I have all 24 of the *Tarzan *novels…I also read all of the *Pellucidar *and most of the *Barsoom *stories as well
Well if not for the same author clause it would be the 20 or so books in the Star Trek TNG series I’ve read. Next up is the 21 books in the Robotech series which were cowritten by James Luceno and the late Brian Daley except for the last three which were written by Luceno alone after Daley’s death. After that, the ten book Mission Earth series by L Ron Hubbard. After that, the Harry Potter and Dark Tower series (seven books each?).
I guess I lost track of how many there are, but I have also read the Leaphorn/Chee books by Hillerman, and nearly all The Cat Who… books by Braun. And as I’m thinking about mysteries I went to look and I’ve read all but one of Dorothy Gilman’s Mrs. Pollifax books.
Throw in Dick Francis and it isn’t too hard to tell my taste, is it?
I suppose the longest series for me would be James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux books. 17 thus far.
Back in the day I read all the James Bond novels, plus between 20 to 30 of the Perry Mason novels, which were all that were available at that time. And I’ve read probably 10 to 12 of the Prey novels by John Sandford.
Is Sandford up to 12 now? I read many of them, but haven’t read one in a few years now.
I’d forgotten Bond novels – I’ve read all of Fleming’s (including "James Bond in New York), and all the Bond books and stories by Amis, Gardner, Benton, and even the atrocious Christopher Wood ones. I think the only one I missed was this most recent one. That probably makes this the longest series I’ve read.
I’ve read parts of lots of other series – The Destroyer, Doc Savage, Man from U.N.C.L.E., Get Smart, and Sea series meant to imitate Forester – Alexander Kent, C. Northcote Parkinson, a host of others I’ve forgotten, even --forgive me – O’Brien’s Aubrey/Maturin series, but I couldn’t get into them.
It looks like he’s up to 18 now. This from his website:
The Prey Series
Rules of Prey
Shadow Prey
Eyes of Prey
Silent Prey
Winter Prey
Night Prey
Mind Prey
Sudden Prey
Secret Prey
Certain Prey
Easy Prey
Chosen Prey
Mortal Prey
Naked Prey
Hidden Prey
Broken Prey
Invisible Prey
Phantom Prey
All the series I’ve read have been mentioned so far.
Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series tops my list, with 36 books.
Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct books. (Boo hoo, I just found out he’s dead!)
All of Sherlock Holmes. (This doesn’t beat Spenser, since they are mostly short stories. I have both volumes.)
And nineteen of the twenty books in the Aubrey/Maturin series. I’m saving the twentieth for my deathbed.
I can’t be the only person to read all of Bernard Cornwell’s Richard Sharpe novels. There are over 20 of them.
And Harry Turtledove’s Civil War series seemed to go on for eveer, though I am not sure how many books were finally involved.
Wow, guys. I admire your dedication. The best I’ve ever done was up to book seven in the Sword of Truth series, and would have stopped earlier if six hadn’t been so damn good.
I’ve read them (post #32). The newer ones aren’t nearly as good as the ones he wrote in the 80’s (*Eagle *through Waterloo) but I keep reading them.
Yes, but that was my point - since there are multiple writers sharing the pseudonym of Carolyn Keen, there is still more than one author in reality, even if the same name appears on the books themselves.
The use of a pseudonym doesn’t necessarily rule the series out, as far as the OP’s criteria is concerned, so long as the pseudonym is consistently used by one single author. So the Lemony Snicket books qualify because Lemony is really Daniel Handler, as do the trilogies of Robin Hobb because Robin is actually Margaret Ogen (who also wrote other series under the name Megan Lindholm).
On the other hand, shared pseudonyms like Carolyn Keene or real names that are taken over by ghostwriters like Anne Martin or V C Andrews are out because there is more than one person who could claim authorship.
Yes, I agree. I almost feel I am forcing myself to read them these days.
This is what I came in to say.
Discworld for me as well: all the novels (except most Making Money) as well as “Art of…”, “…Companion”, “Wyrdest Link”, “Wit & Wisdom”, “Where’s My Cow” and all the short stories–but I couldn’t finish “Science of…”
Longest here has taken on “most books in” but that’s not necessarily the best criteria. The Doc Savage books are quite short, and have a lot of duplicated material, so 50 of those probably contain less, in terms of words and/or content, than the Discworld books. Not that I’m putting anyone down here, just a comment.
Oops…I included the “Little House” books, which would be non-fiction.
I like kids’ books when they’re reasonably intelligent, and lately I’ve been reading my way through the “Warriors” cat series by Erin Hunter (who is really three people, but the same three work on every book). So far I believe they’re up to 14 or 15 in the series (two complete six-part series and one in the works, all of which follow each other chronologically and have the same characters, along with one 500+ page “mega novel” (also with the same characters) that fits into the space between two of the 6-parters, a manga series that fills in the cracks, and a couple of non-fiction supplements.
The Harry Potter series, of course, with 7 books.
The Three Investigators series, though I’m not sure it counts because it was written by more than one author or group of authors.
The Trixie Belden series, which is up to 39 books, I think, but again was written by multiple people.
Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah’s Sime/Gen series (I’m too lazy to go count but I think there are 10 or so books in the series).
I’ve read all of most of the major classic mystery writers, and by all I mean all the novels, all the short stories, all the radio plays, and all the any other miscellaneous types of fiction, including the jigsaw mystery puzzles.
Ellery Queen
John Dickson Carr (Dr. Fell and Sir Henry Merrivale)
Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe )
Craig Rice (John J. Malone)
Stuart Palmer (Miss Hildegarde Withers)
William Marshall (Yellowthread Street police)
Phoebe Atwood Taylor (Asey Mayo and Leonidas Witherall)
Simon Brett (Charles Paris)
Elliott Roosevelt (Eleanor Roosevelt)
I’ve read almost all, meaning a couple of odd volumes here and there, often new ones that are still on my to-be-read shelves, of:
Ed McBain (87th precinct)
Donald Westlake (Dortmunder and Parker)
Tony Hillerman (Leaphorn and Jim Chee)
I’ve read dozens of the following but they wrote so much I’m sure I haven’t read them all.
Erle Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason)
Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple)
There must be a dozen more because I have a couple thousand old mysteries in my library, and you live by prolificness in the genre and make your name with a popular character. That’s why I never understood why so few f&sf authors didn’t plunge into series until recently, when they seem to have taken over the field.
How you doin’?
I tried a couple Ellery Queens. I couldn’t figure them out, but I was about thirteen when I read them. I might be able to puzzle through the mystery a bit better now.