A few years ago, I spent most of my savings on The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Winter, and Stars Above; I didn’t get Fairest), read them all, and loved them…though I didn’t reread them and sold them some time later.
And what was the first series you spent most of your savings on?
In full? Probably the Swallows and Amazons books. The first book was my dad’s childhood favourite and he bought me a copy when I was eight or nine. I was sure I wouldn’t like it and I only started reading it when I’d exhausted my other options (and in the middle of the night too, so my dad couldn’t see me reading it and be all “I told you so! I knew you’d like it!”). The first chapter was tough going, but then the story took over. Next thing I knew, it was ten past one in the morning and I’d just got to the night sailing scene, and my parents had spotted that my light was on. They let me finish the chapter, but it was torture having to try and go to sleep with the rest of the book unread. I insisted on saving my pocket money for the full set. (My dad is still periodically I-told-you-so’ing about this three decades later.)
As a child I started to collect the Just William series, but it took years to complete the collection and I can’t remember when I managed to buy all of them. I was an adult when I finally managed it. Some were out of print and very difficult to track down. I still love those books. They’re a terrific comfort read when I’m not feeling well, and the stories are the perfect length to be on a bathroom bookshelf.