Friday, May 15, 2009

Late To The Party

Have you ever read a book people have been raving about for months or even years to find you absolutely love it? If so, you probably were thrilled to find one, two, three or more books in the series ready for immediate reading.

I joined the legions of Harry Potter fans when the first movie was released. I try to follow the book-before-movie rule so I read Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone before seeing the movie. I was hooked.

I had the same experience recently after reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The main character, middle schooler Greg Heffley is now on my list of favorite characters. After reading the first book in the series, I had to read books two and three. Now I am looking forward to the release of book four this fall.

Is it better to find a series at book one and enjoy them as they are released? Or is it just as fun to finally cave to peer pressure to read a book you immediately fall in love with and get the benefit of a series already underway?

4 comments:

Tom said...

Rae Ann,
As for myself, I've 'discovered' several writers that had already published several books in their series, and I have to admit, it was nice not having to wait on the next one. Kind of like sitting down with the Star Wars trilogy and watching one after the other. I had a field day for about a month hunting down and reading Clancy's catalog as fast as I could get them. Then I did the same with Stephen Coonts and Clive Cussler. What a time! But that's just me...

Alli said...

I can give you my favorite answer: "It depends." It depends on who you ask. If you ask me, I LOVE finding good books late, because I can continue my obsession through all of the books in the series. If you ask my husband (who doesn't like to read), I'm sure he prefers that I find those books when they first come out, so that the house-cleaning, cooking, and bill-paying are not forsaken for *gasp* weeks at a time! (When I find really good books, I tend to read them a second time, if not a third, immediately, and series are no exception.)

Jody W. and Meankitty said...

I don't know. How's that for an answer?

Shauna Roberts said...

I tend toward obsessive-compulsiveness, so I always read series books in order. I have no particular preference for when I discover a series—except that if one discovers it late, some books in the series may already be out of print. So for that reason, I suppose it's better to discover a series early on.