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When do you stop reading a book?


Rick

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So, as you'll find the more I post - I'm quite OCD about my reading. I wondered if many others follow me with this - when you stop reading a book, where do you stop? Do you force yourself to complete a chapter? or do you underline the last sentence you read/stop mid-chapter?

 

I force myself to complete a chapter. I can not stand just stopping midway. I have to judge the alloted time I'm able to read - and read chapter by chapter accordingly. If I for some reason can not complete a chapter I won't continue reading, or if I'm getting too tired - I won't start another chapter (tried it once, and ended up having to read with one eye closed - was so tired I had to squint with the eye I was using to read. Fun times - never again lol.

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I also prefer to finish at a chapter, or relevant break in the text if there are no chapters. I think that's why I really like books with short chapters; I can read a few at a time and I whizz through the book. Books with longer chapters that require a big time commitment are much harder for me to read. I can finish mid-way through a chapter if I need to, but then I tend to forget what happened next time I pick the book up.

 

That's one thing that really irks me about The Wheel of Time series. As much as I love the books, it always takes me a long time to get past the 70-100 page prologue Jordan likes to use. And then subsequent chapters are often 30+ pages. Some days I just don't have the stamina to read for an hour at a time. I think that's the main reason I had to put the tenth book down a few weeks ago.

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It's definitely more satisfying to reach the end of a chapter & then put the book down. I try to read at least 50 pages a day so will usually finish when I've reached my quota wether it's the end of a chapter or not although I have a quick check overleaf to see if the chapter ends there before I put it down. I couldn't imagine finishing in the middle of a page though :confused:

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I just don't have time to to complete a chapter before I but a book down... especially not a Peter F. Hamilton Chapter. I finsih where I think I can resume the next day or so, preferable not mid conversation.

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So, as you'll find the more I post - I'm quite OCD about my reading. I wondered if many others follow me with this - when you stop reading a book, where do you stop? Do you force yourself to complete a chapter? or do you underline the last sentence you read/stop mid-chapter?

 

I force myself to complete a chapter. I can not stand just stopping midway. I have to judge the alloted time I'm able to read - and read chapter by chapter accordingly. If I for some reason can not complete a chapter I won't continue reading, or if I'm getting too tired - I won't start another chapter (tried it once, and ended up having to read with one eye closed - was so tired I had to squint with the eye I was using to read. Fun times - never again lol.

 

As a fellow OCDian :friends3:, do you have to finish a book? Not in one go, but just finish a book? I don't have an issue with finishing within a chapter, though. It has to bo be a paragraph; but I think that goes for most people, not just those with OCD, or at least I assumed that to be true.

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I used to be strictly end-of-chapter. But ever since I've taken to reading during my lunch hour, I've tried my best to convince myself that it's perfectly alright to stop mid-page or even mid-sentence. Mostly, though, I'm fine with stopping at the bottom of the page, as long as the end of the page also means the end of a sentence. Reading paranoia... not fun. :P

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I usually try to finish a chapter or reach a page break. I struggle sometimes with books with no or very long chapters unless I can put a long time aside to read. I seem to remember Paul Auster does this. I am also reading a biography of Anthony Burgess at present which has long chapters and no page breaks; it's driving me nuts! :irked:

Edited by Books do furnish a room
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Depends on the book, I have been known to stay up til 2-3am to finish a book forgetting dinner and everything and despite an alarm going off at 6.30am just to finish a book, but sometimes its just til I get tired then I put it down and start again in no particular place

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I usually read in the evenings or on a Sunday morning. I find I have to stop myself after an hour or two because otherwise things wont get done. Then there's times like last night. I was working early this morning so I had to get up at six. I knew that last night, but once I start reading it ceases to matter, so I didn't sleep until about one am. I paid for it throughout the day..

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I usually stop at the end of a paragraph. I'd like to stop at the end of a chapter but I often read 'just a little bit more' because I can't help myself. Stopping at the end of a paragraph won't be easy when I read Jack Kerouac's On the Road: The Original Scroll, because it was written in one long, unbroken paragraph! :huh:

 

My current read, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, doesn't have chapter breaks, but the journal entries are numbered so I usually stop at the end of an entry.

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I am the queen of stopping midsentence. Whenever I am too tired or I have to get up to do something else. I usually just reread a few paragraphs when I pick the book up again. Even when I finish a chapter I often find I need to go back a bit because I often read myself to sleep and can't remember the last page I was reading.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have been known to wake with a book stuck to my face so I'm not particularly worried about getting to the end of a paragraph etc. If I'm wide awake then I will read to the end of a chapter .. but it doesn't bother me if I stop off halfway through.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It all depends on the book. I've been known to stay up all night reading a book because it was so good that I couldn't put it down. Usually, I stop reading a book after I finish a chapter (preferably after chapter 5, 10, 15, or 20...mhm, every 5 chapters--I'm a tad OCD about that).

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I tend to read last thing at night in bed, So I try to read to the end of the chapter. But I either find myself falling asleep mid-sentence or, like Tonilianne, I get to the end of a chapter and need to carry on. This is particularily bad with books with very short chapters in the Dan Brown style!

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