September Series & Sequels

Around the 75ers group, September Series & Sequels has become an annual tradition.

Regardless of the genre--mysteries, romance, Westerns, or something else--this is the place to talk about what series books/sequels you're reading during September.

Welcome. I hope we all get lots of ideas.

Thanks for hosting, Linda! I'm doing so many challenges that it's not going to be easy to fit in as many series as usual. I do have a few September priorities that will fit. Hag-Seed is Margaret Atwood's entry in the Hogarth Shakespeare series. I have a NetGalley ARC. I plan to read Cider with Rosie for the BAC. It's the first volume of Laurie Lee's autobiography. I'll probably pull a mystery out of the TBRs. Right now I'm leaning toward The Reluctant Detective by Martha Ockley. And I'll probably listen to an audiobook from a series. It will depend on what's available when I'm ready to start a new audiobook.

Hooray for S & S!! Thanks for setting this one up, Linda. I do not have anything specifically planned but I am sure I will find a few. I am due for a Dr. Siri...

I'm in. Thanks for setting this up, Linda!

I'm here. I'll have to see what I get to this month before committing to specific titles for September. I'm also trying to complete the book by mid-October which may cut into my reading time. I'm sure I'll have at least a couple that fit.

Like Lori, I'm not sure what I'll be reading in September, but I'm sure there'll be S & S in there somewhere.

I'm in! I had started a list of possible reads, but I seemed to have lost it. *sigh*

I can say this is the perfect month for what amounts to comfort reading for me, since I will have a hellish two week run up to leaving for another hellish almost two week work trip :-/

But LOTS of airport and plane reading time :)

I've added the thread to the group wiki!

I haven't made any decisions, but I have on hand the next (for me) in several series, thus:

The Merry Misogynist (Dr. Siri) by Colin Cotterill
When the Thrill is Gone (Leonid McGill) by Walter Mosley
Miss Zukas and the Island Murders by Jo Dereske
The Old Fox Deceived (Richard Jury) by Martha Grimes
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne
Seventy-Seven Clocks (Bryant and May) by Christopher Fowler audio
Robert B. Parker's Kickback (Spenser) by Ace Atkins audio

So, I think that's enough to be going on with!

I am going to be reading Go Set a Watchman for my book club's September discussion, sequel, of course, to To Kill a Mockingbird.

Nice to see so many people joining in on September Series & Sequels.

In most months, the bulk of my reading would involve mystery series. This month, I'm working my way through the very long but very enjoyable Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry and my September reading plans depend in large part on when I finish this book.

At a minimum, I'd like to read the brand new Louise Penny, A Great Reckoning, which comes out at the end of this month.

For a change of pace, I'd like to read a Debbie Macomber romance. Not my usual thing but once every year or two, I read one of her series romances and I just got a notice that the last in one of her series is out or soon will be out so I'll try to get caught up.

Also, in Aug, for TIOLI, I was hoping to read more Westerns, which I also rarely do. I'd planned to read a Louis L'Amour or a Zane Grey. Some of those are series books I think, so there's that.

So, to make a long story short, my September S&S plans are still a work in progress.

>11 lindapanzo: Hi Linda! I was able to score an ARC of A Great Reckoning and devoured it. I'll be interested in your opinion.

>12 karenmarie: I've long thought of Louise Penny as my favorite mystery author but I haven't liked the more recent books as much as I liked the earlier ones. I'm always eager to read the new one though.

I met her in person a few years ago when she gave a talk and did a book signing. She is back at North Central College doing the same again this year but I have a schedule conflict and can't go this time.

>13 lindapanzo: Great minds! I've loved her books but have been less pleased the last oh, say, 3 or 4. I've never gotten to meet her, unfortunately.

>14 karenmarie: I think she worked in the media. Speaks very well.

When I heard her speak, so many people registered that they had to move it away from their bookstore over to the auditorium of a nearby private college.

> I'm going to hear Penny speak Sept 1 in Kansas City. I have A Great Reckoning on my reading list for September. Also have Dark Fire by C.J. Sansom, the second in the Matthew Shardlake series planned, as well as The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante, the second title in the Neapolitan Novels trilogy. Hopefully will add a few more.

