No, I've never even met any of these men.  However, Charles Schulz, John Kennedy Toole, J.D. Salinger, Tom Robbins, and Hunter S. Thompson have all been major influences on my life through their writing.

Reading has always been very important to me.  Indeed, I don't remember not knowing how to read.  As a young child, I read the standard stuff -- Dr. Seuss, Richard Scarry, and all that -- but the guy who really knocked me out was Charles Schulz.