Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
Today’s topic was meant to be popular authors I haven’t tried before, but I couldn’t really think of anyone in the genres I do read. I could’ve made a whole post just listing horror authors I haven’t read but I don’t read horror so it would be kind of redundant. So I chose to instead talk about (mostly) popular authors that I read at one point, maybe even loved, but that I don’t read from anymore.
Sarah J. Maas
I wanted to get this one over and done with. I used to be a big SJM fan in her early days—I read the first four Throne of Glass books and the first ACOTAR and then her books just stopped working for me. I even tried the first Crescent City book and really enjoyed it, but I don’t see myself ever returning to her books. I don’t really enjoy her writing or the tropes or character types she uses anymore.
Patrick Ness
This one was actually really painful for me to come to terms with a few years ago. I absolutely adored Patrick Ness as a teenager. His books were always just weird and I liked that until I didn’t. I think this is really just a case of outgrowing the kinds of stories Ness was telling.
V.E Schwab
I have a complicated with relationship with V.E Schwab. I’ve always wanted to love their books but there was just always something holding me back. I’ve tried multiple series and books and I have enjoyed them for the most part, but there’s always something stopping me from going the whole way.
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Like so many others I got sucked into the world of TJR with Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones. I held off for a few years and then when I finally caved, I loved them so much. Then I read Malibu Rising at the end of last year and HATED it and since then everything I’ve tried for TJR has been near unbearable to read. I think I’ll just stick with Evelyn and Daisy.
J.D Robb
I loved the first In Death book and had honestly expected to read all of the books in the series one day. But when I started reading the others, I just started to find them really, really repetitive. I did read them in order and I’ve been told that’s the best way, but I made it to book 6 or 7 before giving up. Every crime, every murderer, every reveal started to feel the same and I was so bored of it.
Daphne du Maurier
This is one I never thought would make this kind of list. I’ve been obsessed with du Maurier since I was about 18 and read Rebecca for the first time. I still love Rebecca, it’s been one of my top three favourite books ever since, but I read almost everything she published and I think I’m at a stage where I’ve just moved on. Out of all of the ones on this list, I do think I’ll come back to du Maurier one day but just not right now.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
I feel like most people who go through a classics phase will go through a Fitzgerald phase. I’ve read Gatsby three or four times now. There’s something about it that I just return to again and again, but I’ve never felt like that about any of Fitzgerald’s other works—I think I read three or four others, and Gatsby is just the only one I’d read again.
Michael Crichton
Every year I’ll find an author that I absolutely love and I’ll read everything I can get my hands on and then I almost never come back to them. In 2015, Michael Crichton was that author for me. I think I read five or six of his books and I was completely obsessed and then one day I just donated all of his books and never looked back.
Isobelle Carmody
Rereading can be a real gamble sometimes. I read the first three books in Isobelle Carmody’s Obernewytn Chronicles series in 2017 and then decided to try and reread them in 2019 or 2020 so I could continue the series. I could not get past the first book even though I’d really enjoyed it the first time and I’ve never gone back.
Ian Rankin
I first read Ian Rankin when I was in high school (in 2012-2013) and then started picking him up again in 2020. His books are really dark, ‘gritty’ crime/thrillers and honestly, at the time I was living by myself and I just couldn’t stomach any crime related books or TV. I’ve still not really gone back to the genre beyond a few cosy mysteries.
And that’s it for today. Do you read any of these authors? Who have you stopped reading?
Earl Grey Books 
I’m the same with F Scott Fitzgerald – love The Great Gatsby and re-read it often, but have never loved anything else of his. I still read Rankin – a long time favourite, though I’m not enjoying the recent ones as much as his earlier ones.
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I’m glad it’s not just me! I think that’s the thing with really long series like Rebus—it’s impossible for authors to keep the same feel for the whole series while keeping the books different too.
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Great change in topic. I’m with you on Sarah J. Maas. I read the first 3 throne of glass books but once I really started looking back at what I had read, critically, I realized I wasn’t going to be interested in more.
I understand what you mean about Schwab. I really like some books but I’ve had a bigger problem with some of the newer works (though I did like Gallant again). And I also get what you mean about In Death. I haven’t picked one up in a while. I see them as fun in betweens that I read for the characters, but not so much for the actual murder mystery.
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For me, ToG was definitely heading in a direction that wouldn’t interest me anymore. I’m glad I made the decision after all.
We buddy read Schwab’s middle-grade series, right? I think that’s when I started to question how much I liked their books. I think if I’d gone into Robb’s books thinking that way, I might have enjoyed some of them a bit more.
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I’ve never read any J.D. Robb either.
Here is my Top Ten Tuesday post.
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I used to read Robb too. I can understand what you mean.
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Interesting twist. An author who is a bit like that for me is Sebastian Faulks. Birdsong is one of my favourite books ever and I loved Charlotte Gray too. But I’ve thought his last couple of books were a bit dull!
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Thank you! I liked Birdsong and Charlotte Gray too but never picked up anything else form Faulks, sounds like I might’ve made a good decision.
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I just got my first J.D. Robb, but since that’s Nora Roberts I can’t say I haven’t read her books. I went with a different topic. https://bonniereadsandwrites.com/2023/11/13/top-ten-tuesday-top-10-books-on-my-netgalley-shelf/
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I hope you enjoy them!
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I love Ian Rankin. Particularly the way Rebus is aging. However, I can see why you might find him to dark. I feel the same way about Lee Child and his use of sexual violence in the Reacher novels.
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I think since I tend to stick to Christie and other cosy mysteries, Rankin is just very intense. That’s not for me anymore, but I can understand why others enjoy him!
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Isn’t it interesting how our reading tastes change over time?
Ness is hit or miss for me. I really liked his Chaos Walking series, but A MONSTER CALLS didn’t really do it for me. I haven’t read anything by him since. That doesn’t mean I won’t pick up another of his books, I just haven’t in a long time.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
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That’s fair! I was kind of the opposite—A Monster Calls really spoke to me, but I never got past the first book in the Chaos Walking series.
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I used to read the J.D. Robb books but it’s been ages – maybe one day I’ll go back, but who knows.
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I might too, but probably not—I have so many other things to read first.
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I definitely feel you on SJM, I read the entire TOG series and the first two ACOTAR books and then I went back to read the third one and just found myself getting bored by the sameness so I’ve never gone back. Her books also just got TOO BIG and there was never enough plot to justify the length so I just got bored. Patrick Ness, I tried The Knife of Never Letting Go and couldn’t get into it and never went back to his books. I do still love VE Schwab though, she’s one of my favourite authors!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2023/11/14/top-ten-tuesday-446/
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That’s exactly how I felt about the fourth ToG book. It took me months to finish it because it was so long and I was SO bored. With Ness, I only ever read the first Chaos Walking book but I loved some of his others.
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The 4th one was kind of the turning point for me as well, they started to get a bit too long with that book and you could tell her editor had stopped reigning her in because that book especially could have been trimmed at least 100 pages if not more, it’s a very simple plot! Maybe I need to try some of his others some day then, I did really love the film version of A Monster Calls, so perhaps I should try the book.
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I picked up a Michael Creighton for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I found it very slow and boring. I use to love Neilson Demille im now offended but the character that are out of touch with current world. My last give-up author is Robin Cook. I just found he seems bitter about the US medical practices and it reads through in the characters’ dialogue so much it like he is writing a personal crusade to change things instead of entertaining the reader.
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