Peter F Hamilton has entered the chat. He has great plots, but they’re buried under so much unnecessary detail, reading his books is like an archaeological dig. Unless you really want to know in excruciating detail what every character, no matter how minor, had for breakfast.
Many books should be edited down. Neal Stephenson is a prime example of getting away with leaving in so much mediocre stuff that it drags down the quality of his books, even though he can be brilliant too.
My favorite Murakami book so far is "South of the Border" - and I'm not sure "Norwegian Wood" could not have been made even better with a few (only a few !) cuts.
