When You Read ...

natalie_ca

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When you read do you tend to skip ahead to find out what happens?

I'm very impatient and usually by the 1/2 way point I find myself skipping ahead and reading various parts of the book, including the ending before going back to where I left off.

A few weeks ago I borrowed some Patricia Cornwell novels from the library. She's not my favourite author because while she has the ability to devise a story and research it, she sucks at actually writing it. Anyway her 3 most recent books are a continuing series and it's way too drawn out! So after I finished the first book of the series (which she took over 450 pages to lay out the plot and less than 5 pages at the very end to sum it all up...she really did) I skipped my way through the second and third books so I could find out what happened. This way I don't have to subject myself to having to read everything she wrote and can pretty much skim through the ramblings.

I don't always read ahead, but I find if the author rambles or writes in circles like Patricia Cornwell does, that it can become painful to try and wade through all of the ramblings.

Other authos like JR Tolkien I wouldn't dream of reading ahead. His words and story are captivating.

So what about you? Do you read ahead and if you do do you find that it spoils the book for you?
 

minxie

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I have a tendency to 'speed read'..must be a habit from work. I just look at a paragraph and my brain has read it...which really spoils the fun out of reading anything non factual for me.
Because of that, its been ages since Ive picked up a fictional book to read. But when I use to read, Id take my time and reflect on each page.
 

kiwideus

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My attention span has been getting shorter and shorter and so it is harder for me to actually focus on a book these days. But I have come across a certain writer that made it easy for me.

Patricia Cornwell's writing has gone to the dogs. Kathy Reichs is better.
 
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natalie_ca

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Originally Posted by Kiwideus

Patricia Cornwell's writing has gone to the dogs. Kathy Reichs is better.
I agree, but I've read all of Kathy's books already.

I used to really like Stephen King, but then he got into those stupid Dark Tower novels and I just couldn't get into them so I dropped him as a favourite author. I haven't read anything that he's written in years. I've been told that some of his more recent novels have been an improvement but I've lost my taste for his writing.

I like Robin Cook and have some books on request at the library but they aren't in yet.

I've been reading Dan Brown (Da Vinci Code fame) and his novels are quite good. Also Vince Flynn is pretty good too. He writes political intrigue / mystery type novels to do with spying and CIA etc.

Other than that I'm not really up on my list of authors.
 

lookingglass

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I have to admit, I read the last page first.

Oh, and when I get the new Harry Potter book, I'm going to do the same thing.
 

duchess15

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I always read from beginning to end. To me to read the end just spoils it so why even bother reading it? But that's just my opinion.

I just started patricia cornwell, and her books aren't too bad, but after rereading a lot or Robin Cook books, it just doesn't have that same intrigue.
I like reading a lot of fantasy books also. However, I like Toilken, but found parts of it dragged out and would normally try to skim through those areas. If a book is just too slowly developed, I will just stopped reading it all together. Such as Robert Jordan.
I love the Harry Potter series and others like Feist, Eddings, Weis & Hickman, etc. Right now I'm reading George R R Martin. He is very good.
I love to read because it gives me peace of mind and allows me to experience another world.
 

strange_wings

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Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

I like Robin Cook and have some books on request at the library but they aren't in yet.
I stopped reading his books several years ago. I can't remember the book title right now (and I'm too lazy to look it up
), but there was one book that the subject was terrorism. A guy was making anthrax and hooked up with another guy that would lay in wait near the border to shoot crossing illegal immigrants
. Cook was too detailed at that part and it creeped me out.

I don't skip ahead when reading, I read fast enough that I can finish a book in a few hours anyways. However, I do noticed that sometimes I'm reading more than one sentence at a time? Sort of like minxie said concerning speed reading.



Looked up the book anyway, it's called Vector.
 

pookie-poo

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If you like really good, well written fiction.....I recommend reading Lee Childs. He uses the same character in his books, so I'd recommend reading his first book, The Killing Floor, first. His books are so good that I usually have to read them in one sitting...can't put them down! If the book is boring, I've skipped to the end to read it just to get it over (Danielle Steele, Patricia Cornwall, etc.) but if the book is well written and exciting...I just put my reading skills into overdrive and read like a woman possessed, straight through to the end! Most good novels take me about 6 hours to read. Lee Childs has a new book, Bad Luck And Trouble, due out May 15th....I can hardly wait!!!
 
