Binge-Worthy!

September's Monthly Recommendations Group topic is Binge-worthy Series. Being entirely honest, I've only ever binge-read one series in my life. The Stephanie Plum series. This should really come as no surprise. It's the only series I wait impatiently for as each new book comes out. I found the series about when book 10 came out. I started with book one and read them all in order over the course of about 3 weeks.

With that in mind, I'm going to go about this with the idea that, if I were to be a binge-reader, I would binge these series here.

One for the Money by Janet Evanovich - Obviously this is the first on the list being the only series I have actually binge-read. Stephanie Plum is a bumbling bounty hunter. If weird stuff is going to happen, it's going to happen to her. The whole town appears to be populated by weirdos and freaks. One of my favorites was a drag queen who became a part of her posse for a few books. He moved away later, but he was fun for awhile. Her best friend is Lula. Lula used to be a prostitute before she landed at the bail office and started filing. She uses her knowledge from her "previous life as a ho" to help Stephanie find bail jumpers.

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon - These books don't necessarily need to be read in order. I'm pretty sure I started somewhere in the middle. There are now a whole ton of books in the series, with more coming out every year. I just looked it up: there are 27 books in the series! Commissario Brunetti is a police investigator in Venice. In each book, we get to spend some time with Brunetti's family. He is married to an English professor and they have two children, a girl and a boy. It's interesting to watch his children change as they grow. Also, he and his wife always have some interesting philosophical conversation. I have always wanted to drink grappa from reading this series. They drink it after dinner sometimes. I can't afford it, though. It's very expensive around here.

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson Braun - I read a lot of these books as a kid. They are a great crossover series for kids who read at a higher level than their maturity. Jim Qwilleran is a big city newspaper journalist who came into an inheritance in the backwater town of Pickax. He writes for the local paper and just generally enjoys small-town life. Coincidentally, he has two Siamese cats. When Qwill, as he's known, gets involved in the solving of a crime, one of his cats seems to have all the answers. The cats are hilarious, mostly because they usually act like cats.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater - This series is decidedly shorter than the other series I've mentioned here. It only has 4 books. Blue is a teenage girl who lives with her mother and a couple of aunts. Everyone in her family is clairvoyant except for her. She is an amplifier. Other people's powers are stronger when she is present. She meets this group of 4 boys who go to the nearby prep school. One of those boys is obsessed with finding the grave of an ancient Welsh king. A lot of hunting for ley lines happens and kids out storming around the countryside trying to find clues to the whereabouts of this king. I loved it.

Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar - I read this series over 15 years ago. They aren't very good, but they are addictive. Somebody made an even worse TV show of the books. People raved about that show for way longer than it deserved. The story is about ridiculously wealthy teens in NYC with not enough parental supervision. Somebody has a blog and posts gossip about the kids on her blog. She calls herself Gossip Girl and everyone always wants to know who she is.

First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones - Charlie Davidson (I know. It's terrible) is a grim reaper. She helps dead people cross over. Sometimes they don't want to and they just follow her around for awhile. Sometimes they don't follow her around, but she is the only one who can see them and talk to them and they give her information. As luck would have it, she is in love with the Son of Satan. Like really. He's kind of overprotective and manly, but he's hot. Charlie tries not to let him distract her from her job as a private detective. It's complicated.

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz - Speaking of seeing dead people, Odd Thomas can do that. They can't speak, but he can see them. They usually come to him to help them resolve their deaths. Bring their killer to justice. Whatever needs to be done. He can also these little gremlin characters. They start to swarm whenever something truly gruesome and massive is about to happen. They feed on it. They feed on the negative energy that collects around these things. Odd tries to stop it.

Those are the ones I can think of. What series would you binge if you were the binge-reading type? Maybe you are? Tell me all about it.