21st Century Literature discussion

Do you enjoy book series? Let us know why. What do you think some of the best 21st century series have been thus far?

I don't read many and what exceptions there are tend to be literary projects such as Ali Smith's seasonal quartet, Hilary Mantel's Cromwell novels, Rachel Cusk's "annihilated perspective" trilogy and J.G. Farrell's empire trilogy, all of which I love.

I am aware that the vast majority of book series in GR are genre fiction, and I don't read much of that, so I am probably not the best qualified to comment.

There are a lot more literary series than I realized. I think genre series come to mind first because of the way they are marketed and their popularity, but the distinction is relatively meaningless for this discussion. I adored Ferrante's Neapolitan series, Knaussgard's Struggle, Marias's Your Face Tomorrow, Jemisin's Broken Earth, Harry Potter, and the in-progress Saga series by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples.

If you had asked me whether I liked series before I started typing, I probably would have said no. But I think that has more to do with not wanting to be obligated to multiple books when I start just one. It quite obviously has nothing to do with enjoyment because I have quite a few favorites that rank highly amidst all my reading.

In my view, there is nothing wrong with abandoning a series if you don't like the first part (I have yet to be persuaded that I want to return to Knausgaard, and the last one sounds particularly challenging.

In some cases GoodReads has created series where the books were never marketed that way, for example Sebastian Barry's Dunne and McNulty family series.

I don't generally follow series, with some exceptions, and I will abandon them if they become dull. For fun, I've enjoyed the Tana French Dublin Squad series and I read all of the Knausgaard which I don't exactly think of as a series but rather one memoir published in parts.

I read a lot of genre fiction, so I do read a lot of series that I enjoy! Most recently I read the series starting with Fire Logic, which is a fantasy series that focuses on community building instead of dragon slaying. This series typifies why I like certain series: I want to stay longer in this world or this voice. Compare that for instance to Game of Thrones. I enjoy those novels, but I don't necessarily want to dwell in Westeros. I'm happy for that series to eventually (maybe?) resolve. Same for The Fifth Season. I adored that series but it ended at an appropriate point.

Other series that I wanted to linger in:
Ferrante's Neapolitan works
The Rivers of London
Love and Rockets

For me the most important thing about books in a series is whether or not at the end of each book in the series you really have come to an ending. I am reluctant to read any book series where the end of one book feels just like the end of a middle chapter. In those cases I would only start the first book if the final book in the series had already been written and I was intending to read the whole thing (which, to the best of my recollection, has happened ... never).

The Cusk books were mentioned above. I read the second one of those first not knowing there was a series until after I finished. There was nothing about the book that made me think it was part of a series, let alone not the first part. That kind of series is fine by me. I recently read Swann's Way, the first book of Proust's series Remembrance of Things Past with the intention of reading all seven books, but I found Swann and Odette's story tiresome and so probably won't read more, but at the same time I don't feel like I left on a cliffhanger.

The book series is so closely identified with commercial motivations that literary fiction writers who write sequels, series, or return to old characters in some way often come under suspicion for their motives. The latest one is Margaret Atwood, who, after 35 years, just now wrote a sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. I have seen many people assuming she's just looking to cash in on the success of the TV series, but for a 79 year old writer who has been published very successfully for almost 60 years now it seems odd to think that now is the moment she decides to cash in. More probably, working on the TV series as a consultant gave her a reason to think about the story and its characters again and, as the show moved beyond the source material the producers likely asked her what she thinks might make sense for what happens next, which is more than enough to prompt her to have some new ideas about it she decided she wanted to explore in a new book.

I fear I have rambled off on to a tangent. I better stop there :-)

Do you enjoy book series? Let us know why. Yes I do enjoy book series. The why is harder. The shorter "series" are typically just excellent long stories that are needed more than one book to do them justice, e.g., N.K. Jemisin's The Broken Earth series, that concern one place, e.g., Marilynne Robinson's Gilead books, or one concept, e.g., Ali Smith's Quartet. And the three I've mentioned are among the best of the short series. Others in this category that I've really liked are J.K. Rowling's original Harry Potter books, Justin Cronin's The Passage trilogy, Carlos Ruiz Zafón's The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Don Winslow's Power of the Dog, and Jane Smiley's Last Hundred Years: A Family Saga, and Stieg Larsson's Millennium (I only count the Larsson trilogy here, having read none of the books written by others after his death).

