# Getting "Stuck" with One Author



## Tom Schreck (Dec 12, 2010)

Does anyone else ever go through periods where they only want to read one writer. Lately, I'm back on Robert B Parker and everything else has lost its appeal.

I feel like I have OCD sometimes...


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## PG4003 (Patricia) (Jan 30, 2010)

Yes, I've done this before.  You kind of get in a groove with one author and feel like anything else will just not measure up.  I felt like that with Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series.


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

Me too and yes, it kinda feels...obsessive ...    But ya gotta read what you gotta read!!!


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## Daniel Pyle (Aug 13, 2010)

I used to be much worse about this than I am now.  I'd find an author I liked and read every book of his or hers I could get my hands on.  I probably read twenty Stephen King books before I (temporarily) moved on to something else.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Well, picky reader that I am (somewhat notoriously?), when I find an author I like, I certainly keep reading him/her as long as s/he continues to satisfy me. I'd rather spend both my money and my time on someone I'm reasonably sure will be worth it than someone who is an unknown to me. But I don't know that I've ever only _wanted_ to read one author for any extended period, though I did get pretty obsessive with Terry Pratchett when I first discovered him. At that time there were probably already 20 Discworld books in print, so I read them in order over the next few months to the exclusion of pretty much anything else. I would say that was an exception for me: usually it's more like a couple or three books at a time, or perhaps a few more if there is a longer series that I want to read.


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## MLPMom (Nov 27, 2009)

I have done this before as well. It is easy to find a new author and then want to devour all their works. For this reason, most of my favorite authors I have read all their works, which then means I have to find a new one. Sometimes it is hard waiting a year or two for their next book to come out.


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## JoeMitchell (Jun 6, 2010)

I went through a phase where I wanted to read everything Stephen King had written and did my best to achieve that, then moved on to Dean Koontz.  Before that, I sought out all of Issac Asimov's robot stories and dozens of Piers Anthony novels.  Eventually you run out of books and have to move on to a new author, at least until they publish a new one.

I would obsessively read every zombie novel that Max Brooks writes, but unfortunately, there's only 'World War Z'.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

I'm in a Simon Green phase right now because there's a new Nightside book out and I want to read all the books in order before getting to the new one.


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

I do that a lot...and why not? If someone writes something you enjoy, there's no reason to not explore their other work. when my son lent me a copy of Christopher Moore's _Lamb_ I spend the next 3-4 weeks buying the rest of his books and devouring them (lotsa fiber, you know  )

What really bites is when you've read everything they've published, and you're not ready to be done with them...


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

Vince Flynn  did  this  to me..  Now  that I've read all but  two of his books - I'm  reading other authors because I don't  want to "run out".


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## L.J. Sellers novelist (Feb 28, 2010)

I was in that mode once with Stephen King and more recently with John Sandford. At this point in time, I'm trying to sample a variety of authors. 
That's one of my reading goals for the new year.
L.J.


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## WestofMars (Sep 16, 2009)

I deliberately mix it up. Guess I'm the minority around here, but I'd rather have a variety of ideas, influences, and fictional worlds. That way, returning to the familiar one is an even-more-luxurious treat.


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## libbyfh (Feb 11, 2010)

I did that with Dennis Lehane. Started with A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR and tore through all of them (there were only 4 then) till GONE BABY GONE.


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## carl_h (Sep 8, 2010)

Without a doubt!  Particularly when I find a series with characters that I enjoy ...I'm OCD about it sometimes....gotta read them in order until done without reading books by other authors.


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## Lisa M. (Jun 15, 2010)

I do this *all the time*. Especially when I discover a "new" (new to me) author. I'm a big re-reader as well, so I might get on a reading kick on one of the authors I already have books of when I run out of my "new" authors. But being here has given me so many "new" authors to stalk!!! It's awesome!!


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## unknown2cherubim (Sep 10, 2010)

I did the John Connolly thing.  I read five straight and I still read every Charlie Parker as soon as it comes out.


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## Some Writer Cat (Sep 22, 2010)

John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee books did this to me.  Most of the time, though, I prefer to read all over the map.  Keeps it fresh.


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

When I find a good series, I get completely obsessed and devour them without pause. Then I feel ookie. Then I find something else to fixate on.


