This or That? #5

Happy Labor Day and welcome back to This or That! 🙂

Here’s a little reminder of how this goes. I will post a challenge every Monday. Anyone who wants to offer their opinion can either leave a comment or make their own post and link it back here! On Friday we will see which character or scenario wins.

By no means do you have to feel obligated to do every single challenge, but I would love to hear all of your opinions! If you can only really talk about only one scenarios, that’s fine too! Also, if you have any suggestions please let me know!

Alright, this week we have…..

A collection of stand alone books by the same author

OR

A book series

This week’s topic came from my personal struggle of finding a good book series. I posted awhile ago asking for suggestions so I now have a lists of 18 that I would like to read. While I was making that list, I started reading more books by Jodi Picoult who just so happens to be favorite author (at least for now).

I think that in order to continue reading stand alones by the same author, I have to really like their writing style and ability to tell a story. I mentioned in a really old post that I used to like Nicholas Sparks but got tired of the unrealistic love stories. (I also found some Jodi Picoult books for really cheap at a book sale, so that’s how that got started)

The thing that I like about Jodi Picoult (and I’ve mentioned this before) is that her novels are told from multiple perspectives. I think that this is a nice change of pace from most of the other books that I’ve read recently. Also, despite the fact that her books are stand alone, she reuses some of the characters. So even though the stories may not be connected, you can still learn a little bit more about certain characters that appear more than once.

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The reason that I like reading series is because I like that the story continues instead of just a “one and done deal,” 500 pages and that’s all. And I’m not including trilogies in this. I’m talking about a reading experience that lasts for months and maybe even a year or so. Yes, that includes Harry Potter. I read the Sorcerer’s Stone when I was in the second grade and The Deathly Hallows the summer before 8th grade. Obviously, there was time in between because they were still being written but all of it was an experience!

Even with Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, there is an experience to be had. You’re with the characters from the very beginning and all the way to the end. In this case, that’s 12 books later! A series gives you something to look forward to. You put one down and you’re ready for the next.

With that said, as much as I love Jodi Picoult, I think that an entire series of books is more satisfying than just one.

What do you think? Stand alones or a series?