A Life in Books

I read too many book series. I always vow to not read a series unless the author is already dead. Theoretically this will keep me from having to wait for the new books to come out; although nowadays that’s not always true, what with children taking over their parents’ series (the Herberts’ Dune Series) and people continuing to write books from a deceased author’s notes.

It’s crazy. Crazy I tell you. Crazy people and their crazy not right ways. Plus, the books not written by the original author are never as good as the ones that are.

Usually though, this system of waiting for death woukd work. Except when it comes to books, I am the sort of person who can resist anything but temptation (to borrow a line from Crazy in Alabama). I now wait each year for seventeen different series to launch a new book.

Then, on the day it comes out, I buy it, usually finish it that day, and start counting off the new year until the next one comes. The cliff-hanger endings are the worst ones, although the forgettable endings are bad too because I forget the book.

Although it is only February, this year is already turning out to be a bad year for books. Or rather a bad year for readers. As anyone who is reading a series of books knows, the summer is the time when new series books come out. New books come out all year long, but most series have new installments coming out in late June or throughout July.

Already, eight of the series that I read have pushed back the release date on their new books-some all the way to October. Impatient readers-such as yours truly-are in for a very long year. Bummer.