25.1 - Wendy MA's Task: And the Story Continues...

[Wendy]

Sandy wrote: "Wendy, how do you define "series"? Do all the books have to be about the same central character (like, say the Hercule Poirot books?) Or can they be about the same place - I'm thinking of things ..."

Those are all good. i was doing publication date but if the author numbers the series as Charlaine Harris does, then that is good too!

[Wendy]

Tanja wrote: "Nevermind. Nancy Drew books are too short to make the 400 page count. Hrm."

It's okay to read one Nancy Drew and one something else.

[Wendy]

Petra wrote: "For the sake of this task, would Miss Marple or Hercule Poiroit books be seen as a series?"

Yes!!

[Wendy]

Meghan wrote: "OMG Wendy now I have to find a long series that I can tuck all the first 8 into other tasks and I already am tucking in about 4 other shorter series. (I am really OCD about reading books in order.)"
The Cat who.. series by Braun can be read out of order as can the Harris Sookie Stackhouse and the Lee Child Reacher books. Most mystery writers like both of the Kellermans and Tony Hillerman can be read out of order

[Wendy]

Caity wrote: "It wouldn't be so bad if there was an option to, say, read the final book of two different trilogies (hehe, not that I'd drop a hint) or quartets. With so many people reading the Hunger Games and M..."

Is this a veiled criticism? The task is simple and there are tons of books that fit the task. In mystery genre there are many choice choices.

[Wendy]

Barbara wrote: "There are 11 #1 Ladies Detective Agency books, best in order but again you don't have to."

They are fine out of order!

[Wendy]

Cait wrote: "I just saw that the Miss Marple books won an Anthony award for "Best Series of the Century", so hopefully they will fit. I just confirmed that I already own A Caribbean Mystery, so fi..."
It's excellent !!

[Wendy]

Rachel Lee wrote: "Wendy,

I LOVE THIS TASK. I am fitting in the last 8 books of the Sword of Truth Series and all 11 of Donna Andrew's Meg Lanslow series into this challenge so this is awesome for me."

Thanks I know I'm going to enjoy it!!

[Wendy]

Ashley FL wrote: "My daughter has decided I need to read the 39 Clues series. I don't think they are very long, but she says there are 10 of them at this point, so maybe one of those plus a longer book = 400 pages?..."

Enjoy the series, I personally love YA!!

[Wendy]

Dlmrose wrote: "There's a resource that might help- Fiction DB
It lists all the series books- you will have to click on the series to see how many books there are in the series, but they are all together and you c..."

Plot order or publication is fine.

[Wendy]

Tanja wrote: "I've read Little House, JD Robb, Mercedes Lackey, Laurell K. Hamilton, Babysitter's Club 9/10/11 books already. Not sure if I want to dive into Discworld out of order. Hmm.

Would Nancy Drew coun..."

Yes

[Wendy]

Petra wrote: "The Burning Wire is the 9th book of the Lincoln Rhyme series. They can be read out of order, only missing out on the build up of the relationship between Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs."
It's an excellent book too!!

[Wendy]

Cait wrote: "Rhea wrote: "The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle is the 9th in the Sherlock Holmes series.

Measuring a Meridian, [book:The Fur Country|..."

They are fine!!

[Wendy]

Tanja wrote: "If it does, then the Once Upon a Time series works too. It's just these series are written by different authors but still is a series. At least that's how wikipedia and Amazon defined the Once Upon..."

Not really!!

[Wendy]

Caity wrote: "If Jules Verne's series is accepted for this, I am totally going to use two of those books, since they are much easier to access than books not in the public domain. They have books 10 and 11 on Pr..."

Fine

[Wendy]

Rachel Lee wrote: "Wendy,

I LOVE THIS TASK. I am fitting in the last 8 books of the Sword of Truth Series and all 11 of Donna Andrew's Meg Lanslow series into this challenge so this is awesome for me."

Perfect idea!!

