Series too good to binge

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rkomar

For me, I don't binge read because I want to avoid the story getting stale. I have the same attitude toward food in that I don't eat something I really like too often so that I don't get sick of it. Does anyone else have a link between their reading and eating habits?

Yeah, I binge both of those. If it gets stale, so be it, there are plenty of other foods and book series.

I'm incapable of rationing anything, I don't have the patience. I just get frustrated if forced to wait for something, and a frustrated me has all the subtlety of a tyrannosaurus with a toothache.

[Apache]

My food will get cold if I read a good book while eating.
Apache

[Sirtel]

This thread made me want to start the Aubrey/Maturin series, which I've never read. I do have the first book, bought many years ago, but as I have no particular interest in the Napoleonic era, or in naval stuff for that matter, it has been languishing in calibre. But I've heard so much praise about the series that I'll have to see for myself what the hype is about. I hope it's the characters and plot, not sailing or military stuff (which invariably make my eyes glaze over, no matter how well done).

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

This thread made me want to start the Aubrey/Maturin series, which I've never read. I do have the first book, bought many years ago, but as I have no particular interest in the Napoleonic era, or in naval stuff for that matter, it has been languishing in calibre. But I've heard so much praise about the series that I'll have to see for myself what the hype is about. I hope it's the characters and plot, not sailing or military stuff (which invariably make my eyes glaze over, no matter how well done).

I avoided this series for years until a friend forced me to agree to try them and I was swept away. Her advice, which was good and I pass along, is to let the sailing and military stuff wash over you. It doesn't matter to your enjoyment or understanding.

In the end, my biggest regret is that I didn't come to them sooner. My father was a huge fan and it would have been great to have shared them with him -- but I couldn't see myself enjoying the naval setting which was of particular appeal to him having done his mandatory service in the Coast Guard.

[JSWolf]

I used to read while eating. I even used to read the cereal box while having breakfast.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by issybird

I avoided this series for years until a friend forced me to agree to try them and I was swept away. Her advice, which was good and I pass along, is to let the sailing and military stuff wash over you. It doesn't matter to your enjoyment or understanding.

In the end, my biggest regret is that I didn't come to them sooner. My father was a huge fan and it would have been great to have shared them with him -- but I couldn't see myself enjoying the naval setting which was of particular appeal to him having done his mandatory service in the Coast Guard.

Thanks.
I'll definitely try it, once I finish my current series (a trilogy, so shouldn't take long).

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I used to read while eating. I even used to read the cereal box while having breakfast.

I have read while eating all my life. These days I read wikipedia articles on a tablet, not books, though. I'm not taking my ereaders to the kitchen, where my cats climb on the table all the time (yes, while I'm eating. Unhygienic, of course, but I'm still alive...)

[Buckaroo]

Add me to the list of people singing the praises of O'Brian's Aubreyiad. I immediately thought of it upon reading the title of this thread, since I'm also rationing my read. I started it almost grudgingly nearly two decades ago, after having it recommended by my Dad, but was immediately hooked - I think it only took about 50 pages.

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I hope it's the characters and plot, not sailing or military stuff (which invariably make my eyes glaze over, no matter how well done).

It absolutely is the former. It's not for nothing that critics have compared O'Brian to Jane Austen (who he was a huge admirer of, and it shows). The technical military stuff is there if you want it, but the stories turn on the relationships of the characters, and it really isn't necessary to understand all the jargon (but eventually you *will* - it's like how one acclimates to Shakespeare after spending some time with it). Not to mention that O'Brian wrote some of the most delicious and nutritious prose in the English language, full of literary and historical allusions - after completing 13 of the 20 so far, these novels have spoiled me for lesser writers, and it's difficult to find anything that delivers the same pleasures. And to top it all off, these books can be drily hilarious, which is rarely mentioned.

All of this sounds like hyperbole, I know, but O'Brian lives up to it.

[Sirtel]

Thank you for supporting my decision.

I also found a companion book to the series at Amazon for only $2 (A Sea of Words by Dean King) and as it was so cheap, snapped it up.

[sakura-panda]

I never binge; I always alternate series. I don't like when I can't remember what happened in each book. (I still can't remember, but it helps when there's a break where I can ponder what happened in the last book without crowding in new adventures.)

[theducks]

I used to binge read when I found a good 1st of series at the used paperback store and went back an got as many of the rest as available (and continued reading) .
With e-book license terms that ain't happening unless the author offers a deep discounted boxed set (and Amazon just killed those for me with no side loading of USB downloads being converted to EPUB)