TTT: Top Ten Author’s I’ve Read the Most Books From

/ beckmank

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday (TTT) brought to you by The Broke and the Bookish.

A few weeks ago, when we did our Top Ten Topics Lists, I saw several people had Top Ten Author’s I Own the Most Books From. I thought that sounded like a fun topic so I added it to my queue for a future post. (Still plan on doing that one.) This week I was super excited to see that we are talking about our Top Ten Author’s we’ve read. This is great as I get so many books from the library. I will be interested to see how the list differs from author’s I own. When I get around to doing that one.

List Exclusions

Now, I will tell you I decided not to include author’s that I read as a kid – Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew), Judy Blume, Dr. Seuss, etc. I think those books would make a full top ten list in their own right, I read so many of them! And, as time goes on my memory becomes fuzzy as to how many of those Sweet Valley High books I actually read. (It was most of the series, I’m not going to lie.)

Another author purposely missing from my list is Agatha Christie. I have not even tried to place her. I read quite a few of her books when I was in high school, but at this point (20+ years out) I really can’t remember which ones or how many.

Top Ten Authors I’ve Read The Most Books From

To come up with this top ten, I sat down and started listing authors that I knew I read a lot of books from. The majority are what I call “serial authors” – they’ve come up with a mystery series with a core group of characters that I like to follow.

HermioneReads

I do have six quick honorable mentions. They are all favorite authors, and I hate to have them left off of my list. I’ll make it quick, I promise!

Honorable Mentions

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  • 8 Books – P.D. James
  • 9 Books – Steve Berry
  • 10 Books
    • Rick Riordan
    • Jacqueline Winspear
    • J.K. Rowling
    • Stephen King

And now, for the Top Ten…

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Ten. 13 Books by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

Twelve of these books are the Agent Pendergast series.

Nine. 15 Books by Anne Rice

Vampire and Witch books make up the bulk of my Anne Rice reads.

Eight. 16 Books by Elizabeth George

Scotland Yard’s Inspector Thomas Lynley and Sergeant Barbara Havers are a favorite duo of mine.

Seven. 19 Books by Lee Child

Ex-Army Jack Reacher is a nomad with a sense of justice.

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Six. 21 Books by Kate Kingsbury

Pennyfoot Hotel Mysteries. The Christmas ones are my favorite.

Five. 22 Books by Janet Evanovich

Yes, yes. The Stephanie Plum novels strike again. Two more until I’ve read them all. I still enjoy her Lizzy & Diesel series.

Four. 24 Books by Sue Grafton

X is the newest release in the Kinsey Milhone series. I am going to be so sad when we get to Z. Kinsey is one of my favorites.

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Three. 26 Books by Michael Connelly

I never miss an installment with Detective Harry Bosch or lawyer Mickey Haller.

Two. 27 Books by Martha Grimes

Most of these reads (23) come from the Richard Jury series which feature Jury along with Melrose Plant and the Long Pidd crew. Each book is name after a pub that is featured in the novel. I have also read her Emma Graham series.

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One. 32 Books by M.C. Beaton

31 Hamish Macbeth’s and one lonely Agatha Raisin. Hamish is a lazy village policeman in Lochdubh, Scotland. Books that feature the town locals are my favorite ones. I look forward to a new Hamish installment every year. One day I’ll get caught up on more Agatha.

Benedict CumberbatchReading

Looking at this top ten, I bet I have only four overlaps on a “Books I Own” list. (Along with a few of my Honorable Mentions as well.) In fact, I own zero books from some of these authors, all library reads.

Fun Hidden Staircase Fact: Unsurprisingly, most of these authors are also on my Favorite Series page.

Are you a serial reader like me? (Or am I just insane for sticking it out with so many different authors? I’ve got 215 books in the top ten. Yikes!) Who made your top ten? Comment away, and link up to your own Top Ten list if you’ve got one.

53 thoughts on “TTT: Top Ten Author’s I’ve Read the Most Books From”

    • I really loved the first 5 – 10 Stephanie Plums. They were fresh and funny. But then Evanovich got lazy and just started recycling plots and has zero character growth. So #21 is pretty much the same as the books before it. I would recommend the early part of the series, for sure. I think #2 was my favorite.

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  5. I purposefully left off some stuff I read as a kid (SVH, Babysitters Club, Christy Miller) as well as picture books I’ve read to my kids (Mo Willems!) because the list would’ve been unwieldy. Most of my Agatha Christie reading has been as an adult, so I left her on. I also included L. M. Montgomery because I’ve re-read so many of her books as an adult. J. K. came so close to being on my list (13 books, including those written as Robert Galbraith).

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    • I just finished my second Galbraith, I really like those novels. The only ones from JK I haven’t read are the two books in the schoolbooks set and Beadle the Bard. I am so close to finishing that one. But I got to the last story (The Deathly Hallows) with Dumbledore’s notes, and I realized it was my last new Harry Potter and I just didn’t want it to end. So I set the book down and I haven’t picked it back up. 🙂

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  17. Kate Kingsbury is an author I’m not familiar worth who looks pretty delightful. I like mysteries/stories set in hotels for some reason AND it’s a historical mystery which are my favorites. Thanks for the recommendation!

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  23. Wow, you read a lot of books by the same authors! Most of my favorite authors haven’t written very many books, unfortunately. But that’s awesome that you can read twenty or more books written by the same person- then you know you’ll enjoy them!

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    • Yes – as long as the author keeps it fresh. Sue Grafton is a great example of that. Kinsey Milhone is always moving forward in her life, and Ms. Grafton comes up with something different for every mystery. Plus that series has been going on for 30 years, so she’s not just cranking them out one after another.

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  24. We share more authors in your “Honorable mentioned” list then those that made your actual top ten. I think the only one we share on there is Evanovich. But i am not very far into Stephanie Plum. Is her other series similar or different?
    Great list 🙂

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  25. This is a great list! I honestly didn’t think really hard on the authors I chose, because now that I’m reading other people’s lists, I realize I excluded people whose books I’ve read more of then the one’s listed. But you make a good point. If I included the authors I read as a kid, it would be insane. I think I read every Sweet Valley High and Babysitters Club ever written.

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  26. You’ve got tons of series on here that I’ve been wanting to start — the ones by Elizabeth George, Preston & Child, Michael Connelly, M.C. Beaton, and Jacqueline WInspear. Which is your favorite? (P.S. Love the Hermione and Benedict Cumberbatch pictures!)

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