Breaking up with an Author (or Series)

So there's this author (or series) you have loved. These are books you buy, no questions asked, not even looking at the synopsis. You've read the books a thousand times. You've waited for each new book with bated breath...and then it happens. The next book comes out, you get it and it's not as good as the last one. You mark it up to "Hey, it happens to everyone, the next one will be better." Then the next one comes out. Same thing.  So then you decide, okay, I'll just start borrowing the next ones from the library now. Then the next one comes out and you pick it up from the library and bring it home...where it stays in your library bag the whole time because you just can't muster the interest to read it. Or there are ten other books that seem way more important. So the book goes back, unread. That's when it hits you, you've broken up with them.

Perhaps the author has swapped direction or has gotten lazy where they're just following the same exact template from the books before. Just changing the names and the places, but the general plot is the same, the characters are stock characters. Or the series has started out one way and then gone through a Sybil moment and has gone in a completely new direction that bears no sibilance to the series you fell in love with.

Or for once, maybe it really is you and not them.  You have outgrown the books and not in an age outgrowing like moving on from YA to adult books, but your tastes have changed. The plots aren't working for you, and now you're craving a bit more depth in your books, or a bit of mystery or action or facts.

So how do you handle breaking up with a book?

This has happened to me a few times actually, but this last time was the first time it was really hard. I got started on romance novels once I was ready to hop out of the YA scene (which was probably like 15 to be honest) because my mom read them. I just read what was on her shelves. I loved them, until I realized a lot of the time it was the same story over and over. So then I moved to mystery novels. I had no problem giving away all the romance novels I had. It was pretty emotionless. I started on paranormal romance for the supernatural angle, but quickly learned it was just those simple templates again just with vampires. So then I moved to urban fantasy. I broke up with the Anita Blake series because I was drawn to the first few books where the main character was mostly just a detective solving preternatural crimes, but then the series changed dramatically and I lost interest.

Courtesy: Google images

The whole time I had kept and read one of my first authors of romantic suspense. The author was interesting and for awhile I fooled myself into thinking, they are mystery novels with romance on the side. Slowly I started to realize it was the opposite. The "hero" was always a bossy ex military alpha male and the "heroine" was always kind of quirky and an intellectual/artistic type who spent most the book saying how independent she was, but then getting herself into some kind of situation and needing the "hero" to save her. So I bought the last few books, swearing I'd read them, but then a few pages in, I'd put it down and start something (anything else). So this last book to come out I decided to just check it out from the library. Same thing! I would read something (anything else!) on my TBR pile. So it went back to the library unread.

Then I realized. I broke up with the author. I was kind of heartbroken this time, maybe because I'd actually chatted with this author online so there was a pseudo personal connection. I don't blame the author. I think she is doing great books...for someone else. I just need a little more for my personal reading enjoyment. I think this calls for a rebound book.

So have you ever "broken up" with an author or a series?

Literary Links: March 23rd Edition

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The next best thing to reading an actual book.

Chinua Achebe Dead: 'Things Fall Apart' Author Dies: RIP

Craziest Book Titles, Part One: I would be particularly worried if I was a writer in New England...

How Flannery O’Connor Made Me Fall in Love with Southern Fiction: I'm feeling the need to read some O'Connor right now!

Oscar Wilde Letter, Discovered In England, Contains Advice For Writers: To start out with, don't quit your day job!

Friday @ the Forums: March 22nd

Here is what's going on in our forums on Goodreads.

Literary Blogs - Do you have a book blog that you want to share? We'll share your link here on the blog as well.

Practical Classics Questions - Kevin Smokler will be by in May to talk about his book. Post your questions on the thread for him.

Classic Books Mentioned in other Classic Books - Recently we ran across Middlemarch in The Age of Innocence. Do you know of any?

March is Women's History Month - Which female authors are you reading this month?

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Literary Links: March 22nd Edition

The next best thing to reading an actual book.

Difference and Deliverance in the Digital Age - Reasons why you shouldn't talk literature at parties.

