A long-time fan of Joyce Carol Oates here!

I have been a fan for a very long time although I have to admit that I don't love every one of her books. I have been collecting her books for a long time also. I will eventually make a definitive list of what I have so far, but since she is quite prolific as an author, I know I have a long way to go before I get close to having all of them. I can't wait to see what everybody has to share!

Welcome! You are among your own kind here! :-)

I collect her but I am not really a completist. Here on LT, I've tagged books by and about Oates under 'Oates' and given them their own 'collection' (Atwood is my other big collection). I like to read interviews with, and literary criticism about both of them also.

I think any group here on LT that is organized around a single author struggles with activity level. We are not obsessively single-minded. For example, this year I will have read 5 of JCO's works, the previous year it was 9, but I don't imagine I will do that every year. I am fascinated with her work though and that keeps me coming back to her.

Ironically, I have not read her most popular books like Blonde and We Were the Mulvaneys, go figure.

I should add here that I have spent much less time on LT this past year due to some distractions and stressful events, so this group has taken a backseat with everything else.

Welcome Mary Beth, always good to meet another JCO fan.

I've been pretty lax at reading her novels of late, and like you have mixed feelings about some, but her writing is always so good, and often I will revisit books in my mind later and the feeling about it has expanded.

I'm also hoping she will release more of her diaries, I loved the volume already in print.

I think you might like Blonde Avaland.

>4 Caroline_McElwee: And someday I'm going to get to that one...

I am reading Blonde and it is amazing and so intense that I read it in short bursts in order to take in the intense emotional dysfunction in small doses. At the same time, I cant put it down!