Which Author Takes Up The Most Shelf Space In Terms Of Unread Books You Currently Own? (4/28/24)

[Marc]

Of the unread books you already own ( in any format), which author has the most titles?

[Bill]

Since I try to keep my to-read shelf to under 40 books, I tend not to have any glaring laggard authors in the pile. But months ago, I picked up a couple Chinese translations of Shuji Terayama's essays, and they lingered on my to-read/currently reading pile for longer than I would like. I'd stick to his films.

[Luke]

In terms of authors I haven't read, Olivia Manning (all those omnibus editions). In terms of authors I have read, William Shakespeare (what's left to read of The Complete Works).

[Robert]

Definitely John Boyne and Richard Powers

[Hester]

My great grandfather's full collection of all Sir Walter Scott's works . ...by a country mile .

[Jenna]

I love this question! I have multiple editions of Proust but have not ever gotten all the way to the end, so it might be that in terms of literal shelf space, but in terms of number of books it’s probably the 6 volume Churchill of which I have only ever dipped a toe into The Gathering Storm.

[Erika]

I, too, have a shelf of grandfather-collection Sir Walter Scott, as yet unread.

[Ginny]

What a great question. Someone years ago recommended Kent Haruf. I have 3 of his on my unread shelf waiting patiently.

[Marc]

I believe it's not even close for me with Philip Roth coming in first with 7 unread titles (and I've actually read a bunch by him; I think everything I have unread was either bought used or found free in a Little Free Library). I have 3 unread titles by a bunch of different authors (some of them trilogies, some not).

[LindaJ^]

Well, I have every volume the Library of America has ever published, 15 volumes of which are the works of Henry James and each one includes multiple works. The shame of it is that I have never read anything by Henry James, and may never get to him in my lifetime!

[Sonia]

I buy most of my backlisted books secondhand. Most by author is Rebecca West with four, but I also buy old Virago Modern Classics and I have 36 of those.

[Erika]

My teenager (now 19) loves Henry James! Her enthusiasm makes me think he’d be worth a try.

[Hester]

Erika wrote: "I, too, have a shelf of grandfather-collection Sir Walter Scott, as yet unread."
Ha! In truth they are sitting in a box in my overcrowded study .... I know i'll never read them but when i think of the journey they will have been on from one household to another since 1895 i cant bear to part from them . i know i know .....

[Hester]

LindaJ^ wrote: "Well, I have every volume the Library of America has ever published, 15 volumes of which are the works of Henry James and each one includes multiple works. The shame of it is that I have never read..."

wow . That's something .
My library in Leeds has most of them and i often wonder if they are readily available in libraries in the USA ?

[Marc]

The Turn of the Screw is probably the smallest (novella-length) James if you wanted a place to start. His writing can be very dense and most of the "action" occurs in the minds/hearts of his characters (these are aspects I actually love about his writing).

It's really hard to part with our own books, much less ones inherited from a loved one, Hester! I have my mom's Girl Scout Handbook and Applied Secretarial Practice books and can't bring myself to get rid of them (despite maybe glancing at them once or twice and having no memories of her ever having spoken about either the books or the subject matters/experiences).

[Emmeline]

LindaJ^ wrote: "Well, I have every volume the Library of America has ever published."

Wow, Linda!

[Emmeline]

In my home, after many brutal culls, I don't think we have a shelf like this. There are things we haven't read of course (many!) but not multiples by one author.

If I include my parents' home, my dad has a full collection of Arthur Ransome. He's read them all, I've only read a handful.

[Kathleen]

I'm not good at brutal culls, and actually love being surrounded by books. Mine are pretty well spread over a bunch of authors, but I do have two collections I've kept from my father that take up some serious room: the eleven volume Story of Civilization by Will Durant, and 40 or so Erle Stanley Gardner Perry Mason books. Someday I will read them!

[Nadine in California]

My first answer to this question was based on sloppy reading - I skipped the 'haven't read yet' part. My 'real' answer is just one author, Jose Saramago, and that is all thanks to my GR friend WndyJW !

[Emmeline]

Kathleen wrote: "I'm not good at brutal culls, and actually love being surrounded by books."

We still have floor to ceiling bookshelves. ;-)

[Jenna]

LindaJ^ wrote: "Well, I have every volume the Library of America has ever published, 15 volumes of which are the works of Henry James and each one includes multiple works. The shame of it is that I have never read..."

