Musing Mondays Meme Response

Today the question on the Musing Mondays meme is:
Do you prefer to read stand-alone books, or books in series? Do you stick with a series the whole way through or stop after the first instalment? Are there any particular series you enjoy?

I don't have a preference for or against series (or stand-alone books). I think, if pressured (like with a gun to my head) I'd say I do have a fondness for series because I enjoy spending lots of time with characters that I like. That being said, series can get me in trouble with my reading because I'm a sucker (with a tiny touch of tendency toward O.C.D.) who feels compelled to finish a series, even if the writing becomes worse as time goes on (which it often seems to do as the author [and editors] get a little lazy because readers are hooked). Some times I'll get lucky and the books get better as the author gets more experienced (which I recently saw with the Pretty TOUGH series), but that seems to be the exception to the rule.

My big things about series are:
1. I have to read the books in order; and
2. I hate when authors include backstory from previous books in the series. I think authors should write the books and trust that people will read them in the order intended. Please, please, please stop recapping book #1 in book #2. As much as it pains me to use her as an example, Stephanie Meyer did a pretty good job of this in the Twilight series--it's been over a year since I've cracked any of the books open, but I don't remember her doing any recapping/summarizing in books 2-4 of the series. (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.)