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natalie_ca

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Originally Posted by Pookie-poo

If you like really good, well written fiction.....I recommend reading Lee Childs. He uses the same character in his books, so I'd recommend reading his first book, The Killing Floor, first. His books are so good that I usually have to read them in one sitting...can't put them down! If the book is boring, I've skipped to the end to read it just to get it over (Danielle Steele, Patricia Cornwall, etc.) but if the book is well written and exciting...I just put my reading skills into overdrive and read like a woman possessed, straight through to the end! Most good novels take me about 6 hours to read. Lee Childs has a new book, Bad Luck And Trouble, due out May 15th....I can hardly wait!!!
Thanks, I will write that author down and look for some novels by him when I go to the library in a couple of weeks. I am currently reading "The Last Presinct" by Patricia Cornwell (book 2 of a 3 book story-line series) and then I have to get through "Blow Fly" which is the 3rd book, and which I think sums up a number of events that happened in prior novels. Plus I have another Dan Brown book to read, I believe his most recent one.
 
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natalie_ca

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Originally Posted by Duchess15

I just started patricia cornwell
I would suggest that you read the books in the order that she wrote them. She tends to carry stories and events into other books. Basically while the mode of death may change from novel to novel, the books because of the characters and their histories all tie in together, and as I'm finding out now with the more recent books, it seems that all of the crimes appear to be all related somehow.

If you are going to read her books, I suggest the following order. Not all of her novels are listed because my library doesn't have some of them, but the ones I'm listing are enough to be able to understand what is going on in 3 out of her 4 more recent novels:

- Body of Evidence
- All That Remains
- Cruel and Unusual
- The Body Farm
- Cause of Death
- Unnatural Exposure (this seems to be the start of a lengthy story that encompasses 5 books)
- Point of Origin
- Black Notice
- The Last Presinct
- Blow Fly (seems to end what "Unnatural Exposure" started)

Trace is the most recent novel and seems to start "fresh" with the same characters.
 

strange_wings

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Originally Posted by Duchess15

I like reading a lot of fantasy books also. However, I like Toilken, but found parts of it dragged out and would normally try to skim through those areas. If a book is just too slowly developed, I will just stopped reading it all together. Such as Robert Jordan.
I love the Harry Potter series and others like Feist, Eddings, Weis & Hickman, etc.
Tolkien does drag, and as far as high fantasy goes there are better authors. Jordan is good, but his story crawls because he has too many characters. Eddings is funny. Feist over does it on details, making the story drag to much for me to get into. There's a short series that he wrote with someone else that is pretty good though, I think the other person kept him from lingering in details. Weis and Hickman make a good writing pair.

For high fantasy I also like Melanie Rawn. Her 3rd book in the Exiles series doesn't seem to be coming out till...2009?!
That should have been out in 99.

Terry Goodkind is a good fantasy author.. with a very long series.
There's C. J. Cherryh, who has a ton of books. Some better than others and she also writes sci fi fantasy.
And no one can forget Michael Moorcock and Terry Brooks.


I went through a period that I read a lot of high fantasy in, if the book was over 700 pages or a series, I gave it a shot.
 

carolpetunia

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Oh my gosh NO!
I would never look ahead in a book -- unless it's so unbearably bad that I'm not even going to finish it. Then I'll give the last page a glance before I toss the book disdainfully across the room.


Natalie, what you said about Cornwell goes for Ann Rule, too, I think. I recently read her "Broken Promises," and it was fascinating... but the writing was so weak. It's a shame.

Likewise with Robin Cook -- I always want to grab a pencil and edit him! And Dean Koontz, too, though he's gotten better over the years.

I can't get into the "Dark Tower" series, either -- fantasy is just not my thing. But if you gave up on Stephen King before you read "Bag of Bones," you missed his all-time best, in my opinion! Just read the first paragraph here...

http://www.cnn.com/books/beginnings/...f.bones.chap1/

...and see if that doesn't hook you. I dearly love this book. And it's in first person, which I also love!

Pookie, you are so right about Lee Child! His books cannot be put down! I'll be right behind you in line on May 15...
 
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natalie_ca

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Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

But if you gave up on Stephen King before you read "Bag of Bones," you missed his all-time best, in my opinion! Just read the first paragraph here...

http://www.cnn.com/books/beginnings/...f.bones.chap1/

...and see if that doesn't hook you.
Sorry
I read that first chapter posted at that link and it didn't grab me. Actually, I didn't read the whole chapter, I found myself skimming through it.

