How many of these bestselling SF/F authors have you read?

[nixie]

I'll give it a shot.

I'll bet we've all read at least one book by all of the first four on the list.

1) J.K Rowling (c. 450 million)
2) Stephen King (c. 350 million)
3) JRR Tolkien (c. 300 million)
4) CS Lewis (120 million+)

Yes I've read all 4, I would say nearly all on here have read LOTR

 

[Parson]

Well with three of us reporting, we are down to King & Tolkien. And I have not read LOTR. I quit with the Hobbit. I've read a lot of CS Lewis, Mere Christianity being the most prominent, but none of his fiction. And only 1 Harry Potter book. And for that matter only one Stephen King book, Firestarter.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

King and Tolkien for me also, and not much of either one.

A special no-prize goes to whoever can honestly say here that she or he has never read anything by either of these two authors.

 

[Onyx]

I'll give it a shot.

I'll bet we've all read at least one book by all of the first four on the list.

1) J.K Rowling (c. 450 million)
2) Stephen King (c. 350 million)
3) JRR Tolkien (c. 300 million)
4) CS Lewis (120 million+)

I would assume there's more than just me that doesn't read fantasy.

 

[Onyx]

A special no-prize goes to whoever can honestly say here that she or he has never read anything by either of these two authors.

Actually, up until last week when I started LOTR, that would have been me.

 

[Vince W]

I'll give it a shot.

I'll bet we've all read at least one book by all of the first four on the list.

1) J.K Rowling (c. 450 million)
2) Stephen King (c. 350 million)
3) JRR Tolkien (c. 300 million)
4) CS Lewis (120 million+)

I've never read Rowling.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I failed to notice that my previous post implied that I had never read C. S. Lewis, which is not correct. I have read quite a bit by him, actually.

Like Vince W, I have never read anything by J. K. Rowling, and feel no particular compulsion to do so.

 

[Parson]

So far King & Tolkien are "universal."

 

[Stable]

30 for sure with another few names I might have read something by a long time ago.

King and Tolkien I've read - though I wouldn't be surprised to find a few people around here who've never read one or the other.

 

[Parson]

though I wouldn't be surprised to find a few people around here who've never read one or the other.

I can easily believe that there are a few people around here who have never read either. But I think it a bit unlikely.

 

[Onyx]

So far King & Tolkien are "universal."

How so?

 

[Parson]

Everyone who has reported said that they've read at least one book of King & Tolkein. ....... Am I mistaken?

 

[dask]

I've read several Kings but aborted The Hobbit after a few pages.

 

[Parson]

aborted The Hobbit after a few pages.

I would count that as reading Tolkien. I don't believe we ever said anything about reading a whole book.

 

[Onyx]

Everyone who has reported said that they've read at least one book of King & Tolkein. ....... Am I mistaken?

In post #45 I mention never reading King and having just started Tolkien last week. Never read Rowling, either. I have read Narnia, but I was also reading the Box Car Children and Motorcycle Mouse at the time, so I wasn't very selective being 9.

I have read almost no mainstream fantasy, and no horror. Is it really that unusual to have SF readers that aren't interested in fantasy and horror? I know we like to clump those three together due to their speculative nature, but I know lots of people that will only read either SF or fantasy, not both.

 

[picklematrix]

21. I have a feeling GRRM will be higher now than he was when this list was compiled.

I think a lot of sff readers stear clear of horror, unless it is horror combined with sff, like lovecraft or Clark Ashton Smith.

 

[dask]

I would count that as reading Tolkien. I don't believe we ever said anything about reading a whole book.

Technically and literally, yeah. Okay. But I'm not comfortable with it. Testing the waters with one's toe is not the same as taking the plunge, and reading a minute portion of a novel is not the same as reading the whole thing. If a person's only exposure to Tolkien were his titles and he has seen them printed on the covers, then by your own line of reasoning he has read Tolkien. I'm not sure the light on that path is sufficient for safe travel.

Besides, in post 52 you did indeed specify "at least one book", not a partial.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Looks like Onyx gets the no-award, but will have to give it back once completing the Tolkien. Since no-awards weigh zero, it will be easy to ship it back.

 

[Onyx]

Looks like Onyx gets the no-award, but will have to give it back once completing the Tolkien. Since no-awards weigh zero, it will be easy to ship it back.

Dunno. It's been slow going. But am I really the only one here that just reads SF?? That seems strange.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Not strange, but most readers of SF also like at least some fantasy. The two genres seem closely related, since they both offer something other than a simulation of what is supposed to be "reality."