Bittersweet Accomplishments

Reading is a passion of mine.  There is a problem.  When you find a character you love, you tend to read all the books.  While they last this is great.  In the last few years, I have enjoyed Ian Rankin's Rebus, Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden, and Barry Eisler's Rain.  When the book supply is finished, you're left without a character to read.

In the above examples, there will be other books.  Maybe every year or so, the author will write one...maybe.  I guess I should consider myself lucky.  When I came upon these authors they had written quite a few books, so it took quite a while to get through their catalogue.  However, now I am caught up, and there will be a long wait between books.  Before, as soon as I finished one, there was another one waiting for me.  Now, I will have to wait a year or so.

Luckily for me, my bus is full of commuters who also like to read, though I am noticing more people doing "work" on their tablets or laptops.  By work I mean Candy Crunch, but that's another story.  If I have the courage, I ask them for recommendations.  If I feel shy, I just try to read the title or author and remember what they are reading for the next time I go to the library.  I probably won't hit upon the literature I read for my degree, but it should be passable commuting fare.  Since I've read all the classics, and quite a few post-modern tomes, some escapist fiction won't kill me.

Recently I have been reading the Inspector Banks series by Peter Robinson.  One of my commuter buddies recommended it.  He said that the first few were a little slow, they would pick up later.  I have read ten of them, and the last few have been really good.  Happily, I have at least ten more to read.  That should get to spring, especially if I read a couple of other books between those adventures.

There is a great sense of satisfaction when you come to the end of a series, but there is also a feeling of loss.  Bittersweet is too romantic a word,....but it seems to be fitting.  Maybe I need to go back and read all the Musketeer's books.

Feel free to recommend some book series to me.  I will need something for late spring.