Haven't even had breakfast yet, and here I am flunking my popular culture exam.This week, BTT asks: "If you read series, do you ever find a series “jumping the shark?” How do you feel about that? And, do you keep reading anyway?"
Must admit I'd never heard the phrase "jump the shark" (sorry, Jennifer) - or if I had, I immediately forgot all about it. Had to resort to that fountain of all pop culture knowledge, Wikipedia, to figure out exactly what all this shark jumping is about.
And after my research, I think I can say that yes, it's happened to me. I guess most series eventually hit a stumbling block. And I do read a lot of different series (see my list), so sooner or later I'm almost certain to find a book that disappoints. In fact, it happened to me just this year with one of the books in Caroline Graham's Chief Inspector Barnaby series. I've enjoyed a couple of the early books in the series, but when I tried a more recent title (A Ghost in the Machine), I found I just really couldn't get into it, so I put it aside.
Do I keep reading? Yes, if it's just one disappointing book. More than one, well that would be more problematic. Two clinkers in a row might put me off a series, but fortunately I don't think I've had that experience yet.
Free shark clip art image from Kidzone.
Oh, thank goodness! I thought I was going to be the only one who'd never heard that idiom ("Jump the Shark") before! LOL.
ReplyDeleteI had to Google it (good ole Wikipedia!), too! :P
~MizB
LOL... I thought I was the only one who didn't understand that phrase. Nice to read others didn't either. I too had to visit Wikipedia before I could answer the question, and still don't know if I understood it correctly.
ReplyDeleteI also keep reading a series, even if there's a disappointing book (or two) along the way. Always hopeful that the next one will get things back on track :)
ReplyDeleteI'll stick with a series for a little while if it's gone downhill, but if it doesn't improve, I don't hesitate to drop it.
ReplyDeleteHere's mine: http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2010/09/booking-through-thursday-series-shark.html
ReplyDeletehaha...I had to look it up too.
ReplyDeleteMy BTT is up: http://pageflippinaddict.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/booking-through-thursday-series/
I hadn't heard of "jumping the shark" either... I'm glad I'm not the only one! :D
ReplyDelete