Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday: Series I Haven't Finished

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish that combines lists and books.  This weeks topic is...Top Ten Series I Haven't Finished. 

This bloghop was brought to my attention by Rachel over at Rachel Writes Things. Yay, I've found a new hop! 

First off, let me confess: I don't have 10. I am a sucker for finishing series, and buying them all so they look pretty on my shelf. I am that guy. On the other hand, I am totally that guy (gal) whom you want to read the first book in your series, because I'll totally read the rest of them. Especially if you have pretty covers. 

But here are the ones I haven't gotten through. You'll notice many are in the same genre...as it turns out, epic fantasy? Not my thing. 

J.R.R. Tolkien, THE LORD OF THE RINGS. I am bored of the rings. I have tried to read LOTR at least five times, first in high school, then before the Jackson films came out, then when the Jackson films were finished (because I loved the Jackson films), then when I had to teach LOTR:FOTR in the reading classes I taught, then when I was on a cruise and thought I'd have enough time to finish them (I packed them to go on a cruise! Why did I do that? There's THREE--I read SHADOW OF THE WIND by Carlos Ruiz Zafon instead).  I realize it's darn-near book sacriliege to have never finished LOTR, but there you are.

Christopher Paolini, THE INHERITANCE CYCLE. Now, I loved ERAGON. LOVED it. Loved it so much I went out and bought ELDEST at the 24-hour grocery at 11 PM one night so I could keep going. Loved it so much that I asked for a hardcover of ERAGON for Christmas that year so I'd have a matching set. And then? I got about four chapters into ELDEST, laid it down one evening, and never picked it back up. Now I don't remember who the characters are any more, and I have no desire to go on. 

Ally Condie, MATCHED series. I thought MATCHED was pretty catchy. But I didn't buy the love triangle at all, and I didn't care about...gosh I don't even remember his name. Kyle? I feel like it was more future-y than that. So when it split into a dual-POV in CROSSED I was pretty much done. I didn't care enough about half the cast to want to read his POV. 

Rick Riordan, PERCY JACKSON series. These just didn't cross over well enough for me. Unlike Harry Potter or some other middle grade series I've read, I felt like I was reading middle grade. There's nothing wrong with a book that's correctly written for its audience, and I can see why 8-12 year-old boys love PERCY. But he didn't hold much appeal for me. 

Two that I've started but haven't even made it through the first book: DIVERGENT series by Veronica Roth and GAME OF THRONES/SONG OF ICE AND FIRE by George R. R. Martin. The Roth series I dropped because as I read it, I was thinking, "This book opens perfectly, is paced perfectly, and is otherwise exactly what this genre should be." That was when I realized I was just exhausted from reading too much YA dystopian. Even though I knew it seemed like a good book, I was just bored. The Martin books have too many characters for me to handle at this time. My friends have told me to watch the TV series first, to have faces to put with the names, but I just don't have the time to do that right now. Maybe later.

And last, THE GIVER quartet by Lois Lowry. Why haven't I finished that, even though I love that series to pieces? Because she just added another book! Squee! And thanks to the National Book Festival, I have a copy of it even though it isn't out for another week! Stay tuned--it'll be my Strict Pick for October 2.


4 comments:

  1. I loved Divergent and Insurgent, but I do have to spread out my dystopian books. Reading too many back to back makes it all blend together and rather depressing sometimes. In general, I don't read the same genre of books all at once, spreading it out keeps it fresher and more interesting for me.

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    1. Exactly! I suspect I will enjoy them immensely when the time is right. But right now I'm just pooped out on dystopians--this must be how agents and editors feel!

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  2. great list. I tottaly understand getting "burned out" on dystopian novels,but seriously you need to read divergent, you would love it. i actually just made a video review for "divergent" on my blog, you should check it out.

    new follower, great blog,

    Katie @ Inkk

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    1. That was totally the thing that made me realize it was me and not the book--I could tell the book was engaging and pretty much perfect, and that any other time, I'd probably love it. But I'd just read a bunch of dystopians and/or sci-fi at once, and I was tired.

      I'll look forward to checking out your video! Thanks for following.

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