Not sure which books I'll wind up reading in September, but I know there will be series books!

Thank you so much for stepping in to the hosting shoes, Linda.

September will always be a month that I look at all the series I have and I am looking forward to reading a few this September. I am currently planning on:
Kissed A Sad Goodbye by Deborah Crombie, The Wrong Kind of Blood by Declan Hughes, The Rubber Band by Rex Stout, Carpe Diem by Sharon Lee, Fairest by Marissa Meyer and Deadline by Mira Grant.

>15 lindapanzo: >16 clue: Louise Penny did work in the media. She is very comfortable talking to an audience. I am sure that you will enjoy her when you see her. I did when I saw her in Vancouver a few years ago.

I am sure that I have some series to catch up on. Book two in the Ruth Galloway mysteries is just waiting for me to crack its covers.

The new October Daye book by Seanan McGuire is coming out on September 6, and that is book 10 of the series, so there is one for sure.

I hadn't realized that Cider With Rosie was the beginning of a series, but I do plan on reading that as well as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

I also have Doc and The Man in the Wooden Hat out from the library.

I have quite a few series books waiting on Planet TBR, so we'll see how far I get!

Oh, I plan to read Cider for Rosie for the BAC as well...so there's another one for my list!

I'm going to be finishing Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles, I'm currently on the last book #6, Checkmate, and I had hoped to finish in August but I've only just got started and it's not my priority read.

Others:
The Evolutionary Void (Void Trilogy #3) by Peter F. Hamilton - scifi
Battlesaurus: Clash of Empires (Battlesaurus #2) by Brian Falkner - YA alt history
The Pinhoe Egg (Chrestomanci #6) by Diana Wynne Jones - fantasy YA

I will be reading Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear in September and Any Other Name by Craig Johnson. I hope to get to a few more sequels and series books, but this is all I can commit to reading for right now.

I'm still hoping to finish Lonesome Dove this month (it's close to a thousand pages) and then, in September, aiming to read a bunch of new-to-me mystery authors. That's the current plan. anyway.

#25
Lonesome Dove would count for the September read because I think there is a series of books about Gus and Co. If I recall accurately there are three books in the series.

Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins series was going to be my focus for September, but I have been persuaded that I must read the novels in order. I googled the titles and order, but I'm stuck for the early books. Read the first and the seventh, own the fifth, ninth, and tenth. But I haven't got the second, third, or fourth. And I'm reluctant to buy 'em at retail. Oh, the horror!

Plan B is to hit at least one of the following: Glory Road, the second volume of Bruce Catton's The Army of the Potomac trilogy (have read the first and third); Dancing at the Rascal Fair, the second book in Ivan Doig's Montana trilogy (have read the first). Probably one or two other such possibilities will come to mind.

>26 benitastrnad: I would like to read the others eventually, but probably not right away.

Here are some of the series books I'm planning to read in September. Probably have a focus on authors I've never read before, but not exclusively.

--A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny--FINISHED
--The Language of the Dead by Stephen Kelly--FINISHED
--To Brie or Not to Brie by Avery Aames--FINISHED
--The Case of the Counterfeit Eye by Erle Stanley Gardner
--Love Letters by Debbie Macomber--FINISHED
--A Girl Like You by Michelle Cox--FINISHED
--Dead Man's Chest by Kerry Greenwood
--Tall Tail by Rita Mae Brown--FINISHED

I've start the first in the Maisie Dobbs series on the recommendation of vancouverdeb.

I just finished reading Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff. This is the second in her Roman Britain Trilogy. It was a very good work of historical fiction for YA's. It isn't long and I thought I would have it read long before this, but there just hasn't been much reading time this month.

Almost there! September comes soon. I know the three Wayward Pines books will be part of it, after I enjoyed Blake Crouch's Dark Matter so much.

S&S woohoo!

I'll be reading The Shining for my Horror! group and it now has a sequel so it's in. I'm on another Harry Hole binge so I'll finish up Book 9 Phantom by Jo Nesbo and move on to book 10 Police. I'm behind on my Tony Hillerman reading. The library only has one copy of Coyote Waits and it's been out. I may have to get it on Kindle. Will also read Sacred Clowns which I have a copy of somewhere.

