about Books
” My problem with series books isn’t without reason, though to be fair, a good book is a good book, regardless of where it fits into a writer’s body of work. What I don’t like are the series books in which you have to be following along from the first book or you can’t understand the story. Or the ones that conveniently end with a cliffhanger so that you’ll have to pick up the next one to see what happens.
Let me just say to the writers of such books that if you can’t give your readers a satisfying story in one volume, you should be looking for another job, because you’re not doing this one properly. I don’t care who you are. No story you write is so big and so important that it needs multiple volumes in which to be told.
That doesn’t mean there can’t be an overall arc connecting the books—a bigger story of which each volume is a self-contained part. Or that there can’t be character growth so that when certain things happen in one volume, they’re reflected in the characters’ lives in subsequent ones. However, each book should stand on its own. A reader should be able to pick up any title in a series and enjoy it. Having missed earlier volumes, they might not get the full resonance, but they should be able to follow the story readily and be given a satisfying conclusion.” Charles De Lint writing in his column for Fantasy and Science Fiction, September/October 2010.
I like what he says – probably because I agree with it (: I don’t like to pick up a book that I think I will like, get involved in it, and then find out it is in the middle of a set of 4 or 8 or 20. I think, hmmm, well, I want to read this now – not go back and read a slew of others first. Now, daughter, I know … you can’t do this. It just doesn’ t fit with your sense of order. I have ready many books in series (and it order because of her insistance. *smiling fondly here*) I have also ready many out of order! and I do think Mr. De Lint said it well – ” it doesn’t mean there can’t be an overall arc connecting the books,” in fact, I do like that. But I also want to enjoy each story as a stand alone – just in case I can’t find the other dozen in order or cannot afford to buy them all to get to the one I hold in my hand!
I have made to myself some goals (which I will NOT list) for 2011. I do not call them resolutions, as those are always broken. But, goals, or even guidlines… it is the kind of thing that you want to do better on, but know yourself too well to promise. A small, tiny part of that is reading some new and interesting books. New to me. Not my usual list of well-loved authors and books (series even). So, I am making a new book list for 2011.
In no particular order:
Freedom by Franzen; Skippy Dies by Murray; Lord of MisRule by Gordon; The Passage by Justin Cronin; Green Angel and Green Witch by Alice Hoffman; Among Others by Jo Walton; The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephanie Meyer; Hearts at Stake by Alyxandra Harvey; Blockade Billy by Stephen King.
Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments
Tags: books, Charles De Lint, resolutions
Our other blogMy new cards on Shutterfly:
I have that same peeve about writers. I just got home from the library, settled in for a good read with a new book and realized the author took two chapters just to familiarize me with the past of all the characters. I was so mad because I will read a sequel (1) but rarely like to read a series. If they cannot write a book which is self-contained then they should have to put a warning on the label, lol!
*Oh, the horror!* LOL I know, I do kinda agree as well, that each story should be self-containing – but then again, aren’t there several that you just don’t want to end, & you’re glad when they continue the story later?
As far as the series’ we read, most of them probably could be read in & of themselves, but you’d miss all the little nuances & details & side character references, which are part of the fun in reading multiple books either set in the same place or starring the same people. It makes it more real!
And of course, I *AM* a little teeny-tiny bit OCD about just a very very few things ….
LOL – Carolyn, I have learned to try to find out if it is a series – sometimes they are clearly marked – and sometimes it is a guessing game.
and yes, dear, I do love the series we read. it is as if you are a part of the continuing threads of the characters lives.
Funny thing, that the person I quoted there – Charles DeLint has written a series which I love. But apparently he doesn’t like to ready them so much.
I am both ways about it. I just don’t like to get involved in a book and then find out there was more before haha