Sunday, October 16, 2011

Anticipation

Do you know when your favorite author's next book is due out? Do you wait with bated breath? (or is it baited breath, which makes me picture a hook with a minnow stuck to it hanging form my uvula.) Maybe pre-order it? Are you one to read the reviews first, then decide to buy, or do you trust your author enough to just snap it up, willy nilly? And then, do you sit down right then and there and read the thing?

When I first graduated from college, I worked for a bookstore, and there was introduced to the likes of Jayne Ann Krentz, Katherine Sutcliffe and Julie Garwood. I would snatch those new books straight out of their boxes and spend the rest of the day waiting to get home to read them. The orange couch saw many a late night with me curled up on it, reading. Julie Garwood and I pulled more than one all-nighter because I was completely unable to stop reading.

And, oh Lord, when Harry Potter and I became acquainted. Well, thank the Good Lord for the internet, because I was ordering the UK editions from Waterstones. When Book 4 (HP & the Goblet of Fire), I picked it up from the small bookstore on 23rd Avenue in Portland, took it home that night, and read it nearly straight through. I was off on Sunday, skipped church, and read. I'd finished it by dinner. The day after its release. And the only way I could stave off the growling anticipation was to order, once again, the UK edition and read that through. And, sweet mother happiness, when that woman, that author, began taking more than a year, more than two between books, I would read through the whole series, US and UK editions, just to while away the time.

I have a friend who will buy her long awaited new book - maybe by Karen Marie Moning, maybe by Susan Elizabeth Peters - and then not read it until ... later. It was placed on a shelf (left in a bag in the car? Shoved in a drawer?) for sometimes weeks before she picked it up to read. So the anticipation could grow. And all I can think is, how on earth do you stand it??? Another friend made the decision not to buy the latest HP until the next was about to be released. Oh, for the love of Pete, do you know how many secrets from the damn Order of the Phoenix I had to keep to myself because she wanted to hold off the gratification? Now, was that nice of her to do that to me??? (Good thing my name's not Sheldon Cooper!)

I find trilogies and continuing series particularly difficult. Nora Roberts is a complete master of the trilogy, particularly. And each one offers a piece of the whole. In her Blood Brothers series, I mean, of course I knew the three couples would form out of the six characters, but still... how would they save the world together?

I am already counting down to October 25th - as long as UPS decides to actually leave the parcels at my door - as two of my go-to authors have new books coming out. Kristin Higgins latest, and Tamora Pierce's final book in Beka Cooper's trilogy. The next nine days will find me re-reading the other two books in that trilogy to further tighten my eagerness to read Beka's book. And I've heard tell that Kristin Higgins may actually be adding the hero's POV to this book. But don't quote me on that. Maybe that was for the next book and not this one. All I can say is, I am going to be very tired come Wednesday the 26th...

A woman sitting beside me at a Starbucks said in sympathy to me one afternoon as I closed my book, obviously having finished it, what will you do now? I smiled at her, and calmly pulled the next book in the series from the depths of my bag. I'd come prepared. Even if I didn't open the new book immediately, it was there, ready to soothe my nerves and lead me into the next adventure.

4 comments:

  1. Marjanna ~ Love your post. I have a list of when my favorite author's books are going to be released. And I do wait in anticipation. For fun, I'll scour the internet right after I've finished one of those books to see if there's a date for the next. I know, crazy. But I love my favorites. And often, they don't produce more than one book a year. I'm a voracious reader. So I'm constantly looking for new authors. Oct. 25th is a big release date, I've got at least two books I'll be beating a path to B&N to buy--Kristan Higgins new one and Toni Blake's new one, Holly Lane.

    I do find that when my favorite author writes a series (whether trilogy or on-going) based in a certain town or community that when I finish the book, I long for that place. An actual ache. It's bad. I recently finished Susan Mallary's Only His and had that experience. Had to go immediately to look to see when the next book in the Fool's Gold series would be released.

    So I adore when my favorites come out with more than one book a year. And I grind my teeth in frustration when I have to way a whole year between releases. But the wait is oh so worth it when the book comes out.

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  2. Hi, Marjanna. Sometimes, I find I park that long-awaited book on the corner of my desk. Inadvertantly, it becomes a way to urge me on through all the stuff I must do. I find I keep promising myself something like, "Thursday night you'll be done with X and can read that book!" It can really keep my eye on the prize!

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  3. Candy,
    I know what you mean about longing for the place. This is perhaps most easily demonstrated with fantasy novels and a well crafted world. I find myself creating stories based in those worlds, but with nowhere to go with them except in my head. Or I'll start research on the towns or eras. Carla Kelly's books on the medical world of the Napoleaonic Wars has led to much reading by me. As a way to make it until her next novel comes out... or until I can afford one of her Regencies for sale on Amazon...

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  4. Marjanna - I'm not organized enough to have a list of when my favorites will come out. I know, I know. Amazon makes it easy, right? But I'd rather be reading (or writing!) than setting up my TBR pile...and sometimes I miss books! Aggravating, but my own dang fault. At this moment I'm catching up on two books in one of my series cuz I took my eye off the ball. On the plus side...I have two awesome books to devour!!

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