10-16-2017, 05:06 PM | #16 |
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10-16-2017, 05:11 PM | #17 | |
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Quote:
I like fish and chips, and I like my friend Bob. But if Bob and I only get together to eat fish and chips, I will eventually tire of one or both of them. Last edited by DiapDealer; 10-16-2017 at 05:31 PM. |
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10-16-2017, 05:16 PM | #18 |
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I don’t mind if the books don’t have cliffhangers. There may a recommended order in which to read them, but it isn’t strictly necessary. I sort of like getting to know the different characters in the town or family group, and seeing them interact with chances as to who is the focus of that particular book.
If a story is going to unfold in a multiple book release, I’d prefer no more than 4 books total, 3 is better. But don’t keep the fact that a book is the beginning of a series a secret. Many Amish fiction books are done in series format. Many of them are not written very well, with new books churned out every month. When I see publishing dates that are close together, a red flag goes up. There was one series I looked into a few years ago. Each “book” was perhaps 110 pages, and I believe there were 22-24 separate books. The readers gobbled them up, and I was baffled that they didn’t seem to mind that they had spent $50+ on the completed story. But it did prove that many people like such books. |
10-16-2017, 05:48 PM | #19 |
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10-16-2017, 05:52 PM | #20 |
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10-16-2017, 07:36 PM | #21 |
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10-16-2017, 07:39 PM | #22 |
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10-16-2017, 07:43 PM | #23 |
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10-16-2017, 08:20 PM | #24 |
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I'm getting older. My memory is going. I'm a slow reader. I like books with familiar characters and worlds. I can be a little obsessive.
So I'm kind of torn. There are a few online book clubs I occasionally take part in. But my heart sinks if I see the book to be read is first in a series. Because I'll end up feeling like I 'ought' to read the rest in the series and even if I enjoy it that feels like pressure. It also leads to the memory problem. The memory problem is that within a very short period after reading a book I'll have forgotten most of the details. Much of the broad strokes too. So inevitably I have in my TBR pile books which are the next in a series where I kind of want to go back and re-read the earlier books to refresh my memory. But that takes reading time away from new books. I realise these are idiosyncratic reasons to be ambivalent about series but they're true for me. |
10-16-2017, 11:06 PM | #25 | |
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Last edited by 4691mls; 10-16-2017 at 11:07 PM. Reason: remove quote I inserted by mistake |
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10-17-2017, 02:00 AM | #26 |
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I like the series like James Rollin's Sigma Force. The characters are the same, but on different adventures. There are definite advantages to reading them in order - you know the background of the characters. I suppose you could read them out of order. They'd still be good, just not AS good. But I actually prefer Rollin's stand alone books. Subterranean, Ice Hunt, Amazonia - wow. I may be an unsophisticated reader, but I know what I like. Sigma Force can tend to get a little bit same-old, same-old after a while. Good, but predictable. That's true of many series.
Some series are just too long - they seem intimidating. I've got some books from these type of series, but haven't started them yet because they might tie me up for decades. Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt and Terry Brook's Shannara come to mind. I've got many/most of these books, they're queued up for reading, but I just can't seem to commit myself for the next two decades (I don't have that much time left to live). Some series fizzle for me. Earth's Children (Clan of the Cave Bear) is one example. I did struggle a little getting through the tediousness of Clan. There must be ten bazillion different plants on our planet, and Auel describes them all. But then I flew through Valley of Horses. Really liked that one. Mammoth Hunters was a bit slower, but was riding on the coat tails of Valley so I went through it pretty fast. Then came Plains of Passage. Complete stall for me about 1/4 way through. By this time I could be a practicing Medicine Woman myself (although I'm male), I fully understand that Ayla invented everything on Earth, and that Jondolar has a big you-know-what. Let's move on to something else please. Preferably not taking a century to do so. So I would have to say that each series is different. Some are good, others should have remained standalone books. Others, I'll probably never know, because I put off starting them (overwhelmed). Recently, I've been searching for other authors similar to what I like best (that being James Rollins stand-alones). I've come up with Matthew Reilly, Jeremy Robinson, Steve Berry, David L. Golemon, and a few others. So I start researching their works, and find that each of THESE guys has a crap-ton of long series as well. Dang, I wish I were a teenager again so I'd have the time to get through all I want to try. I sure wish each author would have a handful of (highly rated) stand-alones so I could sample them. It seems like mostly, it is their long series that are higher rated. |
10-17-2017, 02:10 AM | #27 |
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10-17-2017, 06:43 AM | #28 |
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Nothing. He is a standup comedian who made some forgettable movies.
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10-17-2017, 06:50 AM | #29 |
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I've a number of books in mystery series where the books do not end on a cliffhanger. But even still, they are NOT standalone. You get the progression of the characters that would be spoiled. Sometimes you get talk of things that happened in previous books. Reading out of order can spoil some things. Standalone does not mean no cliffhanger. Standalone means that nothing at all in the book relies at all in any of the other books in the series. Even one sentence that refers to a character's progression or something that happened previously can make it not standalone.
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10-17-2017, 06:52 AM | #30 |
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