They said it all in one book!

Maybe the respective authors were permanently mentally drained and exhausted by the subject matter.

That's a good question. A bit depressing too.

I am jealous that you work where you do! Could I ask you to look for a book that evades me?

Upon reflection, Joseph Heller was kind a of one hit wonder but he took a long time between books. Robert James Waller pushed out a lot of books in a hurry and ruined his brand. Mind you, this isn't a discussion of literary quality. By a "good" book I mean a popular one. This is about authors who had one big hit and either followed it with a few turkeys or nothing at all. It struck me as odd that a lot of authors with a female readership only seemed to have one good book in them. Betty Smith wrote two more books after "Tree" but even she thought they were inferior and she quit. Harper Lee never published anything after "To Kill a Mockingbird" except for that thing that came out right before her death that she might or might not have wanted to see released.
Erich Segal went back to teaching classics, Grace Metalious put out a sequel and that was it for her.

Interesting case in point, Tony Hillerman wrote several novels with Jim Chee as the protagonist, failing in love with a non-Native American he finally falls for his coworker, another Tribal policewoman, Bernadette Manualito. Then the author dies (Tony Hillerman) and his daughter takes over (Ann Hillerman). The relationship between the characters Chee and Bernie is totally different, at least to a guy. The plots are just as good though, complex and simple at the same time, emphasizing Tribal culture and interesting history in a well described landscape. Anybody else read Hillerman?

There's always Roth's Portnoy's Complaint.

But I imagine men tend more to "stats" and completist attitudes and thus more likely to read something and read everything by an author when they find something they love by that author.

I also suspect the huge hits are most notable for being read by people who don't normally read much. These read something that gets huge to be in on it and then duck out of reading. These skew towards women as there is still a view that if women read too much they will have trouble getting a man. Yes, seriously.

Women respond really well to stories about how even if they are a taken-for-granted housewife, a poor person, or a plainer person, there is a glamorous, romantic (rich? or at least HOT) man out there who will see them for who they really are and love them completely and not just in spite of their perceived flaws but perhaps because of them.

BTW, I massively fecking hated the Bridges of Madison County book.

I'm watching the pbs series about the great American novel, or the American read. I've ready many of the top books. I'm somewhat disappointed and surprised. I'm sort of a book worm.a friend teases me, I'm the only person he knows who can intellectually discuss Theodor Dostoevsky. I don't know why some people prefer one type of book over another. I love them all.