I have a talent–no, it goes beyond that. I have an uncanny and frightening ability to never, ever, no matter how hard I try, pick out the first book in a series. And usually I’m halfway through the book I thought was first, before I figure it out. This, as you may imagine, is very frustrating.
With the Lord of the Rings, I did manage to read in correct order. Even I could hardly mess that up. But did I start the Wheel of Time series with The Eye of the World, like everyone else? No, I wandered into The Great Hunt first. The third book, if I remember correctly! (I could be wrong, it’s been a while, and I’m not great with titles.) Did I start ElfQuest at the beginning? Yes, but only because my brother hit me with the correct book. (Thanks, Dave!) Dragonriders of Pern I couldn’t mess up, I had all three books in one cover. (Again, thanks, Dave!) But I didn’t start with Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Oh no, I had to read the Restaurant at the End of the Universe first. Didn’t start with Cordelia’s Honor, no, I read about her son first. (Miles V, gotta love him, if you don’t, you haven’t met him.)
Anyway, what started this whole rant, is I decided I wanted to read a translated manga series I’ve been hearing great things about. I spent an hour on Amazon, making absolutely certain I had the first and second books (seven in the series, bought two, budgeting, you know) in my shopping cart. Making sure I knew which was which. Ordered the first one, waited three days and ordered the second one. Thinking they would arrive in correct order, at least a day apart. Good thinking, right?
Wrong. I don’t know how I flubbed it, or if it’s just the nature of the universe that I must be frustrated in my reading, but Vol. 2 arrived today. Vol 1 will be here by May 20th, and that’s all Amazon will say. But Vol. 2 is here, and it looks so good, and no, I won’t touch it, I won’t, but I’m too intrigued to even think about writing my own stuff, so what the heck am I supposed to do?!?
Aaaarrrggghhh!!!!!
In other news, I learned the last bit of the last kata for my orange belt. I know all the techniques, now I just have to perfect them, and I have three weeks till my test to do it. Whoohoo!
I want to read that book!