Then there are the series that, to date, are not done and may only stop with the author dies. These I read because I've developed a liking for the characters and they have become "comfort reads." These include: John Connolly's Charlie Parker, Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski, Jo Nesbø's Harry Hole, C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner, George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire (I have not watched the show, only read the books), Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling)'s Cormoran Strike, Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs, and Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga.

If you suffer from a little bit of OCD then series are a terrible thing, because you feel compelled to buy them all and read them all, not to mention have them all in the same format (hardback, large format paperback, etc).
Luckily I love the Ali Smith seasons, as I would feel compelled to buy the fourth just because I have the first three.
The seasonal quartet by Knausgaard is, in my view, utterly brilliant. It is also far more accessible than the much longer My Struggle series, and I love it for the variety of observations on everyday things and events.
Rachel Cusk's trilogy is also very enjoyable but I think the volumes can be enjoyed just as much if you read them in a stand alone manner as they do as a series.
Then you have characters that develop a series around them - the Scandinavian thriller writers are masters of this Nesbo, Henning Mankell, Lackberg, Ragnar Jónasson, etc. It is not a long trip back to John le Carré and the character of Smiley. The historial genre quickly took me to the Uthred novels by Bernard Cornwell because I'm still obsessed by the Angle Saxons I studied at university. And finally for the lovers of humour there is Jasper Fforde and his literary detective Thursday Next.

Books: the perfect place to hide the midly OCD....

Marc wrote: "There are a lot more literary series than I realized. I think genre series come to mind first because of the way they are marketed and their popularity, but the distinction is relatively meaningles..."

The first series I loved was The Emigrants (Vilhelm Moberg, first published in the 1940s. The second was the Cairo Trilogy. Maybe those early experiences of reading classic literary series are why I've never had the concern/misgivings some readers have about translated fiction, or the negative view of series, writ large. I do, however, share your reluctance, Marc, to take on an obligation to read multiple books. However, I'm also good at shirking reading obligations, so there's that.

I also agree that a great series is comprised of multiple volumes that stand alone and have a complete arc. I'm not interested in being coerced into reading the next volume by design. Further, I tend to pick up series at book 3 or 4, when they exist, and expect that good authors bring along new readers to the extent necessary without me being required to start at book 1 in order to have the fullest reading experience.

The why? the ability to spend time with characters I've come to enjoy as they have multiple experiences, especially if they age over time.

My favorite series run the gamut from Harry Potter to March I - III, to Anne of Green Gables. Other favorites are James Sallis's Lew Griffin and Turner series; and, on the genre side of things: Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May series (from whom I've learned fascinating details of London's history, especially its rivers and tube system); Naomi Hirahara's Mas Arai books; William Ryan's Alexei Dimitrevich Korolev series, Abir Mukherjee's Sam Wyndham series, Zygmunt Miloszewski's Teodor Szacki series and, finally, Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie series.

Certain types of series spark a collector's instinct in me. One such example is the 33 1/3 series. I have all 140 but the the thing is I let them pile up for three years and then read them in one go.

My latest craze is Fairlight Moderns. I've got them all just waiting for me to read them.

I'm more into standalone books. I appreciate the following for series, but I hate investing time into a series when I know there are literally hundreds of books I want to read. The only exception would be if I found a series that was spot on brilliant. So, I typically read maybe one or two parts of a series, but not the full series, but I guess it depends on how many books are the series as well.

Franky wrote: "I'm more into standalone books. I appreciate the following for series, but I hate investing time into a series when I know there are literally hundreds of books I want to read. The only exception w..."

My answer is very similar. I prefer standalone books. When I do read something from a series, it may or may not be the first book or books, sometimes it's something from the middle or even the end. When I do read a series book or two, I rarely feel compelled to read more from the series. And, if I read more than one in a series, they are often read years apart, lol.

I think a major reason that I don't like reading series books is that I get tired/bored (?) by the author's voice/style/quirks over & over & over. (I know that is a comfort to many & a big reason why many people do enjoy series books.) I don't even necessarily like reading many books by the same author, even when they're not a series because most authors have a certain "voice" that comes through. I find it more exciting to explore new voices than to stick to ones that begin to feel rote to me. For example, as far as I know, Donna Tartt has written only three books, each being published about a dozen years apart from each other. I joke that she's my kind of author -- one book every dozen years; I can read her book, love it, then read her next one & love it because I haven't grown tired of her "voice" (& because I've had so many other books to read in the interim).

