Read a series back to back?

[Fried Egg]

How do you read a series? Do you read each book back to back or do you read something else in between each part?

Obviously it's not possible to read a series back to back if it's brand new and you have to wait for each installment, but with older series, the option arises.

I used to read series back to back but now much prefer to break them up by reading other things in between. The most recent exception to that rule was when I read the Ambar Chronicles (Roger Zelazny). I fully indended to break it up but I was so hooked, the stories carrying right on from one another, that I couldn't help myself and read the whole lot in one go.

[Rane Longfox]

Depends how good it is, and if it's all released yet Most of the time I have a break between reading two books in the same series. Otherwise it can get a bit too much. Normally only short books between though, nothing that will make me forget all the stuff that went on in the previous books...

[Talysia]

I try to read all the books in a series at the same time if I can, although as Rane says it's a bit difficult if they haven't been released yet.

That said, though, about the only series I won't even try to read back to back is Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time.

[Ian Whates]

I try to make a conscious effort not to read a series back-to-back, simply because I'm worried about getting tired of a given author's style and so not enjoying a book as much as I otherwise would.

Even if I've really enjoyed a book and want to know what happens next, I'll nearly always read at least one other book in between before returning to that series. There have been a few occasions when I've broken my own rule, but very rarely.

[tangaloomababe]

Funny story. I was given a book a few years ago and started reading it, however it became apparent just a few chapters in that something was not right, it was like you need prior knowledge about the characters.

Of course I quickly figured out it was book three in a series. Of I went to get books one and two and would you believe it, it was also the release day of book four, so I brought them all. Went back to the start and read them all straight after each other. Then I had to wait for book five........

Oh in answer to your question I think it depends on the books, some you cant get enough of and you want to read the whole lot in one go but there are some series that, although they are good and you enjoy them, it would be to much to read them all in one go.
For instance the Clan of the Cave Bear series, much as I enjoyed them, I am glad there was a space of a few years and in the case of the last one 12 years because I would have become bored with similar information and style of writing if I had read them all without something to break them up.
Besides if you have that gap between each book its like returning to an old friend who you have missed all the more for their having been away.

[j. d. worthington]

With me it varies -- not only depending on quality of the books, but also on my mood at that particular time. This can also apply to either very long or very short series, or even to going through a writer's entire corpus, which I've done now and again (Moorcock, Howard, and Lovecraft -- well, all that was available of Lovecraft; a lot of new books have come out over the last few years, all the newer material being nonfiction). I also went through the entire History of Middle-Earth back-to-back (and some of that is... a bit difficult, as small chunks are written using the older Anglo-Saxon, not to mention the detailed working out of various Elvish languages, linguistic roots, etc.). Other times, I space things out tremendously, yet don't seem to forget details at all....

[Lith]

Back-to-back, whenever possible. And finished series, whenever possible. Not so much because I forget details (if it's that boring a book I usually don't bother with sequels), but because I want to know what happens next in the story, and if I have to wait a long time, my interest in finding out tends to wan, as I always find other interesting things to take up my time.

However, when I re-read (IF I re-read, ha ha), I usually skip over the boring books and only re-read my favorites.

[littlemissattitude]

I usually read something in between, but not necessarily between every book. For example, I'm starting to read all of Faye Kellerman's Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus novels in order...again - I tried to do so last year and made it about halfway through before I started having trouble finding them in order at the library or being able to find copies to buy when I was ready for them, but I'm determined to get through them all in reasonable proximity to each other. But since I read the first volume (The Ritual Bath) again at the beginning of the month, I've read four other books (two others by her, but not in the series...although one was a collection of short stories, three or four of which feature Peter and Rina...one by her husband, and one from a completely different series that I also would like to read through in order). So I don't know if I'll read the first one yet again (why not? I've probably read it five or six times already), or just pick up the second one (which I also own) when I've gone through my current library haul.

Still, when I do read my way through a series, I most often read two or three of the series, read something different for a book or two, and then go back to the series for awhile. I think the only series that I've ever read straight through with nothing in between were the six books of Donaldson's first two Thomas Covenant trilogies.

[Brigitte]

The last series I tried reading back to back was "The Boxcar Children" when I was little. It didn't work at all (I didn't have the attention span, even though they were pretty good).

I haven't seen a series since that I could sit down and read straight through.

[nixie]

If its completed then back to back most of the time. Although with some I find the need to break it up.

[Razorback]

My approach and thoughts on the matter are pretty similar to Ian's. In fact, I usually read 3 to 5 other books in between those in a series. Sometimes, more.

[Nesacat]

I usually wait until I have all the books to read them, especially if I am buying them here in Malaysia. The stores are often not good at bringing in all the books in a series so it's very frustrating to wait weeks and weeks for the book to be brought in from abroad.

When I do get them all, then I read them back to back; often without sleeping if the story really sinks its claws in.

[tangaloomababe]

Nesa tonights reading is Alessandro Baricco's Without Blood at a massive 87 pages it could take me oh an hour or so......

[Locksmith]

I'm similar to Ian and a couple of others here. I like to have a break between books of a series. I've read series I really enjoyed back-to-back in the past but found that I was a little jaded by the end of the final book, even though I had been really enjoying it. Sometimes I've had to go back later to enjoy the final book on its own.

One thing that I find slightly confusing though is with uncompleted series, where I come back to it for a new book after a year or more of not reading the series. I find it can take a little time getting back into the series.

I also like to intersperse my SFF with mainstream fiction or non-fiction. Normally I alternate between SFF and other.

[woodsman]

Originally Posted by Locksmith

I also like to intersperse my SFF with mainstream fiction or non-fiction. Normally I alternate between SFF and other.

Couldnae agree more,
I tend to have a couple of Non-fiction on the go the whole time, just reading a couple of chapters a night, and then alternate a fantasy book with an alternative which breaks a series up quite nicely without massive gaps between segments, as it were.

However have once claimed i could read anything a friend bet me i couldnt read all of WoT one-after-the other and reading books 1-8 in a row nearly killed me.
Moral: proceed with caution.