The One Book Interview reaches forty this week. It has a few more aches and pains in the morning than it did when it turned eighteen, but it’s still going strong.
To celebrate its 40th birthday, here’s a look back through the last few months – words seen through numbers.
We’ve had:
39 interviews, of which 38 are authors and 1 is an editor;
3 book reviews;
7 questions to each person;
a total of 270 different books mentioned (39 people picking 1 book for 7 questions should be 270, so we’re almost exactly right).
Which books?
Classics, indies, short stories, epic fantasy series, and even a photographic book of sharecroppers in Alabama in the early-mid 20th century.
Some books have appeared more than once (I’ve excluded multiple mentions of people’s own books).
Before we get to the answers, most of the participating authors write dystopia, horror and dark fiction so their book choices may not be a complete surprise. If you fancy, have a guess at what the top choices could be.
I’ll wait.
Done?
In reverse order, and starting with the new entries, these are the top choices:
(All book covers link to Amazon UK)
The Wheel of Time – 2x
The Shining – 2x
Ready Player One – 2x
1984 – 2x
Neuromancer – 2x
Imajica – 2x
The Dice Man – 2x
Animal Farm – 2x
The following books appeared in the 18th Birthday post.
The number of times they have appeared in total is given first; the number of times they appeared in the 18th Birthday is given in brackets.
Death Becomes Her – 2x (2x)
Little Bee – 2x (2x)
Pride & Prejudice – 2x (2x)
Think & Grow Rich – 2x (2x)
The Name of the Wind – 2x (2x)
Harry Potter – 3x
To Kill a Mockingbird – 3x (3x)
The Lord of the Rings – 4x (4x)
A song of Ice and Fire – 6x (2x)
The Martian – 6x (3x)
The Bible – 7x (6x)
The Bible still has reviews on Amazon! GOD hasn’t struck down the non-believers since I pointed it out last time.
The Stand – 8x (2x)
On Writing – 8x (3x)
The fact that there have been some additions since the eighteenth birthday edition is not surprising given there have been 38 interviews rather than 18. What is interesting is that most of the book choices remain unchanged. ASOIAF and The Martian have gone up a few places. LOTR is a non-mover. Stephen King, however, has knocked The Bible off the top spot with not one, but two books.
Mr King deserves a special mention, in that his books have cropped up more than anyone else’s:
The Talisman
The Running Man
Roadwork
Rage
The Long Walk
It
Gerald’s Game
Different Seasons
Carrie
On Writing
The Stand
Once more, a huge thank you to all the authors that have taken part up to this point.
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