Monday, February 27, 2012

Musing Mondays: Series?

This week’s musing asks…
Do you read books that are part of a series?
Do you collect all the books in the series before starting? What if the series is brand new, and the only book that’s been published so far is Book one? As subsequent books in the series are published, do you go back and re-read the preceding books?
I do read books that are part of series; lots of things are considered series that I never would have thought were, so I think just about everybody does! The vast majority of books I read are stand-alones though.  I don't collect them all before starting because half the time I don't know that I'm reading a series, and when I do, I'd rather try the first volume first. Oftentimes though I'll stop after reading the first book. I've never gone past the first book in the Lord of the Rings (actually never got past The Hobbit), or the Millennium Trilogy (violence, thwarted romance, dead women, financial scandal, blah blah blah- I get it). So I don't look for them, and I don't often finish them, but I don't mind them. It kind of bothers me how much emphasis there is on series in young adult literature. A story isn't just worth reading if it's at least three volumes long!

More Musing Monday at ShouldbeReading.wordpress.com.

12 comments:

Sandy Nawrot said...

Series make me tired! But I do read them. It just seems like every stinking new thing out is a series, and I just long for stand-alones. And I was right there with you. We finished The Hobbit, but only made it through a third of the first LOTR before we bagged it.

caite said...

makes you tired?! Ok, well sometimes it comes to that point. And then someone must die!

Amy said...

Love those answers! :)

Here’s mine:

http://amylunderman.blogspot.com/2012/02/musing-mondays-and-some-goodies-to.html

Care said...

I did read all the LOTR books before the movies came out but I have yet to read past the first books in Harry Potter, the Golden Compass series, Hunger Games, Dragon Tattoo and I am sure there are others. I really try to avoid series, to be honest.

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

I like to read books in a series, but I also enjoy stand-alone books.

Here's MY MUSING MONDAYS POST

Zibilee said...

I don't often read books in a series, and sometimes I am like you and I just read the first book. There are so many standalone books that I want to read, and it's so much easier to review them. I do have a couple of series books that I am in the middle of, but I don't feel a compunction to race through them as fast as I can. This was a great question, and your answers were so much like mine!

bermudaonion said...

I read lots of books that are part of series but, like you, rarely finish the series. There are just too many books to read.

Kathleen said...

I don't usually get into series myself. If I do I want to read them all at once and that just usually isn't practical. I find I can't bear the thought of coming in to to a series mid stream either. So I tend to shy away from them in general.

Unknown said...

Used to read series, but not so much anymore. One I'm aching to get, though, is Henry Williamson's fifteen volumes that make up his Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight series. Burgess noted it as a worthy read in his 99 Novels, but I've never encountered even a one of the titles anywhere in all my years of book hunting.

Anonymous said...

I'll read books that are in a series, but only if that series has 3 books or less. I started a series years ago and now I think it's up to 12/13 books. I stopped after 7. They'll have to continue with out me.

Kwizgiver said...

I like a series, sometimes, but don't feel compelled to finish it if I'm not hooked right off.

leslie said...

I am so tired of every-ya-a-trilogy trend; especially when they could have just told a good story in one. when the series are more like companions to each other, I like that. When reading comics I like to snag the set from the library if they've been out; although the latest series I was read, the library didn't have the final volume, which I didn't realize until I finished what I thought was supposed to be the final volume!!!

~L (omphaloskepsis)