Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school. This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through October. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 118 books, so there could be some movement over the past two years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span. Today, we continue with the two authors I’ve read fifteen times, up one from 2021.
Richard Castle
Debuting in 2009, the television series Castle follows the lives of Richard Castle, a best-selling novelist, and Kate Beckett, a New York homicide detective, as they solve various unusual murders. As Castle, portrayed by Nathan Fillion, wrote and released Nikki Heat novels on the show, those novels were released in the real world as well, the first of which, Heat Wave, was released in 2009. The two most recent efforts, Heat Storm and Crashing Heat, were released after the cancellation of the show, though it appears unlikely that there will be any future installments.
Frozen Heat – Richard Castle
The first seven books in the series were eventually revealed to have been ghost-written by Tom Straw. It is unknown if Straw wrote the final entries, though I highly doubt he was responsible for the last one, which had a much different feel to it.
Stephen King
I first read King’s work during my freshman year of high school. In fact, I remember reading Pet Sematary after finishing my Biology final at the end of freshman year, waiting for the class to be dismissed. My total reached nine novels by 1993, but then college and other pursuits got in the way and King fell out of my favor.
Joyland – Stephen King
That changed in 2012, when the release of 11/22/63 brought me back in to the King fold. I’ve added six of his more current work, half of which has been through the Hard Case Crime imprint, which limited, but did not completely remove, the horror elements.