Today marks the first Monday of the new year and the reminder that a new year has just started. It makes me take a step back and think how everything is changing and how time passes. It also makes me really nostalgic. Like really, really nostalgic. Especially when I was at the library the other day and browsing the Juvenile section for the first in what felt like years. I saw all these books and series that I remember reading as a kid. I also saw some new books that were somehow familiar. New in the sense that I did not know of their existence, but familiar because they were part of some of my favorite series growing up. It made me consider rereading the series and then reading the new books. So I was wondering, do you keep reading series from your childhood that are still unfinished?
Yes
Some series I really loved reading. Series like Percy Jackson which I absolutely adored reading, I still read. In fact, I am anxiously awaiting the next book, The Blood of Olympus. And Harry Potter too. If J.K. Rowling decided to write a series on Harry’s children, I would be more than happy to read those too. Sure reading series that I read when I was younger would make me even more nostalgic (something I seem to be very often nowadays, probably because of high school), but it would be nice to go back. Especially to revisit the characters where they left off. To see what happens to them. On the other hand…
Yes
Some series I really loved reading. Series like Percy Jackson which I absolutely adored reading, I still read. In fact, I am anxiously awaiting the next book, The Blood of Olympus. And Harry Potter too. If J.K. Rowling decided to write a series on Harry’s children, I would be more than happy to read those too. Sure reading series that I read when I was younger would make me even more nostalgic (something I seem to be very often nowadays, probably because of high school), but it would be nice to go back. Especially to revisit the characters where they left off. To see what happens to them. On the other hand…
No
On the other hand, a lot of those books seem really childish now. Also some of them while I remember really liking them then, I do not particularly like them now. I guess a part of growing up is not only do your tastes change, but your reading level and sense of maturity go up too (hopefully). When I look at some of the series I really liked when I was younger, the thought “how on Earth did I ever like this?” comes up more often than I would like it to. Also rereading and reading series takes time. Time isn’t something I have a lot of nowadays. The past is the past and I should just let that go.
What about you?
Do you read series from your childhood if they are still going on?
I am the same way! The entire effect of nostalgia is so pleasing. Reading at a young age is so special and magical. Not to get all sappy and cliche-y but truly anything is possible and your imagination hasn’t been ruined by the cynicism of adulthood yet ;p I still read children’s books because (a) I’m a mom of two young kids (4 and 2) and I want to be able to recommend great books to them and (b) I love nostalgia! But I know what you mean about them feeling to juvenile, I could only read so many before I need to get out of the head of a child for a while 😉
I did this the other week. I suddenly remembered a series I read when I was a teenager that I remember loving, it was the T*Witches series, I only ever read book one and book two because at the time I think the rest of the books hadn’t been written yet and I never realized it wasn’t the end of the series… So the other week I started reading the other books in the series.
I got two chapters in to book three and put it down thinking “Wow. I can see how my maturity level has risen”. The books were incredibly childish, immature and totally unrealistic. I was really sad about it, I could see how I would have liked the series when I was ten, but now? It was a huge disappointment. I wished I had been able to read the series when I was young, I’m sure I would have loved it back then. But now I will never know the ending to the series because I just can’t force myself to read them. They’re that bad.