Thursday, July 29, 2010

My Reading Style

I've been noticing certain trends with me that I find are becoming indicative of a certain reading style that I consistently display:
  • I read multiple books at once. This is partially due to a tendency to boredom requiring a lot of variety. It is also partially due to me being a bit scatter-brained. So I need to have one book by my bedside and one in my purse and another in the living room. That way I always have one available, and don't have to work so hard to remember to grab my book as I go.
  • The first 50 pages are difficult for me. I have a hard time getting into a story during the slow build-up that you commonly have at the beginning of a story. So I hem and haw, debate on whether to continue reading the book, read a couple of pages and then put the book down, read a couple of paragraphs and put the book down. Then suddenly the book catches me, usually between 50-75 pages in, and then I'm hooked and can't wait to see what will happen next.
  • A book is like my gas gauge-- the first half goes slowly, and the second half just whizzes by! I guess another comparison would be a road trip. Don't you find that the trip home goes by so much faster than the first half? Books seem to drag on and on for the first half, and the final 100 pages usually flies by! And a good book is sort of like a road trip, isn't it? I mean, it takes you on a journey, and then brings you back on home again. Part of the explanation for this phenomenon is probably due to point #2 above. I just take so long to get through the first 50 pages. And by the time I get to the final 100 pages, I am usually immersed into a high-octane storyline that has me hooked. So I wind up foregoing everything else (including the computer *gasp*) to complete the story. Also keep in mind that I am generally a slow reader. Others will finish a book in a single day that may take me a week or two to get through. A couple of paragraphs read while I brush my teeth, a few more read pumping gas, a couple of pages read in bed before I pass out from exhaustion. I read in fits and starts.
So how about you? Do you have a certain "reading style"? Do you just sit down and devour books in a single sitting, or are you a distracted reader who only reads a little at a time? Do you focus on one book at a time, or do you have multiple books going at once? Do you find that books go down smoothly, or do they go in fits and starts? Like me, do you find that maybe the beginning drags on slowly, while the end flies by?

1 comment:

Liviania said...

I'm a read multiple books at once girl do. I find that some books start fast (which I prefer) and others don't. I usually give a book 100 pages to hook me.