I've started reading Debbie Macomber's Love Letters but, since I've got quite a bit else going on, reading wise, I probably won't finish it for a few days.

>32 luvamystery65: Hmm, I've read The Shining twice, so maybe I'll read the sequel now. I'm planning to listen to Nesbo's Police, and read this month's Hillerman, it's Sacred Clowns?

I may get my hands on the new Louise Penny. And I'm just starting two series books. My e-book is Snow Angels, the first in the Inspector Vaara series. And I'm reading another Burryin' Barry mystery -- the titles are all so similar, I don't trust my memory without looking.

>34 tymfos: I'm listening to Phantom right now and then I'll listen to Police. These books are great on audio. Yes, September's Hillerman is Sacred Clowns.

>35 luvamystery65: I listened to Phantom earlier this month. The ending is a stunner. I had to repeat the last bit to be sure I heard right.

>36 tymfos: You have just made my day! I am on chapter 10 right now. Going to listen to it on the way to Laredo tomorrow!!! So excited.

>37 luvamystery65: Enjoy, Roberta!

I finished my Series book #1 for September: Fatal Undertaking by Mark de Castrique, book #5 in the Burryin' Barry series.

With a new business partner helping to run the funeral home, Barry is now officially back in law-enforcement as a part-time deupty. When a local charity fundraiser's "haunted house" attraction turns deadly, Barry is drafted by the Sheriff to lead the murder investigation. Matters are complicated when Barry's ex-wife shows up with a videographer to cover the story for a tacky cable reality show.

I love this series. Set in the mountains of North Carolina, it has its cozy elements, especially relating to Barry's work at the funeral home. But it also a harder edge, on the crime side. Barry is a truly decent human being who tries to do the right things, but is not a super-cop. There is humor, and there are tears. The characters are well-drawn and complex. I read these largely for the characters and the setting, but the mysteries are very good, too -- and usually a bit on the unusual side.

Got my first September Series and Sequels book under my belt, The Wrong Kind of Blood by Declan Hughes is the first in the Irish P.I. Ed Loy series, and it was a good one!

Started Pines, the first of the Wayward Pines trilogy.

I am about half done with Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death by James Runcie. Then it will be on to Craig Johnson and another Longmire mystery Any Other Name. Those in the Longmire/Hillerman group read will notice that I am behind on the reading list but sometimes that is how things go.

Finished the first book of the Lewis Trilogy The Blackhouse a very good mystery :-)

>42 benitastrnad: I join you in being behind in the Longmire/Hillerman group. Any Other Name is sitting on my to read pile. Funny how that happens towards the end of the year.

>43 FAMeulstee: Yes, The Blackhouse was a good mystery. I need to finish the third in the trilogy.

>42 benitastrnad: & >44 dallenbaugh: I'm also way behind in the Hillerman/Longmire group. Mine is on the Hillerman side. The Longmire audios make it easier for me to keep up. There are a few Hillerman audios but Coyote Waits is not one of them.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I finished Postal, Volume 3. This series is getting brutal but it's still very intriguing. Remind me never to visit Eden, Wyoming.

I just brought home Louise Penny's new one from the library. Can't believe there were no holds on it.

^Lucky!

I can't wait to read that.

I am currently about half way through Everybody's Fool, which is longer than it needs to be, but still quite entertaining. The characters are a real hoot.

I have The Old Fox Deceiv'd standing by.

I didn't manage to finish When Hoopoes Go to Heaven last month so it will be my first S&S read. It's not part of a series, but it is a sequel to Baking Cakes in Kigali.

I've started rereading book #9, A Red-Rose Chain, of the October Daye series in preparation for book #10 coming out next Tuesday. Good thing, too, because I've forgotten everything that went on in it!

I'm currently reading An Irish Country Doctor as a nice light read. That is the first in series. I'm sure I'll fit another book from a series in September.

>40 DeltaQueen50: You got me with that Declan Hughes book, Judy and I ordered it already. I think it was you who told me about the Albert Campion mysteries as well. I am reading The Tiger in the Smoke for my first series read.

