Put Them To Bed

I was reviewing my digital bookshelf of read books today and realized that I've stalled out in a ridiculous number of series. It wasn't a conscious decision to drop the series. Deciding to abandon them is one thing, but to never finish them out of carelessness just feels wrong. Someday, I just know, someone is going to mention to me the end of one of these series and I'm going to look a fool because I can't remember if I finished them...or worse I think I have.

So as much as I am trying to avoid posting too many lists, here's a list of my orphans:

The School for Good and Evil Somen Chainini- Not really an orphan yet, but I don't want to stall out and forget about it either. There's one more book extant and no indication that Chianani is done...he's just gone off in spin off series

1. Quests for Glory

Discworld by Terry Pratchett- ok I've not dropped this one either. I've been faithfully chipping down the list of 40 odd books for almost three years, but I've hit a gap in the books I have on hand. I don't have Hogfather. I'll probably just go and buy it, but I always worry that I'll lose track if I leave it too long. So, here's what's left:

1. Hogfather
2. Jingo
3. The Last Continent
4. Carpe Jugulum
5. The Fifth Elephant
6. The Truth
7. Thief of Time
8. The Last Hero
9. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
10. Night Watch
11. The Wee Free Men
12. Monstrous Regiment
13. A Hat Full of Sky
14. Going Postal
15. Thud!
16. Wintersmith
17. Making Money
18. Unseen Academicals
19. I Shall Wear Midnight
20. Snuff
21. Raising Steam
22. The Shepherd's Crown

The Chemical Garden by Lauren DeStefano- I'm so close to dropping this series, but I've only one more book. It seems awful to give up now...

1. Sever

The Peeps by Scott Westerfeld -I actually didn't realize this was part of series until I was scanning through my read books and saw it marked that way. Since the latest publication date is 2006, it's a good bet that it's a closed duo, but I'll have to keep my eye on it in case more turn up. It's just such a cool world.

1. The Last Days

Lorien Legacies by Pittacus Lore- Left to my own devices I think I'd drop this series, but I feel oddly pressured by my students to finish reading it. Seems like every time I turn around there's a different student gushing about it. So, I'll finish it...I guess. On the upside I'll probably master the art of rolling my eyes while reading.

1. The Fall of Five
2. The Revenge of Seven
3. The Fate of Ten
4. United as One

Arc of a Scythe by Neil Shusterman- The danger with reading brand new published this year books is that you never know when you've just started another series. Sometimes the authors don't even know. It's like a minefield, any book can turn into a growing commitment of succeeding literature. This is a case in point. I turn my back for what feels like a second and suddenly there's a second book in print and a third announced:

1. Thunderhead
2. The Toll

Unwind Dystology by Neal Shusterman - It's Shusterman....he's to blame clearly.

1. UnWholly
2. UnSouled
3. UnDivided

The Kronos Chronicles by Marie Rutoski - Sometimes it just takes me a while to get my hands on the books. Mostly I shop for books passively by browsing though used bookstores. So filling in a specific gap is chancy. I finally gave up and ordered the last book through thriftbooks.com.

1. The Jewel of the Kalderash

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline- I'm not sure this one really is a a series yet. I picked up the first one because it was recommended to me to read. I seems like a stand alone to me, but goodreads has an untitled second book listed. If it exists someday, I want to read it.

1. ?

Peak by Roland Smith - Peak I found because I was looking for YA that featured either the wilderness or athletic pursuits. I'd never heard anything about the author and I didn't know the book, but a story about a teen climbing Everest seemed like exactly what I was looking for. It ended up being a really enthralling read. I love that it dealt with the politics of these feats instead of painting this glossy idea of the american athlete. Good book. I'm surprised that there are two more in the series; it didn't seem like there was room for a sequel. Surprised but pleased.

1. The Edge
2. Ascent

Skink by Carl Hiaasen - No matter how careful I am, occassionally I end up reading books out of sequence. In this case, I read the last book first. In my defense, I was looking for YA at the time and the rest of the books in the series are decidedly not YA. Oh well. Nothing for it but to read the series.

1. Double Whammy
2. Native Tongue
3. Stormy Weather
4. Sick Puppy
5. Skinny Dip
6. Star Island
7. Skink - No Surrender (Reread)

The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare - Ok, so I dropped this series and now I'm reconsidering. I'm reconsidering because I slogged through all the massive tomes (500+ pages each) but the last one...which feels silly So, I should probably just read the thing and be done. (Then I can decide whether or not to pursue the spin off series, of which there are two)

1. City of Heavenly Fire

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker - I dropped the series because they are frankly intended for a younger age group than I teach, but they really make me smile so I'm going to read them anyway

1. Clementine (reread)
2. The Talented Clementine
3. Clementine's Letter
4. Clementine, Friend of the Week
5. Clementine and the Family Meeting
6. Clementine and the Spring Trip
7. Completely Clementine

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas - So here's a prime case of read it when it came out and lost track of the fact that the author was still writing books. Some of my girls really like the series so I'd like to catch back up with it, but I really should reread the first book since it's been a couple years.

1. A Court of Thorns and Roses (reread)
2. A Court of Mist and Fury
3. A Court of Wings and Ruin

Dumplin by Julie Murphy - I read the first book right after it was published, three years later there's a sequel slated for release. I'm game.

1. Puddin'

Remnants by Katherine Applegate - I read the first book in the series because it was packed with the first books to two other series. Initially, I thought it was the weakest of the three, but somehow it's really stuck with me. The characters are very memorable and certain images are still clear to me 2 and a half years later. Clearly, it's worth another look.

1. The Mayflower Project (reread)
2. Destination Unknown
3. Them
4. Nowhere Land
5. Mutation
6. Breakdown
7. Isolation
8. Mother, May I?
9. No Place Like HOme
10. Lost and Found
11. Dream Storm
12. Aftermath
13. Survival
14. Begin Again

Shades of Magic by V.E. Schwab - Ok, I admit it. I didn't lose track of this one. I ran out of books. Now that the third book is out, this is an excellent excuse to reread the first two.

1. A Darker Shade of Magic (reread)
2. A Gathering of Shadows (reread)
3. A Conjuring of Light 

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancy - This is literary serendipity. I read the first book because I was desperate for something to read and it was a free ebook at the time. I read it. It was ok. I don't think I was even properly aware that it was the beginning of a series but then the second and third books were donated to me by a former student. Seems like the universe would like me to read the series.

1. The 5th Wave (reread)
2. The Infinite Sea
3. The Last Star

Ender's Saga by Orson Scott Card - So, it's just weird that I haven't read all these but I keep getting bogged down. However, I made it through all of the Dune books and all of Foundation books. This really can't be harder

1. Ender's Game (reread)
2. Speaker for the Dead (reread)
3. Xenocide
4. Children of the Mind

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz - I'm not a Koontz fan, really. However I feel in love with the character of Odd Thomas from the movie. I get a little tired of the books if I read them back to back, but I'd still like to get through the series

1. Odd Thomas (reread)
2. Forever Odd (reread)
3. Brother Odd (reread)
4. Odd Hours
5. Odd Apocalypse
6. Deeply Odd
7. Saint Odd

There are here 20 series and dozens of books. It's quite the undertaking on its own, but I'd really like to close out some of these series and put them to bed.