Your Most-Read Authors >> group customs?

[Cynthia]

I like Kaput. You fit right in around here.

[Jim]

He does seem to fit right in.

[[deleted user]]

I don't love all of the Pern books...really. Some of them irritate me. Listen to Jacks.

Way to jump right in, Kaput. Nicely done!

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I guess I haven't shelved quite a few books I've read. If I shelved every Shakespeare play and Agatha Christie book I read, I'm sure they would be my top authors. I read a shitload of Agatha Christie in my middle school-early high school years.

[Cheri]

Lobstergirl wrote: "I guess I haven't shelved quite a few books I've read. If I shelved every Shakespeare play and Agatha Christie book I read, I'm sure they would be my top authors. I read a shitload of Agatha Chri..."

A favorite is
Absent in the Spring and Other Novels especially when she runs out of books to read and doesn't know what to do next.

[~Geektastic~]

Top 10 most read authors:

Stephen King:23
Anne Rice: 18
Katherine Kerr: 12
Katherine (KA) Applegate: 12
J.K. Rowling: 10
Jane Yolen: 10
Alice Hoffman: 8
Donna Jo Napoli: 7
Jane Austen: 6
Tanith Lee: 6

[[deleted user]]

1-David Eddings-22
2-Anne McCaffrey-17
3-Margaret Weis-14
4-L.M. Montgomery-12
5-Beverly Cleary-11
6-J.K. Rowling-8
6-C.S. Lewis-8
8-Arthur Conan Doyle-7
8-Judy Blume-7
10-Julie Kagawa-6

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Good going, Amelia. A nice chunk of women in there.

(I always look to see how many women are in someone's top ten.)

[~Geektastic~]

There's only one man on my list. I didn't even notice until LG's comment.

[Sarah]

Alison Bechdel is currently the only woman in my top ten. I blame comic books, since five of my top ten spots (including Bechdel) are filled with writers of comics. It's a combination of their output and the speed with which I can devour their books. If you remove the comic book authors, most of the top ten spots go to women.

[[deleted user]]

Hmmm, I never thought to look either, Amber. But, I do seem to be relatively balanced. :)

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Honestly, I was kind of surprised there were so many women in my top 10. I don't read with an eye toward the author's gender, really. Most of my most-read women are mystery writers: Elizabeth George, P.D. James, Donna Leon. And Agatha Christie would probably be way up there too but I haven't shelved all of her books I've read because I don't remember which ones they are, having read them so long ago.

But if I shelved every musical score I'd ever "read" (played), men would come back to dominate my top 10.

[Jammies]

Lobstergirl wrote: "Good going, Amelia. A nice chunk of women in there.

(I always look to see how many women are in someone's top ten.)"

Hah, you made me go back a page and look at my own top ten.

[Cheri]

Lobstergirl wrote: "Honestly, I was kind of surprised there were so many women in my top 10. I don't read with an eye toward the author's gender, really. Most of my most-read women are mystery writers: Elizabeth Geo..."
I like Donna Leon. Have you seen the cookbook?

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

No, is it good?

[Cheri]

Lobstergirl wrote: "No, is it good?"
Yes. A very pretty picture book and the recipes look yummy.
See Brunetti's Cookbook and
Brunetti's Venice: Walks with the City's Best-Loved Detective. She has made a great industry out of our detective and Venice.

Have you ever seen 'Zen' on PBS Masterpiece Mystery?
It is like Brunetti except in Rome.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I have that Brunetti's Venice book.

I'm tired of the books themselves, though. I've read about 5-6 and they've become utterly dull.

[Louise]

Mine is still quite influenced by my YA days - where I probably read more books by the same author than I do now. (Dennis Jürgensen, Diana Wynne Jones and Cathy Hopkins) - otherwise it's pretty representative.

1 Dennis Jürgensen 12
2 Lene Kaaberbøl 11
3 Charles de Lint 10
3 John Flanagan 10
5 Paul Auster 9
6 Diana Wynne Jones 8
7 Garth Nix 7
7 J.K. Rowling 7
7 Cathy Hopkins 7
10 Arturo Pérez-Reverte 6
10 W. Somerset Maugham 6
10 Lloyd Alexander 6
10 Haruki Murakami 6

[[deleted user]]

10 W. Somerset Maugham 6

Nice, Louise! I look forward to reading more by him. Loved Razor's Edge.

[Louise]

His short stories are just brilliant :-)

[Jim]

I have four women authors in my top 10, but I really pay no attention to what sex the author is.

[janine]

Most shelved authors on GR (compared to everything I've read, I've only added a few books on GR, mostly what I've read in the past few years)

1. Jane Austen
2. Nick Hornby
3. Heleen van Royen
4. Simon Vestdijk
5. John Updike
6. Thea Beckman
7. Connie Willis
8. Annie M.G. Schmidt
9. Willem Brakman
10. J. Slauerhoff

I usually don't pay attention to the sex of the author, but this top 10 is 50% women, 50% men. Also: 70% Dutch authors.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I don't pay attention to gender either, when picking books. It just happens that women are a significant chunk of what I read.

[Riona]

Mine are as follows:

Terry Pratchett -- 29
Douglas Adams -- 9
Philip K. Dick -- 8
J.K. Rowling -- 8
Philip Pullman -- 7
Neil Gaiman -- 7
William Gibson -- 7
Edgar Allen Poe -- 6
Christopher Moore -- 5
Roald Dahl -- 5


Kind of a surprising list, actually, though there are some strong trends. Mostly science fiction and humor.

