I have all his books.
But I was surprised to discover that Bill Vollman is right there in the running too.
I'd forgotten how many of his books I had. Of course four of his books are really eight of anyone else ...
And Pynchon.
I'm excluding client books of course, i"m only looking at my bookshelves at home.
Who's got the biggest footprint on your shelf?
56 comments:
Maj Sjowell and Per Wahloo have the biggest single chunk. Have read all ten at least three times and loaned them out only to trusted family.
I give away a lot of books. My library is five miles down the road and they have every Lee Chid bought by my neighbor under the Adopted Author plan. So our library has Anne Cleeves as my adopted author. Also Donna Everhart!
That would be Tolkien. I have most of his books in more than one edition, including some fancy-schmancy leather-bound collector’s items. There’s also a graphic novel of The Hobbit, which was given to me as a present. And right next to it rests my very first copy of The Lord of the Rings; tattered and frayed, and tightly bound, not in leather, but bubble wrap, so it won’t disintegrate right there on the shelf. A close second is Douglas Adams. And coming up quickly from behind is Terry Pratchett. It’s like the 400-meter dash of old, dead writers with British accents… (Oh! And Ray Bradbury is the man!)
I wager you can guess my favorite genres.
Reginald Hill, no question - I have all his Dalziel and Pascoes. I only wish he'd had the chance to write even more.
Jane Langton children's books and mysteries. Sad to learn she passed away last year.
Gene Wolfe for me.
Like Laura S., I was sad to see he passed away recently.
The biggest byte on my phone is Tana French, followed by Laura Lippmann.
I read for different reasons. At one time in my life, I read myself to sleep every night. You don't want Lee Child for that! But I do have everything P.G. Wodehouse ever wrote, because I can open any one anywhere and be amused for the few pages I read before I fall asleep. I went through a Jane Austen phase. Although she died early and only published six novels, they take up a lot of real estate because I have several sets of different editions. Have loads of Rex Stout. In novels written the past 40 years, I have Jasper Fforde (the Thursday Next and Nursery Crime series) and Alan Bradley (Flavia de Luce). Lately I've been reading more one-offs, though.
@Adele that sounds incredibly similar to my own shelf!
C.S. Lewis. Besides having most of his books, somehow I acquired 3 sets of the Narnia series. If I find someone who loves them, and doesn't have them yet - that would be the only way I think I could bear to get rid of them.
I see China Mieville's Perdido Street Station to the right of your William Vollmann collection - I have almost everything Mieville has written. Perdido Street Station, The City and the City, Embassytown are the favorites.
Walter Mosley, famed for the Easy Rawlins series. Most people don’t know his first book was “Gone Fishin’,” but he was persuaded to instead write and have published his “first” novel, “Devil in a Blue Dress.” And it’s amazing to see his writing develop: there’s a marked difference between Fishin’ and Devil, and again a few books later between “White Butterfly” and “Black Betty.” Plus Mosley’s written a number of other works, including the excellent Leonid McGill series.
Agatha Christie and Janet Evanovich.
Aphra Pell - re yesterday's comment, one way you can follow more people without clogging up your feed is to create a list and only look at the tweets in your list. I follow approximately 1300 people right now, but my list includes only 75. I only see tweets from those 75 folks. You can also "mute" folks if you don't like using lists but don't want to see so many tweets. I use a combination of both and my feed is very manageable. I see the tweets I want to see and not the ones I don't.
I'm pretty sure it's Ellen Gilchrist.
I have two sets of Diana Gabaldon's books. One to read one time and set aside. The other to re-read and get out the highlighter to note how she does stuff.
A mystery writer I've loved for years. He's always put political jabs in his books to reflect his opinions, but he's getting worse as he gets older and it's getting wearisome. Those were deeply highlighted because he is a good writer, but I think I'm getting ready to faugh-a-ballagh (Irish battle cry-clear the way). I don't think I'm even going to read the last book I bought. I read to escape, not get more of what you can't get away from even if you go out to get an ice cream. Either way, I'm done.
Some guy named Somers, Summers, something like that. Writes really good, but scarey books.
Shelby Foote. When I read him, I imagine him speaking to me as I read. Dear heavens I wish that man had narrated his books. I would never get anything done, though.
Mostly, though, it's non-fiction Civil War books. Hundreds of them.
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings... I have first editions of all her titles, plus any and all biographies I can find about her.
"Max & Marjorie: The Correspondence between Maxwell E. Perkins and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings" was fascinating and remains one of my favorite books. Edited by Rodger L. Tarr.
