The Little Book Owl recently did a post where she listed her top 5 most read authors. I like lists, so that post really hit the spot and considering how dry this week has been, in terms of posting [it’s been a busy week with much smaller amounts of time for reading or posting], I decided I’d take a turn at doing this.
I’m going to list a few more than 5. Also, I’m not going to be listing a lot of manga-ka, as they dominate the numbers with some huge series [Bleach, One Piece, Case Closed, etc]. This list also includes re-reads, so some of my top read authors might not have so many books.
I could add about 10 more authors if I went down to 10 reads, but 12 seemed like the cusp of “Ok, I’ve read a bunch by this author”. Not much to say about each, not with so many but if you have questions, ask away and I’ll answer as best I can.
Timothy Zahn – 63
Patricia Wrede – 17
Tad Williams – 20
Adrian Tchaikovsky – 16
Rumiko Takahashi – 67 (probably my most read manga-ka and yet I don’t care for her stories. Funny that)
Kazuki Takahashi – 38 (wrote the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga. Love that series)
Michael Sullivan – 12
Michael Stackpole – 33
Lemony Snicket – 13
Darren Shan – 12
Brandon Sanderson – 25 [including the final WoT books]
Mike Resnick – 12
Terry Pratchett – 44
Ellis Peters – 14 (Brother Cadfael Mysteries)
Don Pendleton – 37 (Mack Bolan/The Executioner series)
Andre Norton (and loser collaborators) – 18
Michael Moorcock – 16
L.E. Modesitt, Jr – 28
Jack McKinney – 12 (Robotech)
Patricia McKillip – 27
Anne McCaffrey – 21
C.S. Lewis – 16
Sharon Lee & Steve Miller – 15
Stephen Lawhead – 22
Paul Kemp – 12 (mainly Forgotten Realms with a dash of Star Wars)
Robert Jordan – 26 (multiple reads of the first several WoT books)
Riichiro Inagaki – 48 and counting (Eyeshield 21 manga w/ rereads of the first 16)
Frank Herbert – 13
Robert Heinlein – 18
Terry Goodkind – 13
Alan Dean Foster – 48
John Flanagan – 15
Steven Erikson – 19 (multiple Malazan re-reads]
David Eddings – 18
Dave Duncan – 15
Charles Dickens – 33
Troy Denning – 16 (forgotten realms and star wars and he sucks whatever I read]
Roald Dahl – 14
Evan Currie – 13
Larry Correia &/or Collaborators – 16
Glen Cook – 13
CLAMP – 65 (a varying group of 5 female manga-ka)
Agatha Christie – 19
Orson Scott Card – 13
Jack Campbell – 22
Jim Butcher – 22
Terry Brooks – 20
Robert Asprin – 17
Isaac Asimov – 12
Neal Asher – 26 (re-reads)
“Alex Archer” – 14 (ghost written series of Rogue Angel)
Aaron Allston – 16 all Star Wars all good
Impressive list! I’m proud of how many I’ve read and even more with how many I recognized?
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Question mark…*facepalm*
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I figured you weren’t quite sure HOW many you recognized and so weren’t sure HOW proud you were.
😀
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This is fun! According to Goodreads, my top 5 are (not counting rereads):
Brandon Sanderson – 25
Jim Butcher – 19
Jacqueline Carey – 15
Chuck Wendig – 14
John Scalzi – 14
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Nice! I think Sanderson has a high rate because he produces at a high rate 😀
I know GR introduced re-read capabilities a bit ago, does it work though?
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I have no idea, I have not reread anything in the last 5-6 years 😛
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Oh. My. Goodness!
*shun, shun, shun*
😀
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It works!
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Woah…that is an impressive list, you’ve read so much!
I never thought stackpole wrote so many books 😀
Funny coincidence though, after I read the post you mentioned, i did my own one as well and scheduled it for next tuesday 😀
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Looking forward to your post!
As for Stackpole, that includes quite a few re-reads. Mostly Talion: Revenant and Once a Hero. Those both have something like 4-5 reads a piece…
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You give me such good ideas…I was quite surprised with your Sanderson…so many…
Heinlein too. No re-reads though…
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I’ve read almost every Sanderson up til about a year or two ago. The man is just prolific!
Heinlein I read all his juvie SF. Tried his adult stuff and couldn’t stomach it and I can’t really enjoy his juvie stories anymore either, sadly 😦
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Yes. It works. I’ve been using to catalog my reads and re-reads over there as well, in case the worst happens…
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I cant measure up to all these amazing stats… according to GR I have only read 124 books (in my whooole life) so far. Impressive list bro, well done.
