Tag / Erle Stanley Gardner

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Prolific Authors Wrap Up

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, I’ve far surpassed my previous record for books read in a year, so I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into all of those books I’ve read through August of this year. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 114 books, so there should be some movement over the past two years.  Without further ado, it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much over the years.  Today, we wrap things up with a look back at the 109 authors I’ve read more than once.

Largest Increase (since 2023)

Pieces of Her – Karin Slaughter

Karin Slaughter – 7
Stephen King – 6
Laura Lippman – 6
Jeffery Deaver – 4
Lee Goldberg – 4
Elin Hilderbrand – 4
Kathy Reichs – 4

Largest Increase (since 2011)

Solitude Creek – Jefferu Deaver

Karin Slaughter – 19
Jeffery Deaver – 18
Erle Stanley Gardner – 14
Richard Castle – 13
Stephen King – 12

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Prolific Authors – Fourteen Books

It is time once again to take a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, I’m once again on pace to set a new record for books read in a year, so I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August of this year. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 114 books, so there should be some movement over the past two years.  Without further ado, it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much over the years.  We continue today with the sole author I’ve read fourteen times, although under two names.

Erle Stanley Gardner

I’ve been aware of Gardner as the creator of Perry Mason for years but had never read any of his work until 2015, when Hard Case Crime released the first of their republishing of his Cool and Lam series, written under the penname A.A. Fair.  Since that time, six entries of the series have been released.

Erle Stanley Gardner – The Case of the Lonely Heiress

Thanks to the new HBO interpretation of Perry Mason, six of those books have also been republished, all of which I read between 2020 and 2022. In addition to those, I’ve stumbled across a few other editions over the years, including the most recent book of his I’ve read, The Case of the Howling Dog.  Since HBO cancelled the show after two seasons, I may be stuck with the earlier editions of the remaining books.

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Post Mortem – Perry Mason

HBO started developing a new version of Perry Mason, based on the character from the series of novels written by Erle Stanley Gardner, moving the setting from the 1950s of the classic Raymond Burr-led series back to the Great Depression-era of the earliest books.  With Matthew Rhys on board to play the title character, the show premiered in June of 2020, in the middle of a global pandemic.

A much grittier presentation than the classic show, it was quickly renewed for a second season.  Delays, due to behind-the-scenes reshuffling and the ongoing pandemic, pushed the second season to March of 2023.  Despite mostly positive reviews, the delay may have taken away any steam the show had built up in its first season and, in June of 2023, HBO pulled the plug.

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2023: The Year In Books

As 2023 comes to a close, my third full year of remote working, I managed to far surpass my previous records by completing a whopping 59 books, four books more than my previous high from last year and my third consecutive year completing the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge.  I completed the challenge in late November and surpassed last year’s total in mid-December.  I read (or listened) to 21,394 pages, by far my highest total of all time and only the fourth time I’ve passed 10,000.

Of those books, eleven were non-fiction and, of the remaining 48 novels, only four were tied to a TV show, either as the source material or as a tie-in.  None of the books came out of my dwindling “to-read” drawer, with 53 e-books and two audiobooks.  I continued to take advantage of my library card, which helped me procure 44 of the books I consumed throughout the year.

Over 61% of the books I read this year were by authors I had read before. The 22 authors that I read for the first this year were:

Selma Blair Stacy Willingham Gillian McAllister Chuck Klosterman
Gabrielle Zevin Ronan Farrow Matthew Perry Amor Towles
Jason Rekulak Emily St. John Mandel Bonnie Garmus Thomas Mullen
Naomi Hirahara Maitland Ward Busy Phillips Elliot Page
Jinwoo Chong Maureen Ryan Minka Kelly Britney Spears
Emily Henry Rebecca Makkai

Jennifer McMahon, Karin Slaughter, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Erle Stanley Gardner, Grady Hendrix, Jeffery Deaver, Laura Lippman, Ruth Ware, and Stacy Willingham were the only authors that I read multiple titles from during 2023.

18 of the books I read were released this year, while only five of them were released last century, with the oldest first published in 1934.

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Prolific Authors Wrap Up

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 wrap things up with a look back at the 97 authors I’ve read more than once.

Largest Increase (since 2021)

The Silent Wife – Karin Slaughter

Karin Slaughter – 6
Erle Stanley Gardner – 5
Jeffrey Deaver – 4
Grady Hendrix – 4
Richard Osman – 3
Alex Finlay – 3
Taylor Jenkins Reid – 3

Largest Increase (since 2011)

The Skin Collector – Jeffery Deaver

Jeffrey Deaver – 14
Erle Stanley Gardner – 14
Richard Castle – 13
Karin Slaughter – 12
Mary Kubica – 8

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Prolific Authors – 14 Books

4Way 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.  We continue today with the author I’ve read 14 times, down one from two years ago.

Erle Stanley Gardner

I’ve been aware of Gardner as the creator of Perry Mason for years but had never read any of his work until 2015, when Hard Case Crime released the first of their republishing of his Cool and Lam series, written under the penname A.A. Fair.  Since that time, six entries of the series have been released.

