... and carries directly on from a thread in the group.
Firstly, it was Donna Franklin Dennis who made the original chart of how many mentions each historical author was getting in the thread, then someone (I think it was Donna again) suggested that someone else should count all of the likes that each comment had... and I had some time to kill whilst waiting for a cake to bake this evening, so....
Secondly, I have counted every author named in a comment, so if one comment listed several, they're all listed, and they all get the same number of likes for that mentions (say a comment had 4 authors and 16 likes (one did) then all 4 authors got 16 likes for that mention). If a comment mentioned an author but said something along the lines of "ooh, I don't like him/her much", I didn't count it! If someone named a book, I googled it & with one single exception (The Mistletoe and the Roman), listed the author instead. (I couldn't find The Mistletoe and the Roman, but it was mentioned once and had one like, consider this a special mention).
**Edit: Thanks to Jel Cel, we think that the book meant was The Mistletoe and the Sword by Anya Seton, whose totals have been updated accordingly...**
Finally, the thread is still live, comments are constantly being edited, liked and (I think) deleted) as my tally didn't match Donna's original. In my defence, it is getting rather late and I am trying to bake a practice pinata cake at the same time, so I may have just miscounted, but I'm not about to do a recount, it's taken 4 sides of A4 notepaper as it is... and I was writing pretty small.
Oh, and Nota Bene: I haven't heard of every author mentioned, spelling errors may be the original commentors, or they may be mine... apologies if anyone is offended, let me know and I will edit the spelling.
Ok - my list then; this is in order of the 'total number of recommendations', counting both number of comments which mention the author in a positive light, and the number of 'likes' (probably trademarked by Faceache by now) each comment mentioning said author had...
Firstly, it was Donna Franklin Dennis who made the original chart of how many mentions each historical author was getting in the thread, then someone (I think it was Donna again) suggested that someone else should count all of the likes that each comment had... and I had some time to kill whilst waiting for a cake to bake this evening, so....
Secondly, I have counted every author named in a comment, so if one comment listed several, they're all listed, and they all get the same number of likes for that mentions (say a comment had 4 authors and 16 likes (one did) then all 4 authors got 16 likes for that mention). If a comment mentioned an author but said something along the lines of "ooh, I don't like him/her much", I didn't count it! If someone named a book, I googled it & with one single exception (The Mistletoe and the Roman), listed the author instead. (I couldn't find The Mistletoe and the Roman, but it was mentioned once and had one like, consider this a special mention).
**Edit: Thanks to Jel Cel, we think that the book meant was The Mistletoe and the Sword by Anya Seton, whose totals have been updated accordingly...**
Finally, the thread is still live, comments are constantly being edited, liked and (I think) deleted) as my tally didn't match Donna's original. In my defence, it is getting rather late and I am trying to bake a practice pinata cake at the same time, so I may have just miscounted, but I'm not about to do a recount, it's taken 4 sides of A4 notepaper as it is... and I was writing pretty small.
Oh, and Nota Bene: I haven't heard of every author mentioned, spelling errors may be the original commentors, or they may be mine... apologies if anyone is offended, let me know and I will edit the spelling.
Ok - my list then; this is in order of the 'total number of recommendations', counting both number of comments which mention the author in a positive light, and the number of 'likes' (probably trademarked by Faceache by now) each comment mentioning said author had...
