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| “Lesendes Mädchen” – Gustav Adolph Hennig |
It has come to my attention that not everyone reads books chronologically. You know, starting on page one and finishing at The End.
Reader Sabrina wrote me to say that she starts at the beginning, then skims and checks out the end to see if she wants to read the whole thing, then keeps going.
What about you. Do you skip around, peek at the ending, or do you go straight through? And as an author/reader, do you think there’s something wrong with reading a book out of order or all is fair in love and reading?
I read straight through. Always!
I read backwards from the end, word for word.
The beginning always surprises me.
I remember looking at these comments and maybe 10 people would have a picture. My how far we've come.
I read straight through.
I confess. I cheat. I read the end first. My agent once asked me why I do that. I told her, "If I get hit by a submarine in the middle of Market Street, at least I know how the book ended."
She laughed. "No one is going to–oh, wait a minute. No one else could, but you might."
I was, early on, told it was bad luck to look at the end of a book first. Now I think it's sacrilege, after all the work the writer has put in with mood and plotting.
I have to admit that whenever I pick up a book I read the last page first — not the last chapter, but the last page that has THE END on it. I've done it ever since I could remember, because when I was a kid I was terrified of books that did not have happy endings.
Straight through. I read as much for the storytelling as for the story. I skipped John Gault's riveting 2-hr monologue in "Atlas Shrugged" and big chunks of "War and Peace," but those are my only incidents of cheating.
That is so weird! I've never heard of such a thing. I guess I shouldn't be too shocked because people are always trying to ruin surprises. I'd never skip to the end of a book! I want to be shocked and surprised and not know what's coming until I get to that page chronologically. 🙂
I read the beginning and then frequently skip to the end for one of two reasons. Either I am bored and skip until something catches my interest again or I just can't stand the thought that someone will die or the couple won't end up together so I have to reassure myself before I can go on. I am reading for pleasure, after all.
You could probably divide the responses into people who don't care about spoilers in movie trailers, and people who never go to the movies in case they see spoilers for an unrelated film.
I'm in the latter camp. I'm perfectly happy to hear about a great new book, movie or TV series but after that I want the discovery all to myself.
When deciding to make a fiction purchase, I skim the first and a few other random paragraphs toward the beginning and only buy those that seem interesting. Then I read the story straight through, although sometimes I look back to check something. In nonfiction, I take a more serious look at several pages throughout the book before buying. Depending on the topic and why I bought the book, I might skip around a lot or only read selected chapters, or read from start to finish.
dingNormally I read straight through but there is one exception: When I'm reading for my book club and either don't like the book but want to be able to join the conversation re: how it ended or am not going to finish in time for the same reason. I really prefer to not know how the story ends until I get there but for others, all's fair.
Skipping around is just wrong.
"Begin at the beginning," the King said gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop."
I read straight through. Kafka, I think it was, suggested a book should be written so that you could swap chapters, put them in any order, and it would still be the same story.
Apparently, a similar thing happened at least once to Joyce, when some pages of Ulysses fell out of order.
But I believe once it's published, any story is meant to be read from the beginning to the end.
The only time I skip around is if the beginning doesn't really draw me in. Then, I'm checking to see a) how long the book is and how much longer it might take me to get to the point or get interested, and b) if I think it's worth the time and effort to keep reading.
Only time I'll skip to the end of a novel is really if I doubt there's much between the beginning and the end, and I just want to see if it turns out the way I think it will.
A book that really interests me, I'll read from the first word to the last period. But at the same time, I hate a book that promises something great and then fails to deliver. Then, that last period makes me think: "Why? Why did I spend all this time and energy reading everything that came before for this?"
However, I don't sit and read a novel through unless I have an enormous amount of spare time–which I don't usually. I start it, then put it down, maybe start another book, and often wind up reading about three books at the same time, alternating between them based on either interest or boredom.
It depends on how much time I have to read. See, if I start a book, I HAVE to keep reading the whole thing through (often more than once if it's good).
Say an average novel takes 1-2 hours to read. If I have that much time, then I may read straight through. If not, I will read a few pages at the beginning, a few in the middle and a few at the end. If it was good or indicated that it needed to be read through from start, I will remember the book and come back to read it properly.
If I am trying to decide what book to read/buy, then I will tend to read the first page and the ending (last third or search for the climax).
If I just can't find a book I want to read, I will just read backwards, chapter by chapter.
It's not cheating. Research has shown that spoilers may enhance your enjoyment of the arts. Good books are hard to find.
That seems strange to read a book out of order, but to each their own. I read straight through, but if I'm still bored after 50 pages, I'm done. I have a strict 50 page rule, unless the book comes highly recommended.