That said, there are some series books I've enjoyed. I finally read Harry Potter the other year (after my son hounded me to read them for years) & enjoyed them. (Even though I enjoyed them, it took me a year to manage to read all of them. Once I put down a book in a series, I want to read something new & different.) I loved Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce series; originally, I think it was meant to be six books & I read the original six. I felt he left it at a very good closing point after six & have felt absolutely no interest in reading the additional ones. Those were fun, light books. And, I've been enjoying the All Systems Red/Murderbot sci-fi series this summer. The books are very short, but have been entertaining fluff.

Saying all this firmly guarantees that much of my upcoming reading will be repeat authors &/or series... & I will even enjoy them!

Robert wrote: "Certain types of series spark a collector's instinct in me. One such example is the 33 1/3 series. I have all 140 but the the thing is I let them pile up for three years and then read them in one g..."

The two examples you give are interesting because they are series in a very different sense than the others that have been discussed so far. Your examples involve books by different authors and about different characters and subjects. I'd count the 33 1/3 as a "loose" series, but I don't think I'd count the Fairlight Moderns as a series at all.

This has been such an interesting thread! Thanks, Marc, I always love the questions you pose.

This has been enlightening for me: I've always thought I didn't particularly like series but reading the responses here, I've realized how many I've enjoyed, even loved.

When I do find a series that I’m interested in, like Proust or even a historical series like Caro’s Lyndon Johnson biography, I find the reality for me is that I read the first book, but even though i really enjoyed it, I never pick up the next book right away, and then it becomes one of ‘good-intention’ books. The only series I’ve been able to stick with (and I’m only half-way through, so this might be counting chickens too soon) is Anthony Powell’s Dance to the Music of Time<\i> books. I’m reading one a month, but still reading plenty of other stuff in between each installment.

To answer the original question: I suppose when I think of a series, I also tend to think of genres, but even when I’m interested in one, I find I don’t do very well at following through with them

I was going to say no, because I haven't read many lately, but actually I do like series in TV and in books. For me it is the comfortable feeling of knowing it is a book you will almost certainly like, of knowing the setting/characters so it is easy to dive into, of the next installment to look forward to (I was one of the crazy people to buy one of the Harry Potter books at midnight),...

On the other hand, waiting for GRR Martin to finish the next book is getting on my nerves and I have been reading the 7 sister series which I don't really enjoy buy my mom keeps buying them and I want to know how it ends (only 2 books to go).

Marcus wrote: "If you suffer from a little bit of OCD then series are a terrible thing, because you feel compelled to buy them all and read them all, not to mention have them all in the same format (hardback, lar..."

YEP!

I love series, but I also feel hesitant starting them sometimes because they can feel like a large undertaking. But the ones that I love are ones I don't mind pausing in between to read other things and then jumping back in. So often we have to leave single books and the worlds they create, leaving you wanting to be in their world a little longer.

I do have mixed feelings about trilogies that don't get finished. I understand that Patrick Rothfuss doesn't owe me anything, but I think I'm still allowed to be grumpy that book 3 will probably never be written.

I started the The Three-Body Problem series and found the first one fascinating. It's a perfect series to put down for a while since it's an intense read, but one I'll definitely come back to since the premise has me hooked.

Like Ursula LeGuin I'm troubled by the distinction the publishing world makes between genre fiction and literary fiction. I read both, but my heart is in sci fi and fantasy. When I tried to come up with classic series I came up with Little Women/Little Men/Jo's Boys and Eight Cousins/Rose in Bloom, The Little Colonel Series, and Proust (but one was enough for me.) But there are lots of sci-fi and fantasy series I have loved. For me the attraction is usually to be able to spend more time with characters I have come to care about. The Vorkosigan series that someone mentioned upthread while made up of stand-alone books is also a gigantic bildungsroman about how Miles grows up - with some detours and offshoots. Some series do go on too long, but the best just get better and better.

I just remembered Hugh Howey's Wool series, which made me crazy because I LOVED the first book, Wool, but the second and third books got worse and worse.

One of the downsides of series is the risk that you love the first one and the rest of them go downhill, but you still feel compelled to finish because of your love of the first one.

This was true for me for Carlos Ruiz Zafon's books also.

Bretnie wrote: "I just remembered Hugh Howey's Wool series, which made me crazy because I LOVED the first book, Wool, but the second and third books got worse and worse..."

I had the same experience with Justin Chronin's Passage trilogy. Loved the first, liked the second, DNF'ed the third after 5 pages. The same happened to me with the TV series of The Handmaid's Tale - I didn't bother to watch season 3.

