think eventually I'm gonna pick up one of her books. Her stuff sounds neat.

5. John Grisham. 
Maybe I'll read him at some point. I'm not really sure.

6. Orson Scott Card.
He is very much so on my TBR. I rarely read sci-fi, but that's just because there's so much badly written stuff out there and I don't want to waste my time on it. But Mr. Card comes with an excellent reputation.

7. Frank Herbert.
Particularly the Dune books. See #6 above.

8. Danielle Steele.
I've heard her name countless times, but I still don't know if I'd read her books. She is one of the highest bestselling authors alive, if that counts for anything, but then again, so is Stephanie Meyer. So... anyone? Is Danielle Steele any good?

9. Dan Brown. 
His work never really drew me. Nope.

10. [Insert Contemporary Romance Author Here]
If you ask me if I've read any contemporary book that is pure romance, my answer will most likely be NO. I do like a good romance, but it generally has some other conflict involved outside of the relationship. I do like Jane Austen, though, which is basically pure romance, so...
But I suppose my reasoning behind not reading much contemporary romance is the same as my reasoning behind not reading much sci-fi (see #6). There's just so much crap out there in the genre that I don't want to waste my time looking for one of proper literary merit - of which I'm sure there are many.
I HATE wasting my time on a stupid book.

Which popular authors have you never read? 
and
Any recommendations of sci-fi or romance for a girl who's been raised on hard-core classics?

~Sophia

AND as a fun note: today (March 4th) is National Grammar Day! March Forth! :-)
And look - the president (Bush) made it official back in 2008!