The Joy of Cooking - Have $40,000 to spare for an original copy?

Steampunk 101: An Expert Helps Demystify the Strange Subculture - Anyone else as lost as I am, but also kind of intrigued?

20 Embarrassingly Bad Book Covers for Classic Novels - I really liked the cover for The Scarlet Pimpernel. Briefcases in the French Revolution?

Now You Can Collaborate With Poe, Dickens, Nietzsche, Shakespeare… - This Booktator just lost her morning playing with this. What can you come up with? Share with us!

Source: Karena Fagan

Review: Will the Real William Shakespeare Please Step Forward?

Shakespeare fans, do I have a book for  you. I just finished up David Lawrence-Young's Will the Real William Shakespeare Please Step Forward? Haven't heard about it? It seems few have, according to Goodreads, but this is a book worth seeking out. 

University lecturer Daniel Ryhope is stunned when a colleague declares "William Shakespeare was a con man! A faker and a forger!" He had spent his whole career believing that the Bard himself created all his plays and sonnets, but suddenly is plagued with uncertainity. Along with two colleagues and his wife, Beth, he embarks on an academic journey to find out who was the real William Shakespeare. 

What I enjoyed about this novel the most was its information. Lawrence-Young delivers real sources and real theories and puts them in an entertaining format. Personally I have a hard time with nonfiction because it can be delivered rather drily. This was the wonderful combination of fact and fiction. I also liked the addition of lines from the plays and sonnets thrown in along with the fact Lawrence-Young didn't leave the ladies out of his speculation. Equal opportunity suspicion. I like it. 

I will warn if you're looking for the suspense and action ala the Da Vinci Code, this isn't your book. It's simply not that kind of mystery. There's no antagonist at all even. Just the characters' simple (yet complicated) gathering of sources and information then debating it around the dinner table. In my opinion, the plot didn't need the distraction of a bad guy waiting in the wings, it was good enough to just sit at the table and debate the facts. To keep it from getting stale, the author often used the first person narrative of the sources his characters were investigating, as in the case of Delia Bacon, a writer who participated in the Shakespeare author question.

The verdict

Buy: If you are a devoted Shakespeare or literary history fan  

Borrow: If you enjoy a little fact with your fiction then add a bit of mystery.

(review based on ebook received from netgalley.com)

Literary Links: March 21st Edition

The next best thing to reading an actual book.

Out of Print's Book Madness - Go look at the brackets for best sci-fi/fantasy books. Fill out the form now and you can get a chance to win $500! Voting starts March 25th.

Urban Planning Through Kids Books - I don't live in Cleveland, but I would Kickstart this project not only for the kids of that city, but in hopes other cities would catch on.

The Library Bridge - I've always said that books are what brings us together.

Oxford librarian dismissed over Harlem Shake video – that she wasn't in - In more Oxford news, I told myself I wasn't going to join the hype over the Harlem Shake, but this one I couldn't ignore. 

The 5 Silliest Books Inspired By Jane Austen - I'm sending the Jane Austen Cookbook to my fellow Booktator, Jeane.

Book Association: Sherlock Holmes - Part 3

We've tackled bromances and genuises in our previous Sherlock Holmes Book Associations. Now we are covering Substance Abuse.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson was quoted on saying “I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me.” This book is completely riddled with drug use. Prepare for a crazy ride.

Alice in Wonderland - Ok, don't yell at me. I know this one's not really about drugs, but there are conspiracy theories that Lewis Carroll was stoned while he wrote it as the Caterpillar was stoned and the whole thing is just a great crazy LSD trip. I don't think there's any proof in this, but for the sake of humor, there it is.

Trainspotting - Heroin is the drug of choice in this novel by Irvine Welsh. Although for American readers, the Scottish slang might scare you off before you even get into the lifestyles of the characters.

Requiem for a Dream -  Heroin shows up again in this novel for two young boys who fantasize about getting a pound of uncut heroin and getting rich.

What other novels can you think of with substance abuse? 

Next week we tackle Victorian era mysteries.