I am not sure what I will read after that. There are so many series on my shelves that I don't know where to go next.

Started a long overdue reread of Raymond Feist's Midkemia series starting with Magician. Those who read it the first time around may remember it as Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master.

>52 Familyhistorian: She got me with the Hughes book, too. :)

My series reading is starting to take shape for the month. Current series reads:

Paper book: A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny (about 100 pages in)
E-book: Snow Angels by James Thompson
Audio: Police by Jo Nesbo

I've got holds placed on these books -- we'll see if they're available in time:
Trophy Hunt by C.J. Box
Dr. Sleep by Stephen King (sequel to The Shining)
An Obvious Fact by Craig Johnson (to be released Sept. 6 -- probably slim odds getting that by the end of the month)

Others planned/possible:
Sacred Clowns by Tony Hillerman
Lila by Marilynne Robinson
Epitaph by Mary Doria Russell

I've got 2 series reads in process:

A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny
The Bookseller by Mark Pryor

>51 vancouverdeb: For quite awhile, I was reading at least one of the Irish Country Doctor series books per year but it's been more than a few years since I've read one. I ought to pick up the next one this month. I think I'm on about number 5 or so.

I started listening to the recorded version of Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo. This is the third book in the Grisha trilogy by this author. These are YA fantasy and they are set in a Russia like country and use Russian and Eastern European fairy tales as plot points. They are well plotted with a female lead that is a very strong character. These books have been a summer long project and they turned out to be fun reads.

If you are looking for a good YA fantasy series this might be the ticket.

I've started reading Zoo Station, the first John Russell book. I tucked it into my suitcase at the last moment and I'm glad I did.

I couldn't help myself and started another series book, The Janus Stone the second in the Ruth Galloway series. Maybe I should have finished the first series book I was reading before I started the next one - but what's the fun in that.

I have just finished Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. I think of it as a series, even though there will be no more.

#58
I love that series. I have the last one in it to read Masaryk Station and hope to get to it this month.

I think that ends this series but David Downing as now written a prequel series about Jack Russell in WWI and the Interwar years. I think that means that there will be more of his work to read in the coming years.

>52 Familyhistorian: Hope you enjoy the Declan Hughes as much as I did, Meg. Currently I am reading a fantasy novel called Foxmask by Juliet Mariller. This is a sequel to Wolfskin which I read a few years ago.

My wife and I just finished reading to each other the fourth in the Little House series, On the Banks of Plum Creek. Next up is By the Shores of Silver Lake.

I also read the first two in Blake Crouch's Wayward Pines series, and I'm 3/4 of the way through the third.

>62 DeltaQueen50: I am looking forward to the Declan Hughes, Judy. But by the time it gets here I am sure that something else will be clamouring for my attention - too many books so little time. I just finished my first Albert Campion mystery - seems to me that was as a result of your warbling as well. A Tiger in the Smoke was a slow starter but the action picked up in the end.

I finished my first series book of September, Debbie Macomber's Love Letters, a romance set in the Rose Harbor Inn. I think there are just two more in the series, plus a prequel and a novella.

Next up will probably be a series mystery. I'd like to read the new Louise Penny but don't have the time to devote to it just yet.

>54 tymfos: I finished Phantom by Jo Nesbo and Oh My! I started The Shining and I'm already a little scared by Chapter 5! Ha ha!

>55 clue: Yeah, "Oh My!" is right!

(Edited deleted stupid premature remarks about Penny novel)

I finished Snow Angels -- Nordic noir sort of thing set in Finland. It had a lot of violence and a dreary setting in the Arctic winter, but a protagonist, a police inspector, who is a reasonably well-balanced character. I'm still evaluating it, but plan to read more in the series.

eta to add I calmed down enough to go back to the Penny novel, which I had put down in a moment of perplexity ...:-)

Ok, I stayed up late and finished the Penny. After one shaky section that confounded me, it was actually quite good. I wound up giving it 4 stars. If she'd left out that one little bit and fixed one continuity error (or her editor had) I might have given it 4 1/2 stars, even. Or maybe not

I finished reading my first series book Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death by James Runcie. This is the first in the series about the village vicar Sidney Chambers and I found it to be a very chatty novel. After reading the novel, which is a series of short stories - I can understand why these novellas are a hit as a TV series. They simply translate so well to that medium. Of course, good actors in the starring roles also helps. I will probably read more in this series, but not right now.

