10 Completed Series I Haven’t Finished Reading (Yet)

September 8, 2015 Top Ten Tuesday 22

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is Top Completed Series I Haven’t Finished Reading.

Ten Eleven Finished Series I Haven’t Finished (Yet)

Many of my favorite series are open-ended mystery or fantasy series, so they don’t count. I tend to be a bit obsessive about reading all the books in a series, too, so there aren’t a lot of recently-released-but-finished series here.

A lot of this list are children’s book series. As a child I was limited to what people gave me and what I could find in the library or thrift store. I lacked the resources to track down copies of older or out-of-print series. As an adult, I’ve tried to locate unread books in some of my favorite series, but other series palled on me after a while – or I just haven’t gotten around to them yet.

 

Marillier_Juliet_Sevenwaters-series

Sevenwaters (Juliet Marillier): I read the first book years ago, and didn’t realize it was part of a series until my mother gave me the first four in the series. There are six altogether. I guess I’d better get busy!

Fallen Angels (Mary Jo Putney): I’ve read and loved almost all of them, but there is one title that didn’t appeal to me enough to track down a copy.

Sherlock Holmes (Doyle & Horowitz): This entry is questionable, I know. I’ve read the entire Doyle canon. I haven’t read the new, authorized novels by Anthony Horowitz. I’m not sure they count, but since they’re authorized, I suppose they do.

Sid Halley mysteries (Dick Francis): I didn’t like the main character very much, so although I read the first two, I didn’t read the next two, nor the fifth by Francis’s son Felix.

 

Flanagan_John_RangersApprenticeSeries

Ranger’s Apprentice (John Flanagan):  I stopped after #6 because #7 is a prequel and that annoyed me. I’ll get back to them eventually.

The Wolves Chronicles (Joan Aiken): I loved the first three and book six, which were all I could find as a child. I never continued the series as an adult, for some inexplicable reason. I’ll have to remedy that – this series was good enough that I can see enjoying them as an adult.

Five Little Peppers (Margaret Sidney): I loved the first two as a child – the only ones I was able to find copies of. About 20 years ago I tracked down copies of some of the later books, but either they’re not as good as the first, or they’re not as good seen through adult eyes, so I gave up on them.

Pollyanna (Eleanor H. Porter; continued by Harriet Lummis Smith):  I loved the first two as a child – the only ones written by Porter herself. Book 3, the first by Smith, just didn’t do it for me, so I stopped there.

 

The Oz books (L. Frank Baum and several other authors): OK, it’s arguable whether this series is “finished” or not, since theoretically a new author could take up the mantle. I’ve read all of Baum’s books, but there are at least 30 by other authors, of which I’ve read maybe half or fewer.

Swallows & Amazons (Arthur Ransome): I loved some of these as a child, while others didn’t really appeal to me, so I didn’t push to find them all when I grew up.

Judy Bolton (Margaret Sutton): Unlike the Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys series, which enjoy periodic revivals and sometimes get new books added by ghost writers, the Judy Bolton series ended in 1967. The JB books are also better, in my opinion, because Judy actually ages through the series – she’s a young teen in the first book, grows up, marries, and even has a child before the series ends. I’ve never been able to track down all of the books, but I have about eight that I found several years ago but haven’t read yet.

 

So those are mine. Are there any finished series you’re still working your way through – or that you’ve given up on?

 

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22 Responses to “10 Completed Series I Haven’t Finished Reading (Yet)”

  1. Rita @ View From My Home

    I’ve only heard good things about Daughter of the Forest, so that series must’ve been been entertaining!
    I’m surprised that I hadn’t heard of Judy Bolton, since Hardys/Drews/Beldens were series popular in my early childhood and sought out.
    Thanks for sharing your lists– I love to make and read all book lists 🙂

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I really don’t know why the Judy Bolton books weren’t more popular. I enjoyed them but could only find a few as a child/young adult. Lucky for me, I stumbled on about 22 of them at a very reasonable price in a used bookstore some years ago, and snapped them up! But I’m still making my way through them… sort of doling them out to make them last longer. 😉

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      The Sevenwaters books how much more early medieval/Celtic flavor, and they’re longer and meatier than Wildwood Dancing – which makes sense since they are definitely not YA.

  4. Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library

    I had no idea the Oz series was so large. I’ve never read the books but am hoping to read the first one at some point soon. I also hadn’t heard of Judy Bolton but it sounds like I need to fix that. I adored Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys so that looks like a series I’d enjoy. My daughter loved the Ranger’s Apprentice book but stopped at about the same point you did. I think she was kind of tired of the story by that point.
    Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Finished Series I Have Yet to FinishMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      When I was in (private) high school, one of my teachers had a huge book collection which included about 30 of the Oz books. My parents were teachers at the same school, so we sometimes spent time at his house. I had read maybe five of the Baum books in elementary school and loved them, so I plowed through all 30-ish of his collection. Now I’m trying to collect the facsimile editions of the original Baum books put out by Books of Wonder.

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I knew about the first three, but not that they had gone on from there until I was trying to find copies of the first two to buy for my collection. That was maybe 15 years ago?

  6. Lory @ Emerald City Book Review

    Hm, whether to count books in a series continued by someone other than the original author is a good question. In that case I certainly have not finished the Oz series (and have no intention of doing so).

    I’m looking forward to reading/rereading the Wolves series this year — I actually have no idea which of the books I haven’t read, but I know I stopped at some point.
    Lory @ Emerald City Book Review recently posted…Month in Review: August 2015My Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I enjoyed some of the non-Baum Oz stories, but they’re kind of a mixed bag. And I think you’ve inspired me to go back and reread the Wolves series when I can find the time. They were so delightfully quirky!

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      She’s a terrific author, and I don’t know why I haven’t gone back to the series yet. I definitely need to bump it up on the to-read list.

  10. Bea @Bea's Book Nook

    Wait, there are five Sid Halley books? I thought there were three including the son’s? I need to go look that up; if I read them, I don’t remember them.

    I’ve read many of the Baum Oz books, but not all, and I don’t think I’ve read any of the other authors.

    You have a few series on here that I haven’t heard of before; yay, new books!
    Bea @Bea’s Book Nook recently posted…Bea Reviews Grief by Krista D. BallMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Well – four by Dick: Odds Against, Whip Hand, Come to Grief, and Under Orders. Plus Refusal, which is by Felix.

      Glad I could introduce you to some new series!

  11. Melissa (My World...in words and pages)

    Oh I don’t even want to think about that question. lol. I have so many series’ I need to get back to. Great list!

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Glad you enjoyed it! I’d be in even worse shape if the topic had been “current series you’re behind on” – I’ve got a ton of those!