Quote:
Originally Posted by ZodWallop
So you skim descriptions, action sequences and characters. You must blast through a book!  |
I don't think I said anything about skimming characters? I just skim lists where the main character in a mystery is basically summarizing what they already know about the potential suspects. I assume writers do this for the benefit of people who read one book over a two-week period and might have forgotten some things that happened earlier in the book. I usually read books in a big chunk of time (a few hours in a row on an evening or weekend) so it's still fresh in my mind and I don't need the reminder.
My favorite type of book to read is moderately cozy-to-medium (not hardcore thriller) mysteries. These books usually have only the occasional fight/chase scene so I'm not skipping much there.
An example of the kind of descriptive passages I skip - the first time I read one of Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware mysteries, the character was driving somewhere and all the neighborhoods and scenery he passed were described in detail. Given that this was a mystery, I thought maybe there was a clue hidden there so I carefully read it all. However, I came to realize Kellerman apparently just likes to write travelogs - whenever the character drives anywhere outside his local area there are descriptions of whatever he passes. If I'm not in the mood for this I skip it.