I just don't care for his style of writing anymore for some reason.
 

duchess15

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Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

I would suggest that you read the books in the order that she wrote them. She tends to carry stories and events into other books. Basically while the mode of death may change from novel to novel, the books because of the characters and their histories all tie in together, and as I'm finding out now with the more recent books, it seems that all of the crimes appear to be all related somehow.

If you are going to read her books, I suggest the following order. Not all of her novels are listed because my library doesn't have some of them, but the ones I'm listing are enough to be able to understand what is going on in 3 out of her 4 more recent novels:

- Body of Evidence
- All That Remains
- Cruel and Unusual
- The Body Farm
- Cause of Death
- Unnatural Exposure (this seems to be the start of a lengthy story that encompasses 5 books)
- Point of Origin
- Black Notice
- The Last Presinct
- Blow Fly (seems to end what "Unnatural Exposure" started)

Trace is the most recent novel and seems to start "fresh" with the same characters.
The only one I have read from her so far is Postmortem. I was going to read Body of Evidence next. I also have the next two after that. She was a little harder to get into. Seems to have more random thoughts as compared to Cook. I like him much better. But I want to give it a chance.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Tolkien does drag, and as far as high fantasy goes there are better authors. Jordan is good, but his story crawls because he has too many characters. Eddings is funny. Feist over does it on details, making the story drag to much for me to get into. There's a short series that he wrote with someone else that is pretty good though, I think the other person kept him from lingering in details. Weis and Hickman make a good writing pair.

For high fantasy I also like Melanie Rawn. Her 3rd book in the Exiles series doesn't seem to be coming out till...2009?!
That should have been out in 99.

Terry Goodkind is a good fantasy author.. with a very long series.
There's C. J. Cherryh, who has a ton of books. Some better than others and she also writes sci fi fantasy.
And no one can forget Michael Moorcock and Terry Brooks.


I went through a period that I read a lot of high fantasy in, if the book was over 700 pages or a series, I gave it a shot.
I have heard of Melanie Rawn, but don't know much about her. I never really could get into Anne McCaffrey. Like I stated earlier, I am reading fantasy novel by George RR Martin and it is very ununsual to get me hooked already at the prologue.
I like Tolkien, don't get me wrong, there were just a few parts that dragged.
I've heard good things about Terry Brooks. My dad used to read them.
My all time favorite series would have to be the dragonlance and harry potter. I decided to try out the Forgotten Realms series starting with the Icewind dale which has very good ratings. I used to play all their role-playing games in the 80's/90's. I miss those and have tried to play the newer versions or games, but they just aren't the same. I also like the wizardry series.
I have about 16 books I ordered on various topics fantasy, cats, etc. I ordered a fantasy novel by E.E. Knight where his main character is a dragon and it sounded very interesting. I have to reread all the Harry Potter books before 7 comes out! lol Dear Lord...help me...I can't complain about not having enough books to read. I often will start many books at one time and read a few chapters and switch to the next one.
I tried to read Narnia, but the writing is so old fashioned and ununsual that I just couldn't get into it. I loved the movie though!
I keep a library of all the books I know I will reread. The way I figure, I can't go wrong with books and they keep your mind active. It's also amazing that when you reread a book it never seems to be exactly the way you remember reading it the first time.
I think I've digressed and rambled on enough. Sounds like a lot of you love to read also.
 

strange_wings

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Originally Posted by Duchess15

I have about 16 books I ordered on various topics fantasy, cats, etc.


I tried to read Narnia, but the writing is so old fashioned and ununsual that I just couldn't get into it. I loved the movie though!
I keep a library of all the books I know I will reread. The way I figure, I can't go wrong with books and they keep your mind active. It's also amazing that when you reread a book it never seems to be exactly the way you remember reading it the first time.
I think I've digressed and rambled on enough. Sounds like a lot of you love to read also.
Cats, have you read Tailchasher's Song by Tad Williams? I can't remember the exact writing style as it's been too many years, but the characters are cats. Kind of neat. He also has several other series I need to get around to reading.

I read the Narnia books as a child, the writing style was ok then but it's would bother me now. ..Haven't touched the Harry Potter books, something bothers me about them.

Actually, I prefer not to reread.
I have a good memory for anything I've read and just glancing at the first page or even the book cover usually helps me remember the whole book. I do love to read, but it's expensive
buying used, if I can, helps.
 

hopehacker

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I never skip ahead. It would ruin the entire book for me. The fun of reading a book is watching the story unfold.
 
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