So about two weeks ago I picked up Lee Child’sPersuader and really enjoyed it. I had read his first book in the Jack Reacher series a few years ago, then forgot about it.
So I went and got all the rest. And read them in two weeks.
And now, having finished them, I’m wishing there were more.
Anyone else tend to do that? I did the same thing with Dennis Lehane - read Mystic River, then went back and read his first book in the Patrick Kenzie/Angela Gennaro series. Then, in about 3 weeks, read the rest of them.
Ditto Steve Hamilton’s Alex McKnight and Donald Harstad’s Carl Houseman and many more.
I’m getting ready to read Blue at the Mizzen and thereby finish Patrick O’Brian’s magnificent 20 book Aubrey and Maturin series. I don’t want it to end.
Oh lord, I just did this with Harry Potter. 3 weeks ago I had not the slightest interest in the Harry Potter books, none whatsoever. Then, by very bizarre circumstances (I saw a test screening of the next movie and got involved in answering hundreds of questions at an HP fan site), I decided I should give the books a try. I assumed it would take me months to get through them, because non-fiction is not my thing and I figured I’d only read a couple of pages at a time. I quickly found I wanted to get through the first 3 so I could read the 4th and compare it to the movie, so I started reading more often, and faster. By the end of the 4th I was hooked bad. I ended up reading the first 4 in one weekend, and the next two within the next week.
I believe I read every one of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe mystery novels between the ages of 14 and 17.
So I purposely didn’t read any of the novella collections (Curtains for Three, Three at Wolfe’s Door, And Four to Go, etc, etc), saving 'em up for later.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. The last four hundred pages or so, I was staying up late reading under the covers for the first time since, oh, third grade.
Chris Bunch and Alan Cole had a series (actually a million word novel divided into 7 parts) called Sten. I did the whole thing in one big streak, then have gone back and re-read it several times since then. I do the same thing to the military series by W.E.B. Griffin. Take some time off, then when the new one comes out, re-read the whole series with the new one as the capper. Luckily I read 1000+ wpm, or I’d never get them done!
I’ve read every book in Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt series, and I read the first 9 of them back to back and in order (thanks to the friend who introduced me to the series and loaned me the books). When I was all caught up and at the point where I had to wait for the next release, I had to take a few days off from reading to “readjust.” The current books, which focus on his kids, aren’t quite the same, but I’m still readin’.
I used to be excited about Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series, until I read the most recent one (Incubus Dreams): it was so bloody awful that I don’t think I’ll ever want to read another one in the series.
I will admit - I have never, ever read Christian fiction before, but at the Borders outlet an hour South of home, I found a book called The Covenant in a series called “Abram’s Daughters” by Beverly Lewis. I found the first and third books in the series for cheap, and they looked interesting - it was about young Amish women in the 1940s through the 1960s. They were actually in the regular fiction section, so I didn’t realize they were actually Christian fiction. So I picked those two up and got so engrossed in the first book that I immediately went on a hunt for the final three books that I didn’t have - I picked up two in Florida that week while I was on vacation, and the last one after we returned home.
They are WONDERFUL books. I enjoyed every second of them and hated to see them end. They are not preachy, they are not judgmental, they are just such gentle, sweet books - and quite well-written with an interesting story. So now I’m planning to pick up the rest of Beverly Lewis’ adult fiction - most seem based upon Amish life, and it’s been fascinating to read about it. Her characters are immensely sweet and likeable, and I’ve greatly enjoyed her writing.
Like Ukulele Ike, I went on a Nero Wolfe binge when I was younger. Unlike Ike, I read all the novellas. The newer books by Robert Goldsborough are pretty good, too. I know there are hardcore Rex Stout purists who would disagree, but newly-created Nero Wolfe fiction is better than no Nero Wolfe fiction, IMHO.
I finished the Aubrey-Maturin books early this year. I was so reluctant to start that last book, and it was even worse to read the first few chapters of the unfinished book 21. I felt lost when I was done.
I went through the Sharpe books next. They’re a faster read, and I was sorry to be finished with those, too.
Every time I re-read Stirling’s Island in the Sea of Time series, I am very saddened that there are no more books in that universe. I’d dearly love to read something set a couple hundred years down the road from the last book in the trilogy.
The current books, which focus on his kids, aren’t quite the same, but I’m still readin’.