Series too good to binge

[issybird]

Who else rations series books? There have been a few series that I've read very slowly over time since they are so very good; I save them for a special treat. Four that occur to me offhand are the Aubrey/Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian, which I read over the course of eight years and sadly am done; the Flashman books by George MacDonald Fraser which I've been reading since 2016 and where I've still got a few in hand; the Judge Dee series by Robert van Gulik; and the Martin Bora books by Ben Pastor, which is still ongoing so my method is to stay at least one behind the latest release.*

There are other series, especially mystery series, where I pace myself but there isn't quite the same sense that a pleasure deferred is all the greater even though I will be very sorry indeed to read the end. With these, I read one when I'm in the mood. The Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout and the Albert Campion books by Margery Allingham are examples. I don't binge, ever. Too high a likelihood of a loved series going stale on me.

So do you ration? Binge? Somewhere in between? And for which noteworthy series, if you've a mind to name some.

*Sigh. Some of the rationing with these is involuntary. The books exist, in English, but they are released at an excruciatingly slow pace. The author is a native Italian speaker who writes them in English, someone else! translates them into Italian and then they're released in Italy. The most recent book, released in English last year, was originally published in 2006!

[rkomar]

I definitely ration. Partly to prolong the goodness, but also to avoid the staleness. In a way they go hand-in-hand with me because the staleness poisons the goodness.

[Sirtel]

For me, it depends. I don't ration with the specific purpose of rationing (I'm far too impatient for that and the notion of deferred pleasure being greater is frankly incomprehensible to me - for me it's not), but I might read something in between if the series is not that unputdownable.

There are too many series I've binge read to list all of them. Judge Dee is one; the Shardlake series by C J Sansom; the Murderbot series; the Kendra Donovan series by Julie McElwain; the Otherland series by Tad Williams; Justin de Quincy by Sharon Kay Penman; and many, many more. Then there are series that grew a bit stale after finishing several books, but I intend to return to them in the future.

[Karellen]

I binge read series. I want to read the entire story at the same time, not come back in a year or two and read the sequel as I would have lost the momentum of the story. (and I also do this for tv shows)

But...

If I am reading (watching) something that has me completely enthralled, I slow down my reading pace, and the more exciting the story becomes, the more times I stop reading (watching) and walk away. It's like I don't want the moment/event to end. I don't want what is about to happen to happen yet. I drag out the emotion that has me completely enmeshed in the story.

[jackm8]

Short story: I loved a book so much that I've never finished it.

I've no recollection of a series that meets this criteria. I'm not a fan of serialised work. I'll try the first few novels, then usually, I'll lose interest, and move to something else. Or be disappointed by the ending of the series, when I do finish it. But I've a few cases of novels that do meet it. The list is very small, experiences derived from it, caused a stern determination to never expand it. I really enjoyed reading War and Peace, and for some reason I made a break of a full year, while reading it. I just paused for a full year. It was a hard stop, as I didn't read anything else at that time, I just spent that time watching movies and playing video games during my free time. Then I picked it up again, and went through it as if nothing happened. Even more drastic case happened when I returned to Flaubert. I hated reading him for a school assignment, but I went and reread Madame Bovary at a later time, and I enjoyed it immensely, so I dived deeper into him, and loved everything that I read from him. And then I went for Salammbo. I immediately knew it was a work of some effort, everything was finely crafted, and full of detail. I went at it slowly. First I read some of it in English translation, then I bought it in Slovene translation. That translation was just poor, with errors and mistakes, and I struggled with it for a while, considered going back to English translation, and it never happened. This was a decade ago, and I still haven't returned to it. It's possible that it just wasn't as good as I remembered it, that it started to drag at some point, and I lost interest. It's also possible I don't want to soil the memory of a good time that I had with it, or it's that I want to preserve it for a time when I'll find myself ready to go at it again. Who knows. I just pulled my copy from the desk drawer, it is inviting. Maybe...

[Apache]

I have no problem reading a good series as quickly as I can. I like to reread good books and am happy to pick up a series and start over. again.
Apache

[neil_swann80]

Unapologetic binger. Unless the series has a particularly heavy story requiring a mental palette cleanse.

[pdurrant]

I sometimes ration a series. But for a variety of reasons — perhaps because the series is so good, but it might be that I just want a change of pace between books.

And sometimes I binge.

[JSWolf]

This assumes the series you are reading is either finished or almost finished and has enough books to binge. Whet do you do if the series you've binged doesn't have any books come out when they were supposed to or the author works on something else before the next book?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

This assumes the series you are reading is either finished or almost finished and has enough books to binge. Whet do you do if the series you've binged doesn't have any books come out when they were supposed to or the author works on something else before the next book?

Read something else, of course.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Read something else, of course.

Do you rearead when a new book comes out if it's been a while?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Do you rearead when a new book comes out if it's been a while?

Depends. I might reread if there are relatively few books and it's been several years. Or I might just skim the earlier books and refresh my memory on important points.

[drofgnal]

I have trouble rationing. I typically want to continue until I'm finished. Sometimes though rationing is forced if you pick up a series as it starts publication, then you have no choice. I try to avoid picking up a new series as I don't want a repeat of Game of Thrones, that will assuredly never finish.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

I try to avoid picking up a new series as I don't want a repeat of Game of Thrones, that will assuredly never finish.

I'm not sure I'd even want to read the final volumes if, by some miracle, it was finished. The time has been too long and I've lost any desire to continue with it.

Still, I have no problem whatsoever with starting a new series, even an unfinished one, and I've done so many times. If I never learn how a series will end, so be it; I'll live. For me, the journey is more important than the destination in these cases.

The most recent example of an unfinished series for me are the Shardlake books by C J Sansom, who unfortunately passed away and never got to finish the series. Do I regret that I read the books? Not at all; I enjoyed them.

[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?