Series Challenge Friday: Guest Post Heidi @ Bunbury in the Stacks on how she reads series

The Summer Series Challenge is happening now! 

Hosted by Heather @ The Flyleaf Review

Lauren @ Love is not a triangle

 Asheley @ Into the Hall of Books

Follow #serieschallenge

Today we get to hear from Heidi who blogs at Bunbury in the Stacks.

Heidi is one of my favorite bookish people. 

I love discussing books with her, and I love how resolved she is about her reading habits. I'm so thankful that she's agreed to talk about them today!

Heidi is also one of the few blogging friends I have met in real life. She was actually the very first person I met at BEA this year. I was so thankful to run into her, because she made me feel welcome right away! I hope we get to hang out again soon.

Enough of me, let's get right to Heidi:

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In 6th grade I had a terrible (and wonderful) experience: I discovered Philip Pullman.  My beloved English teacher got me reading the Sally Lockhart books, and I devoured them with fervor before picking up his shiny new release, The Golden Compass.  But then--then I experienced a horror that was heretofore unknown to me: I had to wait.  Never in my life had I picked up a series that had yet to finish publication.  From Little House to Narnia I had been safe from that terrible thing we call delayed gratification (at least in terms of reading, I was already well acquainted with the torture of saving my allowance for months to buy a stereo).  And then there’s the fact that when you read books as they release it’s just a big conspiracy to get you to read them repeatedly.  I literally have no idea how many times I’ve read each Harry Potter book, other than that I’ve read each one at least one more time than the next one down the road.  They really expect you to remember that stuff over the year or more *glares at Patrick Rothfuss and George R.R. Martin* it takes to get your hands on the next in the series?  I don’t think so.

And so, in the intervening years I’ve decided it’s simply best if I don’t know what I’m missing.  That’s right, I’d rather not read that new start to a trilogy everyone’s talking about.  I’m much more content with waiting 3-4 years to just read the whole thing at once.  Yeah, a lot of the time that doesn’t happen *glares again at Patrick Rothfuss and George R.R. Martin*, but one can try.  It wasn’t hard before I started blogging.  Complete complacency (and college)  kept me from being aware of shiney new releases until a series was complete anyway.  Then I became engrossed in the blogosphere and completely fell for the opportunity to read so many new and upcoming releases.  Boy did I regret that.  Who else read Sarah Rees Brennan’s Unspoken?  PURE TORTURE.  Yeah.  That was just the final straw in a long list of big mistakes.  Rules needed to be self imposed.

So here we go:

No new series until they’re released unless...

• They’re companion novels.  Companion novels are one of the greatest things to ever happen to series.  You get to keep the world/setting without having to really keep track of the details.  Favorite characters pop up, but things don’t get run into the ground.  Color me a huge fan.
• It’s urban fantasy.  This is an exception largely because these series tend to be so long (in fact, none of the ones I read have completed yet), and they’re my light popcorn reads that I just have to have when my brain’s too fried to handle anything heavy
• It’s a favorite author and I really can’t help it (I still try to resist, particularly if they’re known for incomplete endings).
• It’s an author I trust. I have trust issues, but there are some authors who always try to give you a good tied up ending that makes each book work somewhat like a stand alone.  Though you still run into that whole remembering things problem here.

When I do read a series, however, I don’t just gulp it down in one long drink.  In fact, I almost never read two books in one series back to back.  My delayed gratification transfers into full blown ADD if I attempt to read an entire series together.  I get tired of characters and a world and often find myself stuck for days unable to move forward, no matter how much I love them.  I need change and variety, and so 95% of the time I’ll read at least one book in a different genre before continuing.  And then there’s the fact that I love both audiobooks and physical books--but once I’ve gone in for a format, I really have to stick with it.  I’ve gotten stuck on series for months waiting to track down the right format of a book.  Mixing it up is great for rereads, but that first time through?  I have to stay the same.

And there you have it.  We all have our bookish quirks, but mine tend to revolve around series reading (I swear I’m completely normal otherwise).  I’ve become a big fan of companion novels and stand alones as a result, but there’s really nothing like those series, worlds, and characters you fall completely in love with that will remain with you for a lifetime.  Just, you know, in their proper time.

Have you made your own series reading resolutions? 

Tell us what they are in the comments!

**NOW, go visit Heather @ The Flyleaf Review to hear what Jen from YA Romantics has to say about gaining closure when you read a series back-to-back**

(I got to meet Jen at BEA this year too, and spent lots of time running around the exhibit floor with her. She is pretty awesome as well!)

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Don't forget to link up your August reviews! The month is already half over. 







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