Donna texted me from a bookstore recently to say she had picked up a copy of Fleur Jaeggy’s ‘I am the Brother of XX’ because she knew I liked Jaeggy’s novels, even the ones I don’t understand.
I had two thoughts: 1) Donna is awesome, and I am the luckiest guy alive. 2) Am I becoming a Fleur Jaeggy completist?
I then contemplated other authors: Who’s work would I read completely? I’m already there with Ottessa Moshfegh, and well on my way with Zora Neale Hurston, Philip K. Dick and Eva Baltasar. And, of course, there’s:
I made this on Giphy.com.
What about you? Have you read, or are you trying to read, all the books by a particular author?If so, who?
Never heard of Jaggy, but I love Dick and Hurston. Will have to try Jaggy.
I’m a completist with Dick also, and Stephen King, Ursula K LeGuin, and Joan Didion, probably more. Also love Jeff Vandermeer and Ann Patchett. Toni Morrison too. Oh and def Henry Miller.
Thanks, Charlotte! Terrific list! Jaeggy is definitely worth checking out. I'd recommend 'Sweet Days of Discipline' to start. Writing this post reminded me that I haven't read PKD in a long time. Ditto for Ursula. I have featured two of her books here, but have long wanted to return. Particularly with 'The Left Hand of Darkness,' one of my all-time favorites. But I should definitely have considered including Didion. I've read a ton of her books, too. Cheers!
Same! Love Left Hand of Darkness. I just read Dick’s last three novels, The Valis Trilogy, which is actually on KU now. Valis was a re-read but I hadn’t ever read the other two. It felt sad finishing the pages as I knew I was reading his last words. 😢
I’d recommend reading Dick’s Radio Free Ablemeuth now if you haven’t. It relates to current political times.
And I will look up Sweet Days of Discipline! Thank you!
I will definitely check out that book. I forgot to mention my favorite book of his is Ubik. I've wanted to return to it and feature it here for forever.
Thanks, Bekka! I enjoy Murakami, too. And I've got several of his books, like 'Kafka at the Shore,' 'IQ84' and 'The Windup Bird Chronicle.' I need to get back to his work soon. Cheers!
I am trying to complete Elizabeth Strout and I think I have read most of Richard Russo as well as Jean Hanff Korelitz. I would like to complete them; I have enjoyed their books. Russo has been an off and on companion since the 1990s. I have read most of his novels, but none of his nonfiction. And I have read all of Willa Cather’s novels but one and that will be read in April-May of next year. I think I am more likely not to read completely; I never read the 3rd original Stieg Larsson and I never watched the last episode of Mash.
Thanks, Kate! I'm curious: If you think you're more inclined than not to read completely, what about those authors makes them completion worthy? I think I am mostly a completist by accident. I'll enjoy a book and then be out in the world and see another from that author and just pick it up. And then do that again and again and before I know it I have/have read half their oeuvre. I discovered I was doing this when I realized I had so many Elena Ferrante books.
I read all the Willa Cathers with a friend in a book group over 3 years (she wrote 12 novels and we read one/quarter). It was interesting to see how her writing matured and all her books were different, but mostly with strong female characters. Richard Russo and Elizabeth Strout are such good writers, they haven’t really let me down. And they have set their books in such specific, familiar places in the Northeast. I know Jean Hanff Korelitz and she tries to always write a different story and I am willing to go along for the ride. I find that if an author lets me down (I don’t enjoy a second or third novel), I won’t necessarily go back to them. Elena Ferrante is interesting to me. I have read Book 1 of the Neapolitan Quartet and was going to reread it and continue. They are on my shelves, staring at me, hopefully in 2025. I have another book of hers as well. One of the editors at the NYT Book Review podcast is an Elena Ferrante completist and she made a great argument for reading all her work. Thanks for making me think this Sunday morning :).
Back in the day, I gobbled up anything Spalding Gray wrote (and performed), as well as books by Banana Yoshimoto. While I haven’t read all his works, I do have 14 books by Philip Roth, plus a biography. And even though he hasn’t published many books yet, I’ll read anything Ocean Vuong writes.
I’ve read everything by Bret Easton Ellis, and i’m working on completing all of Gary Indiana’s work. i always wonder if you can be a “completionist” if the author has only written like 2-3 books, or if it only works for more prolific authors.
