Ten Authors I Will Auto-Read

This week's prompt is to list ten auto-buy authors (or ten from a specific genre if that's too general). Most people must buy a lot more books than I do, because I can't come up with ten auto-buy authors at all, let alone ten from a specific genre. I'm a reader on a budget of sorts, only spending my Barnes & Noble gift cards on new books, so I try not to go crazy with getting new books. Plus, I really don't have shelf space for a bunch of new books streaming in all the time! We live in a town home, and I share a room, and I am physically unable to add another bookshelf to my room. Unless I got rid of my dresser, that is. Hmm . . .

Anyway, I altered the prompt to be auto-read authors, and still could only come up with seven. The trouble is that there's not really such a thing as an "auto-read" author for me, let alone an "auto-buy" one, because if a book looks inappropriate enough, I won't read it no matter who wrote it. These seven are some of the best authors I know, though, and I've read the vast majority of their new books over the last few years.

1. Margaret Peterson Haddix
If I had to name one true "auto-read" (and even "auto-buy" - I've bought four of the last five books she's written) author, this would be it. I've read every single one of her books, and loved all of them. I plan to continue reading every one of her books as they come out, until the day there are no more new ones. And then I will go curl into a ball and cry.

2. Angie Sage
I absolutely adore her Septimus Heap and TodHunter Moon books, and I am a sort-of fan of her Araminta Spook books (I've only read one), which are a little young for me. If she wrote any other series or standalones, I would most definitely read them unless they looked really, really inappropriate.

3. Jennifer Nielsen
I've read every single book of Nielsen's, too, and I've never met one I haven't liked. I'm not calling her an "auto-read"author yet because she's only written like seven books, and I'm never completely confident about an author's books until I've read like fifteen of them, but I've absolutely loved all of her books I've read so far - including A Night Divided, her post-WWII East Berlin book that comes out next Tuesday (my review will go live on Friday).

4. Jessica Day George
She's written a lot of great books, from the Dragon and Princesses of Westfalin trilogies to her standalone Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, to the Castle Glower series. Only a few months ago I would have listed her as a total auto-read author, but her book Silver in the Blood, which just came out, is one I'm not going to read. I'm still a big fan of hers, but I just can't say I've read "all of her books" anymore. Definitely keeping an eye out for any and all new books from her.

5. Gordon Korman
Ah, another great author! I've been auto-reading his new books for years now, and haven't come across one I didn't like. His last few books (Masterminds, the Hypnotists trilogy, the Swindle books, etc.) have been particularly great. I can't wait to read the second Masterminds book!

6. Wendy Mass
She's got a lot of great books, too, from the Willow Falls series to standalones like The Candymakers and Every Soul a Star. I don't read her Space Taxi series, just because it's for younger kids, but I do keep an eye out for the rest of her books as they come out - and get my hands on them as fast as I possibly can.

7. James Riley
I've only read four of his books (the Twice Upon a Time trilogy, and the first Story Thieves book), but I've enjoyed all of them and am definitely going to read anything new he puts out unless it's, like, some sort of Adult novel about explicit themes.

Yeah, this basically just works out to be another list of my favorite authors (very similar to my actual list of favorite authors), but there we go. All of these authors write very good books that I work very hard to get my hands on.

My Ten Most-Read Authors

When I first saw this week's prompt, I thought this would be really easy. All I had to do was go check out my most-read authors on Goodreads and write down the first ten, right? Well, wrong. Because I'm working on it, but I haven't yet added every book I've ever read to my Goodreads account. So while the first few authors are correct (mostly - because I've actually read even more than Goodreads thinks) the rest are sort of muddled. So my list is based off of my Goodreads list, but modified to reflect reality. Links go to my reviews.

10. J.K. Rowling
Heh, she probably doesn't really belong on this list. But hey, I've read seven of her books! And they were great books! And I didn't know who exactly to put here, so I put her!

9. Rick Riordan
Let's see, there are five Percy Jackson books, five Heroes of Olympus books, and three Kane Chronicles books. So that makes thirteen Rick Riordan books I've read, not even counting the three Percy Jackson/Kane Chronicles crossovers (which I don't - I've only read two of them). I read all of his books, I just wish I could say I enjoyed all of them. I adored the original Percy Jackson books, though, so that's good. It's also what propelled me through the less-awesome Heroes of Olympus books.

8. Joan Aiken
Ah, now here's a childhood favorite! I honestly don't really know how many of her books I've read (though now I think about it, probably enough that she should be a lot higher on the list. Oops.), but I do know I've read a lot. I've read almost all of the Dido Twite books (which are awesome, by the way!), as well as at least some, if not all of the Felix Brooke trilogy (which I read when I was, like, eight, so I don't remember). I still get sucked into her books like nobody's business.

7. Wendy Mass

The Willow Falls books rank very highly on my favorites list, as I'm sure you've figured out by now, but I've also read almost all of her books: Every Soul a Star, A Mango-Colored Space, The Candymakers, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, the Twice Upon a Time trilogy, and many more. I count twelve books just from the ones I listed (Willow Falls has five books), and I'm pretty sure there are more than that.

6. E.D. Baker

I'm not really sure she should be this high on the list, but I did read like eight of her Frog Princess books, plus three of those Princess books and two Wings books. That only makes thirteen, but let me tell you - it felt like more. And I mean that in the nicest way possible. Mostly.

5. Jessica Day George

Let's see, there are the two trilogies (Dragons and The Princesses of Westfalin), the three Castle Glower books, the standalone Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, and - wait, I thought there was more than that. Nope, just checked Goodreads, I was wrong. I mean, there was also Silver in the Blood but I haven't read that (and don't plan to). If I were a less lazy girl, I would shift her name farther down the list. As it is, she's staying here because I don't want to re-number like half of my authors over again.

