Which are the authors I have read all of or think I should?
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- Yes that's Virginia Woolf in the thumbnail. She's one of five authors I haven’t yet "completed" by reading all their novels but will. Are you a completist? I'm not as a rule but #janeaustenjuly made me reflect that there are a few authors I do feel that way about. I thought I'd share the ones like Austen that I have already read everything by, which I won't attempt and which I will. I'd love to know yours too.
This 1912 portrait of Woolf by Vanessa Bell is in the National Portrait Gallery in London. I don't know why her sister Bell blurred out her eyes.
I like this topic a lot. I might make a response.
@@BookishTexan oh please do. That would be fun and yours will be different from mine.
This is such a great topic, Ros! I need to think on this! Right now, I think I have more living authors where I’ve read all of their works so far, but not too many!
@@BookChatWithPat8668 I think a video from you would be good when you have thought.
@@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711 This will be fun!
Love the topic, Ros. Agree with your choice of Virginia Woolf. I haven’t read everything by her yet, but I want to. I was going to add to the list Alice Munro, but I just saw how many short stories she’s written and now I’ll just keep her on my list of people I want to read more of rather than read it all. Also leaning toward Jonathan Franzen-love his take on family dynamics. And a future writer that will probably be on my list but it’s too early in his career to tell is Tommy Orange, who writes about the urban Native American experience. And if Percival Everett didn’t write so many books and weren’t still alive, he’d be on my list, too-a brilliant writer. Sorry-I am spinning out of control, but your topic is such a good one.
@@suzannenoel3610 I like the spinning. Woolf is both wonderful and doable. I think your decision on Munroe is wise. I read a couple by Franzen and admired them but it feels like enough. I have only read Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange but absolutely agree that he is one to watch.
I'm currently in a Kurt Vonnegut, as well as a Michael Cabron reading group where we're reading all their novels in publication order. Great idea, Roz 💡
@@bighardbooks770 as you know I tend to flit around but I can see the satisfaction in a deliberate journey through an author in order.
The "Fab 5" authors of whom I have read a lot but by no means all would be...Molly Keane, Barbara Pym, Beryl Bainbridge, Iris Murdoch and Martin Amis. All now sadly departed and all uniquely talented. P.G.Wodehouse is another potential candidate but he was VERY prolific!
@@josephcossey1811 all fabbers for me too apart from Amis. I can feel the quality of his writing but something turns me off. I have read oodles of Wodehouse but yes he is too prolific to want to read all his work. A joy though.
Jean Rhys is the only author I've ever read completely! Others on my list are Alice Munro, Virginia Woolf (I've made a fair dent in those), Clarice Lispector (I've only just started reading her short stories!). I hope other creators feel like making a response to this, what a fascinating thing to think about, thank you so much!
@@slapdashandvigour now Jean Rhys could be one for me to add to my list. I have only read two and both were tremendous.
This is such fun! There are a few authors where I've read everything, but most are alive. I always draw a blank on these kind of things, but I know I've read all of Kent Haruf and Flannery O'Connor. Authors who are (hopefully) still publishing: Donna Tartt, Tana French, Ann Patchett. I've got lots of authors where I'm missing only one or two books, but I'm not really a completist by heart, especially first novels or works that the authors themselves say aren't worth reading.
@@EveningReader I am not a natural completist so the authors where I approach that are pretty special to me. I can imagine reading all of Patchett now you suggest that but I feel on safer ground with dead authors.
I love being a completeist! I've completed Austen (major works) Brontes (major works + poetry), and Jonathan Franzen (literally everything, including works he's translated from German). I'm working on Dostoyevsky, that's a long term project. I would love to do more.
Oh and I'm close on Zadie Smith. Need to read the new one + The Autograph Man
@@LauraFreyReadinginBed there's a satisfaction in completing an author but it's not my natural inclination. I think it is a question of temperament. But I am making a deliberate effort to do it more often. Franzen is a less common choice. Dostoyevsky will be a challenge.
I've read all of Denton Welch's published writings and gathered and read every piece of scholarship on his work.
@@TheChannelofaDisappointedMan that's intriguing. I have come across his art but never read any of his writing. You recommend it?
@@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711 Of course, he's an excellent writer. He's one of my research interests, hence having read everything. That's led to doing some reviews of prospective book chapters on him, fact-checking, etc.
@@TheChannelofaDisappointedMan I'll have to give him a try then.
In Youth is Pleasure, his second book, and A Voice through a Cloud, his posthumously published account of his illness are good places to start.@@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711
I am very behind on BookTube videos so I have only just watched this, but I couldn't resist commenting. I have read all the novels of Hardy, Eliot and Austen. I'm just over half the way through reading all of Trollope's novels and I think will read them all, despite the large number. I will probably read all of Gaskell's novels, though I'm not sure if I'll read all of her shorter works. I have a vague aspiration to read all of Dickens's novels, but I still have a long way to go and it's not a pressing priority for me. I could see myself reading all of Barbara Pym's novels. Among living authors, I've read all of Sally Rooney's novels, will be getting her new novel that's out next month, and will likely read every novel she writes.