Thanks, EJ! That's a great question. My gut reaction is that there should be no minimum output requirement by an author for one to say they have completed their work. I think completionism speaks more to expressing appreciation for the artist's work. To experiencing the joy of it and wanting to capture that again as many times as possible. So whether an artist has produced one book or 100, I think the term applies. What do you think? Cheers!
Yes! There are several, but my most recent obsession is Deborah Levy. I’ve read all of her books over the past few years and am currently reading “The Position of Spoons.” I love her lyrical and sometimes non-linear voice.
Thanks, friend! I will have to check out her work. I love how bookish obsessions can come from nowhere. It's like finding gold, and we must dig and dig until we've extracted it all.
I have a folder of word files for the authors I intend to complete listing their novels in chronological order for reference. Only Graham Greene is currently complete (at least for novels) but am making excellent progress with Iris Murdoch, Anita Brookner, Philip K. Dick and Henry James.
I have read everyone by Deborah Levy and Ali Smith and intend to keep up with Sarah Bernstein.
Thanks, Elizabeth! I'm happy to meet another Iris Murdoch and PKD obsessive! Glad also to see another shoutout to Deborah levy. I just picked up 'Hotel du Lac' and am looking forward to it. I've been meaning to return to Graham Greene. I read 'The Quiet American' before starting BoG, and I featured 'Our Man in Havana' here so long ago I had nearly forgotten about it.
I'm a low-brow contribution completist ... but I've read everything by Robert Galbraith (aka the author whose name will not be mentioned) though I've no interest in anything they've written about wizards. Also I'm nearly a Barbara Kingsolver completist (with a strong preference for her earlier books). And obviously - the Babysitters Club series
Thanks, friend! We make no distinction here between high-brow and low-brow. We are uni-brow...or something like that lol. I was once a Hardy Boys completist, and a dabbler in Nancy Drew mysteries. And an Amazing Spider-Man completist (I'm trying to sell off the results of that former obsession, to little success so far). I have had my eye on Barbara Kingsolver for a while. Several readers have suggested 'Demon Copperhead,' among others. Have you read that?
One of many things I love about book-lover discussions is the diversity of tastes: I could never get beyond the first chapter of any Kingsolver until Demon Copperhead. Fantastic novel for me, but that maybe because I’m from Appalachia, and the novel shows how people like Demon are stereotyped and looked down upon. Don’t get me wrong—it is not preachy. It made my great reads list because there are numerous scenes I will never forget.
Long live low-brow! I have read all of Nick Herron’s Slow Horses novels, also all of John MacDonald’s Travis McGee novels. All Raymond Chandler’s too—he’s so great it’s difficult to think of him as low-brow, but I think he and Sam Spade would like that.
I used to keep better track of this, but Hemingway is one I’ve been working on for years! Others I’m making my way toward are some romance authors: Emily Henry, Ana Huang, Ali Hazelwood, and probably a few more.
Thanks, friend! I am ashamed to admit that I believe I've only read 'A Farewell to Arms' back in school. That and the Lillian Ross profile. I gotta get on that. I am afraid of reviewing a Romance novel here. But I should do it.
I’ve read all of Matt Haig’s books! And all of Dolly Alderton’s. They are my two biggest modern-day influences. I’ve also read every published writing that exists of J.D Salinger’s, but that grumpy bastard took a hell of a lot of unpublished work to the grave with him!!! (And I love him even more for it)
Matt Haig is really open about his mental health struggles, and is a big advocate for mental health which is rare to see from a man in his 40s in this day and age. His first non-fiction book even begins with him actively talking about his almost-suicide, and his fiction books all weave through this beautiful trope of life getting better (and being better) once we're out of the fog. There's always beauty to be found if we dig deep enough.
Dolly on the other hand is just the type of woman I aspire to be: thirty, flirty and thriving (no matter the age). She is open about her messy love life and dating woes, and wrote a beautiful book dedicated to how everything she knows about love she learnt not from romantic relationships, but from her friends. Just last week a woman asked me if I was "a loner" because I don't have a partner and I live alone. I replied "not at all, I have lots of friends" and she looked at me quite sadly, like I must be alone because I'm not romantically attached to someone. I have felt more love from my platonic friendships than I ever have in a romantic connection (which isn't to say I haven't been loved in a romantic sense before, I have and I have loved back), but to me, platonic love is what keeps me going. That's why I adore Dolly.
