Beyond Reality discussion

I have noticed that in the last few years (I just turned 60) I am not willing to tackle the over 500 page book and I really have difficulty with longer series.

In my youth I used to re-read the earlier book in a multiple book series merely to remember plots and characters but I more loathe to do so now.

How do you address this. Do you wait until the whole series is out to then read the books in a row?

I guess I’m qualified to write about this—I’m 70.

I still read door-stoppers & am currently reading our group’s series, Shadows of the Apt, which is 10 books, so I guess I’m not reluctant to tackle big books and long series. However, I do try to only read series that are completed (as far as one can tell). So, for example, I have several books on my shelf from George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire series, but I have yet to even start them. And when I do read a series, whether a trilogy or something longer, I intersperse other books in between. I found that I was reading much too quickly, just to get to the next book, when I was reading them all in a row.

Generally I try to avoid rereading (and avoid starting an unfinished series), but occasionally I “break” my rule. I read several books in Janny Wurts’s The Wars of Light & Shadow series with a different Goodreads discussion group, but at that time, the final 3 books or so had not been published. (In fact, I think the final book had not yet been written.) Now the series is complete and I do plan to reread those same books prior to tackling the ones I had not previously read. It was just so long ago that I have forgotten most of the details, and besides, I want to savor and enjoy the unfolding of the whole story.

And I reread the first 3 Earthsea books by Ursula K. Le Guin before reading the rest for the first time, both to refresh my memory and so I could discuss them with this group as we read that series together.

I haven't noticed a reluctance to read door stoppers or large series. Heck, I recently did a binge listen of the entire Vox Machina campaign of Critical Role. It took something like 6 months and I wasn't reading or listening to much else. I have to admit, I do love it when I can marathon a good series.

Tied to that, yeah I really lean towards waiting for an entire series to come out before I jump in. For example: I have all of the books in Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series so far, but I haven't read any of them yet. When I was younger, I had no problems starting an unfinished series.

But I think I am also pickier than I used to be. I need to be enjoying myself. If I am not, I don't have the desire to just power through. I think I read Stranger in a Strange Land when I was in like 7th grade, and I don't think I understood most of what was happening. It didn't stop me then, but I would never do something like that now. If I'm not following what's going on, I'm either not in the right head space and need to maybe try again at a later time, or just give it up and say its not my thing.

However, I do sometimes wonder if this is my tastes changing as I get older or if I have just gotten used to binge culture brought about with stuff like Netflix, where you can just binge an entire season in one go. Do we loose something when we no longer have that opportunity for speculation while we wait for more to come out?

Great question; thank you for asking because it's been on my mind, too. I'm 61. I say Yes to Random about anticipation & speculation before the next episode.

But still, I avoid starting unfinished series. Or any series for that matter. Or longer books. I don't like following along the quest through every hamlet or minor hazard, but would rather get to the point already. Give me something to think about, not just to escape into.

(That being said I do rate books, even non-fiction, on how immersive it is. Do make me care.)

Random wrote: "But I think I am also pickier than I used to be. I need to be enjoying myself. If I am not, I don't have the desire to just power through...."

I have noticed this one, I am more likely to quit and move onto to something better. There are too many books and less, much less amount of time to read them.

I have mostly switched to listening to longer books, I don't even read them in ebook form. And I have noticed that I can't just sit and read for hours like I used to, I'm lucky if I can sit and read for an hour. I think that is the modern day attention span thing though, cause I just don't know how to concentrate on anything anymore, even work. I have to break it up into smaller chunks.

I have never been a re-reader, so I usually just wing it and hope I remember what was going on in a previous series book. Most of the time this works, but occasionally I can't understand what's going on and them I just DNF the series rather than going back to read earlier books.

Random wrote: Do we loose something when we no longer have that opportunity for speculation while we wait for more to come out?"

This is another reason why I intersperse other books between the books of a series. I can think about what might happen in the next book.

Dawn wrote: "... occasionally I can't understand what's going on and them I just DNF the series rather than going back to read earlier books."

Hah! Yes!

I read any story at the length it is written. If the writer does their job, it will finish early or late, but end exactly when it is meant to.