Ever cheated?

[Anna Begins]

Ever get so bored or anxious for the end of a book, that you skip large chunks, read the last page or find the end on a website?

 

This just happened to me with Ira Levin's This Perfect Day, at 52%! I just couldn't handle the dragging on, so I looked up the end on Wikipedia . Everything happened nearly the way I expected, so no loss.

 

But have you ever "cheated"?

[Nollaig]

Good lord this was not what I was expecting, I was all prepared to haul this to the Mature Discussion forum!

 

Yes, definitely. I can't think of any books offhand I've done this to, but I have definitely done it.

[Anna Begins]

[Kylie]

I skipped loads of descriptive stuff in Inkdeath last year. I just wanted to get to the end of the trilogy so I could move on to something else. Before that, I'd never abandoned a book or skipped pages because I felt like I couldn't then add it to my 'read' list, but happily I didn't feel remotely guilty or anything, so I think it might have been a turning point for me.

[woolf woolf]

I remember doing it with "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and with other books as well, I'd grow bored of reading whilst I wanted to know the ending. I don't consider a book read if I skipped some pages, like I don't consider a film watched if I skipped some scenes. I haven't done it with books, but with some series and films I read the whole plot on wikipedia when I'm unsure it's worth watching.

[ian]

I'm sort of doing this at the moment reading The Count of Monte Cristo. I found then when the story initially moved to Rome and became about Franz, I got a bit impatient. While I wasn't really skipping stuff, I was really just skimming.

[Anna Begins]

I'm sort of doing this at the moment reading The Count of Monte Cristo. I found then when the story initially moved to Rome and became about Franz, I got a bit impatient. While I wasn't really skipping stuff, I was really just skimming.

That's my mom's favorite book but even she said what you did, about the skimming. Are you liking it?

 

I remember doing it with "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and with other books as well, I'd grow bored of reading whilst I wanted to know the ending. I don't consider a book read if I skipped some pages, like I don't consider a film watched if I skipped some scenes. I haven't done it with books, but with some series and films I read the whole plot on wikipedia when I'm unsure it's worth watching.

I'm so unlike this . I usually know next to nothing about the books I'm about to read. I don't really watch movies or tv, but I have looked up the meanings of some films... The Machinist and Interstellar come to mind.

 

I skipped loads of descriptive stuff in Inkdeath last year. I just wanted to get to the end of the trilogy so I could move on to something else. Before that, I'd never abandoned a book or skipped pages because I felt like I couldn't then add it to my 'read' list, but happily I didn't feel remotely guilty or anything, so I think it might have been a turning point for me.

That's quite the fine line, yes lol. I guess I consider it "abandoned" if I don't finish it. I've never cheated before though!

[woolf woolf]

I'm so unlike this . I usually know next to nothing about the books I'm about to read. I don't really watch movies or tv, but I have looked up the meanings of some films... The Machinist and Interstellar come to mind.

 

I read the wikipedia page about the author before reading the book, try to learn about his life and locate when the book was written and published. I also google the book's setting, but I leave the meanings to myself.

[Athena]

I can't recall ever 'cheating' by looking up the ending of a book, or skimming through to the end. Generally I'll just abandon the book if I'm really not enjoying it anymore.

[Kell]

I couldn't finish The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I worked it out ludicrously early, and eventually checked I was right. I was - spot on. I Enjoyed the film a bit more than the book, and bizarrely, preferred the US remake to the original film. The book I found plodding, dull, and very predictable.

[ian]

That's my mom's favorite book but even she said what you did, about the skimming. Are you liking it?

 

 

 

Now that I've got the characters straight in my head, I am. There was a point when I got very confused over who was who.

[JudyM]

I tend to skip large chunks of description. I prefer authors who are character-driven where details of place, time and even insights into other characters come through dialogue and character interaction.

[Raven]

I did once keep a £500 note in my sock when playing Monopoly. 

 

They thought I was out, but I jumped right back in! 

 

(Does that count? It didn't feel like cheating . . .).

[LankaDivore]

I did once keep a £500 note in my sock when playing Monopoly. 

 

They thought I was out, but I jumped right back in! 

 

(Does that count? It didn't feel like cheating . . .).

Great idea :D

[Hayley]

I did used to skim read texts I didn't like in my first couple of years at uni. Like when I couldn't deal with reading another chapter about the technical aspects of whaling (Moby Dick) or when we started modernist poetry and I decided I'd had enough after the line 'sugar is not a vegetable' (Tender Buttons). But that was for the sake of my sanity so I think it should be allowed   

[bookmonkey]

I don't think I have 'cheated', but I wish I had with Gone Girl. I only kept reading to find out if what I thought would happen did.  I was right, and should have skipped to the end.

[bobblybear]

I've only done this with books that I wasn't enjoying. Even though I may not like the story, I still want to know how it ends, so I will go straight to the end to find out what happens. And if it's a very unexpected ending, then I will skip through huge chunks of the book to try to find out where it all changed.

[Cookie]

I've only done this with books that I wasn't enjoying. Even though I may not like the story, I still want to know how it ends, so I will go straight to the end to find out what happens. And if it's a very unexpected ending, then I will skip through huge chunks of the book to try to find out where it all changed.

I do this!

[chaliepud]

I will occasionally skim if I'm not thoroughly enjoying a book or if a section of it is a little dull. If I'm really not enjoying it though I will just give up on it, life is too short!

[Chrissy]

I occasionally skim read a description heavy paragraph if I think the scene has already set in my mind.

 

Some authors are verbose and it can get a little tedious. I stopped reading PD James because of this. I vividly remember a page or two in one of her books describing a mantelpiece that I studiously read thinking that there must be something there that was going to be relevant later on. No, she just decided to minutely describe each and every bloody object for the hell of it! My memory may be a tad skewed by my irritation, but you get the point. 

[shirley]

I have never cheated and read the end of the book or looked it up to see what happens.  I keep going to the end of the book, I think I have only given up on one book - cannot remember the title at the mo - but it just went on and on and on and never got anywhere so stopped reading it.

[Peacefield]

I did it with one of my recent books, I'll admit it.  I read a little at the end because I suspected I was being tricked and since I hate those kinds of endings, I had to look ahead.  Luckily It was not a 'gotcha!' ending so I read the rest of the book  .

 

I've done it a handful of times in the past, because if I'm only feeling so-so about a book, I really don't want to waste what little time I have for reading on it.  

[Madeleine]

Like Peacefield, occasionally I'll sneak a look if the book doesn't seem to be going anywhere, but most of the time I'm good and don't cheat!