Hesitant to finish

Late this summer, I happened upon a good book by an author I'd never heard of before. It wasn't a spectacular book or particularly deep story, but it was entertaining. So, I ordered the next three books in the series. They were pretty good. Maybe the third was less great than I'd have liked, but I had the fourth so I figured I might as well read it too.

The fourth book was great. I was yanked into the storyline by the end of the first page.

Ever since then, I've been sneaking whatever free time I can to read this series. Heck, some mornings, I've even been waking up a few minutes early and reading a few pages before getting out of bed. (This is monumental - me waking up before absolutely necessary is practically unheard of.)

I'm now on book 14 of 15. Book 15 is still in hard cover, so I'm going to wait until it comes out in paper back. Knowing that, I've been doing everything I can to slow down my reading. I'm not letting myself read it, any time other than right before I go to bed. A few times, I've set it aside temporarily while I read another book. That's right - I'm rationing my book.

This reminds me of "The Never Ending Story", which was an amazing book and a less-than-great movie. The whole idea behind it was the concept of a story that doesn't end, so that readers don't have to dread coming to the end of a great book.

This series does, however, have an end; and I'm getting closer every day. And now I'm torn: Do I continue to read slowly, and let the story drag on as long as possible? Or, should I hunker in this weekend and read from cover to cover the way I'm tempted to do?

What do you do when you find a really great book? Read it as quickly as possible, or do you take your time and savour it?