Just some minor musings this time, but while I was writing my article on the extremely long-running Puzzle Game ☆ High School last week, I started thinking about the many mystery series I read. Look up a random review on this blog and chances are that I have more reviews from the same series ready, or I've expressed the wish to read more of the series. Some series I've been following forever: 82 posts have been tagged with Detective Conan as I'm writing this, while other series I've only started with and will get back to sooner or later, like Katou Motohiro's Tsukaeta Mon Gachi! novel series. Some series I'm completely up-to-date (like Ayatsuji Yukito's House series), other series I am reading at the pace that fits me best, but in general, I have relatively few reviews here of books that 1) either don't belong to any series in the first place or 2) where I only read one volume and decided I wouldn't return. There are here of course, but they're definitely in the minority.
What is it about series that attract me? Of course, each series has its own flavor and atmosphere, and (usually) a unique cast of recurring characters with a protagonist who's often also the detective character, so at a micro-level, I could write about each and every series and describe what I like about them, but for someone who doesn't really care about characters that much in mystery fiction, I do read a lot of mystery fiction that focus on recurring characters. In general, I don't care that much about characterization or character development as long as the core mystery plot is great, though of course, having both would be the optimal case. Still, the percentage of reviews here of non-series works is pretty low. So I do have a tendency to return to the same characters (and story style) again and again.
There are of course different approaches to recurring characters. Detective Conan has a rom-com style which does focus on character drama, but also features a thriller-like overarching story. I read most of the Toujou Genya novels in a relatively short period of time, but as a character, Genya never changes, so there it's really the excellent plots and the atmosphere I enjoy. With Puzzle Game ☆ High School, I indicated that while the mystery plots could be a bit too straightforward, I still liked the series because it used the focus on the lives of the protagonists Daichi and Kazuki not just as character drama, but because each phase of their lives also presented the reader with different type of mysteries, from non-crime high school stories, to stories about maternity when Kazuki's pregnant and 'regular' murder mysteries when the two have their own detective agency. So in a way, it's still the 'mystery plot' that brings me back to these series and not the idea of seeing what happens to these characters.
And there's of course just the element of expectations. When I pick up a new volume of Conan, or try a new volume of Mitsuda's Toujou Genya series, I know the kind of stories I can expect (usually then: Ashibe Taku's Morie Shunsaku series is about an attorney, but honestly, he is able to find himself in an insanely diverse situations). And I'll be the first to admit that whenever I don't know what I'm going to read next, I'm more inclined to just continue in a series, than to try something new, even if by an author I already know. So it definitely is a short-cut for me, knowing that I can probably expect a certain standard of entertainment from the work. But that does perhaps make this blog feel very... repetitive, I guess? Because you're always seeing the same names.
Anyway, I don't really have a point to make this time. Just the thought of 'Huh, I read a lot of series.' But perhaps people here have something to comment on series? Series they like and why, or about whether factors like length, the time investment and the general intention to stick with a series to the end play a significant role in deciding whether they're going to try a series or not? Or how a series format can help or hinder a detective plot? There's probably more I could get out of the topic, but maybe another time!
i stopped having a tv 3 years ago, so i had to fill the void with other things. it's mostly while i eat (all the time) or exercise (barely) and since i dislike reading while eating, finding constant things to watch is essential. and can take up a much time as actually watching something.
ReplyDeletei have lost count of how many episodes i start then ditch because the premise wasn't to my liking. but i also follow so many things in parallel that it gets kinda tiring to juggle everything together. and that's without taking into account gaming, language learning, reading, actually going to work and...other tmi interests.
i donno about you, mr ho-ling, but at the end of the day, i am beat. however the thought of missing out on something major is what fuels me and it's a tug of war between "slow down, empty your mind, stop wasting time on this crap" and "but i am seeing all these great stuff, everybody talking about things and being part of greater conversations, do you reeeeally wanna feel left out and not be a pseudo-intellectual?"
i feel like life was simpler before getting hooked on the net. the few things imwas exposed to "back then" were an "event" and i delved into them with full attention and undivided focus. now, everything is mingling with each other. i skip from one episode to the next, from one blog post to the next, from one chapter to the next.
so basically, my attention span is shorter. i am much more severe and strict towards things. if you don't grab my attention with cute boys or great premise in the first minutes then you get tossed to the bin. especially now that books are apparently getting longer and longer. to answer a question of yours: the longer the book, the less i will want to engage in it. on the one condition that rave reviews praise the outcome. i read "1Q84" in 2 weeks when it released, for crying out loud. now? i don't think i would get it if it disn't get a certain number of stars on three different platforms. when i browse for books, anything lower than 4 stars gets pass. i look at book covers first to see if the publisher put some thought into it. if it's dull looking or features something beige like a city landscape or some geometric forms, also hard pass. if the book is praised by a certain community, or pushed by a certain agenda, major pass.
all these rules that govern my tastes and purchases...i often wonder how i turned out like this.
I have seen other people who like to try out everything as not to miss out, but fortunately, I'm pretty relaxed with that. I just try things that seem interesting tome at a certain moment in time, and I don't mind postponing things or watching series many years later. I see plenty of people for example who try out each and every new anime series in a season and then drop half of them halfway, while I don't mind skipping whole seasons and just try out a series that was received very well some years ago.
DeleteLength of a book does sometimes influence my decisions, though it also depends on the author (a writer's style can also strongly influence how long a story actually feels), but reviews not that much. As long as the premise of the plot interests me in some way, I'm willing to try it out and perhaps even prioritize it over something 'bigger'. Just read a pretty standard travel mystery novel for example that's barely reviewed, even while there's plenty in the to-be-read list, but I simply wanted to read a novel set in a certain city and there was little choice.