I'm Addicted to Series Books More Than I Knew

If you take a look at the book market, you notice there are a lot of books that are part of a series. For myself, I tend to shy away from as many of them as I can. A lot of the premises tend to be the same, and certain genres have started to annoy me with the ridiculousness of their similarities to each other and other book series already out there. So I honestly avoid a few of them like the plague.

However, I decided to take a look into how many of them I am not only into at the moment but also am interested in. My first stop was my bookshelf. I was… surprised… by the results. But what I own is not everything I’ve read or plan to read. I had to dig deeper.

And dig deeper I did. (Say that three times fast.)

I went through my Goodreads series shelf, alphabetically by author, and began to chart different things. What I discovered was, highly exasperating. My results were quite insane. I am going to share them with you.

Bear in mind, these are just approximate numbers/percentages. It took me hours (over three separate days) of compiling the data and staring at a screen and remembering which check marks I made where. It is very likely I missed a few books or possibly double check marked a couple times. So, like I said, approximate, but, it’s still close enough. *

~*~

TOTAL OF SERIES **: 173

DIFFERENT AUTHORS: 144

SEPARATE BOOKS *** : 684

TOTAL OF SERIES I OWN: 60

SEPARATE BOOKS I OWN: 128

~ 87% YOUNG ADULT ~ 5% ADULT ~ 8% CHILDRENS ~

~ 32% READ ~ 68% HAVEN’T READ ~

~ 9% FINISHED ~ 15% WILL NOT CONTINUE ~

~ 76% TO BE FINISHED/STARTED ~

~ 20% INDIE ~ 80% TRADITIONAL ~

~ 61% PARANORMAL & DYSTOPIAN ~
~ 39% CONTEMPORARY ~

~ 42% STARTED ~ 58% NOT STARTED ~

~ 35% OWNED ~ 65% NOT OWNED ~

~ 19% OWNED ~ 81% NOT OWNED ~

~ 54% OWNED ~ 46% TO BE PURCHASED ~

~ 41% READ ~ 59% UNREAD ~

~*~

It makes me truly realize how far behind I am. And how many series I really, REALLY need to get to. I would like to have the percentages to at least half of the series started, also more series completed. It just seems so ridiculous how many series I have taken on.

Ah, the life of an avid book reader.

Not that I suggest calculating the perilous evil of the above for any of you, but where do you think you stand? Are you diligent about finishing series that you’ve started or do you start so many that you barely have enough time to read the next book when it comes out? Or do you try to read more standalones because series books drive you nuts to keep up with?

I would love to hear your thoughts!
 

~Jessica

* For the sake of making it look neat and orderly, I have adjusted the percentages to whole numbers instead of decimals.
** Including ones I have started, finished, won’t finish, and haven’t started yet.
*** Not including ones from the childhood series I am no longer reading (i.e. series with hundreds of books like The Baby Sitter’s Club, Sweet Valley Twins, ETC. which really throw the percentages way off base)

PS: For the sake of clarity as to the reasons why I subjected myself to the above, I decided to make a pie chart for that as well.

Note: All pie charts in this post were made on this website. Check it out, it was actually fun. ;)

Review: Hana by Lauren Oliver

Title: Hana
Author: Lauren Oliver
Source: Purchased
Genre: Dystopian
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble
Add to your Goodreads shelf
Caution: May contain spoilers

.
In the world of Delirium, love is a disease. And like all eighteen-year-olds, Lena and Hana must take the cure.

At the start of their last summer of freedom, they were the closest of friends. Until Hana made a decision that tore them apart... In Delirium, we heard from Lena. Now, Hana gets to tell her side of the story. And nothing is what we first thought.

Hana is a powerful, moving and beautifully told original eBook short story, with a shocking twist that will leave you with your heart in your mouth.

~synopsis from Goodreads

My Thoughts:

When I first heard this was going to come out, I was excited. I love to read from different points of view in relation to novels I loved. Delirium was one of my absolute favorites last year, so I had to snatch up Hana as soon as I could.

