Author Anne Frasier just announced that Pretty Dead, her third novel in the Elise Sandburgh series, will be released September 1st. This book was #1 on my summer reading list but I don't mind waiting a couple of extra months for it. Some authors are worth the wait, and the first two books in the series were among my favorite reads of 2014.Sometimes I lose track of long series that follow a chronology of events, which frustrates me. I was doing okay with Rachel Caine's vampire novels until I stopped at the fifth, sixth or seventh book and then lent the series to someone who never returned them (which also aggravates me, but I know better, so that's my fault.) I can't remember who I gave the books to or where I left off. I'm going to start over with that one by checking out the first books from the library and read them again until I can figure out which book I need to pick up next.
There are a lot of series that are readable from any point because there is very little chronology or no timeline at all, and/or the protagonists and support crew seldom undergo any big changes. Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series is a prime example of this; same thing with Lee Child's Jack Reacher -- in ten or so books I think the only things that have changed about Reacher is how he banks his money and that he broke his nose. I'm not especially faithful to cookie cutter series, but I do think many readers like them simply because they can miss a book or two and not really miss anything important happening.
As for the other series I'm currently following, I might start making up and maintaining lists of the books I've already read. How do you guys track the series you read? Share some tips in comments.
I use www.fictfact.com for tracking my series. It has the added benefit of being able to follow friends so you can see which series they are following as well. Since I read a lot of series, I have found it to be a lifesaver in not just remembering where I am in a series, but it also gives me a place to check to see if the intriguing book I just picked up at the library is actually the first in the series. (Because nothing is more frustrating that getting an exciting new book home only to find out it there were two more books before it. . .) Another way I use it is to "follow" series that I know I am interested in eventually reading. That way when I log in, they are sitting on my list reminding me next time I am looking for something new.
ReplyDeleteI started using goodreads to keep track of series. However, when I start a 'new' author who has several books in a series, I generally go about it the old fashioned way - I print out a list of the books in the order they need to be read. For example, Terry Brook's Shannara series.
ReplyDeleteMy Kindle has helped enormously with keeping track of things. I use the Collections function for almost everything I read or want to read. I also use Goodreads to track upcoming books I want to add to the towering TBR pile...and like Judy H, I will also print out a reading order list for a long series.
ReplyDeleteMost of mine these days are in epub format and I store them in my dropbox, under the author's name, then in series order. I also use Goodreads a bit. I hate reading a book only to find out it's book No. 4 of an on-going series, so I try to check out the author page on Fantastic Fiction for the running order. I'm going to add Anne's series to my TBR pile as your recommendations are well worth a read.
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