Bad habits when reading - we all have them - skipping ahead in the story, with a finger tucked in the page where you 'officially' stopped reading; taking a quick peak at the end of the book to make sure that it does turn out the way you expect. I justify that one by telling myself it's analysis of the writer's style - I'm not just reading for pleasure I'm also taking note of how she/he gets to where the book finishes. You know, technical stuff.
Oh yeah?
The other bad habit, which I blame firmly on the writer, is following one plot thread through the book, instead of reading it the way you're supposed to, one darn chapter after another. You know the thing - several plot strands are going on and the author has done what it says in all the manuals - have the chapter end on a cliff hanger. In this case, leaving one plot strand to go off to a completely different part of the forest. No way - you get me interested in whether A is going to fall into a clinch with B and and then try and waltz me off to somewhere else and I'm simply not having it.
Writing this I realise I'm an extremely messy and undisciplined reader.
So - do you do as your supposed to, or do you have bad reading habits too?
Confession is good for the soul.
4 comments:
I hear you. I wrecked Stephen King's Dark Tower series for myself by skipping ahead to the end in the last voluem. I refused to do that with Harry Potter VII, however, because every time I skipped ahead, another character I liked was dead and I was scared if I cut to the end they'd all be gone. Fortunately that didn't happen. And if the A Plot-B Plot chapter switching bothers you, I recommend you avoid completely the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Pat
Good to know I'm not alone. And I shall certainly avoid Mr Rice Burroughs.
Oh no, how can you avoid Tarzan and the Lost World...and his Mars story?
Oh well, before the time of HEA endings I would check to see if it was a happy ending because I got real tired and depressed by reading unhappy endings.
My bad habit now is that if a story starts to bore me I can't finish it...my brain just goes wonky.
I have that one too Savanna - but I now give myself permission not to finish a book if it doesn't hold my interest - so many books, so little tme.
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