I've always had the tendency to "collect authors". If I've read a book I really liked, I would proceed to buy the author's other books as well. I can list lots of authors I've done this with. Mary Wesley, Anita Brookner, Louis de Bernieres, Cormac McCarthy, Elizabeth Jane Howard, Sebastien Japrisot, Isabel Allende...too many to list here. In some cases I've read all the books I own by that author, in other cases I have some work to do still.
Lately I've thought about doing more than just collecting those authors. In some cases anyway (not with every author I come across), I'd like to know more about the author's work and life, and development as a writer. I am curious about how things fit together. Not just within an author's own set of works, but in how they fit into the scheme of literature as a whole. That sounds like a bit of an undertaking, doesn't it. I still pick and choose according to mood, but there are a few authors I'd like to know more about--sort of along the lines of Susan's Rebecca West Project.
Authors I've been collecting and would like to "study" in no particular order and with no particular timeline(!):
Jane Austen -- I've only read two of Austen's novels (Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice) and her unfinished works (Lady Susan, The Watsons and Sanditon), though I am familiar with most of her novels (I've seen lots of movie adaptations). Next year I still plan on a little Austen reading extravaganza. I've finished The Mysteries of Udolpho, so I'm all set to start with Northanger Abbey. I plan on reading all six novels over the course of next year. And there are all sorts of adaptations to be on the lookout for as well.
Elizabeth Taylor -- I've heard that someone is writing a biography of her that I would be interested in reading, though I don't think it has even been published yet. I definitely want to read her novels though. I've slowly been accumulating them and would like to read them all.
Daphne du Maurier -- I'll be getting back to the Margaret Forster biography soon. I've read about five of her novels and some of her short stories. She was an intriguing woman and an excellent author. I think people tend to think of her in terms of writing romantic fiction, but I've read she wished she had been taken much more seriously as an author.
Mary Shelley -- I've read Frankenstein and some of her short stories. I know she wrote at least a few other novels as well as other stories, but I'm not even sure how much more of her work is readily available. Hesperus Press will be publishing another of her stories next Spring that I am already looking forward to. Last year at this time I read a book called The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein , which was somewhat biographical though centering more on the writing of her famous novel, though I'd like to find a proper biography to read.
Mary Wollstonecraft -- I started a biography about her last year that I need to finish. I also have her Vindication of the Rights of Woman and some fictionalized books about her life that look interesting. She also wrote a travel narrative that I have on my shelves.
Virginia Woolf --Last year I started reading her work in the order that she wrote it, and I need to get back to this project. Next up was Jacob's Room. And of course there are loads of diaries and biographies and other books about her.
Katherine Mansfield -- I am working on her Journal (yes, still). She's another fascinating person (though aren't they all in their own way?). I have a biography on hand, the first volume of her letters and a chunky book of her short stories.
I could probably easily add to this list, but these are the authors that have been on my mind for a while now. I'd like to read them all as a sort of ongoing project. Do you collect anyone?