Are you one of those people who reads books as they come out, or do you wait until every book in the series has been released?
I am somewhere in the middle. I love discovering a series that has been fully written; that way I don't have to wait on pins and needles wondering what is going to happen next! There are quite a few series that I happened upon this way: The vampire academy series, The Hunger Games Trilogy, The Harry Potter series, The Twilight series, and the Fever series. I loved all of these books, and I am SO glad I got to them when they were already finished. I love being able to pick up a the next book and continue on.
Sometimes a book sounds too good to pass up and I read it even though I know I'll have to wait a while for the next one. For example, Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me. I could not WAIT to get my hands on an advanced copy of it. Now I have quite a while to wait before the next book comes out.
I just finished Illusions (wings #3) and now I'm dying to know what happens! Book number four doesn't come out until April! I don't know about you, but I have a terrible memory, and I will probably forget all about what happened in the first 3 books by then.
I'm team Tamani, by the way. :)
I usually read whatever catches my interest, which means that sometimes I wait for new books, and sometimes I'm lucky enough to stumble on a series that is already out and complete.
ReplyDeleteThe only problem -- more than the wait -- that bothers me with series that are not complete is that if the series continues to go on without an end in sight, and there is a year or more wait between books, I start to forget and eventually lose interest, no matter how good the series is.
I'm both too. For Harry Potter I was also fortunate to have them all out when I read them.
ReplyDeleteBut sometimes I have to wait. I remember waiting for Mockingjay (it was torture!) and everyone who reads The Mortal Instruments is always waiting.
Amanda- I totally agree! I think the author definitely needs to have an ending in mind, or it just goes on forever. The Sookie Stackhouse series is a great example of that! The House of Night series is being dragged out too, and it's driving me nuts!
ReplyDeleteEmily- I got lucky with Mockingjay - it was released almost right after I finished Catching Fire! Yay for Immediate gratification! :)
Yeah just like you I was super late with the harry potter series... I'm just NOW reading it lol. But if I can help it, like reading the books when they FIRST come out!
ReplyDeleteI have been trying to not to read debut books unless I will be meeting the author. I want to collect the books and read them all at once if I am able to. I hate starting a new series just to find out I have to wait a few years for the full series to be finished!
ReplyDeleteI'm just like you. There are some series I'll start from the beginning (and often have to re-read as a new one comes out), but others that I'll wait to read once they're finished. This month, I can finally read Scott Westerfeld's LEVIATHAN trilogy and James Dashner's MAZE RUNNER trilogy. I'm also waiting to read George R. R. Martin, much as I want to...and I made that decision before there was a release date on book five and it was an HBO show. *waits*
ReplyDeleteI totally thought of you when writing this, Kristina! I can totally see why you do that, especially when you have so many books to catch up on that you've already got.
ReplyDeleteit's great reading about what you guys do!
I do a little bit of both - it just depends on when I discovered the series. Harry Potter was started when the first few books were out, and finished as the rest were released. Twilight, though, still hasn't been read because I have all four books sitting on my shelf, and I need a huge chunk of time in order to read 'em all! I just read The Hunger Games series over a span of several weeks. If I can read a series all at once, I do. But, if I get a chance to read (mostly for review) a great book that's part of a series, I won't hesitate - even if it means that I'll be waiting for the next installment!
ReplyDeleteI prefer to read a series as a whole because I'm impatient!
ReplyDeleteI'm impatient too!
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, Twilight will definitely take a chunk of time. I couldn't put them down! Definitely wait for a long weekend or something, because if you like it as much as I did, you will neglect all other aspects of your life. lol
It really depends on how good I feel the series is. For example, I started readig Harry Potter when she was already 3 books into the series. After that, I had to be at EVERY midnight release. Most likely, when I cannot wait for the entire series to come out, I have made up my mind that I will be reading the entire series again anyways, so I am still able to remember everything. For Twilight I was able to wait until they were all out before I read the rest.
ReplyDeleteI'm kind of torn. It's nice when they are out, or the rapid release that has become more popular when they come out one a month for three months or something, but it seems like I can never read through a whole series very quickly anyway because I just have too many books to read! I've been reading Harry Potter this year (for the first time) but it's taking me forever cause I can never fit them in!
ReplyDeleteI really do hate waiting though cause I forget pretty much the whole book by the time the next one is out!
LOL--I stink at series books. I have 13 of the Stephanie Plum books but have only read the first. Probably shouldn't have started collecting them to begin with. I read the HP books as they came out (after 4, I think). I have all of the Hunger Games only read the first.
ReplyDeleteSheesh--maybe I just need to stop buying so many books! ;)
This is a great question, but one that I'm somewhat torn.
ReplyDeleteI was in college when I discovered the Harry Potter books at Book 4, so I wasn't reading much easy lit at the time. It was a summer escape for me usually right after summer finals.
Now, I read at least one book a week of fun lit. So to read a series and have to wait it's much harder for me to remember. I generally don't like to reread books, which means the series has to be Harry Potter status or more to do so.
However, when I find a great book at book one or a few books in, and it's not being overly publicized or turned into a movie(yet), I feel as if it's my dirty, little secret. Rubbing my hands with a mischievous grin, I like feeling like I discovered it and no one else can possibly have known about it or read it! hehe