4. Gordon Korman

Now this one, I know for real should be up here. I've read almost all of his books, including the long Swindle series, all five of his trilogies (Island, Kidnapped, Everest, Dive, and The Hypnotists), the On the Run books, the first Masterminds book, and his 39 Clues contributions, not to mention all the awesome standalones like No More Dead Dogs and Ungifted. From series alone, I count like twenty books. That's a lot of books! That's a lot of good books!

3. Carolyn Keen (and company)

Yes, I realize all of the Nancy Drew books weren't written by one author named Carolyn Keene. But you know what? I don't care. They have her name on their cover, so this counts. And I read so many Nancy Drews when I was younger, I knew I had to put this on here. Sure, they aren't the shiny and exciting new books that a lot of these other authors' books are, but they're classics and I loved them. Still do, actually. I know it's juvenile, but I can't read just one Nancy Drew - if I pick one up, I zip through like ten.

2. Margaret Peterson Haddix

Ah, here we have the author whose writing I am probably most devoted to. I will literally read anything Margaret Peterson Haddix puts out, no matter how terrible the synopsis makes it sound. I haven't read one book by her that I didn't like - and I've read all 30+ of her books (including Full Ride, Leaving Fishers, Double Identity, and Claim to Fame), so that really means something.

1. Agatha Christie

Pah, I was going to put Margaret Peterson Haddix at the top of my list until I realized that the spot had to be reserved for somebody else. Who else but the queen of mystery could take the top of my most-read authors list? I've been reading her murder mysteries for like eight years now, and have consumed quite a few of them.

So there we go. I got a bit muddled in the middle, but my top choices came out all right. Anyway, it's close enough, isn't it? Considering this is all based on my memory of reading books stretching back to when I was six years old, I think this is fine. What about you? What are your most-read authors? I'd love to know!

My Top Ten Favorite Authors

When I saw this week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt, I couldn't help but smile! Who doesn't like reeling off their favorite authors? This was probably the easiest post I've ever written, and one of the funnest. I hope you pick up a few new books/authors to check out as you read through here. I tried to include a few favorites from each author so you can check them out if you're interested.

1. Margaret Peterson Haddix

Click to check out
my review

If I had to make a list of one, and choose a single favorite author, I wouldn't even blink before choosing her. She has written over 30 books, and I have read every single one of them. I adored some, I loved others, and merely liked others, but I have never actually disliked a book by Margaret Peterson Haddix. And after so many books, I find it extremely unlikely that this trend will ever change.

2. E.D. Baker

She does some great fairytale retellings. Her Frog Princess series is one of the few series that can get away with having eight books all about the same characters, and not get boring. I also love her book Wings, which isn't so much a retelling as it is a modern continuation/reinterpretation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Click to check out
my review

3. Gordon Korman

He is hilarious. Hilarious. I fell in love with his books years ago, and got my next oldest brother hooked as soon as he reached middle school. I am determined to foist his books on my youngest two siblings once they get old enough too, because his books are awesome entertainment. Even the names are charmingly silly: two that come to mind are The Chicken Doesn't Skate and No More Dead Dogs (incidentally, two of my favorites!).

4. Andrew Clements

Most of his books are for elementary and middle school kids, and that's where I was when I fell in love with them. Somehow I never really fell out of love with his books, and I still turn to them when I need a break from my normal fare. He also has a phenomenal YA book called Things Not Seen, which is just amazing.

5. Wendy Mass

Click to check out
my review

She has a few books for older and younger people that I'm not a huge fan of (the older books are too racy for me, and the younger ones too slow), but the rest of her books are amazing. She always comes up with compelling, unique story ideas that keep you on your toes. Some of my favorites of her books include the Willow Falls books, the Twice Upon a Time series, and The Candymakers.

6. Angie Sage

Two words: Septimus Heap. It's one of my all-time favorite fantasy series, and is just all-around amazing. She's writing the spin-off series now, called TodHunter Moon, and it's one of the few spin-offs I've read that actually maintain a significant amount of the charm of the original series.

Click to check out
my review

7. Jennifer A. Nielsen

I fell in love with Jaron from The False Prince back in 2013, and haven't looked back since. I devoured the rest of the Acendance trilogy and moved on to her Underworld Chronicles. It's for younger kids, but I enjoyed it and my middle-school-aged brother liked it even more than I did. Just recently I read and loved Mark of the Thief, the start of her new series, and I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next. She has a World War II book coming out that's centered around the Berlin wall, which I can't wait to read. It's called A Night Divided.

8. Rick Riordan

Yes, he still goes on this list. I'm not a huge fan of the Heroes of Olympus books, so I may come across as kind of negative toward his books on this blog (in fact, I even did a post listing his most-used cliches!). However, I really do love the Percy Jackson series and that will never change. Those books are hilarious, heartwarming, and altogether charming, and will never lose their space on my bookshelf. And for that, Riordan gets a spot on my "favorite authors" list.

9. Jessica Day George

Click to check out
my review

This is another author whose books I absolutely love. I'm the kind of person who hunts down as many books as I can when I like an author, so after finishing her amazing Dragon trilogy I moved straight into her Princess books and the Castle Glower series. I have never met a Jessica Day George I didn't like, and I don't believe I ever will!

10. James Riley

Riley is a master at fracturing fairytales. His Half Upon a Time books are hilarious, and so heartwarming. On the surface his writing style feels kind of juvenile (read: lots of exclamation marks), but this style of writing becomes part of the overall feel/humor of the books. I love how he takes all of the fairtyales and sets them in an alternate universe to our own.

Those are a few of my all-time favorite authors! What are yours?