It occurred to me recently that no matter how much I liked a novel, there was little chance I would read a second book by the same writer. Years ago I would luxuriate in completing the entire oeuvre of books by a Ngaio March or Reginald Hill, or Sjowal and Wahloo. But no more. If I read only two books a week, I just don't have the pleasure of spending that scant time with the same writer. At one point, I read five books a week. That was before I worked, had responsibility for two aged parents, was trying to write myself, had a grandson, a moldy, oldie house, etc.
Do most older readers feel that way? Do you avert your eyes from the shelves with books by writers you have read in the past, trying to find ones you haven't? Do you feel obliged to keep moving less you find you no longer can?
19 comments:
I read a mix of new authors and old favorites.
Living alone and being retired, I have more time on my hands than most people my age. I've co-opted an old saying to fit myself, "Too many books, not enough time."
I used to try to read everything by an author I liked. Nowadays, I just try to keep up with the new books and a few selected old ones(Forgotten Fridays has been helpful in that regard). It has also caused me to break a rule to never read a book twice. Sometimes I need to refresh when prepping a post for Fridays.
I average about two hundred a year these days.
That's great, Randy. I don't think my eyes could do it anymore. You should keep a running list on your blog of what you read. It would be interesting to see the choices.
Travis-I think you're on the better side of forty still. Oh, those great days. Those days when you didn't say, well, that's the last time I'll see Halifax.
I post thoughts on some that I like and at the end of the month I post a list.
I usually have two books going at one time, one audio and one hardcopy. I am in the midst of my own self-education into the crime fiction field. As such, most authors I discover have extensive back catalogs. I just finished reading Don Winslow's The Dawn Patrol and loved it. I now have 9 more Winslows to read. However, I put them on my To Read in the Future List. Ditto for older authors I'm being introduced to via Hard Case Crime. Since reading their respective HCC entries, I have found two Wade Millers and one Day Keene...but they are still on the shelf. So, to answer your question, I tend to read a book/author one-at-a-time rather than read all the books by one author in a string. It's my way of playing out the line and delaying the inevitable: no more books by said author.
I've read and loved every single Alex McKnight mystery by Scott Hamilton. he hasn't written one in years, so I guess he ran out of steam. Then there's the Cork O'Connor series by William Kent Kreuger. I've read most of the Joe Pickett books by CJ Box, but I only read up through "E" (I think) of the Kinsey Milhone series.
I invested a lot in both Alex McKnight and Cork O'Connor, and I looked forward to the books. But I don't look for series like that.
Btw, I'm the world's slowest reader.
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Great books mentioned here. I am almost afraid to start reading a new writer with a substantial series in case I get off track and read them all.
I empathise with the reading too slowly/too few books feeling. My desires are far bigger than my achievements and 2 books a week is about my average. Any more and my eyes give out on me! I have no lack of contenders though: library, review books, ones that leap off the shelves into my arms when I walk into a book shop (I try not to do this too much - very bad for the purse)
I find myself reading mostly the recently published.
I read almost exclusively crime fiction because I feel that I don't have time/interest to indulge in others.
I am working full time still though. Blogging is taking up some time too ;-)
I'm with you, Kerrie. It's a real timesuck. But healthier than my one of 20 years ago. You can guess what it was.
I'm on the 7th book of the Robert Jordan series "The Wheel of Time", and I've read all of the Diana Gabaldon books including her Lord John series. Other writers I read who write series: Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, C.J. Sansom, Elizabeth Haydon, Dean Koontz, G.P. Taylor, Wilbur Smith, Naomi Novik, Jack Whyte and Turtledove. There are more but I'd better quit before I fill your comment section. I do read single books, but usually if those single books are good I go on to others that particular author has written.
I used to do exactly that. But now I feel like a sampling is all I can allow. If I try a second book and it's similar to the first, I put it down. I'm like the yellow jacket in September, in a frenzy of last days.
I tend to stick with familiar authors because I have neither time nor energy to waste with books that might annoy me. (Bad attitude, I know. But I also know that someday I will get tired of the familiar and dive into difference.)
That said, a series I had enjoyed really annoyed me with its last offering. I felt the author had an opportunity for depth that was sacrificed in the name of pleasing the readers. Which, I guess, was the whole point. Guess I'm just an oddball liking books to push the envelope (yes, even when they are familiar)!
Christa-I've missed you. Yes, it does get annoying when you can see the author is doing what they feel they have to do to sell books rather than develop a character. But in these times, a lot of them are losing their publishers so I guess I understand it.
My initial reaction was that I also was reading newer authors rather than my old standbys, but I think it's closer to 50-50. I try to search out first novelists whose subject matter interests me. However, when I thought about the authors who I continue to read regularly, I was suprised by the length of the list. Box, Hamilton and Krueger also are on my list along with well-known names such as Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin, John Sandford, James Lee Burke, James Hall and P.J. Parrish, whose books I have been reading since the beginning or very early in their careers. Perhaps not as popular with the masses, but still on my to-read list are Ace Atkins, Giles Blunt, Peter Bowen, William Tapply, Bill Moody, Edward Wright, Christine Kling and Jonathon King. And I waiting patiently for new books from Rick Boyer, Tom Corcoran, Ron Ellis, KJ Erickson, Frederick Huebner, Theresa Monsour, Virginia Swift, John Morgan Wilson and Thomas Zigal.
Very eclectic list, Kent. I'm trying to think of someone who's next book I will definitely read. They're are a few but with the new names coming on the scene everyday...plus I have those darn book club books.
I couldn't go with this philosophy. There's a part of me that reads for learning - the genre, storytelling formats - and for reviewing, but beyond that I read for pleasure. And if someone has all the right moves I'l go back for more. I think this may have something to do with several failures I had as a relatively young adult trying to get back into reading - I wasn't finding books that got me revved up and enthusiastic. Once I found the writers who made me say, "Yeah!" I went back to them for more.
I'm loyal like a dog.
Patti:
I left the one writer off my list whose books I immediately buy and read, Randy Wayne White. And I mean immediately because I usually put aside the book I'm reading to start RWW. I got into him when I came across a PB copy of Sanibel Island and then had to almost fight off a Waldenbooks manager in Clearwater FL for a hardcover of The Heat Islands. I came up to the counter to pay for a couple of other books when she was opening a box. She excitedly said, "Randy Wayne White's new book. I want it." I replied, "So do I." She seemed surprised that I had heard of him, but sold it to me once she found a second copy in the box. While the Doc Ford series has had a couple of "downs" I'm more loyal to Randy Wayne White than any other author.
When we were in Florida recently, a bookstore owner said if we wanted to read the most exciting contemporary Florida writer to her, he was it. Couldn't keep his books on her shelves.
It isn't so much that I don't read books by the same author, it's more that I am not so interested in series as I used to be. Like you, I used to read from book one until I couldn't find anymore--and then be disappointed. These days, I'm happy to sample just about anywhere in a series, but rarely wish to read more than one. I will read another book by that author, but I just don't enjoy series as much as I used to.
It's pretty much unheard of for me to read more than three books in a series these days and actually reading two or three is getting more and more rare.
It doesn't mean I don't enjoy the first in a series, it's more that I want a complete story, and I don't want to go back to it. There's just other stuff out there to sample. These days, I love the completeness of a stand-alone.
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