Series heaven

I'm always excited when I find a new series to obsess over. If I'm new to it and
it's been around a long time I'll have months of great listening. If it's a new series I'm biting my nails until the next installment is released. But a frequent question for both long running and newer series is...what is the chronological order of the titles?

Some series will show up on the library's computer catalog using an author, single title or series title search; look to the right of the screen and click on "series." Once located, you can reserve your title directly from this screen. If your series doesn't show, or is not complete, go to www.fantasticfiction.com for a complete list of series titles in order.

A few of my favorite series, in no particular order, are:
Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris
Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Wee Free Men/A Hat Full of Sky/Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett
Adelia Aguilar (Mistress of the Art of Death) series by Ariana Franklin
Chicago Stars series by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Alex Delaware series by Jonathan Kellerman
Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J. R. Ward
Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
Berrybender Narratives by Larry McMurtry
Jane Rizzoli series by Tess Gerritsen
Spellman family series by Lisa Lutz

What series do you recommend?

The Legacy of Indiana Jones

I’ve always been fascinated by archaeology. Most of the blame for that can fall squarely on the broad and handsome shoulders of Indiana Jones. I loved the movies as a child, and when Jurassic Park – both the book and the movie – gained popularity, that only cemented my desire to spend my life in the dirt making fascinating discoveries and running from death cults and rampant dinosaurs.

Obviously, that never happened. We almost never end up in the jobs we think we will, do we? I discovered that I prefer the air-conditioned stacks of a library to the dust and insects and discomfort of an outside job like archaeology. Thanks to writers like Elizabeth Peters and her Amelia Peabody series, however, I can still indulge my interest in all things Egypt while staying out of the sun.

Peters introduces us to Amelia Peabody, an independent and unorthodox British woman in the late 1880s who travels to Egypt and falls in love with pyramids, the country and its people. She also unexpectedly falls in love with an equally unorthodox archaeologist named Radcliffe Emerson. The series follows Amelia and her family through many adventures and misadventures with a dry wit and an engaging style that make for quick, fun reads.

You can meet Amelia in the first book of the series, Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters. If you share my interest in Egypt, you might also want to check out the summer-long Egypt in Columbus program.

She did it to me again!

She did it to me again! Every time Nora Roberts starts a new trilogy, I swear that I am not going to read it until all the books have been written and released. And yet, I recently found myself devouring the first book in her latest series Vision in White. It’s a quartet this time, instead of her usual trilogy, but the result is the same; she writes a great book with rich characters and touching friendships, so that I come to care about these people like my own family or friends. Then, I get to the end of the book and have to wait until December to find our how everyone is doing! It is worse than waiting for your favorite author to write a new book, because now I feel invested in these people's lives. Anyone else out there have the same experience? How do you cope with waiting for the next installment in the series?