Fear of Continuing a Series

[Larry]

Does anyone else get this way for some series of books? Midway through all of a sudden, even though I really enjoyed the books so far, I just cannot read anymore of the series. This often lasts for a few years then I may go back. My fear or aversion was unfounded of course. I am wondering if anyone knows a good way to avoid this or if I am the only one.

[John (john)]

A few years ago I would contentedly read several successive books by the same author, excluding any others over a span of months. More lately I've felt that I should try to keep expanding what I read, and save familiar, possibly continued series for interstices. I've currenly got 2 books on hand that are #3 and #4 in series I've enjoyed greatly, but have kept them in to-read status for months.

That's one of the primary reasons I joined S&L, I guess - to learn about other good authors, which would allow me to not worry about running out of good stuff to read...

[John]

I have commitment issues when it comes to series. As a reader my taste is fickle so I tend to jump from one book/genre to another. This makes it hard for me to stick with a series. There's just so much good stuff out there. By the time I get back to read a second or third book in a series I've forgotten the previous book. I have found that reading them when they've been collected in a single volume helps as it feels I'm only reading one book. Silly, I know.

[Will]

Usually when I start a series I get hooked and don't want to stop until I'm finished. I may take a 1-book break in the middle so I don't get burnt out, but I normally can't wait to get back to the series. I think I'm lucky in that I've chosen series (most of them suggested by someone who knows me well) that are highly addictive.

[Tamahome]

From the looks of things at the bookstore, you're going to have a lot of fear.

[Larry]

Will wrote: "Usually when I start a series I get hooked and don't want to stop until I'm finished. I may take a 1-book break in the middle so I don't get burnt out, but I normally can't wait to get back to the..."

i've done that a few times, but I don't like waiting. ;)

[Hilary]

Usually I cannot stop reading the series after I start, even if it does drift off like the Sword of Truth series, so for me, it's more of a fear of starting a series rather than continuing one...

[Geoff]

Hmm I have a theory that it is much harder to end a series than to start or be in the middle of it. When you are in the middle of a series there a re so many possibilities and turns for the story to take. When you get to the end all those possibilities are closed down and by necessity forced on to a narrow path.

Often I feel like its more fun to stay in the middle of the series and speculate what might happen than it is to finish. Still, I usually make it to the end.

I actually have more trouble starting books and getting invested enough in them to want to continue.

[Noel]

Remembering which books I have read in a series sometimes becomes a problem for me especially if I am reading each book as it is released to the market. If I start a series that has already been written and finished by the author I will often read them all one after the other.
If I have to wait for a book to come out I may have forgotten that I am waiting for it by the time it comes out.

[Jason G]

Noel wrote: "Remembering which books I have read in a series sometimes becomes a problem for me especially if I am reading each book as it is released to the market. If I start a series that has already been wr..."

I think this was mentioned on the last S&L podcast, but there's a website out there (fictfact.com) that keeps track of series, what you've read, what you need to read and will notify you if there's a new book in the series.

[Jeremy]

I actually have the opposite problem... Once I've devoted the time to more than one book in a series, I feel compelled to read the rest, whether I like them or not. Plus, If I wait too long, I tend to forget too many details and have to re-read the earlier installments. I've lately been trying to alternate between a series installment and a stand-alone work, which keeps me from getting too bored with a longer story. That's worked really well with Neil Stephenson's System of the World, which I'm on track to complete shortly.

[Larry]

Jason G wrote: "Noel wrote: "Remembering which books I have read in a series sometimes becomes a problem for me especially if I am reading each book as it is released to the market. If I start a series that has al..."

I saw this, but don't really want to sign up for yet another thing.