I finished The Provincial Lady in Russia by E. M. Delafield, the fourth in her "Provincial Lady" series. Only 1 book left in the series, which I may do later this month.

well, I reread books 8 and 9 of the October Daye series in preparation for the new book that came out today--and for the first time, Amazon failed me and it hasn't made it! *sob*

Started Dragonfly in amber, the second book of Outlander.

>61 benitastrnad: Thanks for your comments. I finished Zoo Station and will definitely continue the series.

I'll be picking up Garnethill in the next few days, another new series for me.

I've started listening to one of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books, The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party. Light, entertaining, and it's been sitting on MT TBR since 2013.

We're almost a third of the way through the month and I've read only one series book so far. Well, at least I've started a second one, a first in a WW2 mystery series by Stephen Kelly called The Language of the Dead.

I finished listening to Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo. That darn recorded version was so good I couldn't wait for my morning commute to find out how the story ended. I stayed up until midnight reading the novel in bed.

This is one series that does not suffer from the second book let-down, or the wimpy ending. This one was a banger all the way! In fact, the weakest of the three novels in the series was the first. Now this is the way to end a series. The Darkling makes everybody around him suffer and the Sun Summoner barely wins the day, and then turns her back on all of it and walks off into the sunset with the guy. How that happens is quite a story. Read it for yourself. But do start with the first book in the series Shadow and Bone. This series is worth the effort.

I finished the second book in the Ruth Galloway series, The Janus Stone. I liked it but will wait to go on to the next because there are so many other books to get to.

I read a WW II submarine thriller called Sink The Shigure which is a sequel to Pride Runs Deep. While I enjoyed this book, it wasn't as good as the first.

I truly love the Nordic novels. I was apprehensive at first because my nerves can get to me but find I do well with them as I find them so fascinating. My first known venture there was with Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. (not part of a series) In fact this was my favorite book for that year.
One of the series I am currently reading is the Kurt Wallander series by Henning Mankell and I am engrossed in The Fifth Woman at this time. It is # 6 in the series.

>80 rainpebble: I loved the Kurt Wallander series!

In another favorite Nordic series, I finished Police by Jo Nesbo. I listened on audio -- normally, that's for listening when I drive, exercise, or do housework. But last night, I wound up sitting in the chair listening, with no pretense of doing anything else. I do believe Nesbo loves messing with the reader's mind.

>81 tymfos:
Hi Terri. So glad you love the Wallander series too. I can't tell you how very much I am enjoying them. I like how Mankell grows his characters and plots. The last one I read, Sidetracked, was really appropriately titled. That one kind of freaked me out but I loved it!

I just ordered the first of the Nesbo series that you are into: The Bat.
Hoping to enjoy that series as much as you obviously are so thanks for the rec.

>81 tymfos: I am a little more than halfway in Police but I could not agree more with your statement, I do believe Nesbo loves messing with the reader's mind.

I finished Garnethill the first in a trilogy and really liked it. I've started listening to The Evolutionary Void which is the final in the Void trilogy, love my Peter F. Hamilton scifis.

Not sure what I'll read now, I'll possibly look out The Pinhoe Egg so I can say I've read all the Chrestomanci books.

Finished Any Other Name by Craig Johnson. This is one of the Longmire series and also counts for the Hillerman/Longmire group read under Navajo Mysteries group read. I like these adventure thrillers and this was no exception. Well worth the time it took to read.

I started Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear. This is the last one in the Jenny Casey series. Then it will be on to Sacred Clowns by Tony Hillerman.

Almost done with The Last Policeman by Ben Winters

I finished my second September S&S book, The Language of the Dead by Stephen Kelly, the first in a British World War 2 series. I definitely want to read the next one and, in fact, put it on reserve at the library.

Next up, the new Louise Penny, A Great Reckoning.

>86 nrmay: What a great trilogy that is.

