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Charles Dickens is an author. I have read every book he's written, and he's the only author who I can say this about.

If I wanted to express this fact, in one single and elegant sentence, what would be the best way to express this?

My best attempt:

Charles Dickens is the only author whose every book I have read.

But this seems awkward and goofy to me. Is there a better way of stating this in one simple declarative sentence?

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    He’s the only author I’ve fully read...?
    – Jim
    Commented Mar 11, 2016 at 0:20
  • Among authors, there are some none of whose books I have read, and there are others some but not all of whose books I have read; and that leaves Charles Dickens. Said Bilbo.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Mar 11, 2016 at 0:21
  • You have consumed Dicken's canon.
    – user662852
    Commented Mar 11, 2016 at 0:22
  • @user662852 That sounds like the plot to a very disturbing porn film.
    – John Clifford
    Commented Mar 11, 2016 at 0:23
  • "Charles Dickens is the only author of whom I have read their entire published works." if you want to be a pretentious bookworm snob. :D
    – John Clifford
    Commented Mar 11, 2016 at 0:25

4 Answers 4

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Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003) has this entry for the noun oeuvre:

oeuvre n pl oeuvres {F œuvre, lit., work, fr. OF ovre, L opera — more at OPERA} (1875) : a substantial body of work constituting the lifework of a writer, an artist, or a composer

Given this definition, you could say

Charles Dickens is the only author whose entire oeuvre I have read.

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    @JEL: I almost omitted the entire in my example because you can argue that oeuvre covers everything in the person's body of work. I certainly wouldn't say "I have read most of his entire oeuvre." But idiomatically "entire ouevre" is sufficiently established (as this Ngram suggests) that it may qualify as an emphatic expression of completeness, and not merely a redundancy. I accept that opinions may vary on this point, however.
    – Sven Yargs
    Commented Mar 11, 2016 at 1:13
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    Or just works: "C.D. is the only author whose complete works I have read." It is far more common to see "The Complete Works of W.S.*" than "The Entire Oeuvre of W.S."
    – Drew
    Commented Mar 11, 2016 at 4:16
  • Charles Dickens is hors d'oeuvre to Shakespeare.
    – Blessed Geek
    Commented Mar 11, 2016 at 4:20
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Charles Dickens is the only author all of whose works I have read.

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You might say:

I've read every book of just one author, and that's Dickens.

You might write:

I have read every book of but one author: Charles Dickens.

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Not really and answer, more of a related question:

Charles Dickens - I've read all his works.

OR, would you say...

Charles Dickens - I've read all his work.

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  • Thank you Jasper. I had a mind to, but then I thought that sometimes another question can actually be an answer. Please allow me to call this a 'hybrid' answer. :)
    – SRQ Coder
    Commented Mar 11, 2016 at 16:11

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