Keep Up with Book Series (Part 2)

So, how far behind am I on my reading? Going down the alphabetical list of authors I have reviewed since the inception of The Book Trolley in 2003, already within the A's and B's I have counted a mindblowing 45 series of books (give or take) in which I started to read but haven't stayed current. To be sure, the B's, C's, and D's are three letters of the alphabet particularly fraught with the last names of authors whose books have interested me. So, at the risk of breaking 100 before we even get to E...

| C |

W. Bruce Cameron

• Roddy McCann series: I just read the first book last month, and the second book, Repo Madness, comes out next Tuesday. So give me a break!

Orson Scott Card

• Alvin Maker series: I have only read the first of these six books. The second is Red Prophet.
• Ender Wiggin series: Strictly speaking, there are six books in this series, of which I have only read one (Ender's Game). The second is Speaker for the Dead. There is also a spinoff series of five books starting with Ender's Shadow, which is on my to-read shelf.

Gail Carriger

• Various series: I have legitimately finished reading her five-book Parasol Protectorate series, a loopy bunch of steamy, steampunk paranormal romantic comedies. I have been looking for a way in to some of the spinoff series, such as the Finishing School series, but the first book always seems to be missing wherever I spot the set.

Kristin Cashore

• Seven Kingdoms trilogy: I have yet to get hold of Book 3, Bitterblue.

P.W. Catanese

• Books of Umber trilogy: I have yet to read Book 3, The End of time.

Raymond Chandler

• Philip Marlowe series: Of Chandler's seven completed novels in this series, I have read five, but only by skipping Book 5, The Little Sister, which I have not been able to find even through Inter-Library Loan. Book 7 is Playback. I do have Chandler's short story collection Trouble Is My Business on my shelf.

G.K. Chesterton

• Father Brown series: This comprises so many books of short mysteries that I'm more than leery of attempting to untangle which ones I need in order to read all the Father Brown stories with a minimum of duplicates. Fantastic Fiction hints the next safe bet would be the 1914 collection The Wisdom of Father Brown.

Cinda Williams Chima

• Heir series: I am one book short of being caught up with this (currently) five-book series: The Sorcerer Heir.
• Seven Realms series: I did manage to read all four books of this series, but a spinoff series titled Shattered Realms has started with the book Shadowcaster.

Gennifer Choldenko

• Tales from Alcatraz: I am missing third book of this trilogy, Al Capone Does My Homework.

Cassandra Clare

• Mortal Instruments series: I have only read the first three of these six books; on deck is City of Fallen Angels.
• Infernal Devices series: I haven't read any of them yet, but I have copy of at least the first book in this trilogy, Clockwork Angel.

Henry Clark

• No series in particular: I just read, and loved, his debut book What We Found in the Sofa and How It Saved the World. I don't know of any connection between it and his follow-up novel, The Book That Proves Time Travel Happens, other than the fact that I plan to read it as soon as I can.

Susanna Clarke

• No series in particular: The Ladies of Grace Adieu is a book of short stories set in the same reality as Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I've owned a copy of it for a while, and I know just where it is on my bookcase. I don't know what's holding me back from reading it, other than a preference for long-form fiction.

Beverly Cleary

• Various series: There are just too many titles by this author, and my interest in them is lukewarm. I've read the ones that struck me as important (notably, the Newbery Honor book Ramona and Her Father and the Newbery Medal book Dear Mr. Henshaw). Please, don't hold me to reading all of them!

David Clement-Davies

• Sight series: I've started reading The Sight; it has a bookmark in it and is close to the top of the wading-poolful of books about which I can say the same. But it also has a sequel: Fell.

Andrew Clements

• Things trilogy: I have yet to read Book 3, Things That Are.

Chris Colfer

• Land of Stories series: I have read the first two of five books. The remaining three begin with A Grimm Warning.

