Jump to content

Do you ever or sometimes skip lots of pages?


Recommended Posts

Do you sometimes skip pages or even whole chapters of a book that you want to finish but don't feel like reading everything of? 

 

I sometimes do that when I feel like the book is dragging on and on forever. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Never. If I feel like the book is dragging, I put it aside for a while and try something else. If I feel it's just not worth the time, I try my best to finish it. If I still can't bring myself to keep flicking through the pages, I abandon it. I would give up a book but I'd never skip pages or chapters. It would completely ruin the flow of the narrative for me, I'd miss out on things I want to know about characters or the plot, and ultimately it would end up making it more unreadable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Who me? Never or at least not often. On the other hand I sometimes do skip through pages when I am trying to finish a book or at least certain uninteresting chapters like the 4th book of the Game of Thrones.

 

Then, there are books like The Graveyard by Neil Gaiman that I will take my time and read certain parts twice because they are enjoyable and I don't want to miss anything.

Edited by muggle not
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to skip pages when I was at school and had to read all those boring books of italian classic literature: pages and pages of nothing were definitely too much for me at that time. But I don't do that anymore, mainly because now I choose what to read and then, well, I don't read italian classics now I can avoid them!! :giggle2:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't skip pages but if a book gets boring or such I will on occasion skim them rather than read the whole page.


EDIT: Like bobblybear, if I have to skim too much I will abandon a book.

Edited by Athena
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nope. If the story isn't engaging me to the point where I'm skipping stuff, I just ditch the book. I used to continue with every book I started right to the bitter end and never skip a page, then I realised that life is short and too full of fantastic unread books to waste any time on something I'm not enjoying. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nope, I agree with everything Kell has said. Life is too short, if you are not enjoying the book then ditch it! :P 

 

Even if I do enjoy the book and there is a slight boring bit I still won't skip it, I would be so afraid that I would have missed something quite important! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My problem is that I don't like to ditch books. I feel as though it's better to skip a few pages here and there instead of ditching it. Then it feels like I have read the book and know the whole plotline and how it ended. 

To me, it feels like I edit the book when I skip a few things. Authors tend to write a lot, and then remove certain things until both author and publisher is satisfied. As I reader, I feel like I can skip some extra pages, as the text comes alive for ME, the reader. 
I look upon it as though when you watch a tv-series, and you don't watch all the episodes. But that it doesn't matter because you can still follow the plot. 

 

However, I don't do this often. In recent years, it's only been a few books that I have had to read for school that I would not have chosen to read myself. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd generally agree with Janet and Kell: I tend to put aside a book if it's not keeping my attention - there are too many great reads to waste time on one that isn't doing that.  However, like Claire, I have recently, since joining a book group earlier this year, skimmed through books on one or two occasions which I would otherwise have ditched so that I can better talk about it at the meeting.  On no occasion did I find anything to suggest that I would have regretted just dropping it if I'd been reading it for myself!

I've found with books I want to finish (which was your question) that I've lately become rather more careful about reading them all and, if anything, have thus slightly slowed down. 

Edited by willoyd
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do this sometimes. Very often if a book isn't holding my attention I'll skip to the last chapter and read that. If it has a good ending, sometimes I'll skim through the bits I missed out to see how the story played out. More often than not though if I feel the need to skip bits it's a sign I'd be better off reading something else.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I don't really like a lot of description - particuarly when someone is describing landscape or a room, so I often skip that. It does sometimes mean I skip something relevant though and end up not understanding what is going on later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't really skip pages, more like just scan them if they seem a bit too wordy, however, if I find I'm scanning too many I'll retire the book to the archives if it's on my Kindle with the intention of going back at some time, which usually means never.  If it's a hardback that I've bought and it's a disappointing read to the extent that I'm rushing through pages it gets taken to the library for them to put in their book sale or into the system.  I used to put those books into the book case with the intent of going back to them but that has never happened so they have all been banished now. :smile:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I think the only time I have ever done this was with the rather long poems that are in Lord of the Rings. Other than that, no. I'd rather struggle through a difficult bit, than risk missing something important to the plot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

I hate spoilers, so I never do that. I'll only do it very occasionally if there are multiple stories in a novel (as in, different plots/plotlines) and one interests me a lot of ends with a cliffhanger - I'll sometimes look for what happens next if I'm really too curious. But I'll always go back to read what I skipped.

 

When a book is boring, I either drag myself through it all the way or I put it aside.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll only skip if it gets gruesome .. then I'll just sort of squint and take in the key words. It has to be really gruesome though .. I can cope with a reasonable amount of gore. I have a sort of compunction .. almost amounting to a superstition .. to read every word .. so unless it's too gory (which is my only get out clause :blush2:I will read it all. I've not been successful at abandoning either yet .. but I'm working on it  :blush2:  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...