@@danieljackson3367 it's a perennial topic I think so thanks for still commenting. I am impressed you are going for it with Trollope. He is such a wonderful writer but the number intimidates me. Pym is a tempting one that I should consider. I have only read one of Rooney's. She didn't altogether grab me but I should read another one day.
@@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711 Forster could be another one I that read all of, but I'm only at the beginning of my Forster journey so perhaps it is too early to say. I need to read Virginia Woolf - I have a bunch of her novels on my bookshelf and keep meaning to get to them. I have lots of Henry James novels that I want to read too - I've only read The Portrait of a Lady - but he wrote so many novels that I'm not sure I'll read them all.
@@danieljackson3367 we have to be a bit selective when there are so many great books and authors to discover.
I have a habit of acquiring complete works of various authors, mainly in the public domain, in the form of Kindle editions. I have well over 100 of the Delphi Classics complete works, and a mess of others. My Kindle collection of complete works numbers around 200. So, obviously, I sometime thought there were at least 200 authors for whom I wanted to read all their works. Also obvious is the fact that since I will be 76 is couple of weeks, I'm probably going to run out of runway and not get to them all. But I'll plunge on ahead anyway.
So, in fact I have finished a some authors that did not have many works, or at least not many works that survived: Sappho, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Virgil, Quintus Smyrnaeus, Hesiod, Rabelais, Jean Rhys (the novels, still working on short stories, autobiography, and letters), Proust (the novels), Walt Whitman, and Poe. Some authors I am close to completing, like Booth Tarkington (I've read all but a couple of his novels, many of his stories) and Jane Austen (her corpus is not that large). What becomes clear in reading many authors collected works is that they wrote a lot of crap when they were young. For example, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, and Zane Grey. Some had a lot of crap in their collected works scattered throughout their lives. H.G. Wells and Thomas Hardy, I'm thinking of you. (Actually, in the case of Hardy, I have yet to find any of the good stuff, but that's an argument for another time.) But I have been delightfully surprised by some authors' early novels, e.g., Emile Zola and Anatole France.
Virginia Woolf is one of the authors that I love and I have read several of her novels (most more than once). But I think if you limit yourself to her novels you may be missing some of her best work. She was a wonderful essayist. One needn't go any further than "A Room of One's Own" to be convinced of that. But the posthumously published collection, "The Death of a Moth and other essays" is excellent. I am currently reading "The Essays" which collects together basically all of her otherwise uncollected essays, around 2000 pages worth, from throughout her lifetime. Most of the earlier works are book reviews of justly forgotten books. But even these have their moments, e.g., after eviscerating a long forgotten book in exquisite detail, she will end with a delightful compliment to the author which must be read two or three times to determine just how far her tongue is in her cheek.
A few authors that I have a reasonable chance of completing in the next few years are Wallace Stevens, T.S. Eliot, e. e. cummings, Aristophanes, Plato, Robert G. Ingersoll, Zora Neale Hurston, Henrik Ibsen, William Shakespeare. and Thomas Wolfe. As you can imagine, I leave out much. But, alas, who knows when I'll run out of runway.
@@cunningba a delightful comment to read apart from your outrageous slur against Hardy. We can have that fight one day. I agree Woolf writes wonderful nonfiction. I have loved bits I have read but know I won't get to all of it. The same holds true for George Eliot. I could have put Shakespeare on my list. I don't think there is anything indisputably by him that I haven’t read. But I am stunned by your comprehensive reading of Greek and Roman classics. I have dipped into most but not sure have read all of any of them and some not since school which is a while ago as you know. I might give that a bit of thought as a long-term project.
@@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711 The page count on all the Greek playwrights is not that high because not that much has survived. So, alas, it was not really a long term project. I read Mary R. Lefkowitz’s The Greek Plays over about 5 weeks, and all the collected plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides simultaneously. The surviving works of Sappho are almost all just short fragments. Sadly, barely the work of an afternoon.
I like your realistic approach to choosing authors who are not alive which I did not think when I did my list 🤔
@@BernasBookishAdventures makes it more predictable!
love this video ! i definitely have a few in mind; i think probbaly number one for me is reading all of virginia woolf's work (somewhat in chronological order but not super exact).... altho now i think about it im not super interested in reading all her non fiction, but i would read her diaries. definitely the bronte's also ! i think i have shirley & the professor left, and then maybe some more of emily's poems & i've only read bits and bobs of tales of glass town and angria. also snap about e.m forster! i havent read the machine stops but all his novels i have read. for contemporary writers id like to read all of jeanette winterson's work & also vigdis hjorth, or at least everything translated into english that she has written. i def might make a video to talk abt this ! also would love to read all of muriel spark's work ! ... honestly im sure i can pick waaay more than five haha
@@actual-spinster do make a video. I'd like to watch it. I think all the novels/novellas is the limit of my aspiration as a rule, perhaps with a taste of anything else they wrote like poems/plays/nonfiction. I reached as complete a place as I want for the Brontes when I finally read The Professor last October but I have only looked at Angria etc.
