2010-06-12

Book stacks by author

I recently reorganised my boxes of books (most aren't on shelves any more, they're more accessible that way, but not just to me but to dust as well).
This is sorted by how high the stacks are today.


  1. Jack Vance. 51 books. I've got practically everything, except from three short stories, I think, and one of those ("Green Magic") I've read. And I've never gotten rid of anything by Vance. Back when I had around 30 by him, I also had around 30 by a few other authors. One of four on this list I've read in Swedish translation. (I think "Star King" and I know the first Tschai novel.)
  2. Walter Jon Williams. 19 books. Newest is "The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories" which arrived day before yesterday. Don't remember how I got started with his books, but possibly by reading short stories in magazines. Will most likely always remain as nr 2 or 3 on this list.
  3. Iain M. Banks. 12 books. I used to say this was the only author I'd discovered on Usenet, which must have been around 1991. I've disposed of a few Iain Banks (no "M") books, but none with the M.
  4. Frederick Pohl. 18 books. First author on this list whose books I've gotten rid of by selling or giving away. About half I think.
  5. C.J. Cherryh. 14 books. Have had lots more, but many of them aren't exactly inviting re-reading. I think I started reading her books when she'd only published four or five and I still buy them, but not all.
  6. Ursula K. LeGuin. 22 books. I have a feeling I've read either "Planet of Exile" and/or "The Left Hand of Darkness" in Swedish, but it doesn't seem reasonable as they were translated rather late. But I might have seen them on library shelves and thus learned about her. And maybe read too.
  7. Robert Heinlein. 14 books. Have had all of his, except the posthumous. First I decided that "Sixth Column" wasn't good enough to keep. Have read quite a few of them in Swedish translation and later in the original, which is how I discovered that there must be [at least] three versions of "Double Star".
  8. Lois McMaster Bujold. 14 books. I read a short review, in the form of a comic strip, in Heavy Metal for "Shards of Honor", but didn't find it but "The Warrior's Apprentice". Later on "Ethan of Athos" was the first book I read non-stop except for biological breaks. (Five hours from start to finish I seem to recall.)
  9. Larry Niven. 16 books. Except for the Ringworld sequels, I have liked every book by him alone. Collaborations can be good ("Inferno" and "The Mote in God's Eye"  or really bad ("Fallen Angels" wasn't even so bad it was interesting.)
  10. Charles Stross. 10 books. Haven't read "Wireless" which arrived last week. Only author who has become one of my favourites in (relatively) recent times. I'm sure he'll climb to the top 5 of this list.
  11. Arthur C. Clarke. 15 books. Have had all of his. Some of his early novels I used to re-read lots of times and one ("The Ghost from the Grand Banks") is one of two I've read in one sitting with just technical breaks (like eating and getting off the metro). But now I no longer feel like re-reading it. Hope I won't, because... it's not here any more. I think I've read something by him in Swedish translation, possibly "Dolphin Island", but he's notable as he's the first on this list I read in the original language. It was the collection "Tales of Ten World" which was the third or fourth book I ever read which wasn't in English and I'm certain it was the first I bought. (The first was "Fantastic Voyage" which was recommended by a teacher. They didn't have it in Swedish at the library, only in English, and I said "OK, I'll try it" even though I was only 13. Only needed to look up one word in it and one phrase in the next one which was "Dream Millenium" by James White. The third or fourth was "Diamonds are Forever".)
  12. Joe Haldeman. 13 books. Surprised it's this many as I find some of his novels not really worth re-reading, but he writes very good short stories.

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