The Sword and Laser discussion

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.

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...

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.

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.

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

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. ;)

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.