[Cait]

Thanks, Wendy! :o)

[★Meghan★]

Wendy wrote: "Meghan wrote: "OMG Wendy now I have to find a long series that I can tuck all the first 8 into other tasks and I already am tucking in about 4 other shorter series. (I am really OCD about reading ..."

Don't worry Wendy it is ok! I alread fit 3 of the first 8 on Evanovich Stephanie Plum series and I am going to see where I can tuck them in on the 20 point tasks and the others coming.

[Usako]

Found this website.
http://yaseries.bettendorflibrary.com...

[Usako]

Think I'll do a Nancy Drew (get in the classic) paired with maybe a Confessions of Georgia book. I haven't read that far into the series but it should be fairly easy to hop in the middle. I think.

[Megan]

I LOVE the Georgia books! They're so snarky!

[Sarah (Mood Reader)]

Can someone help me? I am trying to find the 9th, 10th and 11th book in the Mr. Hercule Poirot series. Thanks!

[Ashley FL]

Sarah (Mood Reader) wrote: "Can someone help me? I am trying to find the 9th, 10th and 11th book in the Mr. Hercule Poirot series. Thanks!" Message 34 in this task has them listed.

I will say that, personally, I wouldn't read Sookie Stackhouse out of order if you plan to read them all -- they definitely build on one another.

[Liz]

As far as I can tell, Agatha Christie's books fall in this order:

Poirot:
9 - Murder on the Orient Express
10 - Three Act Tragedy
11 - Death in the Clouds

Marple:
9 - The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
10 - A Caribbean Mystery
11 - At Bertram's Hotel

Found on this website: Delicious Death

[Dee]

this is what I got from fantastic fiction:

9. Murder on the Orient Express (1934) - aka Murder in the Calais Coach
10. Three Act Tragedy (1934) - aka Murder in Three Acts
11. Death in the Clouds (1935) - aka Death in the Air

Sarah (Mood Reader) wrote: "Can someone help me? I am trying to find the 9th, 10th and 11th book in the Mr. Hercule Poirot series. Thanks!"

[Sarah (Mood Reader)]

What is Sookie Stackhouse? Thank you everyone!

[El]

Sookie Stackhouse

[Dee]

Sookie Stackhouse are southern paranormal mysteries...fairly light-hearted stuff from what i've heard (i only read part of the first one, it just didn't catch my attention) - the TV show True Blood is loosely based on the series.

Sarah (Mood Reader) wrote: "What is Sookie Stackhouse? Thank you everyone!"

[Leigh Ann]

I think I'm going to try to work 1-8 of the Stephanie Plum series in the rest of the challenge so I can do that series for this task. Otherwise this will have to be a task I skip. Or I could reread 9 and 10 of Sookie.

I'm trying to work too many series in on this challenge!!

[Usako]

Ms. Anderson -- I've read the Georgia series up to Book 3. Think I won't have issues picking up on 9 without reading 4-8? If I would, hmm. Maybe I should do Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys.

Some old teen series that I can recall
* Nancy Drew http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category...
* Hardy Boys
* Sweet Valley High http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Va...
* Babysitter's Club
* Saddle Club
* Goosebumps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goosebumps
* Boxcar Children
* Princess Diaries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prin...
* Tom Swift http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...
* Encyclopedia Brown

[Liz]

Can the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett be read out of order? Will you miss something if you skip the first 8 books?

[Joanie]

Those are all good. i was doing publication date but if the author numbers the series as Charlaine Harris does, then that is good too!

Sorry-I missed this before. Touch of Dead did come out between books #9 and #10 but it's a short story collection of previously published stories about Sookie. I guess that could count as #10 and the other as #11 if someone needed it to fit that way.

[Christine US]

In case anyone is looking for a random book, I just found a book #9 called Raising Kane by Lorelai James on my Nook for like $4. It's a romance novel though, which I know is not everyone's cup of tea.

[ColleenPA]

For seafarers, there are the Aubrey-Maturin books byPatrick O'Brian: , , and .

For historical mystery lovers, there's Ellis Peters's Brother Cadfael series: , , and .

