Library book sale

My local library is having a book sale soon, so I’m spending some time this morning gathering up some dusty old paperbacks to get rid of. This turned into more of a project than I thought it would be, since it got me thinking about a bunch of book series that I started but never finished, and whether or not I actually want to finish them. (And if I do want to finish them, do I want to hang on to the dusty old paperbacks, or just get the Kindle version whenever I’m actually ready to read them?) I thought this might make a semi-interesting blog post, so here are some thoughts on all that.

Myth Adventures

This is a fun series that I started reading a long time ago. I’ve read (and own) the first seven books, and have the next three in paperback, but never got around to reading them. For this one, I’m definitely donating the old paperbacks, and keeping the unread ones. I look forward into jumping back into this at some point; it’s a lot of fun. (wikipedia / goodreads)

Ender’s Game

I read the first two books in this series a long time ago, in paperback. I liked both, and bought the next four. This one gets a little confusing, since I think that what I actually have is the first four books of “The Ender Quintet” and the first two of the “Ender’s Shadow” series. I considered just donating all of these, including the unread ones, since Orson Scott Card’s political/moral views don’t quite match up to mine. But he’s not (as far as I know) so horrible that I shouldn’t read his work at all.  So I’m hanging on to the unread paperbacks, and I might (or might not) read them. I can always donate them next time (or just toss them in the recycle bin). (wikipedia / goodreads)

Nero Wolfe

I started haphazardly picking up and reading Nero Wolfe paperbacks a few years ago. I haven’t read one in a while, but I do love them. Both the characters and the setting are really “my thing,” for lack of a better term. I really like reading about New York City in the 30s for some reason. Nero Wolfe stories, of course, can be read in any order, so I’m not making any attempt to read them chronologically. I’m going to donate the few paperbacks I have; I’ve got them all recorded in Goodreads, so I don’t have to worry about accidentally re-purchasing ones I’ve already read. (wikipedia / goodreads)

The Dark Tower

I bought the first four books in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series several years ago. I had never read any Stephen King, but I’d heard so much about this series, I thought I should give it a try. I found the first book, The Gunslinger, almost unreadable. I put it aside after reading about half of it, then picked it up and finished it a year or two later. Then, I started the second book. I didn’t make it very far into that one before putting it back down. For a while, I held onto the idea that I’d give it a try again at some point, but I think it’s finally time to admit defeat. This series just isn’t for me. I’m donating all of my Dark Tower books, including the unread ones. (And I haven’t seen the movie either. That got pretty bad reviews, and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t like it.) If I ever change my mind, these books are easy enough to find. (wikipedia / goodreads)

Other Stuff

I also donated some Spenser books and Adam Dalgliesh books. I don’t have much to say about those though. I liked reading them, but I don’t remember much about them. I’m sure I’ll read more Robert Parker and P. D. James at some point.

And I looked at my stack of Dresden Files paperbacks, but decided to hold onto them for a while longer. I don’t have a good reason for that. I’m probably not going to re-read them any time soon. I do like the series a lot. I’ve read the first eleven books, and plan on reading the rest. (At least the main novels. I’m not sure I want to worry about the various short stories, comics, and stuff.) I think I might stop buying them in paperback though, and switch to buying the Kindle versions.