Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Hi, I'm Paula, and I'm a Binge Reader.

It's not just that I read multiple books in a row as fast as I can when I have the chance to read.  It's that I tend to find a single author whose work I like and proceed to read my way voraciously through the entire book list.

I've recently read all but one of the Dick Francis mysteries available for purchase.  Well, I say recently.  It's actually taken me about three years to get to them all.  And I've gone back and re-read a few that I particularly liked. There's one book I have at home somewhere that I know I haven't read yet, but I think it may be boxed up somewhere. I'll have to go hunting for it the next time I have some writing down time.

Before Dick Francis, it was the Harry Potter series, all of the Jane Austen books, the entire Dean Koontz Odd Thomas book collection and every old Lilian Peake Harlequin Romance book I could get my hands on. I also got sucked into a Luis Mendoza mystery by Dell Shannon and ended up reading every single one of those books I could find at either the library, the thrift stores or the used book stores. As a child, I made it through all of the original Trixie Belden mysteries one after the other, and collected as many Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books as I could find.

I also binge read nonfiction sometimes, such as all of the John Douglas profiling books, or the whole Lewis Grizzard humor book collection. (See the image above!)

I've been fortunate, in some ways, that I came to many of the book series I loved after they were essentially complete.  It made binge reading easier and I didn't have the agonizing wait, for instance, for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  My niece already owned all seven Harry Potter books before I read the first one, so I didn't have to wait for any of them. (Which might explain my Thanksgiving weekend reading binge wherein I read all seven books back to back, barely stopping to eat or sleep).

Are you a binge reader? Do you have a series or the works of a particular author that you couldn't read fast enough or often enough? 

Confess!

8 comments:

  1. Binge reader? Not sure that would be how to label me. I am more of a steady diet reader as I read all the time. I do love when I get to read a series one after another. I tend to wait impatiently for the next one otherwise. I just plain LOVE TO READ!

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  2. I used to be a steady-diet reader until I sold my first book. Now it takes all my mental energy to produce a book, so I tend to read in big, choking bites between books.

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  3. Paula, yes a binge reader am I. A while ago I read a book with stories from 4 different authors. I loved the paranormal stories so much that I tracked down the older books from each authors series. I had already been reading Gina Showalter's books about the Lords of the Underworld, but now read Lora Leigh's Breeds books,Shannon K. Butcher's Sentinel Wars series and Jessica Anderson's Nightkeeper series. I also love Laurel K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series. I love a series of books from Harlequin and tend to get them all so I can read straight through the series.

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  4. I tend to read all the time too - favorite past time. But I also do tend to when I find an author I like, to find all that author's books and read them all. Then if it's a keeper, I will have those times when I will pull them out and read all of then. In fact, I just did that with your Cooper books and have recently done it with Julie Miller's Precinct Books. I also have almost all of Lori Foster's books that are series too.

    Denise

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  5. Hi Paula,

    Yes, I am a binge reader. As a kid I read, every Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys. and Agatha Christie. Then I read every book by Suzanne Brockmann, Karen Robards, Jude Deveraux, Johanna Lindsey and Diana Palmer. Also nearly every book by Rachel Gibson, Susan Mallery,, Erin McCarthy, Lori Foster, Elizabeth Lowell, Kathy Love, Beth Ciotta, Jennifer Crusie, Sue Grafton, These days I read nearly every Intrigue and every Blaze book plus so many more. I love to read!

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  6. Laura AKA Loves 2 Read RomanceMay 30, 2012 at 8:19 AM

    It looks like I am in good company. I to read all the time. In fact I was told once that if books were exercise I would be aneroix. I love the continuitys that harlequin puts out. I just placed an order which will contain the last books of the Love Inspired Suspense continuity Fitzgerald Bay and Love Inspired Historical continuity Irish Brides. I also will get the last book in BJ Daniels latest Whitehorse series. I can't wait to start these! I have learned patience in collecting a series till it's done. You are lucky Paula. I started reading Harry Potter after the fifth book came out. I had to wait for the sixth which wasn't bad and then I had to wait 2 years between the sixth and seventh books!!! I love the series and listen to them at least twice a year. I can't wait to see what you come out with next

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  7. Count me in too! I binged on the JD Robb In Death series until I got caught up. Now I buy them but don't read them right away because I know once I do, I have to wait another 6 months. I also did the same with Larissa Ione and Chloe Neill.
    This month I binged on Intrigues - but not by a author.

    MarcieR

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  8. I've been working my way through all of Terry Goodkind's books. I've finally made it to the concluding book in the Sword of Truth series, and once I am done with that I will probably start on the Stephanie Plum series. I have an addiction to series. I'm the type of person who will buy every single book in a series all at once and plow through rather than get them one at a time. The waiting before jumping into the next one would kill me. :)

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