#Microblog Monday 208: Waiting to Read
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I finished the first book in the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy, and then put myself down on the waiting list for the second book at the library. This was a huge mistake. There are dozens of people ahead of me, and zero chance that I’ll remember how everyone connects by the time it’s my turn at the library. I should have gotten on the wait list the moment I got the first book.
You live and you learn. And then you visit the bookstore and buy.
I usually don’t read series straight through. I’ll read one book, then I’ll read something else. Then I’ll return and read the next book, and then maybe read two more books after that before I dive into the third one. I can’t think of any series that I’ve sat down and read start to finish without anything else in between — at least, not on the first read through. On subsequent read throughs, I tend to go back-to-back.
Do you read a series in one go if they’re all out*, or do you skip around and keep revisiting the series with breaks in between?
* Clearly, if the books aren’t released yet, you can’t read them in one go.
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13 comments
If I like the first book, I’ll try to read the rest straight away. Instant gratification! I was reading the Raven Boys series last year, and couldn’t wait for one of the books that was on hold, so downloaded the audio book, but I couldn’t bear the voice used. I had to wait, and I hated it! Lol
I have so little patience for unknown endings that I’ll often wait to start reading a series until all the books are out. There are at least two series I’ve read whose final books have been “coming soon” for almost a decade and it drives me a bit mad!
I do either depending on time and any other books that may pop up! I do like reading a series all the way through though! I often go back and re-read whole series at a time too…. Robin Hobb, Raymond E Feist, Phil Rickman… I can read book after book.
I will sometimes read a couple, one after another, but I have taken breaks in between. It will all depend on the book(s) & what else is in the TBR pile & what else catches my eye in the meantime. 😉
I know this sounds crazy but I can’t think of any series I’ve ever read since Nancy Drew. I read a lot by the same authors with some having the same protagonist in common but they’re not related stories so it doesn’t matter. I know that when I first read a Nancy Drew book when I was about 10, I didn’t get the concept of a series and randomly started with #31. I didn’t catch on until I read one of the earlier ones and was like: “Why are they introducing these characters? I know who everybody is already!” I feel your pain with waiting and waiting. That’s how I feel every Saturday night when I watch the next part in a British mystery on PBS. They do a quick recap but I still find myself a bit lost as to what went on a week earlier. My son was #360 on the waiting list for a Wimpy Kid book at the library. I refused to buy it (again) because he had one and lost it. (He’d already read it anyway but just wanted to re-read it.) The library system had several copies but clearly not 360. He finally got the book about 3-4 months later. I said to him: “After all you’ve put me through with this book, you’d better read it before we have to return it!!”
I can usually remember enough to read the series over time. I read the whole Kwan series last summer after winning a copy of the first book on Goodreads, so I didn’t have to wait a long time. I do enjoy when I’m late enough to a series that I can read them one after another, but not so late that they’re experiencing resurging popularity due to a movie. 😁
I think I have read a trilogy and a book series that had 4 books in it, without reading anything between. But usually I am reading 4 books at a time, and I just read whatever seems good today.
If it’s a series, I would love to read it together. There is a certain fun in that. Isn’t that?
But yes – there have been books that I read with other books in between and my memory did not help me much. So.. better together is my vote!
I skip around. And I’m always sure I’ll remember everything in between – but I never do.
If I like a series, I usually try to plow through them all, and usually I catch them right when the final one isn’t quite out yet and I have to wait for that one, so I have NO CHOICE but to skip around and then come back to it. Sometimes I also delay the last one if I REALLY love the series and I know I’ll be sad it’s over (like Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle). Right now I’m waiting on the third book in Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake, and the third book in the Ember in the Ashes trilogy by Sabaa Tahir, and I waited so impatiently for Winter to come out in The Lunar Chronicles a year or so ago. Sometimes I wait until the next book is out in paperback, because I like them all to match (why I don’t know), but I did that with Red Rising by Pierce Brown — I read the first and the second one after the other but waited a while for Morning Star, and I felt disconnected from the story and the characters when I got back into it. Also, sometimes I just don’t read the next one at all if I didn’t love it. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo falls under that one — I have all three books from the original trilogy, and I just didn’t feel like I needed to go back in there. But I also haven’t donated them yet. Hmmm. I have China Rich Girlfriend in my To-Read pile too! Movie plans this week…
I need to read (or watch) straight through. I tend to forget otherwise. If a series is good, I’ll reread (rewatch) in order to absorb the story.
I read all three Hunger Games right after another, but I generally don’t read series books. I didn’t even realize that Crazy Rich Asians was a series!
I prefer to read the series through, if possible. I did that recently with Game of Thrones (not the entire series, but enough of it).
Library waits are a pain! But obviously I prefer it t paying for and storing more more more books.