Saturday, October 8, 2011

Do you wait to read a series, or read them as they come out?

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. :)

14 comments:

  1. 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.

    The 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.

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  2. I'm both too. For Harry Potter I was also fortunate to have them all out when I read them.

    But sometimes I have to wait. I remember waiting for Mockingjay (it was torture!) and everyone who reads The Mortal Instruments is always waiting.

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  3. 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!

    Emily- I got lucky with Mockingjay - it was released almost right after I finished Catching Fire! Yay for Immediate gratification! :)

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  4. 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!

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  5. I 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!

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  6. I'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*

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  7. I 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.

    it's great reading about what you guys do!

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  8. 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!

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  9. I prefer to read a series as a whole because I'm impatient!

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  10. I'm impatient too!

    Oh 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

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  11. 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.

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  12. I'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!
    I really do hate waiting though cause I forget pretty much the whole book by the time the next one is out!

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  13. 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.

    Sheesh--maybe I just need to stop buying so many books! ;)

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  14. This is a great question, but one that I'm somewhat torn.

    I 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

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