I should have clarified: I have not read any of her nonfiction, but there are only 4 of those (i think).
As far as fiction goes, yes I've read them all. My favorites are the Adam Dalgliesh series and the standalone short story collections. The Mistletoe Murder collection has one of the most chilling stories I've ever read in it, WOW. A little light Christmas reading for you lol.
As far as the Adam Dalgliesh series goes, as a completist I would recommend starting with the first one (Cover Her Face) and reading them in order. But my favorite Dalgliesh book is Devices and Desires. PD was a hell of a writer and I don't normally enjoy British mysteries!
I've read all of Sally Rooney, Nina Lacour, and Melissa Broder, which, to be fair, are all very recent authors with smaller oeuvre's. I'm almost there with James Baldwin, though!
Thanks, Anna! I've never read Sally Rooney, but some colleagues are thinking about doing a read-along soon and I may participate. Baldwin is a big gap in my reading. I need to get on that!
Don't judge me, but back in high school and college I used to be a Piers Anthony completionist. My god he had a lot of books. I barely made a dent. And then I found out he was kind of a disgusting perv. So I gave almost all of them away to the library book sale and don't support him any more.
But I'm for sure a Ray Bradbury completionist. He can transport you so easily. It's always an escape.
Thanks, Justin! No worries, I was also into Piers Anthony as a kid. On a Pale Horse, Tangled Skein. I tried to read all the books in that series, which I forgot the name of. I don’t have them anymore either. I also readTerry Brooks’s Shannara series then.
Loving this! So many writers I still need to get to and get back to. So many I read just one of their books and had forgotten them. Have read all or most all of John Banville, J.M. Coetzee, Roberto Bolano, Richard Brautigan, Charles Portis, Colson Whitehead, Proust and Pynchon. One pleasure of aging is the list of books and writers you love naturally gets longer and longer and they all remain part of you, including the ones you haven’t thought of for years until someone mentions them (thank you Bella Palmer for reminding me of Murakami and The Windup Bird Chronicle.)
I am definitely NOT a completist. My experience reading a new author often goes like this:
First book: I LOVE THIS!!!!
Second book: I like this, yeah.
Third book: Um....I think I'll read someone else's work ... Just not in the mood, maybe?
And BTW, the first book might not be the author's debut, simply the first book by that author that I pick up. This is my experience far, far too often. So I often pick up new authors to try all the time, because even if I've read one book by the author, there's no real guarantee that I'll enjoy any others. There have been exceptions to this. So far Karin Slaughter hasn't disappointed me, and neither has Mindy Mejia and Tana French.
I guess I'm every author's nightmare! I'm rarely a super-fan who auto-buys anyone's work ... I read the ending of books first ... I might or might not review a book online ...
Thanks, Meredith! I've certainly felt the same about a few authors where I loved the first book I read and then found that each subsequent one I read yielded diminishing returns.
Virginia Woolf is mine, and I love to see all the different editions that have been published over the years. I also really want to dive into Willa Cather's work. For a modern author, Diane Setterfield. Magical magical prose, and I will read anything she writes.
I am an accidental John Green completist. He was all I ever read when I was younger 😂 and his current non-YA non-fiction book Anthropocene Reviewed is so good. I hope to read all Austen too someday. I’ve read a lot of Murakami but stopped reading his books.
Thanks, Jam! I’ve had a similar experience with Murakami. I didn’t realize he has a new book coming out and am not really excited to read it ever. Just on to other voices, I guess.
Kazuo Ishiguro comes to mind. I would like to read all of his works and I tend to pick up at least one a year lately. Remains of the Day made such a big impression on me decades ago in school. I have not loved them all, but his books usually satisfy my hunger for something quietly thought-provoking and inventive.
Never heard of Jaggy, but I love Dick and Hurston. Will have to try Jaggy.
I’m a completist with Dick also, and Stephen King, Ursula K LeGuin, and Joan Didion, probably more. Also love Jeff Vandermeer and Ann Patchett. Toni Morrison too. Oh and def Henry Miller.
