What are the best novels to start with by authors I've not yet read?

If you’re wanting a good book, SCRUPLES - by Judith Krantz.

Seriously, if you want to see how a “commercial” novel should be written, read it. It’s very deftly plotted, with great attention to the physical settings, etc. and a large cast of specifically etched characters.

I work as an editor, and often steer writers to this book so they can study the pleasure that physical description can give readers.

For David Mitchell, start with Black Swan Green. Far more accessible than Cloud Atlas.

James Salter -- Light Years

That's not quite one of the responses I was envisioning, r3.

BUMP

I loved Lethem's "Motherless Brooklyn", OP.

Try Sinclair Lewis, and start with Babbitt. He is subtle and imaginative and still very relevant.

Bellow—Adventures of Angie March (it’s long but great) or Seize the Day (novella, beautifully compact).

For David Mitchell, you could also try one of his earlier works - Ghostwritten. Less dense and complicated as compared to Cloud Atlas but mostly removed from the later work that he is more well-known for.

"Gold-Digging Slut" by Danielle Steele

For Mitchell I recommend Black Swan Green. It’s not formally or stylistically experimental, but is semi-autobiographical and uses the point of view of boy who stammers, which was true of Mitchell—it may be part of what led him to explore language and patterns in his novels.