I've actually been making a conscious effort to read more books by women authors recently, but I tend to read from various authors rather than sitting down and reading many of a particular author's books back-to-back, so it will probably take a while to show in the list.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Yes, I do that as well.

Plus, genre writers are almost always more prolific than classical fiction writers so people who read a lot of genre are usually going to have their genre authors in their top 10, while the Jane Austens and Charlotte Brontes are going to be further down. In fact, many classic fiction authors are never going to make it into the top 10 just for this reason.

[Louise]

Hmm some of the authors I really like has written 2-5 books total - so they'll never get into this section. Maybe a "top-rated author" list?

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Louise wrote: "Hmm some of the authors I really like has written 2-5 books total - so they'll never get into this section. Maybe a "top-rated author" list?"

You can already have a favorite authors list. On the author's page, click on become a fan. You can sort them in any order and the first handful will show up on your profile page.

(I see you have a list already.)

[Sarah]

Yeah, this is a quantity over quality label, for sure. I'm still embarrassed that Orson Scott Card has such a position of prominence in my list, but I read everything he had written until I found out what a jerk he was.

[Jammies]

*hugs Sherri* There, there, I'm sure all of those were the pre-Anita-boinks-whatever-is-moving LKH books. ;)

[Jammies]

Sherri wrote: "Edit: Ooo yes it is available on other people's READ shelves. Nifty! So there is NO HIDING embarrassing reading habits without total concealment :D"

HEY! I resemble that remark!

[Sarah]

Hi Sherri! Huh, I don't think I have the Nancy Drew or Calvin & Hobbes or Far Side etc. listed on here, or those probably would be high on my list, as I think I read all of them.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Yeah, same for me with Nancy Drew. I'm sure I read more Nancy Drews and Agatha Christies than anything else on my list.

[Riona]

Lobstergirl wrote: "Yeah, same for me with Nancy Drew. I'm sure I read more Nancy Drews and Agatha Christies than anything else on my list."

I think I read most, if not all, of the Nancy Drew books as a kid, but I haven't listed any of them cause they really all run together.

[Sarah]

Yeah, that's why I haven't got them listed. I say I've read them all, but I feel somewhat guilty listing books that I don't remember specifically. I also read all of the Three Investigators and a good smattering of Hardy Boys, and probably some other series I haven't thought of.
I think I have the Gary Larson and Calvin & Hobbes listed in omnibus editions, even though that isn't how I read them. Maybe I'll fix that at some point. We had so many comic collections, since my dad would use them in his service supplements: not just C & H and the Far Side but Doonesbury, Foxtrot, Bloom County, For Better or Worse, Mr. Boffo, Tom Tomorrow, etc.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I'm sure I read all the Encyclopedia Browns, but I don't see any point in listing them.

[Sarah]

Lobstergirl wrote: "I'm sure I read all the Encyclopedia Browns, but I don't see any point in listing them."

Oh, yes! All of those too. And Sobol's 2 minute mysteries. The ice melted!

[Sarah]

35 3's.

[Jammies]

Thirteen 9s and thirteen 7s.

[Louise]

48 2's!

[Adrianne]

My favorite writers forever. I love ALL their books.
1. Boris Vian
2. Roland Topor
3. Charles Bukowski
4. Kurt Vonnegut
5. Albert Camus
Of course I have a much longer list of authors I like but not everything they wrote.

[Jammies]

Nerdalert! I started listing all of my books, alphabetically by author, in a Word document, some time in the early 1990s.

[evie]

Jammies wrote: "Nerdalert! I started listing all of my books, alphabetically by author, in a Word document, some time in the early 1990s."

:)

[Martini]

Jammies wrote: "Nerdalert! I started listing all of my books, alphabetically by author, in a Word document, some time in the early 1990s."

I did the same thing, but in an Excel sheet. Greetings, nerdy sister ;-)

[Jammies]

*hangs head in shame* I didn't learn how to use Excel until 1996. Do I still qualify as a nerdsister?

[~Geektastic~]

Jammies wrote: "Nerdalert! I started listing all of my books, alphabetically by author, in a Word document, some time in the early 1990s."

I didn't alphabetize, but I started listing all of my books chronologically in a notebook in the 4th grade. I still use that notebook, but probably not for much longer as it's getting ready to disintegrate.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I started keeping a list of books read, on lined paper, in 3rd grade or thereabouts. I did this for years, then finally at some point I created an Excel spreadsheet and input everything I'd read since senior year in HS. I still do the spreadsheet, it's up to date, and I have different tabs for read and to-read. I'm also in the process of cataloging my classical music collection in another tab.

Then when I joined GR in 2009 I input almost everything from the spreadsheet. I've got to keep the spreadsheet going because GR will disappear some day, like so many internet businesses.

[Annette]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who reads a lot of Agatha Christie!

[Martini]

Jammies, of course you still do qualify as a nerdsister! You used Excel a lot earlier than a load of people, so don't worry.

Whoa Sherri, an IR scanner back in the nineties - that's advanced reading nerdism. Chapeau!

Lg, please don't say that GR will go away.
*sigh*
Sad Martini is sad now.

[Martini]

So you still use that scanner cat? Aren't your real ones jealous?
But surely cats go well with books. My Goblin used to nap on my to read shelf...

[Martini]

Better believe what they want you to believe. Otherwise the amount of hairballs in your shoes or other inconvenient places might increase :-D
How many furry housemates do you have?