Thanks, Charlotte! Terrific list! Jaeggy is definitely worth checking out. I'd recommend 'Sweet Days of Discipline' to start. Writing this post reminded me that I haven't read PKD in a long time. Ditto for Ursula. I have featured two of her books here, but have long wanted to return. Particularly with 'The Left Hand of Darkness,' one of my all-time favorites. But I should definitely have considered including Didion. I've read a ton of her books, too. Cheers!
Same! Love Left Hand of Darkness. I just read Dick’s last three novels, The Valis Trilogy, which is actually on KU now. Valis was a re-read but I hadn’t ever read the other two. It felt sad finishing the pages as I knew I was reading his last words. 😢
I’d recommend reading Dick’s Radio Free Ablemeuth now if you haven’t. It relates to current political times.
And I will look up Sweet Days of Discipline! Thank you!
I will definitely check out that book. I forgot to mention my favorite book of his is Ubik. I've wanted to return to it and feature it here for forever.
Love Ubik too! So brilliant!
I remember loving The Divine Invasion. It seems like such an underappreciated Dick novel. I should probably reread it...
I, too, can’t believe I didn’t include Didion. I’m not yet a completist, but aim to be. Am one or two away.
Haruki Murakami! I’m close to completing all that he’s written so far!
Thanks, Bekka! I enjoy Murakami, too. And I've got several of his books, like 'Kafka at the Shore,' 'IQ84' and 'The Windup Bird Chronicle.' I need to get back to his work soon. Cheers!
I am trying to complete Elizabeth Strout and I think I have read most of Richard Russo as well as Jean Hanff Korelitz. I would like to complete them; I have enjoyed their books. Russo has been an off and on companion since the 1990s. I have read most of his novels, but none of his nonfiction. And I have read all of Willa Cather’s novels but one and that will be read in April-May of next year. I think I am more likely not to read completely; I never read the 3rd original Stieg Larsson and I never watched the last episode of Mash.
Thanks, Kate! I'm curious: If you think you're more inclined than not to read completely, what about those authors makes them completion worthy? I think I am mostly a completist by accident. I'll enjoy a book and then be out in the world and see another from that author and just pick it up. And then do that again and again and before I know it I have/have read half their oeuvre. I discovered I was doing this when I realized I had so many Elena Ferrante books.
I read all the Willa Cathers with a friend in a book group over 3 years (she wrote 12 novels and we read one/quarter). It was interesting to see how her writing matured and all her books were different, but mostly with strong female characters. Richard Russo and Elizabeth Strout are such good writers, they haven’t really let me down. And they have set their books in such specific, familiar places in the Northeast. I know Jean Hanff Korelitz and she tries to always write a different story and I am willing to go along for the ride. I find that if an author lets me down (I don’t enjoy a second or third novel), I won’t necessarily go back to them. Elena Ferrante is interesting to me. I have read Book 1 of the Neapolitan Quartet and was going to reread it and continue. They are on my shelves, staring at me, hopefully in 2025. I have another book of hers as well. One of the editors at the NYT Book Review podcast is an Elena Ferrante completist and she made a great argument for reading all her work. Thanks for making me think this Sunday morning :).
Thanks for reminding me of Russo—I loved the couple I read and need to add others to Mt TBR list—what is your favorite?
The Fool Trilogy staring with Nobody’s Fool.
Thank you! Headed to the bookstore. I saw him speak at a writers’ conference a few years ago—so inspiring.
Back in the day, I gobbled up anything Spalding Gray wrote (and performed), as well as books by Banana Yoshimoto. While I haven’t read all his works, I do have 14 books by Philip Roth, plus a biography. And even though he hasn’t published many books yet, I’ll read anything Ocean Vuong writes.
Thanks, dear! I have long admired your Banana Yoshimoto collection and have wanted to sneaky steal your books to read them.
I’ve read everything by Bret Easton Ellis, and i’m working on completing all of Gary Indiana’s work. i always wonder if you can be a “completionist” if the author has only written like 2-3 books, or if it only works for more prolific authors.
Thanks, EJ! That's a great question. My gut reaction is that there should be no minimum output requirement by an author for one to say they have completed their work. I think completionism speaks more to expressing appreciation for the artist's work. To experiencing the joy of it and wanting to capture that again as many times as possible. So whether an artist has produced one book or 100, I think the term applies. What do you think? Cheers!
I like that interpretation! Def going to think of it that way. thanks for a fun prompt!
