What authors have you read, from beginning to end?

Cafe Society
41

No way I could remember them all. I tend to do the same as the OP when I read sombody new. After reading for more than forty years, the full list would be reeeally long.

Off the top of my head (mostly) and to the best of my knowledge:

Spider Robinson, Tom Robbins, Harlan Coben, Terry Pratchett, Christopher Moore, George P. Pelecanos, Walter Mosley (except the sci-fi after Blue Light. what the hell was that?), Steven Brust, John Irving, Kilgore Trout :wink: , Larry Niven, Roger Zelazny, Al Franken (except the Stuart Smalley stuff), Robert Ferrigno, Richard Russo, Neil Gaiman (novels only, not even close to all the comics), Tim Dorsey, George Hayduke, Kurt Vonnegut, Neal Barrett Jr (all I can find, anyway), Walter Jon Williams, Bill Fitzhugh, GM Ford (think that’s a pseudonym?), Sherri Tepper (but not Ruth Rendell), Don Winslow, Tim Powers, Joe Haldeman, there are certainly more.

Honorable mention to Tom Reamy, who wrote (according to the introduction) only one book called Blind Voices.

I get even more obsessive with music. (I really wish I had more disposable income.) At least with CDs I can enjoy the same one repeatedly (and often).

42

Sorry, he also has a short story collection, ‘San Diego Lightfoot Sue’ published back in 1979. He’s on my list, though! :wink:

Jack Vance
M.John Harrison (well, not all his criticism yet - it’s fairly heavy going!)
And I’m probably close with a bunch more, but no-one comes to mind right away except some authors with only 2 or 3 books published…

43

Does anyone else do that thing where you go back to an author’s section at the book store in hope that maybe you somehow missed something and a new book you’ve never even heard of might mysteriously appear on the shelf?

I’m close on Stephen King – I’ve read everything published for the mass market and I’ve tracked down most of his short stories that only appeared in magazines (and then he went and published a lot of them in a book – geez, cheat why don’t you? :wink: ) but I think there are a still a few out there that I haven’t gotten to yet.

I’ve read a good way through Dorothy Sayers – all the fiction and most of her academic work, I’m still missing some essays and was just cruelly DENIED by a book store that claimed they could special order, and then they called back to say it turns out the reprint wasn’t available after all. Sheesh.

I think I’m complete on Madeleine L’Engle, even including the preachier non-fiction which was a little bit of a chore. A lot of her non-science fictiony teen stuff hasn’t been in print for a while, so that was a fun challenge.

I’ve also read all of Nancy Mitford that I’m aware of.

44

Lots of repeats, and thanks, **delphica[/b, I would have forgotten Madeleine L’Engle:

Madeleine L’Engle
C. S. Lewis
Robin McKinley
Almost everthing Chaim Potok wrote. I think I may be missing one
L. M. Montgomery
Terry Pratchett

Huh. I think that’s all. How strange.

45

Stephen King
George R.R. Martin
Charles Sheffield
J.K. Rowling
Harper Lee
Kurt Vonnegut

46

William Shakespeare
Mark Twain
Charles Dickens
H. L. Mencken (except for a book on child-care he co-wrote)
John Sandford
Ed McBain
John D. MacDonald
Kinky Friedman
Ernest Hemingway
William Faulkner
John Steinbeck
Dashiell Hammett
Loren D. Estelman
Robert B. Parker
Pat Conroy
John Feinstein
Norman MacLean
Scott Turow
Nelson DeMille
J. D. Salinger
Florence King
and, of course
John Kennedy O’Toole
Harper Lee

47

All of Garrison Keillor except the kids’ books. Some of him I kinda wish I hadn’t read; reading too much Keillor is like eating too much tuna hot dish.

48

Well, I have. I just read Last Chance to See a few months ago. It’s sad.

49

Pratchett, Gaiman, Adams, J.K. Rowling, Tamora Pierce, Guy Gavriel Kay, Lloyd Alexander, Madeleine L’Engle…

50

J.K. Rowling

Janet Evanovich

Mystery: Lindsey Davis

Romance Writers:

Barbara Metzger

Dara Joy

Mary Jo Putney

Amanda Quick

Laura Kinsale

Lynn Kurland

51

Michael Connelly

Diana Gabaldon

Tabitha King

Alice Hoffman

Ed McBain

Elizabeth George

P.J. James

52

Sue Grafton
Sara Paretsky
Lawrence Sanders
Marcia Muller
Danielle Steele (I think)
Kathy Reichs
Patricia Cornwell
Judy Blume :smiley:

53

Janet Evanovich
Jane Austen
Diana Gabaldon (though I haven’t finished “Lord John Grey” yet)
J.K. Rowling
Laura Ingalls Wilder
James Herriott
Larry McMurtry
On a tangent, here are some authors whose novels I’ve given up on:

Laurell k. Hamilton (her Anita Blake series started out witty and sassy; then they degenerated into porn)

Jean Auel - Too much time elapsed between books and I found I no longer cared what happened to Ayla.

54

I think Vonnegut is the only one.

I’m fairly close on Lovecraft, but I hate the Dunsany-like dream stuff.

I made a good push to read all of Ursula Leguin, but she sort of lost her edge with some of her stuff (e.g., “The Eye of the Heron”) and I never got into the whole eastern Europe thing. I wonder if I shouldn’t revisit her, though.

55

A couple I forgot earlier:

Lewis Shiner
Jonathan Carroll
Kim Stanley Robinson - just a bit to go on the Mars trilogy, although I’ve already read the collection, Martians.

56

Read 'em all:

John D. Macdonald
Robert Heinlein
Isaac Asimov
Piers Anthony
Tom Clancy
Jonathan Kellerman
Terry Pratchett
L. E. Modesitt, Jr. (all the Recluce books)
David Eddings
Katherine Kurtz
Dick Francis
Louis L’Amour
Lee Child
J. K. Rowling
Tony Hillerman
H. P. Lovecraft
John Grisham

On my in-progress list:

J. A. Jance
Diane Duane
Larry Niven
Steve Martini

57

Rex Stout
Ngaio Marsh
Ellery Queen
Ed McBain
Ruth Rendell (only the Wexford series)
Leslie Meier
Tons of mystery series I can’t think of off the top of my head.
JK Rowling
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Chaim Potok
James Herriott
Most of Vonnegut

58

You guys reminded me of a couple more – Lemony Snicket and Tom Reamy, with just the one book and the short story collection but my gosh, they’re fine.

If short stories count, I’ll add 70’s SF and horror writer Bob Leman, who I’ve just learned is near death from a lung disease. His stories were collected in Feesters in the Lake, which should be on every SF fan’s bookshelf.

59

:smack: I have that book, too.

60

I’m pretty impressed with those of you who have read all of Isaac Asimov’s books. I think I’ve read all of his fiction, but he’s written a ton of non-fiction.

Off the top of my head, I’m pretty sure I’ve read everything by:
Joe Haldeman
Robert Heinlein
Octavia Butler
Sharon Kay Penman
Diana Gabaldon
James Herriot
Jane Austen
Patrick O’Brian (okay, just the Aubrey/Maturin books)

I’m working on Tanya Huff, Jim Butcher, Bernard Cornwell (I’ve read all the Sharpe books), Charlaine Harris, and Peter F. Hamilton.