1. Cormac McCarthy: Blood Meridian, read 50% of book, approx. 150 new words so far, 75% Spanish & archaic Spanish, 25% English
2. Reginald Hill: Dalziel & Pascoe series: 75% English, 25% terms from various dialects, average 30 to 40 new words per book
3. Ian Rankin: Inspector Rebus mysteries: 75% Scottish dialect terms and 25% English and English slang
4. George MacDonald Fraser: The Flashman Papers: many foreign words, antique British military jargon and slang
McCarthy's number 1 position may be an anomaly as I read The Road and didn't encounter a similar number of new words.
McCarthy purposely eschews inner contemplations, and whatever left for him to write with, he limits to grayish colors except for blood, and the barest human grunting noises- hardest trick to pull off.
One other way to use authors is see how they use words you already knew. So there's this compound word, 'de trop,' that for years I've watched out for. It's a French borrowing meaning extraneous, unwanted, that some authority opines to be obligatory in any English repertoire worth any of its salt. I've yet seen it anywhere since that one time. If you come across an author using it please let me know.
RobertB said
One other way to use authors is see how they use words you already knew. So there's this compound word, 'de trop,' that for years I've watched out for.
I don't run across that phrase often, but it ALWAYS derails my thinking, reminding me of Allegro non Troppo, the animated film. It's so funny, even mention of it breaks me up. But I can't send everybody out to see it. Amazon doesn't stream it, and the only DVDs they have, new or used, are Region Two, which means they won't play on equipment sold in the USA.
I won't mention Pirate Bay. Even though there is no *legal* way to get it....
I have seen "de trop" before but can't recall where. I'll check my dictionary word lookup list and see if it was something recent. I found these examples, some appear to be English usage and a few look like they're products of translation from French into English. I don't know if that counts for your purposes.
The Story of a Royal Favourite: Mrs. Gore (1845) p 34
Edward Bulwer-Lytton: Ernest Maltravers (1901) p 347
Edgar Wallace: 90 CRIME NOVELS: Complete Collection (date ?) p uncertain of novel uncertain
George Starbuck: The Works (2003) p 60
Émile Zola: Rougon-Macquart series (date ?) Chapter IX of novel uncertain
Steven G. Kellman: The Self-begetting Novel (1980) p35, chapter about Jean-Paul Sartre's La nausée
I've just recently run across de trop in Dorothy L. Sayers's 1940 book In the Teeth of the Evidence, in a short story called, "The Cyprian Cat":
When we got back she had recovered her temper and apologized for being so silly. Merridew abased himself, of course, and I began to feel a little de trop.
Sayers, it must be said, frequently uses French phrases and sometimes even whole pages of French (or Latin, or Greek), without translation.
My wife tells me that if you want to find de trop wholesale, read Regency romances.