top 5 tuesday

top 5 tuesday: My Most-Read Authors

Rachel36 Comments

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the fantastic Bionic Bookworm.  This week’s topic:

OCTOBER 3 – Top 5 most read authors

5. George R. R. Martin (5)

I love this series and can’t wait for The Winds of Winter.  I enjoyed all of these with the exception of ADWD which really dragged for me.  Anyway… highly recommended!  You don’t need to be a big fantasy fan to enjoy these.  I’m certainly not.

Favorite to least favorite: A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Dance With Dragons.

4. Lisa See (6)

Lisa See is one of my favorite historical fiction writers.  Each of her novels is set in a different period and location in Chinese history, and they’re all thoroughly researched and richly detailed, so I’ve learned a ton from reading her.  And they’re also entertaining as hell.  The one exception was China Dolls, which was a major flop – otherwise, I’d highly recommend checking out any of her novels if you aren’t already familiar with her.

Favorite to least favorite: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Shanghai Girls, Dreams of Joy, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, Peony in Love, China Dolls.

3. Kazuo Ishiguro (7)

I was OBSESSED with Ishiguro when I was a teen… he was probably one of the first adult fiction writers that I discovered outside of school, and I flew through all of his novels.  The Buried Giant was a major letdown when it was published a few years ago – I’m hoping he goes in a different direction with the next novel he writes.  Anyway.  Never Let Me Go is one of my favorite novels of all time and I can’t recommend it highly enough.  Though any of these are worth checking out – except, The Unconsoled would not be a good place to start with him.

Favorite to least favorite: Never Let Me Go, The Remains of the Day, A Pale View of Hills, When We Were Orphans, The Unconsoled, An Artist of the Floating World, The Buried Giant.

2. J.K. Rowling (13)

Obviously.

Favorite to least favorite: Harry Potter*, The Cuckoo’s Calling, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Silkworm, The Casual Vacancy, Quidditch Through the Ages, The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

* Order of the Phoenix, Goblet of Fire, Deathly Hallows, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, Sorcerer’s Stone, Half-Blood Prince.

1. Jodi Picoult (13)

DON’T LAUGH AT ME I went through a major Jodi Picoult phase when I was like 15.  Anyway.  I’m giving her the #1 spot over JKR even though they’re technically tied because all of these are actual novels.

Favorite to least favorite (take this with a pretty massive grain of salt after the first couple, because it’s been a decade since I read most of these and they all kind of blur together): The Pact, Second Glance, Salem Falls, My Sister’s Keeper, Nineteen Minutes, Handle with Care, House Rules, The Tenth Circle, Keeping Faith, Change of Heart, Plain Truth, Picture Perfect, Harvesting the Heart.

Darn, if only I had read Career of Evil before posting this J.K. Rowling could have won… oh well.  I will be working diligently to dethrone Jodi Picoult in upcoming months.  I have a feeling that Agatha Christie is eventually going to be the winner, but as of now I’ve only read four of her novels.

Who’s your most read author?  Comment and let me know!

36 thoughts on “top 5 tuesday: My Most-Read Authors”

  1. OH DANG I forgot to count Fantastic Beasts and Quidditch through the Ages in mine, I must go change that. But LOL I love that Jodi is your #1…honestly I was surprised I’d only read 5.

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    • SHE IS A TRICKY ONE with all her pseudonyms!!! When Goodreads told me I’d only read 9 books by her I was like ‘wait WHAT’

      I AM MAJORLY JEALOUS THAT YOU STOPPED AT 5 UGH I have so much work cut out for me if I want to get her off this list altogether. I mean other than JKR and Christie what adult writers are even that prolific???????

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    • AHHH YOU NEED TO. It is so so good.

      I love how no matter how the rest of the rankings go, everyone seems to be in total agreement that ASOS is far and away the best ASOIAF novel hahaha

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    • Half of me is annoyed that I didn’t just GO FOR IT and read all of her novels while I was at it (I was so close!!!), and half of me is like ‘damnit why did you have to read THIRTEEN now she’s going to be one of your most-read authors for the rest of eternity’ hahahah.

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      • Right?? I’m ALMOST THERE with Rowling, I just need to finish her Cormoran Strike series. And I think I’ll eventually get there with Agatha Christie – I only discovered her this year, but I’m loving her novels. Otherwise ??? I don’t know if anyone else is going to be able to dethrone her!

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      • It’s a really solid mystery series, if you’re into that kind of thing! I really really enjoyed The Cuckoo’s Calling, and I was sort of lukewarm on The Silkworm, but I’m gathering that that’s most people’s least favorite. Career of Evil seems to have better reviews, so I’m looking forward to it. So yeah, if you’re into thrillers, definitely worth checking out!

        Right?? I can only hope the other authors on my list get writing ASAP, haha! (Though I won’t hold my breath with George R.R. Martin.)

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  4. Lisa See is one that I’ve been wanting to read for the longest time!! I see her books, think they’re interesting and just never pick them up. I actually won a copy of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane but still haven’t read it! Which one of hers was your favourite?

    Thanks again for participating! Great list! 🙂

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    • Ohhh that’s so exciting you won a copy!! I got an e-ARC but I’d love to have a physical copy, that cover is gorgeous.

      I think my favorite has to be Snow Flower and the Secret Fan – just beware that there are kind of graphic descriptions of foot binding, which really disturbed a lot of people, but I think it’s manageable if you know it’s coming… other than that I’d really highly recommend her duology Shanghai Girls/Dreams of Joy. But I really really loved Tea Girl as well! I hope you enjoy her when you get around to her.

