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Personal logo ochoin Supporting Member of TMP14 Jan 2015 12:37 a.m. PST

When you come late to a series you tend to read them higgily-piggily.

Last year I re-read the Aubrey-Maturin series in their correct order & it certainly enhanced my admiration for the author & books. Character & theme & not least, history are developed as the author intended.

Now that I've managed to collect all the Nero Wolfe series, I'm starting reading them in order. As I came to them late, at first I read (& re-read) the later titles before going back & reading the earlier.

I'm expecting a chronological reading to be useful. Fer-de-lance is already seeming better with my knowledge it is the first Nero Wolfe.

britishlinescarlet214 Jan 2015 12:55 a.m. PST

I always try to read them in order unless I pick up a book from a charity shop and find that it is one of a series and then I have to buy the preceding books and read them in order anyway.

tkdguy14 Jan 2015 12:57 a.m. PST

Usually, unless I can't find a particular book in the series.

Winston Smith14 Jan 2015 6:16 a.m. PST

I keep thinking I should re read the Flashman books in chronological order. But that is not how Fraser wrote them. So I just pick one out at random. Each book is stand alone, even Freedom/Redskins. The same with the Hornblower books.
If i reread Lord of the Rings , that is not the case.

Ed Mohrmann Supporting Member of TMP14 Jan 2015 7:16 a.m. PST

I dunno, Winston. Clearly, the Hornblowers were not
written in chron/historical order, but I still when
rereading prefer to start with _Mr. Midshipman Hornblower_
and plow thru to the end.

Ed Mohrmann Supporting Member of TMP14 Jan 2015 7:18 a.m. PST

Ochoin, I'm a long-time Wolfe fan. Do you find the
period differences between the late 30's Wolfe's and
the more modern Wolfe's a bit of a distraction ?

Personal logo Parzival Supporting Member of TMP14 Jan 2015 10:53 a.m. PST

Order of publication is generally preferable, as the author will have written his work in light of what a reader is likely to already know or be familiar with in terms of the characters and world being built, and in the better authors a similar approach will be evident in the progression of themes and ideas.

Roderick Robertson Fezian14 Jan 2015 11:12 a.m. PST

I prefer read series in character-chronological order.

And re-read the entire series from the beginning when I buy the latest book…

Personal logo ochoin Supporting Member of TMP14 Jan 2015 1:36 p.m. PST

@ Ed

Good point.

Whether to chronologically update a long running series is a challenging question for an author.
Stout chose to not set Wolfe's world in concrete. All in all, a good decision, I think.
The later clashes Wolfe has with the FBI in the Nixon USA
are such excellent books, his dealing with racial integration, Communism: none of this would be possible if he left Archie & Wolfe in the '20s.

However, when the Goldsborough pastiches have Archie use a word processer that threw me.

Terrement14 Jan 2015 1:54 p.m. PST

I not only prefer to read them in order, I almost without exception will NOT read a new author I've found until I read the earlier books in that series.

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