I liked the fact that we learn firsthand exactly what Hana experienced during the times Lena was dealing with other things. It was interesting to see how she viewed things, and how her thoughts shifted through time based on the things she learned. There were some noteworthy tidbits that we learn while seeing life through Hana’s eyes. Things you never would have realized. And the end was something unexpected and yet puts some pieces together with regard to Delirium.

It was nice to read this little novella from Lauren Oliver. I appreciated the differences between Lena and Hana. Plus it was a nice reminder of what happened in Delirium, since I read it right after it came out last year. It helped when I read Pandemonium, like a refresher course. For those who enjoyed the first book in the trilogy, Hana adds a new perspective to the series and is worth checking out.

My Rating:

Pretty Good: Stay up until your bedtime

Follow Friday #22

Alright! Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee & Alison Can Read and is a way for book bloggers to get to know each other better. Just go to their pages and follow the directions, and you'll be making some new friends! Our featured bloggers are the following: The World Of The Spork Master & Obsession With Books. Congrats to being featured this week! ^_^

Q. Do you have a favorite series that you read over and over again? Tell us a bit about it and why you keep on revisiting it?

I don't think I've read a series over and over again. The only one I can think would qualify is Anne Of Green Gables because I believe I read the first four books at least a couple times over, and the first probably more than that. I think most people know about it... if not... click this link! Otherwise, I haven't had a chance to reread many of my favorites!


How about you? Happy Follow Friday! <3

~Jessica

Review: Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar

Title: Gossip Girl
Author: Cecily von Ziegesar
Summary: Read Goodreads Synopsis
Source: Library
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble


My Thoughts:

I originally read this book probably when I was 19 or 20, back in the infancy of the series. I couldn’t get into it. I attribute my inability to enjoy it for a couple reasons. Number one, I had no idea what was going on. Too many characters and too many situations going on, I got lost. Number two, around that time I was reading mostly fluffy novels--YA romances with formulaic story lines that were easy to follow and easy to digest. So to read a story with a serious or detailed story line, I pretty much gave up early on. As time has gone on, though, I’ve picked up quite a few books with substance and intense story lines.

Since I didn’t enjoy the book, when the TV series came out I wasn’t interested at all. Over the years I’ve become more interested in young adult TV dramas. I used to be a huge fan of The OC when it was on, and then became obsessed with Veronica Mars. I discovered that the producer behind The OC is the producer behind Gossip Girl, and Kristen Bell (who played the character Veronica Mars) was the narrating voice for Gossip Girl. That, and my desire to find a new series to follow that revolved around teens/twenty-somethings, built up so much that when the series went on sale for $9.99 on Amazon, I bought it. I ended up getting hooked. And then wanting to try the series again.

Upon my second attempt to read the book, I found that I enjoyed it much more. Knowing the characters and the story lines from watching the show helped me keep things straight. Also, I believe that since I’m much older now (only by like 6 years, but still) I can grasp these stories a lot better when there’s a lot going on. I’m impressed at the way the show worked in the various scenes from the book. Not all of it is exact (you can pretty much never expect that), but they did a good job by not deviating too much from the basic theme (meaning it's still Upper East Side elite kids doing crazy stuff, but there are differences in some aspects of the characters, and some plot lines vary). The way the story plays out in the first book is different in a few ways (like the reason for the Kiss On The Lips party, Vanessa being there and filming, Serena’s modeling stint). Also the characters are much more inappropriate in the book than on the show (which you expect considering it’s on regular TV and not HBO). The immaturity of the thoughts and actions of the characters was surprisingly more amusing than anything. Elite socialites talking about bodily functions? Hilarious. Even the rich kids are just as childish as the rest of us.

So, you can say I did enjoy it. It wasn’t amazing or anything, but it was good. If you watch the show, take a look at the book. You may like it, or have a better appreciation for it like me.

My Rating:

Pretty Good... Stay up until your bedtime.

~Jessica