Reading Binges!

There are eating binges, drinking binges, shopping binges and of course, reading binges.

I got the idea for this post from a piece I read (not sure where) on some one's binge reading of Henry James as a school project. Binge reading. Have you ever done it? I'm assuming we all have at some point or other, especially those of us who read constantly.

But just in case by some remote possibility you've never tried it, here's how it works: Pick an author, any author. It could be someone you've just discovered or someone you've been meaning to read. Get your hands on as many books by this author as you can find. Then sit back and begin reading and don't stop until you get to the last book. Simple.

It's kind of pathologically intense, but hey, if you can't be pathological once in a while - what's the point?

As with anything that seems too easy, there are pit falls of course. I'll come to those in a moment.

I am currently 'sort-of' binge reading the books of Mary Roberts Rinehart. Not that easy to do since most of her books are out of print and hard to get. But my library had a few and I brought most of them home with me a few days ago.

I admit it's harder to binge now because I need to keep reading other stuff for the sake of my blog.

A few of the authors I've binged on in the past:

Ngaio Marsh. Last year, some time before I began blogging, I began a Ngaio Marsh binge. For about 6-8 weeks or so, I read nothing but Ngaio Marsh's books until I'd exhausted the available supply. This Golden Age Grande Dame wrote quite a few books, so it was an especially lengthy binge. I had a great time hanging out with Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Roderick Allyn and catching up on a lot of terrific mysteries I'd probably read years ago but had totally forgotten.

I tried to read them in order of publication as best I could, because there are changes that occur in Allyn's life and I wanted to get the full emotional flavor.

I'm convinced that, for me, this was the best way to get reacquainted with an author I'd mostly forgotten about. And I admit, I was totally impressed with her talent and how good a writer she really was. I loved most of the stories and loved living in her characters' world for several weeks. In fact, it was hard at the end, to walk away.

Dick Francis. I didn't discover Dick Francis until a few years ago although I was familiar with his name and the fact he wrote mystery/thrillers. The first Francis I picked up and read was TO THE HILT which features an artist as the main character - an artist who paints golf courses as a metaphor for life. Well, once I saw this, I had to read it. I love an artist protagonist.

I also love horses and the milieu of horse farms, the race track, etc. Though in this book, the horse aspects are in the background as they are in many of Francis' books.

By the time I got to the end of the book, I knew I'd struck gold. In those days my budget allowed for book splurges, so I calmly went to Barnes and Noble and bought every Dick Francis paperback they had in stock and what they didn't have, I ordered. I remember the sales clerk looking oddly at me, but did I care? Nah.

Then, for the next few weeks, I read nothing but Dick Francis. I was a Dick Francis book fiend. to this day I don't regret a moment of it. I loved those books and still do. Loved them so much I have a bunch of them in hardcover on my living room bookshelves. Ready for the moment when I get the urge to read any of them again.

Robert Crais. You've read how much I love R.C.'s Elvis Cole and Joe Pike books. Well, it all began years ago when I was NOT a thriller reader at all. For whatever reason, I picked up Crais' book, VOODOO RIVER at the bookstore and then turned around and bought every Crais I could get my hands on. Sound familiar?

There are just enough Elvis and Joe books that you can easily get immersed in their world of violent crime and retribution in Los Angeles. But it's the do-or-die friendship between Elvis and Joe that I will never tire of reading about.

Stuart Kaminsky. I read all the Toby Peters books I could get my hands on and believe me they were not all easy to find. Kaminsky had been writing for years and had tremendous output, especially in this humorous series set in the Los Angeles of the 1940's featuring movie stars and celebrities of the era, i.e. Judy Garland, Errol Flynn, John Wayne, Mae West, Bela Lugosi, Joan Crawford, Charlie Chaplin, Salvadore Dali, Eleanor Roosevelt, etc, etc, etc.

Toby Peters, hard-luck private eye is one of my favorite of Kaminsky's characters. I love these stories.

Rex Stout. I binge-read all his Nero Wolfe books in one fell swoop every few years. Regular as clock work. I can't get enough of the irascible Wolfe and his steadfast minion, Archie Goodwin. When I read all the books at a time, I feel as if I've moved into the Manhattan brownstone with Wolfe and Archie and am privy to all their cases. These books never grow old for me. I will re-read them forever.

The pitfalls of binge reading: While binge-reading is mostly enjoyable - obviously, or I wouldn't do it - there are certain pitfalls.

1) You get to recognize the author's favorite phrases (and phrasing) and to note the constant use of certain words from book to book. It's the kind of thing that often slips by an author's radar. With a really talented writer though, this is mostly held to a minimum. But in binge reading you can't help but notice when it occurs. With most writers, it's probably unavoidable. Authors have favorite words and expressions. We all do. I don't think writers are any different from us in this regard. But for them it's an occupational hazard.

2) You will find mistakes as you read. Things you might not have noticed if you'd read the books in 'normal' time - say a book once every year or so. This only occasionally occurs in books that are not meant as series, since each story then features different characters and usually different settings. But in a long standing series, there are mistakes made and most of the time, you just have to overlook them, depending on how much you love the author's work. The sort of thing I'm talking about: character names, character idiosyncrasy, events in the character's life, dates of these events, that kind of thing. It is not very common, but it does happen and becomes especially noticeable if you're reading the books in a bunch.

3) You are apt to get too caught up in the world of a particular author's characters. Once you get to the end of the books, especially in a series, you will find it hard (at least, I do) to break free of that author's spell. I often find myself comparing the books I've just finished, to everything else I pick up to read - and not in a good way. It takes me a while to shake loose.

There's no accounting for binge reading, really. It's just something that happens every now and then and you go with it if you can.

So, are you guilty of binge-reading? Come on, 'fess up.

All illustrations by the one and only, the brilliant Quentin Blake, whom many of us know from his work with Roald Dahl's books (among others).