Literature exam, 2012

Who is the best English-speaking novelist of recent decades, Julian Barnes or E.L. Doctorow?  Defend your answer, with specific reference to Flaubert's parrot, The sense of an ending, Arthur and George, Homer and Langley, The March, and The book of Daniel (the only novels I've read by these authors).  Extra credit for including an analysis of the nonfiction Nothing to be frightened of.