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So I have this problem, not sure if I should seek professional help or not, maybe you guys can help...You see,I am a notorious first volume reader! I am always reading the first book in a series and even if I love that first book and I want to read more, I go on to so (so so so!) many other books that I never manage to get back to any of those other books in series I started! Anyone else have something similar?

Some of the books that I only read only the first Vol. 1 (and have been meaning to go back to) are:
-Saga,
-Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century, #1),
-Stormfront(The Dresden Files),
-The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastards),
-Hounded (The Iron Druid Chronicles, #1),
-Assassin's Apprentice(Farseer Trilogy,#1),
-The Magician's Guild (The Black Magician Trilogy,#1)
-Interview With The Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles, #1),
-The Shining (The Shining, #1),
-Wild Seed (Patternmaster, #1),

OK OK OK, I am not even joking that I could go on and on!

Anyone w/ me, or should I seek professional help?

I myself have read a lot of first volumes of the series, but it's mostly because my purchase plans is almost completely based on Amazon Kindle Daily Deals, Kindle Month Deals or some kind of massive Amazon price drop. Usually the first of a series gets dropped in price while the rest is the normal price. There have been some series that I have broken that habit but yeah, that's the way it goes when you buy the books you want on sale.

I'll probably go back to those series that I like best and buy the at regular price once I finish all the books I have. Though the way things are going, that won't happen for another couple of months if at all. ^_^;

Gosh, I am the complete opposite. I binge read every book in a series if I'm enjoying it.

I am having the same problem here lately. Since my semester ended I have been reading a few of the S&L picks from past years (yes years) that I thought looked interesting. Problem is, most of them are the start of a series and even if their sequel's weren't out when the group read them, they are now.

So instead of reading the sequel's back to back like I normally would I have been reading the first book and then moving on to the next "first book" in another series.

Examples since May for me. All 3 series of which I really want to read the next book in too.
Hyperion
Bitter Seeds
Leviathan Wakes

And I am just about to start eitherThe Lies of Locke Lamora or Wool Omnibusthis week I think. The nice thing I see coming out of this is I will have reading material for the foreseeable future. Which at this rate means 2020 ;)

Micah wrote: "I am having the same problem here lately. Since my semester ended I have been reading a few of the S&L picks from past years (yes years) that I thought looked interesting. Problem is, most of them ..."

haha! hmmm, maybe I should blame S&L, lol!

I used to always, always, always read the entire series. Heck, I used to always, always, always read the author's entire output, to the extent possible. Which got a bit difficult when dealing with, say, C.J. Cherryh's Union/Alliance books or Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion cycle. But back then I also used to just plain read a heck of a lot more.

These days I have trouble maintaining momentum for anything that lengthy. I think I've read one or two four- or five-book series in their entirety in the past few years, but other than that it's mostly just dribs and drabs with excellent intentions of going back later and continuing onward.

Jeane wrote: "So I have this problem, not sure if I should seek professional help or not, maybe you guys can help...You see,I am a notorious first volume reader! I am always reading the first book in a series an..."

I definitely have this problem too. Aside from Harry Potter, I don't know if there is a series that's more than a trilogy that I've actually finished. I can get through trilogies. At least, sometimes I can get through trilogies.

My Next in Series shelf has nearly 30 books on it.

I keep saying I'm not going to start new series that aren't complete, and I keep doing it anyways. Though a few of those are complete and I just haven't gotten back to them for one reason or another.

Michele wrote: "Gosh, I am the complete opposite. I binge read every book in a series if I'm enjoying it."

Me too, but only IF it strikes my fancy.

Rob wrote: "My Next in Series shelf has nearly 30 books on it.

I keep saying I'm not going to start new series that aren't complete, and I keep doing it anyways. Though a few of those are complete and I just ..."

aw, see that's what I need! yay! another excuse to make a booklist, hee hee!

Jeane wrote: "aw, see that's what I need! yay! another excuse to make a booklist, hee hee! "

Happy to help. I originally made it to remind myself how many series I hadn't finished so I wouldn't start new stuff. I failed spectacularly.

Kenneth wrote: "Michele wrote: "Gosh, I am the complete opposite. I binge read every book in a series if I'm enjoying it."

Me too, but only IF it strikes my fancy."

I am the same as Kenneth...

I tend to read atleast 2 into a series before I'm ready to try something else. I almost always eventually come back though... infact I always make my new years resolution to pick up the next book in a couple of the series I have going it. After a couple new shiney's I also try to pick somethign thats part of a series, just so it's not to long between the books. I hate trying to remember what was going on if it's been a long time.