Probably Terry Pratchett takes the biggest chunk, although Lindsey Davis and Elizabeth Peters (+ her other pen name) also have a shelf each.
Thanks for the tips Dena.
Clive Cussler. I have three of his series and counting. We're up to two full bookshelves.
Patricia Briggs vs Ann Bishop + a slapfight with Jim Butcher. Charlaine Harris is probably up there, too.
However, on the shelves I share...J.D. Robb/Nora Roberts, Lee Child, Janet Evonavich, Dean Koontz. I used to have a toooon of Clive Cussler but when things changed I didn’t like them as well. Same with Robert Parker...his books are, very obviously, not the same now that he’s gone.
Michael Crichton, JK Rowling, Rick Riordan, and Jane Austen
Pretty much a tie between Ian Fleming and Shakespeare.
Aphra, I also have a lot of Pratchett. And of course there is Rowling. There is also a lot of Gail Carriger, who writes comedic steampunk. But I think the author who takes up the most real estate is Ann M. Martin. She is the reason I wanted to be an author in the first place.
Melanie Sue, Cross Creek is one of my favorite books, and I've always wanted to write about Rawlings.
Without looking, I guessed Ken Follett.
Turns out it's Elmore Leonard and not even close. Laura Lippman and Dennis Lehane moved Follett all the way to fourth. Who knew? I guess I got stuck in the "L" section for a good while.
And Patrick Lee is about to hit the bookshelves again, right? What the L, I guess I'll add to my collection.
My new bookshelf designations:
Shelf 1: A - K
Shelf 2: L
Shelf 3: M - Z
Tamora Pierce and Mercedes Lackey
followed closely by J.A. Jance
Heinlein, followed by Pratchett
Gerald Durrell, Jane Austen, Dorothy Dunnett, and William Steig.
Well, right this second my books are largely packed in boxes (it's a boring story) but at a guess, I have A LOT of Stephen King and A LOT of Tolkein and Tolkein-related works (my maternal grandfather was an English professor and old English scholar and I got a lot of his books when he moved away from New Jersey).
And I've got a growing pile of my own stuff. Not everything I've been in thus far has had physical contributor copies, but the number grows!
Preston & Child though there are several other authors that I might have more of, P&C are the only books I buy in hardcover. I can't get enough Pendergast.
Lois McMaster Bujold (I have all but 2 of the Vorkosiganverse books) and Lee Smith take top prize. Next tier includes James Lee Burke, Ellen Glasgow, Kent Haruf, Florence King, and Barbara Kingsolver.
Laura: I've recently discovered Lois McMaster Bujold. Love her!
JK Rowling (somehow I've accumulated a paperback HP set, a hard cover set, a cloth-bound set, and two sets of the Galbraith books). My shelf space runner-up is Margaret Atwood.
I tried doing this with my ebooks. Like, actually counting. I sorted my kindle alphabetically and set what I thought was a reasonable limit: I had to have read at least 10 books of an author for them to make the cut.
HAHAHAHAHA. I had a list of more than a dozen authors -- for some I'd read way more than 10 books -- and I wasn't even through the Ds.
It's possible I read too much.
Terry Pratchett (up to the last few), Bill Bryson, Iain M Banks, and creeping up on the inside are Lois McMaster Bujold, KJ Charles and I've acquired a couple of Mick Herron's Slow Horses series (I didn't think these would be my jam, and then couldn't stop reading them because they're funny and vicious and sad).
Excuse the double post, but I'm not sure why it's put me down as unknown there - or maybe I should be pleased that it's making me sound more mysterious and alluring than I really am.
RL Stine for sure. Between Goosebumps and Fear Street, it's like half one of my little shelves.
Tony Hillerman (I love mysteries) and Tracy Kidder for non-fiction. The thing about HIllerman is although his work is fiction (he did write two non-fiction books) I find his writing instructive as well as entertaining. I often use his work as an illustration how to spin a good story while also showing readers a different culture. Unlike so many authors who attempt to write about cultures outside their own, Hillerman spent considerable time learning about Navajo and Hopi culture before writing his first work. Over the years, he became an expert on these cultures to the point of being invited to participate in ceremonies generally closed to outsiders. All of this results in writing that I find compelling and entertaining.
Although he doesn't know it, Tracy Kidder is my mentor. He is one of the best non-fiction story tellers I've read. His book, Good Prose, has become my well-worn manual as I attempt to write publishable essays and finalize my memoir.
