Look! A post that includes more than a passing reference to books! Things are looking up.
I've seen responses to this week's Top Ten Tuesday and the idea of checking out my most read authors intrigued me. I knew a few off the top of my head but for the rest, I headed to GoodReads to fill in the blanks.
1. Charlaine Harris (12 books) - I've read most of Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series so this didn't surprise me very much. I'm not sure that I'm exactly pleased about Harris being my 'most read' but the stats don't lie.
2. Robert Jordan (11 books) - Another that wasn't a surprise. I've read 11 out of the 13 Wheel of Time books and it's my absolute, hands down favourite fantasy series to this day. I almost never re-read but I love this series enough to start at the beginning again so that I can get the most of reading the final couple of instalments. Jordan being on this list makes me happy.
3. Maria V. Snyder (9 books) - I've actually read all 9 of these books during the lifetime of this blog, which is pretty nifty. I've read Snyder's Study series, Glass series and Healer series. The Study series is easily still my favourite of the three but I feel like I can rely on Snyder to deliver very readable fantasy.
4. J. K. Rowling (7 books) - Obviously. I also own A Casual Vacancy and the first two Cormoran Strike novels so Rowling's place on this list is pretty much guaranteed for some time to come.
5. Lian Hearn (5 books) - Ah, another opportunity to extol the virtues of Hearn's Tales of the Otori series. I can't remember where or how I came across the first in the series (Across the Nightingale Floor) but I quickly hunted down the next two in the trilogy, the epilogue and the prologue (in that order, which I think is the publication order but could just have been me being impatient and reading whatever I found first). The series is genuinely wonderful - the Japanese setting, the almost-but-not-quite magiclal abilities, the characters, the sprawling plot. All wonderful.
6. Stephenie Meyer (5 books) - The Twilight series and the very lacklustre The Host. Not great literature but somehow addictive. Meyer's books are widely derided but they got an awful lot of people reading so I don't begrudge her presence on this list.
7. Gail Carriger (5 books) - I think I only discovered the Parasol Protectorate series because of blogging and could well be the only series where I've reviewed every book individually (starting with Soullessan embarrassingly long time ago). I know that not everybody gels with the series but I really enjoyed it.
8. Agatha Christie (5 books) - I'm surprised that Christie didn't feature higher up my list. Christie is one of my top 'go to' comfort writers; if I'm feeling in need of something that's easy to get swept up in, a Christie mystery never fails to disappoint. And Then There Were Noneis one of my favourite books.
9. Trudi Canavan (4 books) - The Black Magician trilogy is another of my favourite fantasy series. On the face of it, it's fantasy by numbers, with a haughty magician's guild full of secrets and an untrained mage that could destroy the world if she can't be taught to tame her power, but it's just so good. I'm still disappointed that Thief's Magic (the first in Canavan's Millennium's Rule trilogy) didn't live up to my admittedly lofty expectations.
Aaand, that's where I'll call it a day. After Canavan, I have about 17 authors at 3 books each, including Stephen King, Rainbow Rowell, Brent Weeks, Sarah J. Maas and Rick Riordan.
Who are some of your most read authors? Share, share, share!
7. Gail Carriger (5 books) - I think I only discovered the Parasol Protectorate series because of blogging and could well be the only series where I've reviewed every book individually (starting with Soulless an embarrassingly long time ago). I know that not everybody gels with the series but I really enjoyed it.