Awesome! I do love a series even if it is just to have and to hold. We have the Britannica Great Books series, takes up two shelves, so much beauty and gravitas in the library. I didn't count it because it is all different authors, and I have no idea actually how much I have read in other venues of the historically dated view of the Western Cannon that some day I may be a completion-ist about. It comes with several volumes to guide reading and conversation between the texts, which is also fun.

[LindaJ^]

Hester wrote: "LindaJ^ wrote: "Well, I have every volume the Library of America has ever published, 15 volumes of which are the works of Henry James and each one includes multiple works. The shame of it is that I..."

The focus of LOA is to get them into school librarys. One of the ways to donate to LOA is to pay for a set for a school library. They are beautifully bound volumes in slipcases and worth every penny just to be able to hold and open them and look at them!

[Lesley]

Nadine in California wrote: "My first answer to this question was based on sloppy reading - I skipped the 'haven't read yet' part. My 'real' answer is just one author, Jose Saramago, and that is all thanks to my GR friend Wndy..."

Saramago for me too - mainly because my partner kept buying them for me & I find I read them very slowly. Great writer but for some reason I make exceedingly slow progress with his novels.

[Marc]

I actually instituted a rule quite a number of years ago where I can't buy a book by an author if I already have an unread book by them. I haven't been 100% committed to this (largely because of group reads), but for the most part, it has kept me from compiling multiple unread titles by one author (the exception possibly being books in a series, which I will frequently buy together).

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Marc wrote: "Of the unread books you already own ( in any format), which author has the most titles?"

Probably Elmore Leonard. I've acquired paperback copies of just about everything he's ever written, although I haven't even read half of them.

Well, he IS the "filet of the genre."

[LindaJ^]

Elmore Leonard should be required reading.

[Ellen]

Salman Rushdie. Midnight's Children and Joseph Anton mesmerized me. But I have lots of unread or half finished Rushdie on my shelf. Have had trouble staying engaged while so many of my friends shame me for it.

[Lark]

Virginia Woolf. I have them all in a row, waiting for me, and have only read Mrs. Dalloway plus the beginnings of all the others, many times. It’s like my brain can’t handle so much beauty and perfection coming at me, sentence by sentence.

[Sam]

Lark wrote: "Virginia Woolf. I have them all in a row, waiting for me, and have only read Mrs. Dalloway plus the beginnings of all the others, many times. It’s like my brain can’t handle so much beauty and perf..."

Oh how I envy you with all you have to look forward to.

[Lark]

Sam, that has been my excuse—that I’m saving them up. But I think they will be even better the 3rd and 4th and 5th times through.

[Guy]

Gritting my teeth and joining in with the public self-shaming... 😁 Bizarrely, for me, it's Margaret Atwood, because I love her writing and buy pretty much everything she writes. Then, because I want to do them justice and spend appropriate time with them, I wait for the right moment; and life intervenes. I'm close to finishing Alias Grace right now, but still have The Robber Bride, The Stone Mattress, The Testaments and several others to get to. I have a couple of shelves dedicated to unread books, so they're segregated and I can always lay my hands on a new one when I want; I don't like them to get lost in the general shelves and then fade their way to being permanently unread.

There are also quite a lot of books in Spanish which I haven't read because my Spanish isn't good enough, but they're my wife's books not mine so I'm not sure if they technically count...!

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

LindaJ^ wrote: "Elmore Leonard should be required reading."

I agree completely!

[Marc]

Guy wrote: "I have a couple of shelves dedicated to unread books, so they're segregated and I can always lay my hands on a new one when I want; I don't like them to get lost in the general shelves and then fade their way to being permanently unread."

Allow me to diminish your shame, Guy...

I have an entire bookshelf dedicated to unread books and have had to move on to piling books in the basement. (And this doesn't include ~150 unread e-books, although many of these were free or super-discounted.) Somewhat magically, I haven't bought a single one of the 6 bookshelves in our house (all picked up over the years by neighbors getting rid of them)... Where else to invest those savings but in more books!!!!!!

[Guy]

Marc wrote: "Allow me to diminish your shame, Guy... ..."

My shame is sensibly diminished 🤣 I love that your neighbours are tossing out bookshelves and you're hoovering them straight back up again. Feels like you're responsible for maintaining the cultural capital of the neighbourhood in equilibrium...!