I’m a John Williams completist. He wrote four novels. I have read all but one novel by Kurt Vonnegut and all but one novel by Cormac McCarthy. I have read all the fiction of William T. Vollmann and Tana French but they are still publishing. I’m guessing that authors who only write one book don’t count. Interesting to think about
@@anotherbibliophilereads yes I think we have to exclude one hit wonders. I love the way our lists differ. All of yours I have only read one or two of their works.
Great idea! I myself would go for George Eliot and Anita Brookner. Regarding George Eliot, I agree that Middlemarch is above all but also Adam Bede and Daniel Deronda touched me a lot.
@@sabinelipinska8614 I also enjoyed Romola although it is not universally loved and I have a special fondness for Silas Marner. I suppose Mill on the Floss and Felix Holt are my least favoured ones but really they are all great.
I share a few Victorians with you Roz, Gaskell, Dickens, Eliot and I’d also like to finish up Woolf. I’ve read all of E.M. Forster and Iris Murdoch who I read in publication order which was fascinating. Mahasweta Devi, Toni Morrison and Halldor Laxness are on my list and I still have quite a few to go with each of them and then as far as living authors go, Ruth Ozeki, Olga Tokarczuk and Salman Rushdie stand out as authors I can see myself reading everything they write. I do think sometimes being a completist can mean you read some less than stellar works, especially in the early years but when you love an author, you mind less. Clarice Lispector was the first person I thought of for your list!
@@josmith5992 we could read a Woolf novel together perhaps? I should add Morrison to my list. I might try to fit a first Devi into August as you make me guilty for not having read her.
That’s a great idea Ros, I think we’ve probably got the same ones left. Don’t feel guilty about Devi, not all the stuff I’ve read by her has been successful and I think Shawn had given up on her. 😉
@@josmith5992 do you want to name a month for a Woolf? Anything other than October which is taken over by Victober for me.
Would November be ok? Summer and Autumn are my busiest work times.
@@josmith5992 November is perfect. I'll make a note. Which novel? I haven't read the first two or last two.
I have a few authors I am consciously working on. Shakespeare, Dickens, Eliot, Gaskell, James Baldwin, and Willa Cather. I will have all of Shakespeare read by next June if I continue to read one play each month. I have 4 Dickens novels left and I'll be good with that. He has too many short stories. For the rest I've read at least half or more of their novels. I have read all of Jane Austen except her juvenalia and her letters. I've also read the Brontes, but as you said, that was easy.
I have several living mystery authors I have completed and I continue to read as they publish. I would also like to read all of Elizabeth Strout's novels and I have only two left. I can't think of other living authors I am eager to read everything they write.
@@LaurieInTexas now Baldwin would be a good one to add to my list. He writes so beautifully and I seem to have a bias to women writers for my completist goals. I love your one a month approach with Shakespeare. I followed the same principle to work my way through Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
I’ve read everything by Austen and the Brontes. I’m working on Hardy (just a few left), Gaskell, Willa Cather and L.M. Montgomery. I love projects like this!
@@emmalydia4869 I am tempted by Hardy as I love his writing but I have heard there are some dodgy ones too. Any you were disappointed by so far?
I know for sure that I want to read everything by Wilkie Collins. This is a great idea for a video--- I'm going to make one!
@@MyGrannyEra oh do!
This got me thinking Ros ! Even before you said Elizabeth Gaskell I done know who else I would pick .😊
@@gracetaylor7351 she is always a pleasure to read.
I love this video. Not sure if I am completist but I have read quite a lot of Jean Rhys, all of Jane Austen’s novels and some of the lesser works, i started reading Barbara Pym and will finish those some day. I read a lot of Gabriel Garcia Marquez but not everything, the same with Mario Vargas Llosa.
@@59cubanita I can envisage adding Rhys and Pym to my list. I seem to hit a limit with those 20th century Latin American chaps. After the third book by them they lose their shine.
Great topic. The only author I have already made a decision to read all is Barbara Pym. After reading Excellent Women I started in publication order and ongoing. The living author that I have nearly read all is Anne Tyler. I’m keen to try Rosamond Lehmann.
@@lorrainetaylor9852 do try Lehmann. Pym is one I could comtemplate for the complete approach.
I find myself stymied by this question, because I'm rarely aware of all the works in any author's oeuvre. When I think I've read everything, along comes a reference to some other text I was unaware of. Kafka being someone I dedicate myself to reading everything, because he left handwritten notebooks, there is still new stuff being published some 100 years after his death! I've read a lot of Jeanette Winterson, but books of hers keep popping up on small little publishers that she's done a favour for. Impossible to keep track of.