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

I do it when I get into a new-to-me series, or sometimes when a new book in a series comes out and I feel like re-reading that series from the beginning.  Like others have said, I will then generally read the whole series without reading anything else in between.

If it's not a series, though, I'm not quite as compulsive about reading everything available from an author in one batch.

Someone mentioned Sandford.  Dang, sometimes that's all it takes to trip a switch in my head to make me think it's time to do a re-read....   I just re-read all of Parker's series after he died last year so I'm okay there.  And I just re-read all of Robb's In Death series last fall so I'll be okay with the new one coming out next month.  May have to re-read the Simon Green Nightside books to prep for the new one (probably wouldn't have if Scarlet hadn't mentioned it!).  And I haven't read the Travis McGee books in a couple-three years, I wish they'd come out on Kindle though but I doubt that'll happen any time soon.  Same for the Dell Shannon Mendoza books.


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## DLPBooks (Jan 4, 2011)

If I find the author has grabbed me in the first book I have read, yes. When I discovered Sue Grafton, for example, I think I burned through the first ten Kinsey Millhone books in a few weeks. 

Consequently, with many authors I tend to burn out after a while. I have not read a Grafton or Janet Evanovich book in ages, and I think that's why as a writer I don't intend to write series with an indefinite number of books. I may limit mysteries to 3-5 books per series unless sales dictate I should write more. Wouldn't want anybody getting burned off on my stuff!


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## KindleLovinMike (Jan 6, 2011)

I read all the Agatha Christie Poirot books once. Oh, and then there was Tolkein, oh wait, Asimov and Foundations. Sigh. Yes. It's me, too.


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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

I was that way for a while when I first discovered Nelson DeMille.  When I was younger it was Ian Fleming.


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## screwballl (Jan 4, 2011)

I went through a time where all I read for almost 2 years was Asimov books... considering he has so many, it was pretty easy to do this. I have gone through almost all of his scifi books, compilations and short stories, and a few of his purely scientific books.


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## LaFlamme (Dec 9, 2010)

I'm with Ms. Sellers. I got clinically depressed after I read Sandford's last Prey novel. I'm all better now.


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## J.M Pierce (May 13, 2010)

Absolutely. I had a Steinbeck period, a Crichton period, a Koontz period, a King period, a Lewis period...

I now have a nice variety in my TBR, largely thanks to the KB and the Kindle.


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## Glen Krisch (Dec 21, 2010)

Sure.  There's been a King phase (or two), Barker, Lebbon, Keene, Dan Simmons, Tad Williams, Vonnegut, Laymon (until I felt like I needed to take a shower to get clean).  If you find a rich vein of ore, you go at it like a terrier after a rat.  I'm always on the look out for an author that can make me feel this way about reading.


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## Imogen Rose (Mar 22, 2010)

Yes, definitely! If I like an author, I feel the need to read everything he/she has ever written...


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## Five String (Jun 6, 2010)

Interesting that Tom started this thread by mentioning Robert Parker, because I had OCD for him for a while. What often happens to me, though, is I go nuts for one author, read a whole lot of their stuff, and then get sick of him/her. Parker's sort of gotten that way for me.


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## prairiesky (Aug 11, 2009)

I am like that with only two authors:  Pat Conroy and James Lee Burke.  They have a long time between books, so it works out OK.


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## fancynancy (Aug 9, 2009)

I get stuck on series sometimes.  It's a mood thing with me. When things are feeling out of control at work, I look forward to coming home and slipping into a familiar world of familiar characters.  Other times, I feel adventurous and can't wait to try something new.  I'll always have a few familiar series books on my TBR list, but I often break away and read something new I heard about in a review.


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

fancynancy said:


> When things are feeling out of control at work, I look forward to coming home and slipping into a familiar world of familiar characters.


That's often when I end up doing a series re-read. Sometimes it's a mention here on KB of a character/series that sparks a 'need to re-read' and sometimes it's that stress thing that kicks in and requires an escape to a safe familiar world.


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## Amy Corwin (Jan 3, 2011)

Steph H said:


> That's often when I end up doing a series re-read. Sometimes it's a mention here on KB of a character/series that sparks a 'need to re-read' and sometimes it's that stress thing that kicks in and requires an escape to a safe familiar world.