I finished listening to Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski. This was the last one in the Winner's Trilogy and while it had flashes of good thrills, it suffered from a common aliment with series, it ended this trilogy with a whimper. Since this was the recorded version part of the problem was the narrator. The accents used were so fake that by the end of the novel they got on my nerves. I have to admit that I had noticed this problem in the previous novels because I listened to them as well, but I found it really annoying with one. I think it was because the storytelling wasn't good enough to make me forget about the narration problem.

Now reading Warleggan, 4th in the Poldark saga by Winston Graham

I got my hands on the new Longmire novel, An Obvious Fact. Yay!

Mrs. Jeffries Turns the Tide is the 31st book in this cozy series. They are fun Victorian mysteries set in London and my latest series read.

Whew. Just finished the new Louise Penny book, A Great Reckoning at lunch.

I know that some didn't like it as much but, to me, it felt the most personal of all of them and ranks right up there for me with Bury Your Dead. I haven't been that thrilled with some of the recent books but loved this one.

Am in the middle of a wonderful Ruth Galloway read. I can't stop myself from going from one to the next, I'm enjoying them so much. Right now I'm reading The Outcast Dead and I don't think I'll be slowing down until I'm through the series. Thanks to whomever on LT got me started with this author!

Karen O.

94- I think that is my favorite thing about LT. I have read authors that I would have never heard of in RL. It's fantastic to have such a great group knowing what I want to read even when I'm not sure. LOL

Just started Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd by Alan Bradley. The 9th book in one of my favourite series, Flavia de Luce.

September has been a great month for me and series reading. 3 of 4 books finished and all of the books I currently reading are all from different series.
Finished all from the great Louise Penny
A Trick of the Light, A Beautiful Mystery, and How the Light Gets In
Currently reading
(I bet you can't guess the first one. Lol)
The Long Way Home , Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Tall Tail by Rita Mae Brown, Ties That Bind by Carolyn Arnold and The Overlook by Michael Connelly

>97 cal8769:
Carrie Lee; I love, love, love 'the Bosch'! Such an interesting character. I hope you are enjoying this series as much as I am, though you are a bit ahead of myself.
cheers,

I finished The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones so have finished the Chrestomanci series and only have a couple of Jones' books left to read.

Picked up Brian Falkner's new Battlesaurus: Clash of Empires, the second book, not sure if it's a series or a trilogy or what. A YA alternate history set in the time of Napoleon with the addition of dinosaurs. Really exciting.

Also will make a start before the month ends on Graeme Lay's James Cook trilogy, one for the ANZAC challenge as well - The secret life of James Cook is the first book.

Also slow reading fantasy, the second Dragonbone Chair book by Tad Williams and continuing to listen to scifi, The Evolutionary Void by Peter F. Hamilton, I'm about 30% done on this last one in the trilogy.

>98 rainpebble:

Bosch is one of my favorites!

Just finished a debut novel, The Road to Winter by Mark Smith and discovered that it's the first in a trilogy. It's set in Australia and marketed as a new Tomorrow when the war began.

We're more than 2/3 of the way through the month now and I hope everyone is enjoying their Sept. Series & Sequels books. I finished my fourth one this morning.

Next up is one that wasn't even on my list. I realized I'd missed reading one of the Dorothy L. Sayers Lord Peter books somehow. I thought I'd read them all but hadn't, so I intend to remedy that situation asap.

>102 lindapanzo: Yes, Linda, enjoying my series & sequels :-)
And nice to see what others are reading!

I finished 4 Erlendur books by Arnaldur Indriðason, Erlendur Sveinsson, police inspector on Iceland.
And finished the Cicero trilogy by Robert Harris

Started The Name of the Wind.

I finished two Harry Hole books, Phantom and Police. Just heard the next one will be out in May! Woo!

Finished book two in the Dr. Siri investigations, Thirty Three Teeth. I started book three, Disco for the Departed and will continue with the series through October.

For my GNs I read Lazarus, Vol. 1: Family, Lazarus, Vol. 2: Lift, Lazarus, Vol. 3: Conclave and Lazarus, Vol. 4: Poison by Rucka and Lark. Very good series.

I'm still plugging away at The Shining by Stephen King, but I have to stop sometimes because I am a big scaredy cat.

