Maureen at By Singing Light has a post on this and I thought it was entertaining to see where we match up. Without actually going downstairs to look at my shelves, I would bet I own at least 20 books by the following authors (in no particular order):
1. CJ Cherryh. I own all of hers except I gave away the Rusalka ones. They take up several shelves.
2. DWJ. I own absolutely all of hers now, I think.
3. Steven Brust. I think I have all of his, even TECKLA, though I am a bit surprised I haven’t given that one away. But I’ve been re-reading the Taltos books slowly and out of order and I know it’s still on the shelf.
4. Gillian Bradshaw. I have all hers except some of the SF titles.
5. Martha Wells. I have all hers, even the Star Wars titles, though I haven’t read them yet.
6. Barbara Hambly. I got rid of those dreadful Nazi books and the horrible MOTHER OF WINTER, but I have all the rest, including the Abigail Adams books she wrote as Barbara Hamilton.
7. Ngaio Marsh. I have all her mysteries and there must be more than 20.
Let’s see if I can get to ten. I’m not at home so I honestly can’t go look downstairs. Um. Don’t have my Kindle with me, either, though the only author on there I think must be close to 20 is Martha Wells. Okay let’s see . . .
8. Rumer Godden. I haven’t read all of them because it’s not like there will ever been any more! But there’s such a thing as parceling them out too slowly. I should read one sometime soon.
9. Oh, Lois McMaster Bujold, obviously. If she doesn’t have 20 yet, she must be close.
10. Sharon Shinn, probably. I think I have all her books except maybe one or two.
11. Oh, of course, Patricia McKillip! I even kept STEPPING FROM THE SHADOWS, just to be complete. I might have ditched SOLSTICE WOOD, which to me reaches backward to ruin WINTER ROSE.
Okay, can I get to a dozen? Let me think.
12. Orson Scott Card? Guy Gavriel Kay? Have either of them written close to 20 books? I don’t think I have everything by Kay and I know I haven’t liked everything by Card — I disliked the Alvin Maker series and don’t have those. I thought Card was going sharply downhill as a writer, in fact, but then ENCHANTMENT was really good.
Well, I’ll leave it there. But I’ll try to remember to actually look when I get home and see if I have another author who definitely belongs in that twelfth spot.
UPDATE: Yes, in fact. I have 17 books by Dorothy Dunnett, which is more than by Card and Kay put together. Great comments for this post; thank you all for chiming in!
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