My Top 5 Most Read Authors

I recently started using the site Goodreads, which is a great resource for book nerds like myself. It has tons of lists of books and authors, and it lets you indicate on your profile which books you've read or would like to read. This is going to be a great tool for me, considering that I read a ton of books and sometimes forget if I read a certain book or not. It even has the cool feature of telling you your "Most Read Authors." So, without further ado, here are my top 5 most read authors, according to Goodreads:

1. Stephen King (31 books - and at least 3 more under different pen names)

I got into Stephen King when I was younger, when I asked my mom what books she would recommend to me. Since she liked Stephen King and Dean Koontz, those are the authors that she gave me. I've loved horror literature for a long time, and Stephen King remains the ruler of the horror genre. In addition to his novels, I've also read a bunch of his short stories and two of his nonfiction books. My favorites are Carrie, Firestarter, and 'Salem's Lot.

2. Anne Rice (25 books - and at least 4 more under different pen names)

I really got into vampire literature once I discovered Anne Rice. I've read all the books in her Vampire Chronicles, all of the books about the Mayfair witches, and all the erotica written under her two pen names. I've even considered reading her Christ the Lord series, simply because I know they'll be well-written. And I'm stupid excited about her next novel: Prince Lestat.

3. Patricia Briggs (20 books)

If you asked me who my favorite author is (right now), I'd probably say Patricia Briggs. I LOVE Patricia Briggs. I have not read one of her books that I didn't like. Her Mercy Thompson series is my favorite, closely followed by the Sianim series. I'm currently reading Night Broken, the 8th Mercy Thompson book. Her books are full of fast-paced action and kick-ass female characters, and I can't get enough of them.

4. J. R. Ward (18 books)

Ward, aka Jessica Bird, writes mostly about vampires, war, and sex: not necessarily in that order. Although I like her Black Dagger Brotherhood series, I'm not real fond of her Angels series. She's a supernatural romance author who writes men as all of her main characters and woman only in supporting roles. After so many books, I'm tired of it, but I'm so invested in the characters at this point that I'll continue to the end of the series.

5. Kelley Armstrong (11 books)

I've already read two of Kelley Armstrong's series, and I really like her characters and her writing, so I'm planning on reading her other series. I started reading her books a long time ago, and I guess I was just unaware that she wrote so many more books.

So there you have it, my top 5 most read authors, as per Goodreads. Who's in your top 5?

All images from Goodreads.com.

Prince Lestat is Back!

It's official!

Can I just say that I'm REALLY FUCKING EXCITED for this? Please excuse me while I put my life on hold to re-read the original five books of the Vampire Chronicles. October 28 can't come soon enough!

For more info: LA Times article

My Love Affair with the Vampire

Ever since high school, I've been in love with the vampire. It probably started with Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. Ever since I read Interview with the Vampire, I've consumed any and all vampire books that I could find. I read the classic and the modern, the great and the garbage. I don't care if it's poems, novels, short stories, or graphic novels. I'm more picky with the movies I watch, but that's only because I have a hard time watching overly gory or violent movies.

To better remember what I've read and watched, I've started a list of books and movies. Of course, none of these lists are complete, but I'm going to keep working on them. Here's a start:

Literature

The Vampyre - John William Polidori (1819)
Carmilla - J. Sheridan Le Fanu (1872)
Dracula - Bram Stoker (1897)
Dracula's Guest - Bram Stoker (1914)
Dracula (play) - John Balderston & Hamilton Deane (1924)
I Am Legend - Richard Matheson (1954)

Salem's Lot - Stephen King (1975)
The Dracula Tape - Fred Saberhagen (1975)
The Vampire Chronicles - Anne Rice (1976-2003)

Vampire$ - John Steakley (1990)
The Vampire's Promise series - Caroline B. Cooney (1991-1993)
Goodnight Kiss Vol. 1-2 - R. L. Stine (1992-1997)
The Last Vampire Vol. 1-4 - Christopher Pike (1994-1996)
Carmilla: The Return - Kyle Marffin (1998)
Carpe Jugulum: A Novel of Discworld - Terry Pratchett (1998)
Vampire and Werewolf Stories - Alan Durant (1998)
Women of the Otherworld series - Kelley Armstrong (2001-2008)
The Mammoth Book of Vampires - Stephen Jones (2004)
Bite - Laurell K. Hamilton & Charlaine Harris (2004)
Fledgling - Octavia Butler (2005)
The Curse of Dracula - Marv Wolfman (2005)
Twilight series - Stephanie Meyer (2005-2008)
The Black Dagger Brotherhood series - J. R. Ward (2005-)
Mercy Thompson series - Patricia Briggs (2006-)
Renfield: Slave of Dracula - Barbara Hambly (2006)
Vampire Doll Vol. 1-2 - Erika Kari (2006-2007)
Marked - P. C. and Kristin Cast (2007)
Vampire Kisses: Blood Relatives Vol. 1 - Ellen Schreiber (2007)
Vampire the Masquerade (not sure which one)

Film
Nosferatu (1922)
Dracula (1931)
Blacula (1972)
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1973)
Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
Dracula 2000
Queen of the Damned (2002)
Vampires: Los Muertos (2002)
Twilight (2008)

Still Need to Read
Varney the Vampire - James Malcolm Rymer (1847)
Dracula series (the rest of it) - Fred Saberhagen (1978-2002)
Dracula Was a Woman: In Search of the Blood Countess of Transylvania - Raymond McNally (1987)
The Vampire Book (encyclopedia) - J. Gordon Melton (1998)
Mina - Elaine Bergstrom (2000)
Guilty Pleasures - Laurell K. Hamilton (2002)
Let the Right One In - John Ajvide Lindqvist (2004)
The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova (2005)
Real Vampires Have Curves - Gerry Bartlett (2008)
Dracula the Un-Dead - Dacre Stoker (2009)
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Seth Grahame-Smith (2010)
Shadow World series - Dianne Sylvan (2010-)
Prince Lestat - Anne Rice (2014)

Still Need to Watch (If you have seen any of these, please let me know if they are very violent or gory!)
Vampyr (1932)
Horror of Dracula (1957)
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1969)
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
Dracula A. D. 1972
Salem's Lot (1979)
The Lost Boys (1987)
Near Dark (1987)
From Dusk Til Dawn (1996)
Pitch Black (2000)
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Underworld series (2003-2012)
Van Helsing (2004)
Let the Right One In (2008)

If you have any other good movies or books that you would recommend, please let me know! Especially if you have a copy of the movie or book that I could borrow--that would be awesome.