Also, plugging away at Coyote Waits which is really good, but I've traveled a lot this month and it gets shuffled aside for audios and GNs which are easier to travel with.

Work has been a b___h and so I am to tired to read at night, but I am enjoying the last book in the Jenny Casey series Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear. I am also reading Present at the Future by the Science Friday host Ira Flatow and it is funny how some of the things in his essays and interviews are major parts of the book. Things like nanotechnology and space elevators. They are in both books. sometimes synergy is strange.

>104 luvamystery65: I loved The Shining. But, after the initial section, I had a hard time getting into the sequel, Dr. Sleep. I decided to try it again later.

My reading is all-over-the-place and nowhere, all at the same time. I've got a bunch of books going, but am suddenly short on time for any of them, and the library "hold available" notices keep coming.

I've finished two more since I last posted on this thread:

Risky Undertaking by Mark de Castrique, latest in his Burryin' Barry series. This was another good one, with a murder possibly related to Cherokee bones and artifacts that may have been disturbed. I listened to it via Hoopla, and it worked really well.

The Draining Lake by Arlandur Indridason was a particularly fine installment in the Inspector Erlendur series. Skeletal remains are found in a lake that has parially drained due to seismic activity. The search for answers leads back to Icelandic university students post-WWII East Germany. It's a stark reminder of how cold the Cold War could be.

After I decided not to listen to Doctor Sleep right now, I downloaded the audio The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, first in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series (another hold come available). I am loving it! But now my hold has come available for the audio of Carol O'Connell's new Mallory series book . . . just as a trade paperback copy of Shadow of the Wind mysteriously appeared on the library book sale table.

I'm hoping to have time to finish off An Obvious Fact so that I can get to Sacred Clowns.

I listened to the recorded version of Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly. This is the first in her Waterfire Saga series.

The novel is aimed at middle school and tween readers and as such it might have a following. For me, as an adult reader, it just fell flat. It was preachy and heavy handed in its approach to the message about conservation of the oceans and the wildlife in it. The plot was simplistic and the characters were stock. Given the audience for this book I am willing to overlook those deficiencies because I think that children would like this novel, even if I found it to be a lightweight in the genre. This was not at all what I expected from a novel by Jennifer Donnelly.

Another annoying thing was the fake accent the reader used for the recorded version of the novel. It didn't manage to convey anything to the reader because it was so obviously fake. When the reader read the book with no accent it was a descent recorded book, but with that accent it screamed fake in a great big way.

A poor reader and poor dialogue with stock characters does not make me want to pick up the next title in this series, but I would be OK with recommending it to 5th graders.

I'm reading the second in the Hugo Marston mystery series recommended by Roberta, The Crypt Thief. Hugo's quite an engaging character.

I finished The Evolutionary Void on audio, #3 in the Void trilogy. I'm diving straight into The Abyss Beyond Dreams which is the first of two also set in the Commonwealth universe. These are great scifi books.

Just Finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and The Overlook and now am reading the next Harry potter and also Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly

Finished Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear and loved it. This is the third book in the Jenny Casey series and what a thrilling ending. This series could qualify as a spy thriller as well as Sci/Fi because it ended with thrills and solved mysteries aplenty. It was also a very prescient book. It was published in 2005 and it was filled with references to nanotechnology, quantum computing, and space elevators, as well as First Contact with alien species. What was also neat was that I am reading another science book, this one by Ira Flatow and in that book I read an essay on space elevators and nanotechnology as well as quantum computing and low and behold I am reading about the same things in a fictional future world. I also still love the idea of a "woman of a certain age" as heroine, and Jenny did nothing to disappoint me in this final installment. While there are some fantastical elements in this novel and some plot threads that end, overall it was a good series to read. The author left plenty of room for expansion on the story and I hope that someday she will write about Jenny and her "family" of misfits and malcontents again. I will definitely be reading more of Bears work in the future.

I'm reading Bruno, Chief of Police, which is the first in a series about a policeman in a small French village. It's been on my shelves for a while, as a result of some warbling somewhere around here, but I've forgotten now who I should thank for it. I'm really enjoying it. There's food and wine, much like in the Montalbano books, but it's French food and wine, and I think I'd rather meet Bruno. We shall see as the series progresses.

