Keep Up with Book Series (Part 5)

As I continue trying to figure out how many series of books I am in the middle of reading, my current estimate stands at approximately 210 after reaching the letter N in my alphabetical list of authors by last name. Could there be a huge bias toward the front half of the alphabet? Could the final total be somewhere close? Let's see about that!

| O |

Nick O'Donohoe

• Crossroads trilogy: Book 3, The Healing of Crossroads, has my bookmark in it. I started to read it a while ago, but something shiny must have caught my eye. I'll get back to it by and by. I would also like to try O'Donohoe's "Gnomewrench" series, starting with The Gnomewrench in the Dwarfworks.

Kenneth Oppel

• Silverwing series: I somehow missed Book 4, Darkwing.
• Matt Cruse series: I own, but haven't yet read, Book 3: Starclimber.

Baroness Orczy

• Sequels to The Scarlet Pimpernel: There are loads of them, in case I ever feel a leaning to explore them. The immediate successor to the popular original is I Will Repay.

James A. Owen

• Imaginarium Geographica series: I never made it farther than Book 1, but there are seven books in this series, and Book 2 is The Search for the Red Dragon.

Panama Oxridge

• Tartan of Time series: I read Justin Thyme, but I have not yet read its sequel, Thyme Running Out.

| P |

Christopher Paolini

• Inheritance quartet: Book 4 is Inheritance.

Gary Paulsen

• Brian Robeson series: After Hatchet comes four sequels, which must involve some heavy continuity issues, unless the fault lies in my memory of how the first book ended. Several of the books have been published under multiple titles. Book 2 is therefore either The River or The Return.

Mervyn Peake

• Gormenghast trilogy: Yes, I know. I haven't actually finished Gormenghast yet (that's Book 2, FYI). These things take time. Especially when you own an omnibus edition of the trilogy and you hate reading omnibus editions - like me. I found this out about myself too late to avoid the difficulty.

Dale Peck

• Drift House series: Book 2 is The Lost Cities.

Richard Peck

• Grandma Dowdel series: Book 3 is A Season of Gifts.
• Here Lies the Librarian seems to be, on some level, a companion book to The Teacher's Funeral.

Alison Pensy

• Custodian quartet: I'm up to Book 3, which is The Cypher Wheel.

Tamora Pierce

• Immortals quartet: I have only read the first book, Wild Magic. Book 2 is Wolf Speaker.

Christopher Pike

• Alosha trilogy: I am up to Book 2, The Shaktra, which I think is somewhere in my library.

Dudley Pope

• Ramage series: Somehow, I missed the 18th and last book, Ramage and the Dido. Amazing!

Ellen Potter

• Olivia Kidney series: I've read two books of this, but because the titles change from one edition to another, I have little confidence in my estimate that there are still two more books to go. I think one of them is Olivia Kidney and the Secret Beneath the City.

Terry Pratchett

• Discworld series: I have yet to read the last two books of this 41-book super-series: Raising Steam and The Shepherd's Crown. I think I might have missed one or two others, such as I Shall Wear Midnight; and though I have a copy of the graphic novel The Last Hero, I've never read it all the way through. Me, falling down on the job!
• Long Earth series (co-authored by Stephen Baxter): I only read the first book. Of the four sequels, the next up for me is The Long War.

Philip Pullman

• Sally Lockhart quartet: I have read the first two books. Books 3 and 4, of which I own copies, are The Tiger in the Well and The Tin Princess.

| R |

T.R. Ragan

• Lizzy Gardner series: Of the five books in this series, I missed Book 1 (Abducted) and read Books 2 and 3 (Dead Weight and A Dark Mind). The next book after them is Obsessed.

Robert Rankin

• Eddie Bear series: The sequel to The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse is The Toyminator.

Arthur Ransome

• Swallows and Amazons series: Of this 12-book series, I am up to Book 3: Peter Duck.

Douglas Reeman

• Blackwoods saga: In this five-book series about the Royal Marines, I am up to Book 3: The Horizon. After this series, there's everything else he wrote, which is quite a bit. And in case you missed the memo, Reeman is the same person as Alexander Kent (see Part 4) - so, one ridiculously prolific writer.

Dietlof Reiche

• Golden Hamster series: Out of five books, I have read the first three. That leaves The Haunting of Freddy and Freddy's Final Quest.

Michael Reisman

• Simon Bloom trilogy: I have only read Book 1. That leaves The Octopus Effect and The Order of Chaos.

Mike Resnick

• Weird West series: I am gobsmacked by how many books this guy has written. Take a look! As for this series, I somehow managed to read only Book 3 of 4. It's time to go back and read Book 1, The Buntline Special.

Adam Rex

• Smek "smeries": The sequel to The True Meaning of Smekday (basis for the animated film Home) is Smek for President! I may also try his "Cold Cereal" trilogy.

Anne Rice

• Vampire Chronicles: No, thanks. I'm so over that series - though if I had to choose between it and "Twilight," Book 5 of 12-ish Memnoch the Devil is next up for me.

Kat Richardson

• Greywalker series: I have read seven of the nine books. That leaves Possession and Revenant.

Ransom Riggs

• Miss Peregrine series: I only read the first book. That leaves Hollow City, Library of Souls, and the story collection Tales of the Peculiar.

Rick Riordan

• Heroes of Olympus series: I only read the first book of five. The next book for me will be The Son of Neptune. I may also try to fit in Riordan's "Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard" and "Trials of Apollo" series. Also, Percy Jackson's Greek Gods looks like a really fun re-telling of ancient myths.

John H. Ritter

• I enjoyed The Boy Who Saved Baseball, but missed its prequel, The Desperado Who Stole Baseball.

J.K. Rowling

• Harry Potter stuff: I haven't read the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, nor have I kept up with the Potterverse e-books Rowling keeps putting out. It would be nice to see those published in a way cavemen like me could appreciate.

Laura Ruby

• I've read The Wall and the Wing, but not its sequel, The Chaos King.

Marie Rutkoski

• Kronos Chronicles: I have read Book 1 (The Cabinet of Wonders), but neither of its two sequels, The Celestial Globe and The Jewel of the Kaldrash.

Cynthia Rylant

• No particular series: Holy cow. Have you seen how many books this lady has written? Look! I'm just saying. I have read her Newbery Medal book Missing May, and I may also read at least her Newbery Honor book A Fine White Dust.

Uff da. I don't think I'm going to make it through the rest of the alphabet tonight...