The Series Dilemma

The world right now is following, yet, another series. The Twilight Series. What I thought at first was the movie version of the ancient TV show The Twilight Zone, I twitched at learning that it is actually another series of books. And before I knew it, it has already affected the whole world.

I was never really fond of romance novels. I slept through the works Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and even Romeo and Juliet. I have avoided these books among others, so my aversion towards the Twilight Series is nothing new. Convince me if you will but don't treat me with scorn.

However, the truth is, romance novels are not the only one on my avoid list. In fact, I also try to avoid any books that come in a series for that matter even though it interests me a lot. Don't get me wrong, I have trilogies and more in my book collection. But why do I hate them?

Since I started collecting books, I have completed the Warriors of Virtue Series, completed the Lord of the Rings Series, almost completed the Moby Book Classics, nearly completed the Harry Potter Series, and Almost completed the Redwall Saga.

Throughout the collecting process, I have been struck by a frenzy akin to addiction. I remember vividly how I have saved months for the Warriors of Virtue Series (for those who don't know its the follow up on the movie of the same title) out of my 20 pesos per day allowance. I collected the series with a friend. Supposedly, we would have 3 or 2 of the 5 books each and then borrow the ones I don't have from my friend. However, I insisted on buying the whole series even to the point of losing all the money I saved for several months within a day.

I avoided the Animorphs. It was one of the series of books that would have been a worthwhile read and own. But it was an ongoing series at that time and its costs were too much for a student can bear. None the less, I was able to finish the whole series and nearly cried at the bitter ending. It was one of those stories that should have been promoted more in the Philippines because of the subtle metaphors and real life situations amidst the fiction that it presents.

So that was the reason. Those books have to be collected and sometimes you have to wait for the next book. Sometimes it's long enough that you get engrossed with some other title and lost the fervor of collecting the former series.

Another reason is that it was too sensationalized. I remember, that in my zeal to introduce leisurely reading to my classmates as a hobby, I let them borrow my still being collected Harry Potter series. I enjoyed seeing them engrossed at such endeavor without looking forward to any grades. I said to myself "At long last! I have someone to talk about the books I read!"

Eventually, my face turned sour as little by little, they only became engrossed with that one series of books. It became a cult like following in that they try to remember even the minutest details of the book. Even until college, they would ask me if I have the latest book in the series and wouldn't want to talk to me about anything other than Harry Potter. It was too much to bear and I felt like I introduced to them something that has poisoned their hearts and minds. I would have completed it had it not been for the my friends who have become fanatics of the book.

It's really ironic. No, actually it's a paradox. Because for the past years I have been engrossed with the Redwall Saga. It's a kid's story I know and it's author is something like John Grisham or Dan Brown. The styles in each book are similar and yet, I still collect them. I don't know but there's something in the characters that made me feel that they were real people masked by their animal characters in the books.

As of now, I have 11 out of the 20 novels in its saga. And I plan to complete them all because as I said before, It is an addiction.

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also read related post:
http://teilwng.blog.friendster.com/2009/01/reading-list-aka-kagilagilalas-na-pakikipagsapalaran-sa-mundong-gawa-sa-papel/