Yes! There are several, but my most recent obsession is Deborah Levy. I’ve read all of her books over the past few years and am currently reading “The Position of Spoons.” I love her lyrical and sometimes non-linear voice.
Thanks, friend! I will have to check out her work. I love how bookish obsessions can come from nowhere. It's like finding gold, and we must dig and dig until we've extracted it all.
I have a folder of word files for the authors I intend to complete listing their novels in chronological order for reference. Only Graham Greene is currently complete (at least for novels) but am making excellent progress with Iris Murdoch, Anita Brookner, Philip K. Dick and Henry James.
I have read everyone by Deborah Levy and Ali Smith and intend to keep up with Sarah Bernstein.
Thanks, Elizabeth! I'm happy to meet another Iris Murdoch and PKD obsessive! Glad also to see another shoutout to Deborah levy. I just picked up 'Hotel du Lac' and am looking forward to it. I've been meaning to return to Graham Greene. I read 'The Quiet American' before starting BoG, and I featured 'Our Man in Havana' here so long ago I had nearly forgotten about it.
I'm a low-brow contribution completist ... but I've read everything by Robert Galbraith (aka the author whose name will not be mentioned) though I've no interest in anything they've written about wizards. Also I'm nearly a Barbara Kingsolver completist (with a strong preference for her earlier books). And obviously - the Babysitters Club series
Thanks, friend! We make no distinction here between high-brow and low-brow. We are uni-brow...or something like that lol. I was once a Hardy Boys completist, and a dabbler in Nancy Drew mysteries. And an Amazing Spider-Man completist (I'm trying to sell off the results of that former obsession, to little success so far). I have had my eye on Barbara Kingsolver for a while. Several readers have suggested 'Demon Copperhead,' among others. Have you read that?
I started but DNFd Demon Copperhead. I loved Bean Trees, Pigs in Heaven, Animal Dreams ... I'd start there.
I will def stay away from Demon Cooperhead and try one of the others first. Thanks!
One of many things I love about book-lover discussions is the diversity of tastes: I could never get beyond the first chapter of any Kingsolver until Demon Copperhead. Fantastic novel for me, but that maybe because I’m from Appalachia, and the novel shows how people like Demon are stereotyped and looked down upon. Don’t get me wrong—it is not preachy. It made my great reads list because there are numerous scenes I will never forget.
Long live low-brow! I have read all of Nick Herron’s Slow Horses novels, also all of John MacDonald’s Travis McGee novels. All Raymond Chandler’s too—he’s so great it’s difficult to think of him as low-brow, but I think he and Sam Spade would like that.
I used to keep better track of this, but Hemingway is one I’ve been working on for years! Others I’m making my way toward are some romance authors: Emily Henry, Ana Huang, Ali Hazelwood, and probably a few more.
Thanks, friend! I am ashamed to admit that I believe I've only read 'A Farewell to Arms' back in school. That and the Lillian Ross profile. I gotta get on that. I am afraid of reviewing a Romance novel here. But I should do it.
I’ve read all of Matt Haig’s books! And all of Dolly Alderton’s. They are my two biggest modern-day influences. I’ve also read every published writing that exists of J.D Salinger’s, but that grumpy bastard took a hell of a lot of unpublished work to the grave with him!!! (And I love him even more for it)
Thanks, Sophie! I'm unfamiliar with Haig and Alderton's work. What about it made you want to read it all?
Matt Haig is really open about his mental health struggles, and is a big advocate for mental health which is rare to see from a man in his 40s in this day and age. His first non-fiction book even begins with him actively talking about his almost-suicide, and his fiction books all weave through this beautiful trope of life getting better (and being better) once we're out of the fog. There's always beauty to be found if we dig deep enough.
Dolly on the other hand is just the type of woman I aspire to be: thirty, flirty and thriving (no matter the age). She is open about her messy love life and dating woes, and wrote a beautiful book dedicated to how everything she knows about love she learnt not from romantic relationships, but from her friends. Just last week a woman asked me if I was "a loner" because I don't have a partner and I live alone. I replied "not at all, I have lots of friends" and she looked at me quite sadly, like I must be alone because I'm not romantically attached to someone. I have felt more love from my platonic friendships than I ever have in a romantic connection (which isn't to say I haven't been loved in a romantic sense before, I have and I have loved back), but to me, platonic love is what keeps me going. That's why I adore Dolly.