@@MarcNash you'd expect to be pretty safe with someone dead as long as Kafka. I don't love Winterson. I'm not sure why not.
Good luck with them. I have some still living authors that I’ve read all of their books. It’s so much fun doing that. I have read all of Gaskell bar the short stories and most of dickens
@@novellenovels I will get there with Gaskell novels and novellas. Not the short stories. Dickens depends how long I live I think!
I thought, “I don’t do that,” until you mentioned George Eliot. Subconsciously - meaning I haven’t articulated a goal - I think I’m working my way through her novels, and if I live long enough may do it. (I’ve read three, and just want to see what else this diverse author was capable of.)
Recently I discovered (or was pointed to) Ismail Kadare and really liked what I read _(Traitor’s Niche)_ and immediately decided I’d like to read another, but he was so prolific I think the idea wouldn’t come to me. (Trollope would be another if I liked him better.)
This was an interesting topic, but I wouldn’t try too hard to submit it to logic. 🤔
@@davidnovakreadspoetry it goes slightly against the grain with me too but I have started to see the satisfaction it can bring. Eliot was a deliberate choice. As you say each novel is so different but her writing is always gorgeous. I have only read one Kadare and should revisit him.
I think the only authors I’ve ‘completed’ are Austen, Andrea Levy and Salinger? I’ve been actively working my way through Atwood in publication order with the help of a trusty spreadsheet and massively enjoying that she’s still publishing! I’d like to read all of Baldwin, du Maurier, Woolf, Morrison, Townsend Warner, Sackville West, so many now I think of it!
@@bethieandbooks that is a wonderful list. Lovely to see Sylvia Townsend Warner in there. I definitely need to read more of her.
I've tried to get back in the habit of reading everything an author has written because that used to be the way I'd read when I was younger. If I found a book that I liked, then that author's work because my main source of reading until I was done with their books. Indeed, I started with Hilary Mantel after reading the Wolf Hall trilogy (I just had a look that I have three novels left and one memoir. I was considering unhauling A Place of Greater Safety, but seeing I'm so close to completing Mantel's work I'm not so sure.)
I think choosing dead authors works well though, because I read all of Kate Atkinson's work last year, only for her to go and announce another novel. Can you believe the audacity?
There is a great sense of completion that comes from reading an author's entire body of work, and I can't say what makes me favour doing this with certain authors above others. My next plans involve Barbara Pym and Molly Keane. Perhaps I've developed a thing for 20th century writers. I do not know, but I'm glad you made me think of it.
Great topic. And I look forward to hearing how you get on with the remainder of the works by the authors you have chosen.
Molly Keane is a great choice. Dead authors are definitely a safer bet. I love Atkinson but have fallen behind with her. I have never been someone who read everything by one author even when I was younger, apart from a few childhood series. But I am learning to appreciate the satisfaction it can offer.
Oh I loved Reservoir 13. Jon McGregor is a Nottingham writer and features heavily in my Nottingham-based reading. I would like to read all of Trollope’s work and also PG Wodehouse and Agatha Christie. I’m sad I am attracted to authors who have written loads 😊. I’m such an appalling completionist. I think my other two would be Chekhov and George Orwell. Great video 😊
@@RaynorReadsStuff ooh now I am happy at discovering you are a fellow fan of Reservoir 13. But Trollope, Wodehouse and Christie will keep you busy for years.
Ah, I am about to launch into Lispector, just bought the new Benjamin Moser bio too, can't wait to see what Lispector does with stream-of-consciousness.
@@apoetreadstowrite I hope you find the joy in her writing that I do. Moser is her champion in English but I haven’t read the biography yet. I may save it intil I finish her novels.
@@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711: I really admire your passion. I’m excited to finally get to Lispector.
@@apoetreadstowrite if you love Woolf, she is a natural choice. Very different but some of the same satisfactions.
Great idea Ros. I like your suggestions of Woolf, Hillary Mantel and Maggie O'Farell (I'd agree with all of those!)
This has made me ponder!!
I would say Toni Morrisson, Markus Zusak, Kate Atkinson, Colm Toibin, Khaled Housseini, Jessie Burton. Classics maybe Du Maurier, Hardy, Brontës, possibly Dickens (I'm very slow at the mega dickens readathon!)
Sorry I'm cheating giving so many answers!!
@@YourTrueShelf why not make a video? And cheat if you want. Love your list though.
Oh that's my favourite topic 😁
I've read all of the Brontes, Austen, Forster and want to read Dickens, Eliot, Gaskell, Woolf, E.Wharton & Shakespeare plays + not all all but I would like to read that 20-book Emile Zola series 🙈 I am sure I've missed someone! I also want to try to get to all of Irene Nemirovsky's novels (I DNFd one but I did try!), still a few left. I don't know French though so I just mean the ones available in English.
