Welcome back to another Top Ten Tuesday post! I’m super excited about this week’s topic, since it means I get to share lots of great books and authors with you. This week’s topic is “my favourite books by my favourite authors”.

I’m bad at picking favourites, so I decided to look at the authors by whom I’ve read the most books. The first half of this list is purely based on numbers: I look at my favourite books by the five authors I’ve read the most books by (counting each series as one book, otherwise this wouldn’t really be a fair list).

The second half looks at the authors that I’ve read fewer books by but would still consider some of my favourite authors (for example, maybe they just have fewer published books to read)!

Without further ado, let’s take a look at some of my favourite authors and their best (in my opinion) works.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme originally created by The Broke and the Bookish and currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Covers link to Bookshop.org UK and are affiliate links.

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Starting with the five authors from whom I’ve read the most books:

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Ilona Andrews (USA/Russia, c.1970s-)

Ilona Andrews is the pen name of married couple Ilona and Andrew Gordon. Ilona was born in the Soviet Union and moved to the US for university, where she met Florida-born Andrew and has lived ever since. The couple met in 1994, but I couldn’t find a reliable source for the birth dates hehe – one site suggests 1970 for Andrew and 1976 for Ilona.)

I’ve read six unique series by Ilona Andrews, which is all of their current works except for two early and discontinued series. I’ve read all of the main books in all of those series, however I am still missing some of the novellas and side stories following alternative characters. Still, I think this is one of the authors where my ‘favourite book’ is more ‘favourite book’ than ‘favourite book (of the one’s I’ve read)’ – that’s why I did my recent Beginner’s Guide to the World of Ilona Andrews. That being said, I nearly always binge these one series at a time so I can’t really pick a favourite book. My favourite series, at the moment, is probably the Innkeeper Chronicles, but that could change as more books come out in other series.

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Patrick Süskind (German, 1949-)

If I’ve read most of Ilona Andrews’ backlist, Süskind is one of the few authors where I can truly say I’ve read everything he’s published (except for one essay). I read some of the works in English and some in German – I think some may not have been translated or are not widely available in translation, but I can say without a doubt that Perfume is his most famous work for a reason – it is by far the best, and if it hadn’t been the first of his works I read, it’s unlikely that I would have made it my goal to read everything he’s ever written as nothing else even comes close.

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William Shakespeare (UK, 1564-1616)

I think William Shakespeare is kind of a cop out for this list since having read six* Shakespeare plays not only barely scratches the surface of Shakespeare’s works but is also probably a claim anyone who went through an English-language secondary school can make. Still, I decided to include it anyway as I have some true favourites and some absolutely hated works within those five plays, and my favourite is, by far, Much Ado About Nothing.

*I’ve only put five above since six would mess up my post aesthetic – I left off Othello, which is my least favourite.

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Kazuo Ishiguro (Japanese British, 1954-)

Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Japan and held Japanese citizenship until 1983, when he switched to British citizenship. He moved to the UK when he was five.

Four books seems like quite a lot of Kazuo Ishiguro, but this only includes two of his novels, as well as his Nobel lecture (which was later published as a book) and a collection of poetry/song lyrics he wrote for an American jazz singer. The two novels I’ve read are An Artist of the Floating World and The Remains of the Day, and whilst I enjoyed both, I much prefer An Artist of the Floating World.

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George Orwell (UK, 1903-1950)

Finally for the first half of this list, we have George Orwell. This is also an interesting one since I’ve only read one of Orwell’s fictional works (Animal Farm), but I’ve also read three collections of essays (of varying lengths). I have a lot of Orwell’s other works on my TBR, but my absolute favourite so far and the one I will recommend to everyone (as well as the book that made me add all of Orwell’s more obscure writings to my list) is the essay collection Shooting an Elephant.

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Of the above five authors, I would probably consider George Orwell one of my favourite nonfiction writers, and the others can be counted among my favourite fiction writers with the exception of Shakespeare, who is there because I read a lot of his books in school. Don’t get me wrong, the man was a literary/playwright genius but I wouldn’t consider him one of my favourite authors.

The next five authors, however, definitely count as favourites, even if I haven’t read that many books by them. I did limit myself to authors I’ve read at least two books by, however, as I don’t think one book is enough to tell whether an author will consistently work for me or not.

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Becky Chambers (USA, 1985-)

I’ve read quite a lot of what Becky Chambers has written, including the Monk and Robot duology, the standalone To Be Taught, If Fortunate, and the first book in the Wayfarer series (yes, I need to catch up). So far, To Be Taught If Fortunate and the Monk and Robot duology (especially book 1) are tied as my favourite books by Becky Chambers and I go around recommending them to everyone.

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Cho Namjoo (South Korea, 1978-)

Cho Namjoo is an interesting author for me because I have had both incredible and awful experiences with her books.

So far I have read two novels and one short story collection by her, and whilst my rating suggests that Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is my favourite of her books (and I do think it’s the most important to read), that book is really made by it’s conclusion. Furthermore, I much prefer the translation of her short story collection, so if you’re reading Cho in English and you enjoy short stories, perhaps consider checking out Miss Kim Knows instead. (Just whatever you do, don’t start with Saha.)

Cho also has many more books in Korean (some of which are on my physical TBR) and one is being released in English later this year, so this is an author I’m going to keep reading and seeing how I feel about.

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Andy Weir (USA, 1972-)

Andy Weir has three traditionally published novels: The Martian, Artemis, and Project Hail Mary. Of these, I have read The Martian and Project Hail Mary, both of which I enjoyed immensely. I haven’t picked up Artemis since I’ve heard some less-good things about it. It might be recency bias speaking, since it’s about 10 years since I read The Martian, but I think my favourite of his books is Project Hail Mary and it’s definitely the one I find most reread-able. (I do, however, watch The Martian film on repeat).

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Elizabeth von Arnim (UK, 1866-1941)

Elizabeth was English but born in Australia. She grew up in England, and later lived largely in Germany following her marriage to a German aristocrat. She also lived a large part of her adult life in Switzerland and later France following her first husband’s death. She moved to the USA at the beginning of the Second World War, where she later died.

Elizabeth von Arnim wrote a huge number of books, and so far I’ve only read two, so it doesn’t feel hugely fair to pick a favourite, but she is quickly shaping up to be one of my favourite classic authors. So far, I have read her earliest book – Elizabeth and Her German Garden – and her most famous book: The Enchanted April. I loved them both, but I think The Enchanted April might have the slight upper hand.

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Erin Morgenstern (USA, 1978-)

Erin Morgenstern is the definition of less is more, leaving us suffering with only two titles to her name, both of which I have read and enjoyed. I enjoyed both The Night Circus and The Starless Sea, and it’s been so long since I read either that my answer is completely based on vibes rather than the actual plot since I don’t really remember a whole lot of what happens. Based on vibes (and my propensity for collecting different editions), I’m going to say that The Night Circus is my favourite Erin Morgenstern book, but it’s definitely beyond due a reread.

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What are your favourite books by these authors? Let me know!

Keira x