[★Meghan★]

Leigh Ann wrote: "I think I'm going to try to work 1-8 of the Stephanie Plum series in the rest of the challenge so I can do that series for this task. Otherwise this will have to be a task I skip. Or I could rere..."

We can do this together Leigh Ann. I fit #4 into the baseball task, #2 into the pink task, and haven't read her before so #1 in Literature Map it also works for Beths USA Today Bestseller task (2000)...now for the other 5. I am also doing a lot of series...some that I already started.

[Caity]

Liz wrote: "Can the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett be read out of order? Will you miss something if you skip the first 8 books?"

It's been said a few times that Discworld series don't HAVE to be read in order. I've heard of people starting all over the place with those books, so if you take the publication order of the books and scroll down the list, the ninth book is Eric, the tenth book is Moving Pictures, and the eleventh book is Reaper Man.

[Dee]

personally, i love this series...but it isn't just romance...its an erotic romance, so people are prepared...lol!! and book 10 comes out in early November

Christine US wrote: "In case anyone is looking for a random book, I just found a book #9 called Raising Kane by Lorelai James on my Nook for like $4. It's a romance novel though, which I know is not eve..."

[Pinky_rocks]

With Discworld it doesn't necessarily have to be in order. I'll read Reaper Man for this challenge and will also try to fit in one of Diane Mott Davidson's books. They don't have to be read in order neither. Same with Joanne Fluke. (just in case someone likes culinary mysteries :))

[Usako]

Culinary mystery?! OOoOooh!!! Thanks PINKY!

[Cindy AL]

I'm also considering Terry Pratchett. I used one of the links to a website above, the one where you can keep up with the series you are reading. They gave #9 as Eric, #10 as Guards! Guards! and #11 as Reaper Man.
I don't know who is right, but you can really read them in any order. Pratchett does have groups of characters, and it makes a little more sense to read their stories in order, but even that is not necessary.

[Cindy AL]

Also of those I think Eric and Moving Pictures are the most "independent", but Reaper is one of the best ones.

[Erin (NY)]

This task totally made my day! I was trying to fit the entirety of Sookie Stackhouse series into this challenge and I managed to fit in books 1-8, and then this task!!! I am giddy with excitement!

[Liz]

I'm getting more & more excited about this task b/c it's forcing me to read books I would never consider otherwise (which is part of the point of the challenges anyway)!

[Liz]

ColleenPA wrote: "For seafarers, there are the Aubrey-Maturin books byPatrick O'Brian: , , and ..."

Do the 2 different series you mentioned need to be read in order? They sound great, but I would only read them for this task if the books can stand on their own.

Also, can someone tell me if the Amelia Peabody books by Elizabeth Peters can be read out of order?

[Christine US]

I would not read the Amelia Peabody books out of order. I read a later one by accident (not knowing it was part of a series) and felt confused by some of the personal relationship elements of the story. I went back and read the first one, and felt that it cleared some things up.
However, that is just my opinion.

[Liz]

Christine US wrote: "I would not read the Amelia Peabody books out of order. I read a later one by accident (not knowing it was part of a series) and felt confused by some of the personal relationship elements of the ..."

Thanks - good to know!

[Cindy AL]

I agree with Christine. The Amelia Peabodys are great, though, worth starting with the first,

[Deedee]

Discworld:

http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Bibliography

09 Eric (Gollancz, 1990)
10 Moving Pictures (Gollancz, 1990)
11 Reaper Man (Gollancz, 1991)

[Deedee]

Amelia Peabody by Elizabeth Peters

http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/P_A...

#9 Seeing a Large Cat (1998)
Finalist 1998 Agatha Award for Best Novel
#10 The Ape Who Guards the Balance (1998)
#11 The Falcon at the Portal (1999)

[Deedee]

Joanne Fluke

http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/F_A...

#9 Key Lime Pie Murder (2007)
?? Candy Cane Murder1 (2007) [novella:] ??
#10 Carrot Cake Murder (2008)
#11 Cream Puff Murder (2009)

I'm assuming that since Candy Cane Murder1 is a novella it doesn't count in sequence ..... right?