As for the living authors I've read all of Ishiguro ❤ and would like to read all of Julian Barnes, Ferrante and Olga Tokarczuk (and another Polish writer Jakub Małecki - he's not translated into English sadly).
Thank you both for these contributions! I’ve read all but one of Austen, Bronte and Eliot. Ros, how would you feel about comparing the Eliot works? Then agree with you and aspire to read most of Woolf and Shakespeare. I doubt I’ll get through all of Dickens in my lifetime although I loved him. Might be easier to get through all of Thackeray 😊 I read a fair amount of Tolstoy, Mark Twain and Jack London and loved them all. Of the modern ones I’m very fond of Jane Gardam, Ian McEwan and also Ishiguro. I wonder what is your opinion on comparing the Ishiguro novels. I read somewhere that they’re not all of the quality of the well known ones. Is that true? At the moment I’m reading Romola… and let’s just say so far I wish it was a bit more like Middlemarch. I’m just a bit overwhelmed with all the historical context. I’m German and let me just throw in Stefan Zweig, Heinrich Mann and Hans Fallada here… they can all capture a reader’s heart. There are others for the 19th century, I hope I will have read more of Theodor Storm and E.T.A. Hoffmann, but let me just throw in this here, beloved by many: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rider_on_the_White_Horse
@@macareuxmoine thanks for the great response! I actually liked Romola more than Middlemarch haha (unpopular opinion). I KNEW I'd forget someone - I would like to also read all of Wilkie Collins novels (at least those that were published in Oxford World Classics). And I did read all of John Williams (he only wrote 4 novels). I will write another reply later :)
@@macareuxmoine now that's quite an inspiring list. I'll reply at more length in a bit.
@@abookhug well I feel happy to have prompted this conversation. I really warmed to Romola once I settled in to it. I actually reread it a year later to enjoy it more fully. Knowing Florence and some of the historical context helps.
@@macareuxmoine OK, so I’m back with just a few more comments :) I need to finally read something by Zweig and Hoffmann, my TBR is neverending… I understand that Romola can be hard to get into. It worked really well for me because I had visited & loved Florence in the past AND read a really interesting historical fiction/fantasy(!) novel by Jo Walton called Lent (with an amazing cover btw), which is told from Savonarola’s point of view - so it was such a weird (and fun) feeling later seeing him as a side character in Romola! :)
I love Ishiguro, there are definitely some books I like more than others but I think all are worth checking out, people have very different opinions on their favourites. The Buried Giant is one of the least liked but I actually got quite immersed in it and thought it was quite original. But it’s not a typical fantasy novel as you’d expect from Ishiguro. Then there’s The Unconsoled which is a very very strange book - I really struggled with it and yet it was such an experience, it felt like a very long fever dream. I’m really glad I’ve read it but I understand why many people give up on it. What can I say, I’m a huge Ishiguro fan, if his books have faults I still love them. The only ones I personally liked less are When We Were Orphans (it had some good moments but it was a bit messy - something Ishiguro admitted himself) and his short stories Nocturnes.
I read all of the Hardy novels when I was much younger but not his poetry. I think of modern authors I have read all Margaret Forster and have been re reading after she died a few years ago - it is a very interesting idea. I would like to try to get through all of Trollope! I will have to think of more modern writers - I really like Benjamin Myers and Sebastian Barry both have interesting backlists and are still writing so that will be an ongoing challenge!
@@barbarahelgaker390 I have read most of Hardy's poetry but not all the novels funnily enough. I have read some Margaret Forster and more would be good. Do you have a favourite? Trollope is too much to contemplate. I am a flitter by nature but that's partly why I want to commit to a few. Myers and Barry are both tremendous but may have many books to come.
I have only very few Julian Barnes left to read. I read all of John Williams novels. I want to read everything by Vigdis Hjorth, Miriam Toews and Elizabeth Strout and I'm on my way to do so.
@@ameliareads589 you are the second person to mention Williams. I have only read Stoner. I have two Toews in my pile but keep not getting to them. I must remedy that.
I read all of Gloria Naylor. I want to finish up Carlos Ruiz Zafon--he has some young adult novels I haven't read. I would like to read all of James McBride. I have been reading the Brontes and have been thinking of completing Edith Wharton, George Eliot, and Charles Dickens.
@@audreyh7892 Wharton is one I could add to my list. I have only read a couple but they were superb. I must try McBride.
I love this topic! In 2021, it occurred to me that I had never read anything by John Steinbeck. ( I will never understand how that happened.) So I spent several months reading most of his novels, 2 biographies & his book of letters. I am still filling in the final few novels, but that was a wonderful reading experience.
I believe I have completed Austen, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway. I am working on Edith Wharton, and if I should finish, I will move on to her friend Henry James.
@@joangavrilik3009 I think I may yet decide Wharton needs promoting to the completion list. Your Steinbeck project sounds satisfying.