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Thank you.
As for “measuring up”, don’t try. Seriously. You have to measure yourself against yourself, not anybody else. The fact that you have started to record what you read, that is a starting point. I’m guessing you weren’t regularly doing that 10 years ago, or 17 years ago? So see, you’ve already improved mightily over that younger you.
And if you want some seriously impressive stats, check out Mike “the Paladin” on GR. He’s an older gentleman who has been reading for a very long time. I followed him when I was on GR…
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Im happy if i get through 1 book a month. Working 7 days a week has its drawbacks. Thank you for the kind words.
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One more reason that I’m so glad I keep Sabbath 😀
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WOW
Just… WOW 😀
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Thank goodness for Calibre. Sort by “author” then count 🙂
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Wow this is an amazing list!! I’m really impressed with the number of Dickens on here!! I’ve never managed to read/reread that many of his books (I think I’d make it to 10). Also I noticed you had 13 Snicket on here- did you finish series of unfortunate events out of interest- I never did and I’m wondering if I should? I think Pratchett currently tops my list, but I just know if I did the same a fair number of my top read authors would be reallllly trashy ones I read and reread a million times as a teen 😉
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I read the whole Unfortunate Events series. Will not be repeating that. The end was tough and was not a happy ending. If you bunked out earlier, I wouldn’t recommend trying to finish it.
I just love Dickens. His writing speaks to me and I enjoy the slow pace.
If Discworld were re-readable, I’d probably have more, but the only ones I can even think about re-reading are Hogsfather and the first 2 Rincewind books.
Do you have an actual record from your teen years? Or just a mental one?
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Ah good to know- I started it when I was pretty young, but it got really repetitive and to be honest I outgrew it.
Yes, I really do love his work- I need to get my act together and read more!
Ah fair enough.
hahaha well I have some- I found a couple of notebooks where I kept track- but it’d be pretty scatty, so it’d all be a lower estimate 😉 Even then, I know that if I read 20 books by an author at least twice… well they’d win 😉
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Well, like I noted, I kicked out some of the manga-ka, as that just skewed the numbers. You could always try something like that, kicking out the stuff you don’t have a firm record for. Make you look all edumacated and smaht, like them there city folks with their fancy toothbrushes and showers EVERY day, lawwdy!
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Ah yes that makes sense! Hahaha I’m or should I say hawhawhaw 😉
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😀
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Well, we have in common Stephen Lawhead, C.S. Lewis, Charles Dickens (you beat me in number of books read. Wow!), and Agatha Christie, but I have an unusual (for me) urge to read Brandon Sanderson.
I really should read Roal Dahl, I suppose, but for some reason he turns me off. Actually for no good reason. Which means I should at least give him a try. I guess ….. 😉
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Dahl is definitely not for everyone. I’ve read a couple of his adult books and I don’t like them one bit. But give me his kiddie books and all the grossness and irreverance just works for me 🙂
Sanderson is a machine. If you ever want to catch up, you’d better start reading now, because he produces at least 1 book a year, if not more. And they tend to be super hefty tomes.
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Wow… We’ve got a huge Timothy Zahn fanboy here hahah This is definitely an impressive list though. I’d be pretty damn proud about being able to list such a thing in my life. 😛
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Yep, I grew up on Zahn. He was a staple. Sadly, in the last couple of years his books have been rather uninspired and I’m not sure if that is due to him not really putting in the effort or if it is that I’m simply moving beyond what he writes. Either way, it is kind of sad.
But, I do own almost every book he has written to date 🙂
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hopefully will start reading some of Tad Williams’ books soon.
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His ‘Otherland’ tetralogy was the best.
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Wow!! This just shows how broad of a spectrum is available within each genre – I’ve only read 5 or more books from only 4 authors on your list! This is why I like your blog – you introduce me to new things all the time. I’m majorly impressed with how much depth you have into some of these authors.
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It really helps that I’ve been keeping track for 17 years now 🙂
I wouldn’t remember 9/10th’s of all this if I hadn’t made it a point to record it all. Of course, for the majority of people, this is nutso dedicated. Only other bookworms really appreciate it 🙂
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[…] writer. I didn’t bother adding individual titles of his standalones. But if you check out my Most Read Authors Post, you’ll see he leads the pack. His most recent books have been disappointing but I am not […]
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[…] a good follower and please see my post, Bookstooge’s Most Read Authors. Enlightenment is only a click […]
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