Thanks for sharing this, Sophie! Really great insight!
PD James!
Thanks, Steph! Have you read all of PD James? Still working through it? Which book would you recommend to a newbie to start with?
I should have clarified: I have not read any of her nonfiction, but there are only 4 of those (i think).
As far as fiction goes, yes I've read them all. My favorites are the Adam Dalgliesh series and the standalone short story collections. The Mistletoe Murder collection has one of the most chilling stories I've ever read in it, WOW. A little light Christmas reading for you lol.
As far as the Adam Dalgliesh series goes, as a completist I would recommend starting with the first one (Cover Her Face) and reading them in order. But my favorite Dalgliesh book is Devices and Desires. PD was a hell of a writer and I don't normally enjoy British mysteries!
Wow, thanks so much for elaborating! This is really helpful and great!
I've read all of Sally Rooney, Nina Lacour, and Melissa Broder, which, to be fair, are all very recent authors with smaller oeuvre's. I'm almost there with James Baldwin, though!
Thanks, Anna! I've never read Sally Rooney, but some colleagues are thinking about doing a read-along soon and I may participate. Baldwin is a big gap in my reading. I need to get on that!
Don't judge me, but back in high school and college I used to be a Piers Anthony completionist. My god he had a lot of books. I barely made a dent. And then I found out he was kind of a disgusting perv. So I gave almost all of them away to the library book sale and don't support him any more.
But I'm for sure a Ray Bradbury completionist. He can transport you so easily. It's always an escape.
Thanks, Justin! No worries, I was also into Piers Anthony as a kid. On a Pale Horse, Tangled Skein. I tried to read all the books in that series, which I forgot the name of. I don’t have them anymore either. I also readTerry Brooks’s Shannara series then.
Loving this! So many writers I still need to get to and get back to. So many I read just one of their books and had forgotten them. Have read all or most all of John Banville, J.M. Coetzee, Roberto Bolano, Richard Brautigan, Charles Portis, Colson Whitehead, Proust and Pynchon. One pleasure of aging is the list of books and writers you love naturally gets longer and longer and they all remain part of you, including the ones you haven’t thought of for years until someone mentions them (thank you Bella Palmer for reminding me of Murakami and The Windup Bird Chronicle.)
Thanks, Brian! I love what you said about the list getting longer over time, and the things you love becoming a part of you. Well said!
I am definitely NOT a completist. My experience reading a new author often goes like this:
First book: I LOVE THIS!!!!
Second book: I like this, yeah.
Third book: Um....I think I'll read someone else's work ... Just not in the mood, maybe?
And BTW, the first book might not be the author's debut, simply the first book by that author that I pick up. This is my experience far, far too often. So I often pick up new authors to try all the time, because even if I've read one book by the author, there's no real guarantee that I'll enjoy any others. There have been exceptions to this. So far Karin Slaughter hasn't disappointed me, and neither has Mindy Mejia and Tana French.
I guess I'm every author's nightmare! I'm rarely a super-fan who auto-buys anyone's work ... I read the ending of books first ... I might or might not review a book online ...
Thanks, Meredith! I've certainly felt the same about a few authors where I loved the first book I read and then found that each subsequent one I read yielded diminishing returns.
Virginia Woolf is mine, and I love to see all the different editions that have been published over the years. I also really want to dive into Willa Cather's work. For a modern author, Diane Setterfield. Magical magical prose, and I will read anything she writes.
Thanks, friend! I’m glad embarrassed to say I haven’t read either Woolf or Cather. I really need to.
I am an accidental John Green completist. He was all I ever read when I was younger 😂 and his current non-YA non-fiction book Anthropocene Reviewed is so good. I hope to read all Austen too someday. I’ve read a lot of Murakami but stopped reading his books.
Thanks, Jam! I’ve had a similar experience with Murakami. I didn’t realize he has a new book coming out and am not really excited to read it ever. Just on to other voices, I guess.
Kazuo Ishiguro comes to mind. I would like to read all of his works and I tend to pick up at least one a year lately. Remains of the Day made such a big impression on me decades ago in school. I have not loved them all, but his books usually satisfy my hunger for something quietly thought-provoking and inventive.