Monday Discussion: Do You Read Long Series Before They Are Finished?

Today's Monday Discussion is not original.  I have blatantly stolen it from Book Riot.  But there is also a shorter summary of it from one of the Book Riot contributors here.  Excerpted from that post:

"The No. 1 reason why people won’t read The Song of Ice and Fire series is not because they’re not interested in fantasy novels (which you might expect would be the case). And it’s not because the books are too long, or violent, or offensive to their delicate sensibilities regarding sex. Nope. The No. 1 reason is that folks don’t want to be left hanging, waiting until 2020 (or whenever) for the notoriously slow George R. R. Martin to finish his series. Readers are friggin’ impatient — and rightly so!

We hate waiting for books, almost than we hate waiting for anything else in the world. And I’m with you — for my entire reading life, I’ve had the same policy: Must wait until finished in order to begin."

Use the above links to see what others had to say.  There are quite a few comments.  But let's talk about it amongst ourselves today.

The example used most frequently is the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin.  Since Martin takes a long time to write each book and the level of detail is so high, many people are waiting until the series is done to read it all at once.  Personally, I am just forgoing the books and watching the TV show.

I tend not to think about whether or not a series is done before I read it.  I read the Harry Potter books as they came out (I would even go to Costco on release day to buy the newest one) and I read The Passage in 2010 and am still waiting for the next book.

I guess for me, if I want to read a book right away, I will.  If there is a long time in between books, like my wait with The Passage, I will use GoodReads, Amazon, or my own notes to catch myself up on the details.

Although thinking about it a bit more critically, there are a few series I read less frequently and parse them out so that I always have a back up book to read.  A good example of this is the Louise Penny Gamache Mysteries.  I have only read the first 2, but it is not because I am waiting for the series to end, rather, I like having the series there with more books that are new to me.  It is like money in my pocket; when I can find nothing else, I have a book that will work no questions asked.

So what about you. For today' Monday Discussion, when it comes to a really big, intense series, do you wait until the author is done so that you can read it all in one gulp?

For past Monday Discussions, click here.