Fun topic. I think my 5 are: P.G. Wodehouse, Terry Pratchett, Shirley Jackson, Ray Bradbury, F.Scott Fitzgerald, and to go 1 over the limit Mark Twain
@@vesch5083 that's a nice mix of five (six). I should read more Jackson I think.
Two authors - one living, one dead - whose names I seldom hear mentioned on Booktube are Rudyard Kipling and John Irving. Despite Kipling's debatable attitudes on Empire and colonialism, his novels, short stories and poems are still thoroughly readable and entertaining...think Kim, The Just-So Stories, The Jungle Book, The Man Who Would Be King etc. John Irving's novels include The World According To Garp, The Cider House Rules and - my particular favourite - The Hotel New Hampshire. Now in his 80's I hope we don't have to wait until his demise to fully appreciate this uniquely talented writer.
@@josephcossey1811 I grew up with Kipling and his attitude to India, the people and culture is complex and interesting I think.
Hey Roz, I've never read all of an author's work, except J K Rowling under her own name. I do want to read all of Agatha Christie's books though. In terms of other living authors, I really want to read all of Peter May's and all of Anna Jacobs' books.
@@harmonyln7 Agatha Christie will keep you busy for years. I wish I had kept a note of those I read as I genuinely don't know now. Because they are so often filmed or done on TV the titles are familiar which doesn't help.
I feel like I’m very much a completionist 😅 Now, I’ve never read any Hilary Mantel and I’ve been really meaning to read her massive French Revolution book, so maybe we should buddy read that one some time!
@@katiejlumsden I would love that. It is massive so need to pick our moment well. And I was thinking of you when being feeble about attempting all of Trollope and recognising I'm not the sort of completionist you are and never will be. But I can push myself a little.
@@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711 Very true! I think that’s definitely a 2025, not a 2024 project!
This is a great topic! I think the only author I am close to on this is Martin Amis though I have a few left to read but given his demise I almost don't want to so my journey isn't done with him, if that makes sense.
@@willchambers8065 I know what you mean. I may feel like that when I get to the last Mantel.
Austen, Woolf, Ibsen, Henry James, Somerset Maugham, Balzac, Graham Greene, Iris Murdoch, Hilary Mantel, and others. I have always been one for reading "the complete works". Sometimes it's easy (Austen), sometimes it gets a bit crazy (Balzac).
@@RM-tc9pu wonderful list. I think it is partly a question of temperament. I am a flighty type and my natural inclination is to try many rather than stick with few. But I am making an effort. Not Balzac though!
@@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711 Balzac is a much better reading experience than expected.
@@RM-tc9puI have enjoyed the ones I have read but am too impatient to take on the lot.
Can I suggest Geraldine Brooks. I've read 4 of her novels so far. All really, really good. 'Horse' is excellent, 'People of the Book' beyond excellent.
@@iainc.6 I loved Year of Wonders so I should revist Brooks. Thanks for the suggestion.
I've read all Austen and the Bronte novels. I have only 1 left of Dickens. My Sister and I are going through Elizabeth Gaskell as well. After Gaskell and Dickens are done I might try for some others but I havent decided which.
@@hildureinarsdottir3208 how lovely to have that project with your sister. My vote when you finish Gaskell would be Eliot. There are a manageable number and all quite distinct and satisfying. But would say that, wouldn't I?
@@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711 yes. She would be a good choice. I already read Middlemarch and I own a copy of Silas Marner. I also have 2 of E M Forster books, if I enjoy them I might consider him as well. I already now that I will not read all of Thomas Hardy.. some just sound too painful.
I have read pretty much everything that Virginia Woolf wrote with the exception - to my eternal shame - of The Waves, which I have never (yet!) managed to finish. Time to give it one more try methinks!
@@josephcossey1811 I think I really enjoyed The Waves when I stopped worrying and just went with the flow.
I’m almost done reading all of Toni Morrison’s fiction novels. I do have several authors that are alive that I have read all of their work or want to read their work. Those are my autobuy authors. 😊💙
@@BookwormAdventureGirl I think I should consider adding Morrison to my list.
@@BookwormAdventureGirl who is on your autobuy list?
@@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711 It’s been interesting reading her work in publication order.
@@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711 I have many: Margaret Atwood since I’ve read everything she’s written until 2021 at this point. Have to catch up on her last publication.
Lisa Genova, Terry Fallis, Catherine Hernandez, Wally Lamb, Ann Marie MacDonald, John Irving (although I’m behind in my reading for his books)…. To name a few. 😊
@@BookwormAdventureGirl that gives me some new ones to consider.
I've nearly read Maggie O'Farrell's novels, nearly EM Forster's and F Scott FitzGerald's. I'm likely to read more CJ Sansom, I've read his Shardlake novels but there are one or two others. I intend to read more Elizabeth Von Arnim.
@@clarepotter7584 I want to read more Von Arnim too. Such an interesting woman. O'Farrell's novels are so varied, aren't they?
