(no subject)

[ladysprite]

I'm a geek. So of course, like most of the rest of the geeks of my acquaintance, I picked up my copy of the new Harry Potter book this past weekend. I wasn't quite compulsive enough to wait in line at midnight or pre-order a copy, but when an opportunity fell into my lap late Saturday night to buy it at a fairly nice discount, I took it. And I spent at least a smallish chunk of Sunday happily curled up with it, and today at work due to some scheduling issues and a serious lack of support staff, I had nothing to do for most of the day but read.

So now, after waiting for quite some time, I find myself at the last chapter. And I want to know what happens, and I want to leap in headfirst and bury myself in those last few pages - and I don't. Because once I do, once I finish the book, it'll be over. No new Harry Potter to read for another year, or two, or three, no new surprises, no new words, no new story, no more discovery until the next one comes out.

If I stall, and leave it unread, and nibble away at this last bit a page at a time, I can make it last. I can postpone the time when it's all gone and used up and the waiting starts again. But if I do that, then I don't get to find out NowNowNow exactly what happens. And either way, it'll be over eventually, and I'll still wind up frustrated and pounding on the back of the book demanding to know what happens next.

Grr. This is why I gave up the Wheel of Time series. Well, this and the fact that they eventually degenerated into simply rotten plotless lumps of literary goo. At least J. K. Rowling hasn't fallen prey to that problem yet. Still, I need to learn not to be such a series junkie.

One more page, that's all, then I'll make up my mind....

Comments

[glinda-w.livejournal.com]

...simply rotten plotless lumps of literary goo.

What an utterly apt description of Jordan's writing. (Yeah, I gave up on that, too; it became Not Worth Waiting For.)

[warinbear.livejournal.com]

If you ever become interested in another long series, I heartily suggest Janny Wurtz's Wars of Light and Shadow. She's working on the eighth volume, which is in the third of five 'story arcs;' she has stated in forewords that she has a plot already laid out, with a defined start, course, and end; and IMNAAHO she does better work than ninety-eight percent of published authors. The downside is that, like the Harry Potter series, it isn't finished yet, and she doesn't let a book out until she's sure it's ready, so it can take a while.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

So did you finish it?

I used to not start a series until it was all published, and I had it all in my hands for reasons like this.