I'm linking up with The Broke and the Bookish for another Top Ten Tuesday.
This week's topic is the authors whose books you're read the most of. I figured this out based on sorting my Goodreads by author, with one large exception...
1. Agatha Christie (60+)
One summer when I was in high school I went on an Agatha Christie reading binge and read (I think) every single Hercule Poirot book, a handful of Tommy and Tuppence books (I think there only are a few), and a few Miss Marple books, which I liked less. I wrote out every book title I'd read, which as I recall totaled more than 60 books, but then at some later time I decided I didn't need the list anymore and got rid of it. Then when I started tracking all the books I read, I shook my fist at my younger self who had tossed the list, but I could not say for certain which books I had read, only that I'd read most of them. One of these days I will reread them all...
2. Dr. Seuss (30)
I did not realize Dr. Seuss had even written this many books until I counted up the ones I'd read. So many! My memory of most of them is pretty fuzzy, so I guess Gregory and I are going to have to revisit all of them!
3. David Eddings (24)
I'm pretty sure I read everything he ever wrote, although it's been a long time since I reread my favorites, the Belgariad and Malloreon series. I liked the Tamuli and Elenium series OK, and the Dreamers series was awful — I guess he was losing his touch at the end of his life. He kind of ruined fantasy for me because he had this stellar world-building and fantastic character relationships (including strong male and female characters), and few fantasy books I've read have been able to live up to that.
4. Beverly Cleary (13)
I haven't read everything she ever wrote, but I read a good chunk of it growing up. Besides the Ramona Quimby / Henry Huggins series, there's Muggie Maggie and Socks, which are fun in their own ways.
5. Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins (12)
I feel like I should be embarrassed to admit that I read all but the last book of the Left Behind series, including rereading the first eleven books when Glorious Appearing came out. (By the time Kingdom Come was published, I was in college and didn't care about the series anymore.) Most people seem to get hung up on "But you know the Rapture's not real, right?" or "But you know the Rapture isn't going to happen like that, right?" And I'm like, They were a pretty good fantasy adventure story...
6. J.K. Rowling / Robert Galbraith (11)
Again, series kind of dominate when you're talking about total number of books from one author. Besides the Harry Potter series (7 books), I've read The Tales of Beedle the Bard, The Casual Vacancy, The Cuckoo's Calling, and The Silkworm. And you can bet I'm going to read the next Cormoran Strike book.
7. William Shakespeare (11)
Does Shakespeare count? Do his plays count as books? I'm going to say yes. I have the Norton Shakespeare anthology from when I took a Shakespeare course in college and one of these days I'm going to read all his works, but so far I've mostly just read the most famous: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, and Henry V. (I am cheating on a couple of these and counting having seen the unabridged stage productions, because that's basically just having a bunch of people read the play to you, right?)
8. Roald Dahl (10)
Another childhood author whose works I've started collecting for Gregory's bookshelf. We've got The BFG, The Twits, Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, George's Marvelous Medicine, and The Witches. I don't yet have Fantastic Mr. Fox and I'm debating now as an adult whether The Vicar of Nibbleswicke encourages mocking people with disabilities (it's been a long time since I read it). I also read Dahl's autobiography, Boy, a few years ago.
9. Louis Sachar (8)
More series! I loved the Wayside School series as a kid. I also read a handful of Marvin Redpost books and, of course, Holes.
10. Shel Silverstein (8)
I'm starting to think my parents just picked a couple classic children's authors and bought everything they ever wrote for my childhood bookshelf. (OK, not really.) I still have all my Shel Silverstein books, which have now been moved to Gregory's bookshelf. I particularly loved Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back and the poetry books (Where the Sidewalk Ends, The Light in the Attic, and Falling Up).
Some honorable mentions: Dave Barry (6), Maureen Johnson (6), Jane Austen (5), Malcolm Gladwell (5), John Green (5), Megan McCafferty (5), John Steinbeck (5), and Deborah Tannen (5)
Edited to add: I've seen R.L. Stine on a few lists, and clearly I don't have the Goosebumps books marked as read on my Goodreads or Stine might even beat out Christie for the number of books read. He definitely should be on there!
Which authors have you read the most?
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