I'm leery of series that 'star' one character (except for Mantel's Thomas Cromwell trilogy.) I have been eyeing C.J. Sansom's Matthew Shardlake series for years. One of these days......

Irene's comment made me realize I'll rarely start a series that is not yet finished (with the exception probably being comic books, which can sometimes be like the contemporary myth version of soap operas; I tend to like the limited series or one-off projects vs an ongoing series).

I adored Marilynne Robinson's Gilead series. I gave up on A Game of Thrones after the first book (since the series wasn't finished being written and the story didn't grab me enough for that type of commitment... and yet I had no trouble watching the entire TV series almost twice). Hoping to finish the The Three-Body Problem series this year (took a break, like Bretnie, after the first one; mainly because I didn't have the other two in hand).

Not 21st century but recently read, the Snopes series by Faulkner was fantastic. Almost done reading Martha Wells's Murderbot series (starts with All Systems Red)--the plot is sort of weak, but I'm taken with the awkward, snarky AI narrator gone rogue.

Marc wrote: "Do you enjoy book series? Let us know why. What do you think some of the best 21st century series have been thus far?"

I hate it when a great book ends so when it comes to a series I take comfort knowing I can go back to all the voices and settings whether I actually make it back again or not. I'm exactly the same way with traveling. Oh, I make promises. I'm sure one day I'll get back to Min Kamp 2 or finally pick up The Captive where I left off but for now I'll squirrel those treasures away for when I really need them.

This summer I got into the Aubrey/Maturin series from Patrick O'Brian and absolutely fell in love - fortunately there are 17 more volumes so I'm not panicking yet. I also read a few more entries in the Flashman Papers, which are a very guilty pleasure of mine. Flash for Freedom was an odd pairing with this month's club selection, The Underground Railroad.

Marc I just started the fourth of the Murderbot series - they are so fun!

How ya gonna do us like that Tea73, and not let us know at least one of your favorite sci-fi or fantasy series?!!
:D

Bretnie wrote: "Marc I just started the fourth of the Murderbot series - they are so fun!"

I'm halfway through the fourth! I <3 Murderbot.

Besides Ali Smith and Rachel Cusk, I loved reading Elena Ferrante’s series beginning with My Brilliant Friend. I think Ferrante’s genius is that her series is both popular genre and literary at the same time, so she manages to appeal to a wide spectrum of readers.

Marc wrote: "How ya gonna do us like that Tea73, and not let us know at least one of your favorite sci-fi or fantasy series?!!
:D"

That's easy:
Sci-fi
Bujold - Vorkosigan books
Moon - Heris Serano/Esmay Suiza books (3 trilogies)
Asimov - Foundation books (first three at least)
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller - Liaden books
Fantasy
Tolkien - Lord of the Rings (though really it's just one big book)
Bujold - Challion books
DeLint - Newford stories (I actually read quite a few before I realized I was seeing characters from books I'd read previously)
Tamora Pierce - Tortall books (YA, but I am fond of them still)

And I did think of other more straight fiction type series after looking at my bookshelves. In mysteries, Dorothy Sayers Peter Whimsey books and C.S. Harris St. Cyr books. I also love both Forester's Hornblower books and O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin books. In children's lit - I love Arthur Ransome's Swallow and Amazon books and still read them regularly. K. M. Peyton's books about Ruth and Pennington (horses and pianos) are wonderful. I also enjoyed Dorothy Dunnet's books Lymond chronicles. I never got into the Niccolò books though.

Finally Trollope's classic Barchester Tower series and the Palliser novels are pretty wonderful.

Wow--thanks for sharing! Many new titles and authors to me, Tea73.

The 2018 Tournament of Books longlist turned me on to the Terra Ignota series by Ada Palmer, who's also a history professor at The University of Chicago. She does some very complex world building that draws on her research interests, which include "Renaissance science, religion, radical thought, atheism, freethought, heresy, censorship, books and printing, patronage, and the production of culture." Yep, all of that is in her series, plus sci fi.

Nadine wrote: "The 2018 Tournament of Books longlist turned me on to the Terra Ignota series by Ada Palmer, who's also a history professor at The University of Chicago. She does some very complex..." Interesting I've never read Ada Palmer, but she was all over the acknowledgements for one of Jo Walton's books and there's a quote from her. I should check her out. (Jo Walton's trilogy that starts with The Just City.)

Marc wrote: "Martha Wells's Murderbot series (starts with All Systems Red)--the plot is sort of weak, but I'm taken with the awkward, snarky AI narrator gone rogue."