Oh wow! I could never skip. The thought of someone doing that scares me. I'd like to think a novel would be ruined by doing that. The joy of reading for me is in the journey, not the ending. The suspense is topped off by the relief of learning how the author decided to end the story; the ending isn't the point of reading it for me.
If you are an author, would you prefer that I read your book first chapter, last and then through the middle or not at all? Just curious,
I always read straight through unless I'm getting bored with what I'm reading in which case I'll flip to the end just to be done with it…
If it's a good read, I'll go through chronologically; if not, I'll skip parts to see if the story or the writing improved.
If it's a good read, I'd never dream of going to the end. No sense reading the story if you already know the beginning and the end…;o)
I read tight through. My friend, however, reads the end of every book first to see if it has a happy ending. If it doesn't, she won't read it.
I read straight through, but my mate skips all over the place. I just can't do that.
I always read from beginning to end, as long as the book interests me.
If the book doesn't interest me, I usually simply quit, because I don't care what happens.
But in Harry Potter #5, Order of the Phoenix, I skipped about 300-400 pages and read the end. The book was just short of 900 pages, and it was turning into an ordeal. And yet others enjoyed it. De gustibus, etc.
It would never occur to me to skip around while reading a book. You start at the beginning and you end on the last page, in that order. Why in the world would you do otherwise? Heavens no!
If it was nonfiction or a textbook, I might skip around. In fiction where the entire purpose is enjoyment/edification, why would you subvert the author's intent? That's like viewing the Mona Lisa with green-tinted sunglasses on and then saying you didn't like the colors.
I like to read non-technical material from start to finish. I do like to read a few pages about 75% through to check the author’s writing style though. Many times the end does not justify the contents and you might decide to not read a good book if you check the end without the weight of the contents. I know that when I am writing the characters take on their own lives and don't always behave rationally. Reading should be a vicarious journey that allows the reader to take a character’s place for a moment and not face the stress or consequences of the character’s actions.
If you are so stressed by reading that you must know the end before you can read the book, you might want to consider another genre. Incidentally I am writing this post from a poolside deck in Cancun waiting for a light rain shower to pass and stress does not exist at this latitude.
Absolutely straight through. I honestly couldn't imagine skipping around, or even worse (!) reading the ending, first! Gah!
I usually read chronologically, but sometimes I read the last few pages, if I think the book could go in a horribly cruel direction, or if it suddenly loses all momentum and I want to see if it picks back up again.
I read a bit and then peek at the end, but looking at the comments on this page… I am ashamed of myself *hides head* I will stop this atrocious happem and never again skip to the end (but to be fair, it does run in the family… although my brother thinks it's cheating)
*atrocious habit – sorry, I can't spell either.
If it is a book I am not familiar with,but might be interested in, I may spend 10 min to an hour randomly reading it, first page and then leaf/skim through, If it is a book I am hooked into from the beginning or know something about, I will read from beginning to end.
! My mother reads the ending first all time! Personally, I think it's depraved!
I read through from beginning to end, in one sitting if I have time. (Yes, I read abnormally fast)
But My eyes do have this horrible tendency to skip to the end of a chapter (If I'm on that page) to see if there's a cliff hanger. I hate that. I concentrate so that I don't do it.
CV
I read chronologically. Always have. If a book doesn't get interesting within the chapter or so, I generally stop reading.
I meant to say "first chapter or so"
I sometimes wish I'd skipped to the end, as then I would know I wouldn't want to spend the time reading the book to get there (this doesn't always mean an issue with the book – just that I don't get along with the ending).
Somehow, though, skipping to the end feels like cheating – almost as though I'd skipped to the answers of a quiz. Not sure why…
I have to read start to finish. My brain doesn't function any other way. I have no problem with others reading things out of order, though. It's their reading experience; they can do what they want. Just don't expect me to start reading things in a different order…
I start at the beginning, but if I get to the middle and the book is dragging, then I stop. I don't have time to keep going. My book pile is taking over the house!
Traditionally, I'll read a book straight through. If I'm going to buy a book at the store though, I usually read a couple pages in the middle of the it, because I feel that is the best way to judge an author's writing style other than reading the lure of the first chapter.
I rarely write in order though. >_<
I read chronologically. Only once I skipped and went straight to the end, which was the wise choice for that one book. Other books have been slow or boring in my opinion but because they were well written, I read the entire thing. Gotta finish what you started!!
-Fa
I skip around all the time. Even in novels. I think it is fine in is fine to skip around in everything but novels. It seems wrong in novels but I can't help it.
I never used to do it that way. I was doing a search for having my problem when I found this post.
If it's a great story, i will read it straight through and enjoy the book. But if the story makes me want to hit myself with a chair then I would just skip to the next book. So it's mandatory for boring books to have awesome covers as they make your shelf and the owner look interesting.
But if it gets really bad i will write my own version between the lines. NOT!! hehe.