Fools Die On Friday – Erle Stanley Gardner

Thanks to the new HBO interpretation of Perry Mason, six of those books have also been republished, all of which I read between 2020 and 2022.  In addition to those, I’ve stumbled across a few other editions over the years, including the most recent book of his I’ve read, The Case of the Howling Dog.

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Book 36 (of 52) – The Case Of The Howling Dog

The Case of the Howling Dog – Erle Stanley Gardner

When a man visits Perry Mason to help with both a will and a howling dog, it turns in to a murder trial, with a wife accused of murdering her husband, who had run off with the original man’s wife.  Perry skirts the line of legality while trying to determine what actually happened but uses the results to try and get vindication for his client.

Erle Stanley Gardner’s The Case of the Howling Dog, originally published in 1934, is just the fourth entry in his Perry Mason series.  Being that early, the characters of Perry Mason, Della Street, and Paul Drake are a little rougher around the edges than they would eventually become.  This case, though heavily modified, was featured as the 23rd episode of season two in the Raymond Burr version of the show.  With the HBO version of the show cancelled, there’s no push to continue to re-publish these old novels, so they will continue to become hard to come across, but when I do, I’ll be sure to add them to my collection.

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Book 9 (of 52) – Fools Die On Friday

Fools Die On Friday – Erle Stanley Gardner

When the firm is hired to stop a woman from poisoning her husband, Lam inadvertently sets in motion the exact thing he was trying to stop.  With multiple corpses and leads that don’t line up, he has to try and put everything together before the police, and Bertha, place the blame on him.

Fools Die On Friday, originally published in 1947, was the eleventh installment of the Cool and Lam series Erle Stanley Gardner wrote under the pseudonym of A. A. Fair, and the sixth republished by Hard Case Crime.  These pulps bring you back to a different, simpler time, where the world wasn’t wired (in more ways than one) the way it is today.  It’s been nearly three years now between installments, and I don’t know if that was due to the pandemic and associated problems or if the imprint is moving on to other endeavors.  But, if they re-publish more, I’ll be waiting.

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Book 8 (of 52) – The Case Of The Green-Eyed Sister

The Case of the Green-Eyed Sister – Erle Stanley Gardner

Catching up on the books I read while in Hawaii while on vacation.

When a blackmailer comes after the Bain family, threatening to implicate them in a crime if they don’t pay, a daughter hires Perry Mason to negotiate the deal.  When the blackmailer is found dead and his client is arrested for murder, Perry, along with Della Street and Paul Drake, have to get to the bottom of the case.

Erle Stanley Gardner’s The Case of the Green-Eyed Sister, originally published in 1953, is the 42nd entry in his Perry Mason series, the fourth of six novels re-released two years ago in conjunction with the new adaptation on HBO, and the sixth that I’ve read.  This entry spent more time in the courtroom than some of the others and felt more in-line with the classic television show we all know and love.  I look forward to seeing the TV adaptation from the Raymond Burr version of the show, the 21st episode of its first season, so I can compare the filmed version with the original.

This was the last Perry Mason novel I had waiting to be read.  A second season of the HBO program should be released later this year, so hopefully they re-release another batch of novels along with it.

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2021: The Year In Books

As we wrap up 2021, my first full year remote working, I managed to read a whopping 54 books, an increase of 31 books over last year and my first year completing the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge.  I surpassed last year’s total in mid-June, passed my best years, 2015 and 2016, in late August, and completed book 52 with two weeks left in the year.  I read (or listened) to 18,670 pages, by far my highest total of all time and only the second time I’ve passed 10,000.

Of those books, 16 were non-fiction and, of the 36 novels, 10 were tied to a TV show, either as the source material or as a tie-in.  None of the books came out of my dwindling “to-read” drawer, with 43 e-books and 4 audiobooks.  For the first time since I was a kid, I got myself a library card, which helped me procure 14 of the books.

Just less than half of the books I read this year were by authors I have read before. The 31 authors that I read for the first this year were:

  • Tegan Quin
  • Sara Quin
  • Lucy Foley
  • Jenna Fischer
  • Matt Haig
  • Eric Nusbaum
  • Jon Taffer
  • Charlotte Douglas
  • Susan Kearney
  • Fredrik Backman
  • Jeff Pearlman
  • Minka Kent
  • Alan Cumming
  • Megan Goldin
  • Molly Bloom
  • Barack Obama
  • Ali Wong
  • Timothy Ferriss
  • Issa Rae
  • Walter Tevis
  • Tess Gerritson
  • Gary Braver
  • Andy Weir
  • Matthew Walker
  • James Clear
  • Grady Hendrix
  • Simon Sinek
  • Jason Fung
  • Julia Spiro
  • Jon Pessah
  • Ruth Ware

Erle Stanley Gardner, Mary Kubica, Jeffery Deaver, Andy Weir and Karin Slaughter were the only authors that I read multiple titles from during 2021.

6 of the books I read were released this year, while 5 of them were released last century, with the oldest first published in 1933.

Finally, the breakdown by month, which was fairly consistent across the entire year.

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