Eoin Colfer

• Artemis Fowl series: I have read the first five of eight books. The remaining three begin with The Time Paradox.
• Hitchhiker's Guide series: I don't normally take any interest in one author's continuation of another author's series, but based on Colfer's body of work, I wouldn't mind seeing what he did with the late Douglas Adams' universe in And Another Thing...
• Plugged series: I look forward to reading he second book, Screwed.

Chris Columbus & Ned Vizzini

• House of Secrets series: I got to do a pre-publication review of the first book, but I've lost touch since then. Book 2 was Battle of the Beasts, and Book 3 (co-authored by Chris Rylander) was Clash of the Worlds.

James Fenimore Cooper

• Leatherstocking series: I happened to read The Last of the Mohicans, only to find out it is the sequel to something called The Deerslayer. Hmmm.

D.M. Cornish

• Monster Blood Tattoo trilogy: I own, but have not yet read, copies of Books 2 and 3, Lamplighter and Factotum. I am sorry to say, at least the latter (2010) was sent to me as a pre-publication proof. They're huge books full of difficult vocabulary and require an immense attention span. They also contain helpful appendices, such as a map of a world so big and detailed that it's overwhelming, and a glossary whose definitions are full of other terms you have to look up in the glossary, world without end. I found reading the first installment, Foundling, almost but not quite more work than it was worth, and I gave up a short way into Book 2. Yet I keep them around after all these years, too guilty about accepting a pre-publication copy to go back on my commitment to reading them (eventually, even if too late).

Bruce Coville

• Magic Shop series: Though Fantastic Fiction's numbering of this series is confusing, I gather there are several more books that I haven't read yet, such as Charlie Eggleston's Talking Skull, The Vampire's Tooth, The Mask of Eamonn Tiyado, and Goblins on the Prowl.

Alison Croggon

• Pellinor series: Though I've finished reading this quartet of novels, there are now a prequel novel The Bone Queen, and a novella, The Friendship.

Kevin Crossley-Holland

• Arthur trilogy: I think I own, but haven't yet read, Book 3: The King of the Middle March.

Marianne Curley

• Guardians of Time trilogy: I have yet to read Book 3: The Key.

| D |

Anna Dale

• No particular series: Having read her first three books, I'm just interested in her fourth, Magical Mischief.

Gitty Daneshvari

• League of Unexceptional Children series: I enjoyed the first book, and look forward to reading its sequel, Get Smart-ish. While I'm at it, I would also like to try the author's School of Fear trilogy.

James Dashner

• 13th Reality quartet: I have only read the first book; Book 2 is The Hunt for Dark Infinity. Which sounds kind of like what I'm doing right here.
• Maze Runner trilogy: Book 2 is The Scorch Trials.

Charles de Lint

• Cerin Songweaver series: When I read it, I didn't know The Harp of the Grey Rose was the first of a three- or four-book series. The next installment is And the Rafters Were Ringing.

Kate DiCamillo

• No particular series: I just happen to own a copy of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, but I haven't read it yet.

Chris d'Lacey

• Last Dragon series: I've only read the first two of the seven books. Next up is Fire Star.

Arthur Conan Doyle

• Sherlock Holmes series: I have read the first five of the eight or nine books in this series. Next up is The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

Tonke Dragt

• Letter for the King series: I have yet to read the second book, The Secrets of the Wild Wood.

Diane Duane

• Young Wizards series: I somehow missed Book 10, Games Wizards Play. Really!

Alexandre Dumas

• King's Musketeers series: I still haven't read the sequels to The Three Musketeers, starting with Twenty Years After.

Glen Duncan

• Last Werewolf series: I haven't read past the first book - and I may not, due to the strength of the sexual content. The remaining titles are Talulla Rising and By Blood We Live.

Jeanne DuPrau

• Ember series: I haven't yet read Book 4: The Diamond of Darkhold.

Sarah Beth Durst

• The Wild series: Book 2, Out of the Wild, is another one towards the top of the kiddie-pool-sized pile of books I started to read and stuck a bookmark in so I cold read something else. I'm getting to it. Don't rush me.