Do you read books of a series in chronological order?

Michele_Reads1984 · Post by **Michele_Reads1984** » 24 Apr 2014, 22:18

I prefer to read them in order but there have been several instances where I accidently started a series in the middle and had to back track and catch up!!

bigbendtreasures · Post by **bigbendtreasures** » 25 Apr 2014, 14:11

When I hear of a new author (to me), I always check to see if their books are a series with continuing characters. If so, I start at the beginning. I have to admit I'm pretty rigid about not skipping around, so I keep a record of the books in order, checking them off when I've read them. This also saves me from buying a book more than once! Another Kindle love is if I should try to buy an ebook I've already purchased, a notice pops up as to when I downloaded the book. Saved my bacon more than once....

bebby_the_booker · Post by **bebby_the_booker** » 25 Apr 2014, 14:23

If it follows at exact timeline I like to read them in order, but if they are companion novels then I don't mind so much reading then as of when I find them

MatthewAlexander · Post by **MatthewAlexander** » 25 Apr 2014, 21:25

Yes. It makes me so angry that some people read out of order because...how?? I get so upset when I don't realize I'm reading a book in a series and I jumped in at, say, book two. I can't go forward or backwards then. It's so sad.

debbie smith · Post by **debbie smith** » 26 Apr 2014, 14:22

Usually yes, but it is not an obsession.

dantheman · Post by **dantheman** » 26 Apr 2014, 15:03

Yes!! Can you imagine reading the last Harry Potter first?

mathman101 · Post by **mathman101** » 26 Apr 2014, 15:35

I am the type of reader who has to know everything about the current situation before I understand completely what the book is about. Therefore I always HAVE to read the series in chronological order to undertand everything.

AddisoMLeo · Post by **AddisoMLeo** » 26 Apr 2014, 21:13

I have only ever read two series in the wrong order, "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins and "Maximum Ride" by James Patterson. My dad purchased "Catching Fire" for me, not knowing it was the second book, and at the time I didn't know it was the second book until I had actually finished the third book... "The Maximum Ride" book was given to me by my Grandmother to read, and she had no idea that I had never heard of or read any James Patterson books, and told me to read the fourth book, "The Final Warning". I never ended up reading any of the other books out of my confusion. Ever since "The Final Warning" I could never read a book out of it's chronological order.

kate_grace · Post by **kate_grace** » 26 Apr 2014, 23:11

I feel like most often it's necessary to read the book series in order. If you read them out of order you may not be able to benefit fully from the book mostly because you may be missing some of the very important details.

ChristinaCamper · Post by **ChristinaCamper** » 26 Apr 2014, 23:30

I agree that reading the books of a series in order is necessary. If you read the books out of order, then you can accidentally find out information that will ruin the previous books in the series. The only time that I can understand not reading books of a series in order is when you can't find the previous books in the series, and if you desperately want to read a later book, then waiting until you find the earlier books is not an option.

zylon · Post by **zylon** » 27 Apr 2014, 02:25

yes I make sure tha tI do, because with the harry potter series, i had went out of chronological order and i was so lost and confused so i made a pact to myself to read books in chronological order.

-- 27 Apr 2014, 03:25 --

yes I make sure tha tI do, because with the harry potter series, i had went out of chronological order and i was so lost and confused so i made a pact to myself to read books in chronological order.

sarahstark · Post by **sarahstark** » 27 Apr 2014, 11:29

I completely agree. It always seemed odd to me, why would you read them out of order? If an order exists, why not follow it? A friend of mine once got bored waiting for one of the middle books in the series to become available, so she skipped it and jumped around in the series. It was just something she started doing after that. needless to say, she spent a lot of the time confused, and had a lot of ah ha! moments when something she missed earlier that became important finally surfaced.

shayna · Post by **shayna** » 27 Apr 2014, 18:00

Absolutely! I can't imagine reading a series out of order. Not only do you miss details and key plot points, most of the time it's just plain confusing