I'm not talking about where I read or why or even how fast. I'm talking about the actual act of reading. Because I break the golden rule. I read the last few sentences of a book before I actually reach them.
*Cue dramatic music*
I always start at the beginning of a novel. I just have to. But once I get about 40 or 50 pages in, I flip to the back of the book and read the last few sentences of the novel. Why? Because I want to!
But some people say that will ruin the ending of the book!?!?
Well, maybe for some people. But for me, I find it more satisfying to know where the novel is going. I still feel the same closure as I do when I didn't do this but it lessens the tension. As I confessed before in an earlier Saturday Discussions post I read really slow. So sometimes there is no way I can finish a book in one night but I have so much tension built up that I just need room to breath. I find the room by reading the last few sentences.
Another reason I do this is because I have the I'd Rather Be Reading Syndrome with really good books. Every time I'm reading a really great novel, I become obsessed with it. I have to know more, more, more. It clouds my thoughts and I'm kind of a grump to everyone around me. I hate being that way and I've found that if I must put the novel down, it helps me to lessen the tension if I know where it's going.
Some novels I've "cheated" with and looked at the last few pages:
The other thing I do:
I don't usually ever put a book down. I'm a through thick and thin reader. This is not so great since I'm a slow reader but will stick with novels I'm not wild about to the very end. I feel like I owe it to them not to pass judgment right away. At the very least, I feel like I can learn what not to do from things I don't love. There are only two novels I've put down and never picked back up. I don't really want to reveal them because, well, if you don't have anything nice to say. Don't get me wrong, I'll give a bad review but I'm not looking to go out of my way to hammer these novels to the ground.
So there are my odd reading habits.
What about you? Are you one of those weirdos (read: amazingly talented) that can pick a book up at any place and start reading? Are you like me and you break the number 1 golden rule? Let me know what you think!
Up for discussion next week: ARCs, do you love them or hate them?
Hey Amber--great post!
ReplyDeleteI'm very much like you. I am known to break "the golden rule" often. Every time I start a new story I tell myself I won't. I tell myselfI won't look at the last page, but I usally end up doing this regardless. It doesn't really ruin the story for me too much either. I just like knowing that going into the story I'm not going to be dissapointed and that certain things are a given.
And I also find it hard--near impossible to give up on a book once I've begun it, even if it isn't very good. I just don't have it in me to quit. I've given up on a couple of books, but that's it.
Amber!
ReplyDeleteActually, no, I would be a huge hypocrite if I said I had never flipped to the back of the book and read a little something. Sill, I tell myself that this is an accident. I'm just looking at the page number and 'somehow' find myself reading a line or two.
I do it with chapter a lot too. I do, generally, feel the need to count the number of pages in a chpater before I will read it and nearly everytime I do this, my eyes seem to hone in on a spoiler. I honestly don't even mean to.
I think that the way anybody reads is really individual to them, and obviously, with a lot of book bloggers on here, there are going to be some very different reading styles. Personally, I'm a pretty quick reader, and I read anywhere. Literally, anywhere; buses, bus stops, in cars, in the garden, in bed (even whilst walking along once. BUT please don't do that. I've been told it's dangerous :] ). Sometimes I'll put a book down for a little while just so that I can enjoy not knowing how it ends and make it last just a little while longer, but that's only if it's a really, really great book.
ReplyDeleteDang, I could never cheat ! I love not knowing what's going to happen.
ReplyDeleteI'm your opposite. I read in order and I put books down.
ReplyDeleteBrandi from Blkosiner’s Book Blog
I've definitely cheated plenty of times before! I read one of the last pages of the last Harry Potter book, even, but it didn't avail me too much. Sometimes it just confuses you more, but sometimes it's kind of a relief to know everything turns out okay (or not okay). :)
ReplyDelete<a href="http://www.amyriadofbooks.blogspot.com>Kat @ A Myriad of Books</a>