My favorite AI-bot curmudgeon.

Xan Shadowflutter wrote: "My favorite AI-bot curmudgeon."

I guess that really is part of the charm of a series. You get to enjoy/experience a character (or characters) that much longer and in-depth. Works great if it ends up being your favorite AI-bot curmudgeon (fab description)!

Finally just scanned this column and realized that I have read more series than I would initially have remembered. Of course, as a girl, there were the Nancy Drew books, and, less gender related, "The Bobbsey Twins" and almost perhaps not a series, the Zane Grey books (likely more popular in the Midwest/West than elsewhere). Lawrence Durrell's The Alexandria Quartet , first read at twenty-one, probably even provided transitional insights into adulthood. Scattered through the years have been things as light-hearted as Dorothy Sayers's Peter Whimsey and Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and as challenging as The Divine Comedy (via more than one translator) or as world-expanding as Naguib Mahfouz's The Cairo Trilogy. For sheer wonderment at female power and debasement, there was Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander. But for many other series, I have read one or more without necessarily picking up others -- several still in the maybe someday category: Proust, Rowling, Ferrante, Doyle, and so enjoyable, but eventually tedious, Trollope.

Marilyn Robinson's Gilead, Lila and Home
Jane Smily's The Last Hundred Years Trilogy: A Family Saga

The Forsyte Saga, Galsworthy (The Forsyte Saga, The Forsyte Saga: Series 2, The Forsyte Saga, Volume 3, etc.)

The African Trilogy, by Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease and Arrow of God)

Love the Forsyte Saga (and the original BBC production of it as well.) I did not realize there were two more followups to Things Fall Apart.

Tea73 wrote: "Love the Forsyte Saga (and the original BBC production of it as well.) I did not realize there were two more followups to Things Fall Apart."

They aren't really follow-ups in the sense of continuing with the story or characters. I suspect western publishers just decided to throw three of Achebe's books together and call them a trilogy, since for a long time his books were the only ones written by an African that made it into mainstream awareness in the west.

Whitney wrote: "Tea73 wrote: "Love the Forsyte Saga (and the original BBC production of it as well.) I did not realize there were two more followups to Things Fall Apart."

They aren't really follow-ups in the sen..."

I’d have to research but I thought he connected them, in the sense that he planned on the second and third being together in a volume and characterized it as a sequel to TFA. Now I’m curious and will have to research more tomorrow.

Carol wrote: "Whitney wrote: "Tea73 wrote: "Love the Forsyte Saga (and the original BBC production of it as well.) I did not realize there were two more followups to Things Fall Apart."

They aren't really follo..."

Please let me know what you find! I was shooting from the hip in that I didn't see any deep connection when I originally read them, aside from dealing with the problems of colonial to post-colonial Nigeria, natch. I stand ready to eat my words.

I thought one of the books followed the grandson of the original character in Things Fall Apart. I could be wrong about that though

Bryan "goes on a bit too long" wrote: "I thought one of the books followed the grandson of the original character in Things Fall Apart. I could be wrong about that though"

Oh, you are correct. The main character of No Longer at Ease is the grandson. A little research before I posted would have been smart, maybe :-) I never noticed the connection, even though they have the same name (I plead having read them years apart). Series it is.

I've only read Things Fall Apart, which I thought was outstanding. Did you feel like the series was pretty uniform, or was TFA the standout?

Bryan "goes on a bit too long" wrote: "I've only read Things Fall Apart, which I thought was outstanding. Did you feel like the series was pretty uniform, or was TFA the standout?"

I would say TFA stood out the most for me, but then it was different from anything I'd read up to that point. The other Achebe I'd put as a favorite is Anthills of the Savannah. It's been awhile since I read any of them, though.

I just noticed I gave Anthills 4 stars. Not sure why. I changed it to 5 as I remember really liking it.

Thanks. I actually have Antihills--something I picked up on the strength of Achebe's name more than anything else. Glad to hear it was worthwhile.

I have read all of the Things Fall Apart series - apart from the first one (which I read back in 2003, I read the rest shortly after Penguin Modern Classics reissued them in 2013. All of them stand up pretty well as self-contained novels, and the order you read them in is not that important. Arrow of God impressed me a lot.

The Forsyte Saga.

Whitney wrote: "Bryan "goes on a bit too long" wrote: "I thought one of the books followed the grandson of the original character in Things Fall Apart. I could be wrong about that though"

Oh, you are correct. The..."

The things I learn here, lol. Thanks to the collective wisdom that solved this for us.