Hello Ros, this is such an interesting topic.
There is only one writer that I know for sure that I read all his book which is Kazuo Ishiguro. I read "When We Were Orphans" in 2001, I was 15-16 years old and it totally grabbed me and I become a devoted reader of his books since then.
I still didn't read his last book, it is a book of lyrics he wrote, I am looking forward to read it.
You mentioned Rosamond Lehmann (4:14).
I have never heard about this writer, her books seems very interesting.
Which Rosamond Lehmann's book do you recommend for a person who is starting to read her books?
I will probably check it.
Bronte's books are also a good option as you mentioned. As it is not so many books and they already passed away, so I know for sure that it will not have any more published novels, it will limit the numbers of books to read ;)
@@thaiziono96 I can understand Ishiguro being the one for you. His writing is beautiful. I'd suggest starting Lehmann with Invitation to the Waltz as it is short and moving.
@@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711 Hello Ros, thank you for the reply and recommendation by Rosamond Lehmann. I saw that "Invitation to the Waltz" is a coming of age book, it seems adorable. I will add to my "want to read" list 😊
I've read all the major fiction of Austen, Eliot, and the Brontes. Gaskell and Woolf are on my list as well, along with Frances Burney. I'd really love to read all of Margaret Oliphant's, but with her 98 novels and I don't even know how many short stories that might be kind of difficult. 😆 For still living authors, I've read everything by Donna Tartt and Sarah Waters and will continue reading anything else they publish. I'd like to read all of Stephen King too, but again, he has a lot of books and just keeps putting them out!
@@elizabethaliteraryprincess Burney is an interesting thought. But heavens above, ninety eight by Oliphant? Not for me! After reading Thunderclap by Laura Cummings, I am tempted by The Goldfinch which I missed when it was new.
And now I think of it I only have Affinity still to read by Waters. But she'll write more of course.
Oh, a challenge after my own heart! I've been doing this for some years. I've read all of the Brontes, Dickens, Anita Brookner, Barbara Pym and Miss Read (my comfort reads). I have 12 authors I'm still working on: Trollope (13 more to go); Christie (read about half), Gaskell (2 more to go), Eliot (2 more to go), Winifred Holtby (2 more to go), E. H. Young (Chatterton Square left) and quite a few from Elizabeth von Arnim, Elizabeth Taylor, Thomas Hardy, Edith Wharton and Dorothy Whipple (a new favorite). And you may have convinced me to add Penelope Fitzgerald--I've read 2 (The Bookshop and The Gate of Angels) and have 4 more on the TBR shelf, so why not??😉
@@kathleencraine7335 Elizabeth Taylor is one I could add to my plans. Another brilliant 20th century British woman writer. I think you are brave aiming for all of Christie but given your track record you will probably complete all of these. We could buddyread a Fitzgerald maybe?
Sorry I missed this! I'm thinking about reading At Freddie's for Shorty September. Have you read it?
@@kathleencraine7335 no I haven't. Let's do it!
OK. I've not done a buddy read before, so you'll need to guide me. I don't have a channel and I can't seem to get into Discord(?), but I do have email and a LibraryThing account (which I love). I have an account on Goodreads, but I don't use it much, except to participate in Victober & JA July.
@@kathleencraine7335 well I usually use a social media chat app like Voxer or WhatsApp for buddyreads. They are free and easy to use. They allow both text and voice messages.
I think I have a problem as I am a compulsive completist! If I really enjoy a book by an author I set about reading everything by them. So I have read 26 books by Mario Vargas Llosa, 19 by Ali Smith and Jose Saramago, 17 by Russell Hoban and Thomas Bernhard etc! I'm midway through completing Nicola Barker, Toni Morrison, AL Kennedy and William Trevor and many others but I am beginning to realise this really gets in the way of reading new authors. And I have met my match now as there is no way I will ever be able to read everything by Percival Everett! At least I will 'complete' Han Kang this year!
@@ianp9086 that does border on obsession when you get to 26 by Mario Vargas Llosa. We are opposite ends of the spectrum on completism as I have to push myself to stick with an author not flit on to the next one.
@@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711 I don’t read them all at once though - maybe one a year since the 1990’s!
I've read all fiction by Toni Morrison, thought each book only once. Would like to revisit Sula first.
@@elledeq I think Morrison should be another for me to aspire to but I have some way to go with her.
having just completed reading Anne Bronte I am sure it's completist 😂😉I would love to read all of Hilary Mantel's books - especiallly after reading Notes of My Former Self. If I read Love and Friendship I'll have completed Austen's works and I've read all of Wilkie Collins. Living authors I'd like to read all of Claire Keegan, Fredrik Backmann, Mieko Kawakam, Muriel Barbery, Hwang Sok-Yong and a range of fantasy and sci-fi authors.
@@PageTurnersWithKatja that's a wonderfully varied selection! And of course Anne B counts.