I have just completed reading Deadline the second book in Mira Grant's Newsflesh Trilogy.

I finished my fifth Sept S&S book yesterday, a mystery set in 1930's Chicago called A Girl Like You by Michelle Cox.

I've started another mystery I hope to finish before the end of the month. Avery Aames' cheese shop mystery, To Brie or Not to Brie.

About to finish my 3rd S & S for the month -

Poison Study, 1st of the Study Series by Maria Snyder. (fantasy)

I've finished a YA alternate history, Battlesaurus: Clash of Empires by Brian Falkner, it's the sequel to Battlesaurus: Rampage at Waterloo. I enjoyed it, dinosaurs as Napoleon's weapons of war...

I ended up reading about 7 series/sequel books. I have two more on the go but won't finish them before the end of the month.

I hope everyone enjoyed September Series & Sequels. These things always give me book bullets.

I ended up reading 6 series books, including two authors new to me.

My SS&S tally:

completed
Fatal Undertaking but Mark de Castrique (Burryin' Barry series)
Snow Angels by James Thompson e-book (Inspector Vaara series)
A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny (Gamache/Three Pines)
Police by Jo Nesbo AUDIO (Harry Hole)
Risky Undertaking by Mark de Castrique AUDIO (Burryin' Barry)
The Draining Lake by Amaldur Indridason e-book (Inspector Erlendur)
An Obvious Fact by Craig Johnson (Longmire)

still working on
Sacred Clowns by Tony Hillerman (Leaphorn/Chee)
Haunted Roads of Western Pennsylvania by Thomas White e-book (Haunted America collection)
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon AUDIO (Cemetery of Forgotten Books)

Devotional/Theological:
The Case for Grace by Lee Strobel (Strobel's "Case For . . ." collection)

I finished Scared Clowns by Tony Hilllerman and like all of the Leaphorn/Chee mysteries I enjoyed it.

I read 8 novels for this reading challenge. I managed to finish 3 series (or at least the authors say the series are finished) and started 2 new series. One of these I won't bother with book 2 but the other series was good and I will read more in that series.

It was a successful reading September for me.

Along with my Wallander series read, I read the Stieg Larsson Millennium Series: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire & The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest in its entirety. What an exciting series and I was amazed at how much I identified with the protagonist in these books. Not with the strangeness of her actions but with her need to keep silent in the face of all of the horrible things that occurred to her.
I really enjoyed this 'series' challenge and next time, hopefully, I will be prepared in advance with the books I want to read during the month.
Thank you, Linda, for hosting the event. Though I did not post often, I certainly enjoyed the comments of all of you and got so many recs from you all.

I only managed two series reads this month, if you don't count Everybody's Fool. I guess it is a sequel, so maybe I should count it, along with Bruno, Chief of Police (No. 1 in the series) and The Old Fox Deceiv'd, a Richard Jury entry. I usually read at least one series book every month, though, so I will carry on.

Thank you Linda for stepping up and hosting. I read 2 Harry Hole books, 2 Leaphorn and Chee books, 2 Dr. Siri books, I read Vol 3 of Postal, Vol 3 of Sex Criminals and Vol 1-4 of Lazarus. I also listened to The Shining which has a sequel.

All and all a good month for me.

I completed books in two different series in September.

The first was Glory Road by Bruce Catton, the second volume in Catton's three-book set called 'The Army of the Potomac." I'd already read the first and the third.

Last book of the month was A Red Death, the second book in Walter Mosley's "Easy Rawlins" series. I read the first in the series, Devil in a Blue Dress, in March. The third book, White Butterfly, is near to the of the Tower of TBRs.

I love Wallander, rainpebble! It was a sad day when the very last book in the series was finished.

My reads that fit this challenge were:
Sacred Clowns, Tony Hillerman (really enjoying this series)
My Lady Judge, Cora Harrison (new series for me - medieval Ireland - loved it)
The Ice Princess, Camilla Läckberg (new series for me - loved it)
Parsifal's Page, Gerald Morris (Arthurian YA series - just my pace for this kind of thing)