"intersperse tedious exercises with fun playing"

Very good advice, Dick.

Personally, I only had the first book - due to an attack of 'life', circumstances changed - and I used it as a 'warm up', once thru them all. After a while I knew the early (simpler) ones by heart, and didn't even need to look at the page, the same as scales and arpeggios. I only needed to check the first phrase (the pattern repeats) of the later ones to get them started.