I never cease to be amazed at how well read so many people are. I must have spent too much of my life eating or watching sports. I don't believe I've ever made a clean sweep of any author (it's close with Willa Cather and Ray Chandler but excludes bad poetry, screenplays, some short stories and letters). I suppose I've read too much trash, too.
Can you imagine what it would do to someone if they consumed ALL of the works of Colleen Hoover or Ottessa Moshfeg? Dead or Bonkers, and we're likely to see EVEN MORE from them?!
I was shocked, however, to hear that Hilary M. is dead. I recently purchased a couple of her books for my spouse. No one told me.
I've always maintained it's better to keep a few of your favorites unread just in case you REALLY develop a Jones that nothing else can satisfy, but I understand your reasoning. After we're dead we just don't have a good free-will handle on things. If I go one way, it will be too hot and the paper will burn, and if it's UP, I'll be too busy singing praise. IF I'm ALL dead, let's not think about it.
This was a fun topic, Ros, I think.
@@kevinrussell-jp6om eating and reading go well together but perhaps not watching sport. I definitely exclude letters, short stories and bad poetry from any completist targets. Jane Austen is the exception. You have scared me with the idea of anyone reading all of Colleen Hoover. No need to threaten me with frying if I misbehave. An afterlife with nothing to read but Hoover would do the trick. On the other hand, if heaven were to exist I am confident it would have a comprehensive library.
@@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711 You may not watch sports but you are a good sport with a sense of humor. Your positive approach may not make me love George Elliot (Katie doesn't either), but you may just convince me to take a run at Middlemarch and give Anne and Emily a good look. A completist I may not be, but I do listen to reasonable suggestions. Thanks.
@@kevinrussell-jp6om now I am going to surprise you. I am a season ticket holder at my local football club. Brighton are doing well at the moment but you need a sense of humour to be a long term supporter of any soccer team.
@@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711 The spouse and I were in that part of England in the late 80's. We loved Brighton and all of the south we saw. We were being given tours of castles and churches; football never even crossed our minds, but we did enjoy some beer and pub food. Doesn't seem like yesterday, but it's a good memory.
Thanks for the kind responses.
A while ago it dawned on me that my "favorite authors" were self-selecting; they were merely the authors I'd read most extensively, in most cases exhaustively. So: Samuel Beckett, Flann O'Brien, William Faulkner, Albert Camus, Peter Handke, Barry Hannah, Alice Munro, Edward P. Jones, Deborah Eisenberg, David Markson, Gilbert Sorrentino, Helen DeWitt. Not that long a list, and I wouldn't necessarily argue that they were all "great," only that I couldn't get enough of them. (Shakespeare is on the list, but that's pretty much unremarkable, like saying that you've listened to all of Beethoven's symphonies)
@@bbbartolo yes it is a big clue, although I think I delay getting to some works by older authors because of a feeling that those books are always there to get to over time. So I find myself picking up current releases instead. Your list is impressive and there are some authors on there I need to try like Markson. And yes I didn't mention Shakespeare for pretty much that reason.
@@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711 I'm in my 80s so a promise of "later" isn't too reliable! I understand the reasoning of you youngsters, though
I love 'Middlemarch', but 'Daniel Deronda' is probably my favourite Eliot. I can never think about Eliot without jumping to Woolf. I really enjoy stream-of-consciousness, & Woolf especially. I think I'm probably more of a scattergun than you, lacking your in-depth approach, you have pricked my ambitions though...
@@apoetreadstowrite I'm a scattergun reader too really. It takes a conscious effort for me to stick with an author and complete their works.
@@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711 it sounds like an honourable ambition.
Rosamund Lennan? The name doesn't ring a bell and unfortunately there are so many permutations I'm not landing on any light bulbs in search...
oh i've got it! rosamond lehmann! will check her out...
@@MargaretPinard I think you would enjoy her.
This was so interesting! I'm going to have a think and make some lists. I read all the main novels of Virginia Woolf,Thomas Hardy,D.H.Lawrence when I was young. I read all Dickens main novels when I retired. I think I've read all Maggie o'Farrell,Anne Tyler ,Penelope Lively and Ann Patchett to date. I do like to read everything from an author I like. I'm working my way through Barbara Kingsolver. Have you read any of Elizabeth Taylor? I want to try Rosamund Lehmann now.
@@janeduffield4801 that is quite a list. Perhaps Dickens will seem doable when I retire. I have read and loved a couple by Elizabeth Taylor. She is another of those wonderful mid 20th century British women writers. I think you might like Lehmann. Kingsolver fluctuates for me. Some I love, some feel a bit too deliberate.
My friend, consider a deep dive of reading in Mark Twain. I was shocked when I did. Some comedy some political and just everywhere. Give it a thought.
@@user-tw1qr6ni4w I will give it a thought. I can see the interest but he doesn't call to me after the couple I have read.
❤ Alice Hoffman novels, read all
That's an interesting one, Alice Hoffman.