| Author | Number of times mentioned | Number of Likes | Total recommendations |
| Sharon Kay Penman | 24 | 122 | 146 |
| Elizabeth Chadwick | 20 | 80 | 100 |
| Bernard Cornwell (aka Suzannah Kells) | 18 | 73 | 91 |
| Anya Seton | 13 | 56 | 69 |
| Edith Pargeter/Ellis Peters | 12 | 48 | 60 |
| Dorothy Dunnett | 10 | 38 | 48 |
| Ken Follett | 9 | 37 | 46 |
| CJ Sansom | 12 | 30 | 42 |
| Alison Weir | 7 | 30 | 37 |
| Jean Plaidy (aka Victoria Holt) | 7 | 29 | 36 |
| Edward Rutherfurd | 6 | 26 | 32 |
| Margaret George | 3 | 16 | 19 |
| Hilary Mantel | 3 | 14 | 17 |
| Ariane Franklin | 4 | 12 | 16 |
| SJ Parris | 4 | 11 | 15 |
| Nigel Tranter | 4 | 11 | 15 |
| Candace Robb | 4 | 10 | 14 |
| Anne O'Brien | 3 | 11 | 14 |
| Josephine Tey | 3 | 10 | 13 |
| Jeanne Kalgridis | 2 | 10 | 12 |
| James Forester (aka Ian Mortimer) | 3 | 8 | 11 |
| Umberto Eco | 3 | 7 | 10 |
| Susanna Gregory | 3 | 7 | 10 |
| Thomas Costain | 2 | 8 | 10 |
| Mary Renault | 2 | 8 | 10 |
| Kate Sedley | 2 | 8 | 10 |
| Nancy Bilyeau | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| Maurice Duron | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| Anne Easter Smith | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| Dan Jones | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| Nora Lofts | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| George RR Martin | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| Marion Zimmer Bradley | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| Emma Donoghue | 1 | 8 | 9 |
| Sarah Dunant | 1 | 8 | 9 |
| Conn Iggulden | 1 | 8 | 9 |
| Karleen Koen | 1 | 8 | 9 |
| Mary Stewart | 1 | 8 | 9 |
| Rory Clements | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| Robert Graves | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| JRR Tolkein | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| Philippa Gregory | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Manda (or MC) Scott | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| Timothy Baker | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| Antonia Fraser | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| Erik Linklater | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| Michael Shaara | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| Guy Gavriel Kay | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Deborah Harkness | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Georgette Heyer | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Helen Hollick | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Michael Jecks | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Elizabeth Goudge | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Roberta Gellis | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| James Wilde | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Paul Doherty | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Daphne Du Maurier | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Ben Kane | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Giles Kristian | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Robert Low | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Imogen Robertson | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Gaynor Arnold | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Lindsay Davis | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Jeri Westerson | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Steve Berry | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Patricia Bracewell | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Andree Aelian Brooks | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Michelle Cameron | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Mitchell James Caplan | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| HA Culley | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Barbara Erskine | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Elisabeth Kostova | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Stephen Lawhead | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Sharan Newman | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Terry Pratchett | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Cecil Roth | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Vanitha Sankara | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Garrett Mattingley | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Geoffrey Chaucer | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Alexander Cordell | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Arthur Frazier | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| CW Gortner | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Susan Higginbotham | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Susan Howatch | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Charles Palliser | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Steven Saylors | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Maeve Binchy | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Emma Blair | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Christan Cameron | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Susanna Clark | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Cathryn Collier | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Catherine Cookson | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Margaret Doody | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Margaret Frazser | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Elizabeth Freemantle | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Diana Gabaldon | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Nicola Griffith | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Jan Guillou | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Cecelia Holland | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Charles Kingsley | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Barbara Kyle | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Paula Lofting | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Patricia McIntosh | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Judith Merkle Riley | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| James Michener | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Richard K Morgan | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Kate Morton | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Patrick O'Brian | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Zoe Oldenbourg | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Iain Pears | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Anne Perry | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Evan Rhodes | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Linda Root | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Rosemary Rowe | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Mary B Sherwood | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Alfred P Smythe | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Mel Starr | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Karla Tipton | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Leon Uris | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Brian Wainwright | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| William Watson | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Lauren Willig | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Robyn Young | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| JE Neale | 1 | 0 | 1 |
On a personal note, I'm gutted that some of my favourites are so low down in the list, so don't let lack of recommendations put you off trying, it just means that other people haven't discovered them yet, but I think it's fairly obvious who the most popular are!
Just now, I can smell the tell tale whiff of over-done chocolate cake, and as there is nothing on earth as rank as dry chocolate sponge cake, I'm off to rescue it!
good to see that Elizabeth and Sharon are still the top two....... as if there was any doubt :)
ReplyDeleteI think a huge part of their appeal is how much they interact with their fans on places like Facebook, they are so approachable, and so knowledgeable... on top of being amazing and prolific authors!!! I think we hist-fic fans are hugely lucky in our genre though - we do have some fantastic authors.
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