Authors I've Read the Most Books From - Top Ten Tuesday
This week's Top Tuesday topic is from The Broke and The Bookish's blog. I used my goodreads account to gauge, but I still don't have all of my high school reading logs added yet. So in alphabetical order, the authors I've read the most from are most likely ...
Aaron Allston
(Novels, short stories, etc. read: 12)
--One of my favorite Star Wars authors, I always enjoyed reading his novels because he always infused the SW world with humor and awesome combat/space battles. He's first known for authoring the second half of the X-Wing series featuring Wraith Squadron, a motley team of pilots thrown together for espionage missions. As much as I love characters that are Jedi, it was nice to see "non-Force sensitives" featured as protagonists. He also wrote novels in the New Jedi Order, Legacy of the Force, and Fate of the Jedi series (all now categorized under the "Star Wars: Legends" brand). Unfortunately, he passed away last year --I would have loved to see him write in the "new" everything-published-is-officially-part-of-the-timeline SW universe.
Bryan Davis
(Novels read: 12)
--One of the first Christian fantasy authors I discovered in high school. I don't love the books as much as I did in the past, but I still am attached to the characters (looking at you, Elam, Sapphira, and Ashley!) Best known for his contemporary-set fantasies featuring dragon/human hybrids: the Dragons in our Midst and Oracles of Fire quartets, I also enjoyed his more sci-fi/AU Echoes from the Edge trilogy.
Troy Denning
(Novels, short stories, etc. read: 12)
--Another of my favorite Star Wars authors. I have a love/hate relationship with his books --I love that he featured "the next generation" of Jedi (the Solo children and their friends) but he also was responsible for the much-too-short Legacy of the Force: Invincible and the Dark Nest Trilogy ... which was one of the most ... interesting SW trilogies that I've read.
Brian Jacques
(Novels read: 30)
--Mr. Jacques passed in 2011 but left a legacy of detailed stories of questing, feasting, songs, adventure, honor, and courage. While the Castaways of the Flying Dutchman trilogy is good, the Tales of Redwall series are what he was best known for. Medieval fantasy with anthropomorphic woodland creatures --it's much better than it sounds. Matthias, Mariel, Dandin, Martin, Triss, Rakkety Tam ... and so many more characters I will forever remember. If I ever have children of my own, these are definitely books that I can't wait to share with them. Also, if you get the chance, the audiobooks are amazing to listen to: full cast (they sing the songs as well), with Brian Jacques often narrating --check if your library has any!
Carolyn Keene
(Titles read: 100+)
--Between the 56 "original" Nancy Drew mysteries, the continuations, the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys super mysteries, the Girl Detective series, the graphic novels, the Nancy Drew Notebook series ... you get the idea. I've been reading about ND since 5th grade and though I'm not currently following the series, I will pick up a novel every now and then. One of the many red-haired heroines on my favorite characters list ...
Ann M. Martin
(Titles read: 100+)
--As a young teen, I devoured the Baby-Sitters Club series. My favorites were Claudia and Mallory. Claudia because she was the artist, Asian American, loved Nancy Drew, hated math ... she was like me, except for her flamboyant fashion! =P Mallory because we both had oldest child troubles/responsibilities, "large" families, loved reading and had glasses. At the time, I didn't really get the point of them dating and having boyfriends in middle school (and still don't) but I did love seeing how they dealt with their baby-sitting charges and got lots of baby-sitting tips and tricks. And the handwriting! I was really fascinated by the little notebook excerpts and everyone's different handwriting. =-)
Janette Oke
(Novels read: at least 28)
--Like Bryan Davis, I'm not quite as enthralled with her novels as I was in high school. However, we can't ignore the impact Janette Oke made in Christian publishing and that she helped paved the way for the absolutely amazing authors we have in Christian fiction today. Technically, she was the first "romance" author I read, so I have to credit her for introducing me to one of my most-read genres. ;-)
Rick Riordan
(Novels, short stories, etc. read: 16)
--I was introduced to Riordan's Percy Jackson & the Olympians series by my former junior high Awana leader and haven't looked back since. Witty narration with intriguing and entertaining premises, Riordan writes best with 1st person POVs. Merging mythology with contemporary settings: "PJatO" (Greek), Heroes of Olympus (Greek and Roman), Kane Chronicles (Egyptian), I'll most likely continue with his upcoming Magnus Chase series (featuring Norse mythology) because of that name drop alone: how is this kid related to Annabeth???
Gertrude Chandler Warner
(Titles read: 151)
--I finally stopped reading GCW in 2012. Up until then, I had read every single Boxcar Children Mystery title out there (130). Add the Special Edition titles (21) and I come out with a grand total of 151. Recommended for elementary school students, especially those that don't care for the contemporary, bit of sass or sarcastic-towards-authority type of protagonists --even the later titles I read still retained the "wholesome" behavior/attitude the Alden kids are known for.
Timothy Zahn
(Novels, short stories, etc. read: 16)
--His Thrawn trilogy kind of set Star Wars publishing in motion and is known for creating legendary SW Expanded Universe characters like Grand Admiral Thrawn, Talon Karrde, and of course, Mara Jade (another of my favorite red-gold haired heroines). I'd be interested to see what he would write in the new SW continuity ... I hope he gets the opportunity.
What about you? Who are the authors you've read the most books from? You can totally guess or estimate if you aren't sure. If you participated in the same blog link up, feel free to share your post in the comments as well!
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6 comments
I read a TON of Janette Oke growing up. Nowadays, I don't revisit or keep up with her books, but once upon a time, they were some of my most favorite reads. :)
ReplyDeleteSame here! I think the newest book I read was her Acadia series from the early 2000s. I have her Biblical fiction trilogy that came out a couple of years ago, but haven't gotten around to reading them yet --it would be interesting to see how her work has changed since her prairie novels. =)
ReplyDeleteJanette Oke, Carolyn Keene, Gertrude Chandler Warner...I'm flashing back to my childhood with this post!
ReplyDeleteHaha, I hope it was a good flashback! :-) Doing this list made me realize how much mysteries I read as a kid. Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteI love this list. Not sure who I've read the most of but we've had a lot of Brian Jacques and Carolyn Keene and Gertrude Chandler Warner in our house. Love all of them. I read Janette Oke's Love Comes Softly series and truly enjoyed it. Another favorite is Eloise Jarvis McGraw. I didn't realize how much I loved her work until I saw a list of all her books: Mara: Daughter of the Nile, The Seventeenth Swap, The Golden Goblet, Master Cornhill and Moccasin Trail are just the ones I've read. I need to find the rest on her list. :)
ReplyDeleteOoh, Elosie Jarvis McGraw sounds familiar! I don't think I ever read her books, but someone suggested I read "Mara: Daughter of the Nile" --I know our library had a couple of her titles. I should check them out!
DeleteThank you for taking the time to share your thoughts! Comments are always welcomed and appreciated.