Ha, I didn't realize we were counting e-books. In that case, I'll add Charles Dickens to my earlier response. AND, after a look at my bookshelves, I have to include my late mother-in-law, Maritta Wolff, whose best-sellers were reissued after her death.
C.S. Lewis with Mark Helprin as the runner-up.
Guillaume Musso and Maeve Binchy, I have all their books.
Dame Agatha for sure.
I had to check my shelves for this - and learned a lot. I knew #1 would be J.K. Rowling, in both shelf space and number of books (eleven; thirteen if your include her Robert Galbraith novels). However, I was surprised to see that Maggie Stiefvater is close behind at ten books, with her eleventh (already pre-ordered) coming in November. Then it's V.E. Schwab and Denise Mina at eight apiece, and Kate Atkinson, Tana French and Neil Gaiman all sitting at seven. I wouldn't have chosen fantasy and crime as my two most-read genres, but there you go.
(Actually, if we're including ebooks, Chuck Wendig is in there too. I've somehow managed to pick up eleven of his on Kindle at some point or another.)
On the basis this means most (okay, all) their books (this is where it gets embarrassing)...
My "will not part with over my dead body" bookshelves: Agatha Christie, Dick Francis, LM Montgomery, David Eddings, Jean M Auel.
My other bookshelves: Jenn McKinlay, JD Robb, Kate Collins, Nora Roberts, Peter Robinson
eBooks: Amanda M Lee, Jana De Leon, Peter James, Rick Mofina, Deanna Raybourn
And this is why our furniture is around 50 years old *blush*
Stephen King. Some of the copies are so old, I'm afraid to re-read them for fear they'd fall apart in my hands.
Once it was Stephen King. But I gave those away years ago. I have over a shelf full of Andre Norton (5 ft) and we have a shelf full of Agatha Christie (3 ft). Mostly paperbacks for each. I once had everything Larry Niven, Tom Clancy, and Anne McCaffrey had done to tgat point but gave most of those away.
We have at least 2,000 books across numerous genres, including a lot of Berenstein Bears and all the old Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Tom Swift books.
Everything C S Lewis wrote including 3 copies of the Narnia books.
Terry Pratchett, CJ Cherryh, and Lee Child.
Kim Harrison, Kelley Armstrong and Laurien Berenson, hands down. Oh, and of course, Stephen King. I don't buy too many books anymore, since I work in a library and can usually get whatever I want!
GK Chesterton and Christopher Moore. Go figure.
Too. Many. Authors.
Chuck Palahniuk, Robin Hobb, James Scott Bell, Terry Goodkind, Raymond E. Feist
These five are the only authors for whom I own everything they've written.
Diana Wynne Jones easily takes the lead with 18 titles. Second place is Robert Jordan, with 14, and third place is tied between Rick Riordan and Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler, with 13.
If you want to go with franchise over author, I have 36 Warcraft titles between novels and comics. XD
Brooke Johnson reminded me, as a franchise, Star Wars would have once won; between my kids and myself, we had every book put out. Now that they are long gone with their books, it's probably tied with Andrew Norton for shelf space, even though I have less of them. (More hardback, and most of the SW books are 2-3x as thick as hers.)
C.J. Box for books I've read.
James Patterson or Harlan Coben for books I have yet to read.
Bummer! I just found this thread.
Irene: I feel the same way about Tony Hillerman. And now just discovered his daughter Anne is continuing the series with, if possible, more Navajo language in it.
My budget doesn't allow me to fill my shelves with authors I admire. I use the library. But if we are talking about authors where I read everything I can fins of what they've written ...
C.S. Lewis
Agatha Christie
Ellis Peters (Edith Pargeter)
Ursula Le Guin
Dorothy Sayers
Alexander McCall Smith
Dick Francis
S.M. Stirling
... And, recently discovered, Andrew Klavan
* Everything I can FIND. Autocorrect, or shark-related Freudian slip?
John D. MacDonald - I have the whole Travis McGee series lined up in a veritable rainbow of paperbacks. He was one of my father's favorite authors (he named his first dog Travis), and I grew up in South Florida, so picking up one of these books feels like home even now.
I'm going to have to say Tamora Pierce since I've got nearly all of her Tortal books. I believe I'm still lacking the Immortals War books. Before I discovered her, I'd have to say, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Ingals and Getrude Warner and Sydney Taylor. I'm also wishing I had more of Richard Paul Evans' works, especially the Micheal Vey books.
Konnie Enos
Smile. Make the day a brighter day.
https://lifeasmirrortwins.blogspot.com/
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Stephen King, followed by Tim Winton.
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