Jeane wrote: "... Anyone w/ me, or should I seek professional help? "

I think your approach is healthier than being a completist (even though I'm a completist myself). Wanting/needing to finish series has led me down many rabbit holes of diminishing returns where I'm slogging through books 6 and 7 just to find out how it ends. There are a few times where an author's writing improves after the first book but more frequently they start repeating and recycling themselves.

That's a great idea to start up a next in series list (which I'm going to copy straight away) because then you can ask friends about whether the series picked up steam or headed due south before you dive back into it.

I feel your pain. I love series but can't read more than one book by an author at a time or i get bored of the writing style. Though I always intend to go back to series I like I often find myself following the new shiny book and starting another series. I also have a shelf on goodreads full of books from series I need to pick up again.

One solution I am doing is after I have started a few series I tell myself I have to read some 2nd books next or some 3rd or that I can't start a new series until I have completed at least one that I have already started. It is working quite well, but I am still picking up 1st books.

I feel this is a problem I will never see the end of.

And 1st books often being 99p on Kindle really isn't helping matters lol

So in my younger days, I would always try and finish series. It was easier back when fantasy series came in threes or occasionally fours or fives. But then the 90s rolled around and series started getting longer and longer, and then I was burned by a few series that either had endings that couldn't live up to the promise of the earlier installments, never actually ended, or just had so many padded middle volumes I gave up.

Also, my fiction tastes in the past weren't as broad as I would like, and in the past few years, I've tried to rectify that. So these days, a series really has to stand out to make me want to continue. I've caught up with James S. A. Corey's Expanse books, because they seem to hit this sweet spot of interesting world-building, good characterization, stand-alone installments, great pacing, and good length. I can so far say the same about Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence, which also gets major points for originality. There's a couple of second installments of new series I'm interested in, but they'll probably end up making or breaking any further interest.

Like Eleanor, I tend to avoid reading more than one book in a row by a single author because I tire of reading the same style, the same characters, the same story. I think I may have a slightly worse problem in that I read Book One, then purchase the rest of the series but rarely find the time to read them all.

Abby wrote: "Jeane wrote: "So I have this problem, not sure if I should seek professional help or not, maybe you guys can help...You see,I am a notorious first volume reader! I am always reading the first book ..."

Yes, at least I have read all of Harry Potter! But to tell you the truth I have to wonder if it's because I read them as they came out. Like if I were to start them now, would I be able to read the whole series. A part of me says, "well of course, hello, it's Harry Potter!" but a part of me still isn't completely sure....

I admit I'm starting to struggle with trilogies & quadrilogies etc... I've got so many books that I want to read that unless the first book really grabs me, the rest of the series tends to wallow at the bottom end of the 'To read' pile. There are a few that I'd like to carry on with but not enough to put off something from higher up the pile. So many books, so little time.

Jeane wrote: "Abby wrote: "Jeane wrote: "So I have this problem, not sure if I should seek professional help or not, maybe you guys can help...You see,I am a notorious first volume reader! I am always reading th..."

That's true. I read all but the last one as they came out. It took me a few years to get around to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, partly because I was really busy with college, and partly because part of what I loved about HP was the magic school thing, and, well, the Deathly Hallows doesn't have that.

bookthump wrote: "Like Eleanor, I tend to avoid reading more than one book in a row by a single author because I tire of reading the same style, the same characters, the same story. I think I may have a slightly wor..."

yep, I do this as well. Especially if i found a whole series at a second hand shop.

But I always keep up with a series if I am reading the books as they come out.

When I get on a roll, I like to stay on it. I read all of the Barsoom books one after the other. Followed The Hobbit with all of Lord of the Rings. I read the Pern books as they came out but if I did a re-read, it would be all in order. Read Kate Danley's "Maggie for Hire" and went quickly to the other three.

John wrote: "When I get on a roll, I like to stay on it. I read all of the Barsoom books one after the other. Followed The Hobbit with all of Lord of the Rings. I read the Pern books as they came out but if I d..."

See, I only read Princess of Mars and I didn't carry on, even though I wanted to. Of course I did read the Hobbit and the LOTR. The Pern series I did read both the first main trilogy and Harpers of Pern trilogy, but that was when I was in 9th grade so I don't think that counts. I read to 5 in the Temeraire series. Now I am making a huge effort to finish the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy.

That's right -- I did read all 11 Barsoom books in one go relatively recently. But the total word count for the entire Barsoom series is probably less than for the first three books of Ice and Fire.

I also did Tolkien (Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, Hobbit, LotR), but hey, that's Tolkien.