Mandi Bierly over at EW’s Shelflife wrote an article about skipping around in a book series like True Blood:
I’m one of those people who’s not only picked up HBO’s True Blood this summer, but also Charlaine Harris’ best-selling Southern Vampire series, upon which the show is based. I enjoyed the first book, but I’m busy, and impatient, and I keep seeing the words “Eric” and “shower” mentioned in reference to Book 4, Dead to the World, on our True Blood blog posts. I own the first seven novels (they were on sale!), but here’s my dilemma: Do I skip Books 2 and 3, vowing to return to them even though I know I won’t to get to scenes of showering Eric quicker, or do I exercise restraint?
I took the question to Twitter, and Harris fans talked me down (SPOILER ALERT!): “Do NOT by any means skip book 2!!! Eric at the orgy is hilarious!”
She then posed the question:
What book series have you been tempted to skip around in? And if you jumped ahead, did you regret the decision later?
In response, yes, I skipped ahead on New Moon. I was so upset when Edward broke up with Bella – I had to know what happened. I don’t regret skipping ahead, but I did go back and re-read the whole book a second time w/o skipping ahead.
Have you skipped ahead? On which books, and why?