I've fallen in love with Charles Todd, but the first book I read was in the middle of the series, so I had to go back and re-read in order LOL. Now, every once in a while, I like to go back and start at the beginning and see how the characters develop.

Another one I like to do that with is Lindsay DAvis, although I don't have all of her books on the Kindle (yet) and some of the more recent ones are too expensive. I'm hoping they come down in price eventually.

But I do get these cravings for a particular writer and then just read that writer. I went on a P.G. Wodehouse binge two years ago and read nothing else for about four months. LOL


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

When I first got my Kindle, I read all the J.D. Robb books, then all the Nora Roberts trilogies, then all the Diana Gabaldon Outlander books... and so on and so forth...


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## Harry Shannon (Jul 30, 2010)

All the time, starting as a kid with Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, then Travis McGee and James Bond, then Stephen King, James Lee Burke, Conolly, Connelly and Lehane...though over the years I've learned to slow down and savor a bit more. It's fun watching my daughter exhibit the same behavior, she'll love a book and want to go out and buy everything that person has written.


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## Nutwood (Dec 28, 2010)

I'm liking Cormac McCarthy lately.  But I'll read one of his, then something else, the back to CM, then something else, so I'm hooked but I like to mix it up.


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## unknown2cherubim (Sep 10, 2010)

I got Hulu Plus and I'm totally into Alfred Hitchcock's two shows from the late 50s - mid-60s. I'm watching them exclusively. Does that count?


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

Ha - when I'm on the computer at home instead of reading, I've lately been watching on TV through Netflix Instant Watch and my Roku box, the Stargate SG-1 series from the beginning.  I'm almost done with Season 3 of 10.  So sure, TV obsessions count too.


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## Randolphlalonde (Sep 12, 2009)

That's happened to me a few times now that I think of it. In my teen years I had a Stephen King phase, which was closely followed by a Clive Barker run into my early 20's.

In my mid 20's I read everything I could find from David Gemmel except for his historical stuff. Most recently I got caught reading George RR Martin, and now I'm waiting for his next couple of books, but I'm certainly not alone.

I wonder who's next. Gaiman, even though he's a talented writer for sure, didn't grab me as much as I expected.


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## Dee Ernst (Jan 10, 2011)

There are a few authors I read over and over - the whole Spenser series by Parker, for example.  But I sometimes find authors I thought I loved get stale after the fourth or fifth book.  Elizabeth Berg and Ann Rivers Siddons are two that come to mind.  They don't write a series, which may be the problem.  If I'm comfortable with a character, I'm much less critical.  But the Outlander series got weird for me after the fourth book, so I just read the first three over and over.


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## Mrs. K. (Dec 31, 2010)

We absolutely get stuck! I've had my George Orwell period, my Tolkien period, my King, my Koontz, my Harlan Coben and most recently my Gabaldon. I fear I'm about to embark on my Kellerman period part deux...I've done Jonathan and I think it's Faye's turn.


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## TheRiddler (Nov 11, 2010)

It's funny - I can't read more then two books by the same author without having to read something different.


So although I have my favourite authors I still have to read other things inbetween.


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## KatieKlein (Dec 19, 2010)

I read all over the place (in YA fiction), but I go back to Sarah Dessen at least once a year.


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## CNDudley (May 14, 2010)

I'd say the obsessive behavior only backfires if you like depressing authors. You could probably only get through three Thomas Hardy novels back-to-back-to-back before you strung yourself up!

My more chipper obsessions have included Dorothy Sayers' mysteries, Twilight (so shoot me), and Harry Potter.

What do you do with authors whose non-series books are so different that you can't go on a bender?


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## RobertMarda (Oct 19, 2010)

I have had times where I only read one author for a while.  Usually it is because I am reading a series of theirs, like Anne MacCaffrey's dragons of pern series.  But when I was a teen I had a time when I only read Robert A Heinlein.  I still have a few of his books that I bought back then.

Right now I am in a mode of trying out new authors and so am reading many different authors.


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## chris.truscott (Dec 3, 2010)

I do that, too. Usually when it involves series.

Discovered the Billy Boyle series (James Benn) by accident last fall. Had to read all five books before I could move on. Same w/ Gordon Ryan's Pug Connor books.

I've also read all three of Steven Anderson's novels over the last month or so. Each was a stand-alone, so it was a little easier to move away after finishing one and then come back.


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