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      • Thanks for the recommendation! I’ve always been fascinated by the foot binding tradition. It’s such an odd and random thing that they found so necessary and I can not imagine the pain and anguish they must have went through. I think I’ll be looking for that one soon!

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      • I’m really morbidly fascinated by it as well!!! I always feel like I should warn people when I recommend this book because I guess some people can’t stomach it at all and had to put the book down, but I didn’t think it was THAT bad. I mean, it’s a really interesting and tragic piece of history that I think it’s important to learn about. I can’t even imagine the pain those women went through.

        I really hope you enjoy it!!

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      • Some of the most amazing reads have also been the hardest and most painful. Especially when it comes to history, it’s never easy but it’s something we owe it to them to learn and remember.
        Almost nothing makes me shy away from a book!

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  6. ‘I will be working diligently to dethrone Jodi Picoult’ – lol 😛

    I’ve never really paid attention to who my most read authors are but you’ve got me intrigued now! Off the top of my head, it’s probably J.K. Rowling for obvious reasons. I’ve read a lot of Patrick Ness and quite a bit of Alice Thompson too. I have a feeling Agatha Christie and Daphne du Maurier will keep creeping up the list as well though.

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    • UGH I WANT HER OFF THIS LIST but I have so much work cut out for me.

      Goodreads will actually tell you if you go to your books, and on the left-hand side under tools there’s a ‘most read authors’ button.

      I’ve actually never read any Patrick Ness, though he’s been on my TBR for ages! And I hadn’t heard of Alice Thompson, but I’m looking her up and she looks great.

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      • Haha, you can do it! 📚

        Just had a look and there were names in there I expected but a few I didn’t. I’ve read more H.G. Wells and Neil Gaiman than I realised, and C.S. Lewis is pretty high up too, but that’s just because of the 7 Narnia books.

        I love Thompson! She seems to fly under a lot of people’s radars, and some of her stuff is pretty weird so I can see why she’s not for everyone, but I think people who like dark, eerie fiction could like her a lot. I’d recommend starting with The Book Collector; it’s one of my favourites.

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      • H.G. Wells is another one that I’ve never read! I also don’t think I realized he was prolific enough to make it onto a most-read authors list, haha. And I really wish I could get into Neil Gaiman, but I don’t seem to be able to… or maybe I just haven’t read the right one yet.

        The Book Collector sounds great! Maybe I’ll try to squeeze it in this month – it seems like a great fall read.

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      • I’ve been really enjoying Wells recently, actually, but like you, I didn’t realise how much he’d written (which is loads as it turns out) until I started looking into him properly.

        I must admit, I’ve enjoyed some Gaiman stuff but haven’t read anything yet that really grabbed me and made me love him like others seem to.

        That’s a good idea! It’s definitely very gothic.

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      • I really need to check out Wells at some point then! Especially if there’s so much to choose from. And it’s good he’s so prolific, maybe he can help me dethrone Jodi one day.

        I definitely do not get the Gaiman obsession… I’ve only read one and a half of his books but they just do not do it for me. My experience with reading him is pretty much ‘what the heck am I missing here???’

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  7. I loved all of Lisa See books. I am also a fan of Ishiguro. And I’m thinking you might like the “Masters of Rome” series by Colleen McCullough.

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  8. I did a post like this a month or two back and almost all of my top authors were authors I hadn’t read in ages–apparently I was a lot more dedicated to authors when I was younger! I think I also had more of a tendency to read book series back then. I’ve only read a couple Jodi Picoult books but I actually enjoyed them, I think they’re good to read when you’re in the mood. Fun story: Once I was talking to my bookseller friend and couldn’t remember Jodi Picoult’s name and said “y’know, the lady who writes sad books?” and he IMMEDIATELY knew who I was talking about.

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    • Tbh it didn’t even occur to me to go back further than my teenage years… there was this one horse series that had like, twenty books, that I was obsessed with in elementary school, so I guess technically that author is the real winner.

      Omg I am so burned out on Jodi Picoult, I doubt I’ll ever read her again, not because she’s bad at all but because her books are just so formulaic that after you’ve read a couple you can kind of predict how the rest are going to go. Hahahah that is AMAZING, that’s literally why I loved her so much, I loved how intense and depressing her books could be.

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  9. Oh, I love this post! And don’t feel bad about Jodi Picoult because if I had to be honest about my most read author it wouldn’t be Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman as my Goodreads would have you believe … but Danielle Steel. I went through a massive romance novel phase when I was around 15 and for some reason I gravitated towards her. I must have read at least 30 of her books. And some more than once.

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  11. Jodi Picoult is up there with me. I like most of her books. Leaving Time and Small Great Things were both good, though I hated The Storyteller. JK Rowling, same, because I’ve read everything she’s ever written, including the little speech book from Harvard’s Commencement she put out. Kate Brian, because I read the entire Private and Privilege series, and Cecily von Ziegesar because I read like 10+ Gossip Girl novels, the ten book It Girl spinoff, the four book post-Gossip Girl NYC book, and a couple of her standalone. I think according to Goodreads CvZ is my most read, though I’ve only been using goodreads for the past two years or so.

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    • I haven’t read any of Jodi’s newer books, for the most part I’ve heard really good things but I’m just so burned out with her! Maybe in a couple of years I’ll feel ready to take the plunge again…

      I just got the JK Rowling commencement speech book for Christmas and read it in like 10 minutes yesterday, not only was it delightful but this means she can FINALLY dethrone Jodi as my most-read author. Though I’m still looking forward to reading Career of Evil hopefully soon.

      And I haven’t heard of Kate Brian or CvZ!

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