How many books have you currently started but not finished?

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by orlok

How on earth do you accidentally read the last few pages

Well, maybe "accidentally" isn't the right word. In my memory, I picked up the book and thought, "I've read this before, I'm almost sure of it", opened it up to the last few pages to jog my memory, and then realized I HADN'T read it before after all.

And then didn't want to.

Normally, I don't read the ends of books before I start them, but I DO look at the ends of books I've read to jog my memory.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Well, maybe "accidentally" isn't the right word. In my memory, I picked up the book and thought, "I've read this before, I'm almost sure of it", opened it up to the last few pages to jog my memory, and then realized I HADN'T read it before after all.

And then didn't want to.

Normally, I don't read the ends of books before I start them, but I DO look at the ends of books I've read to jog my memory.

Ah, it all becomes clear .

I did actually used to know someone who always read the last page of a book to see how it ended before they would consider reading it. Now that's peculiar.

[anamardoll]

My mother-in-law does that. She wants to know if the ending is good before she invests in the reading. I don't really understand it myself -- I don't think I'd UNDERSTAND most endings without the context.

Then again, I suppose if the ending was, "And now that everyone was dead, Paul kicked a puppy," you might want to know that in advance.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Then again, I suppose if the ending was, "And now that everyone was dead, Paul kicked a puppy," you might want to know that in advance.

I think that's why she used to do it as well. But for me it would completely ruin the read. Part of the enjoyment of reading is trying to work out how it will all end. If you know that in advance, you have to lose something of the reading experience.

[SeaBookGuy]

I had tried the first in a mystery series that came with good reviews, but around 1/3 of the way through it, long after the central murder, I decided I really disliked the protagonist. So, I went straight to the end to see who did it -- a character who wasn't even introduced until after the point I'd stopped reading!

[Namekuseijin]

Having a huge collection of ebooks in your pocket is wonderful, but can be bad for your reading. You tend to zap between ebooks, just like you used to zap through TV channels.

As a consequence, I'm finishing lots of short stories, but long novels are stalled, like Robinson Crusoe (still to get to the middle) and Accelerando (just first 2 chapters). I really wish to update my counter in my sig, but the challenge is for complete books at least 120 pages! Well, at least the collection "The adventures of Sherlock Holmes" is coming along just fine, even though its a whooping 400 pages!

[jtdolphins]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

My mother-in-law does that. She wants to know if the ending is good before she invests in the reading. I don't really understand it myself -- I don't think I'd UNDERSTAND most endings without the context.

My grandma did the same thing with every book. My mom use to do it a lot, but has stopped doing it so much since my grandma passed. My sister does it some too, never to the extent of my mom or grandma. The women are weird. I remember being at my Grandma's when some books arrived in the mail. She didn't like the ending of one book so asked my sister if she wanted it.

[Ravensknight]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

My mother-in-law does that. She wants to know if the ending is good before she invests in the reading. I don't really understand it myself -- I don't think I'd UNDERSTAND most endings without the context.

Then again, I suppose if the ending was, "And now that everyone was dead, Paul kicked a puppy," you might want to know that in advance.

That is what my wife does. and it is for the exact reason you state. It drove me nuts when we first got married. Then I just let it go, cause that is how she is.

[ilovejedd]

I have quite a number of books I started reading but didn't finish. All of those books, I don't plan on finishing because I just didn't like them. Usually, when I start reading a book, I finish it in the same day or the next. Aside from assigned reading for homework, I don't recall reading a fiction book that I didn't finish in two days.

[wyndslash]

my eldest sister used to be the same way. she looked at the ending first and if she didn't like it, she wouldn't read it

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

Having a huge collection of ebooks in your pocket is wonderful, but can be bad for your reading. You tend to zap between ebooks, just like you used to zap through TV channels.

As a consequence, I'm finishing lots of short stories, but long novels are stalled, like Robinson Crusoe (still to get to the middle) and Accelerando (just first 2 chapters). I really wish to update my counter in my sig, but the challenge is for complete books at least 120 pages! Well, at least the collection "The adventures of Sherlock Holmes" is coming along just fine, even though its a whooping 400 pages!

I have had to make a deal with myself: three open e-books at once -- no more until I finish (or abandon) one of them!

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by wyndslash

my eldest sister used to be the same way. she looked at the ending first and if she didn't like it, she wouldn't read it

I wish someone who does this would explain how this works.

I mean, how do you understand the ending? I mean, I just finished re-reading The Chronicles of Narnia. How does that ending even make sense if you haven't read the book??

Spoiler:

And that would have been the very end of the story if it hadn’t been that they felt they really must explain to the Professor why four of the coats out of his wardrobe were missing. And the Professor, who was a very remarkable man, didn’t tell them not to be silly or not to tell lies, but believed the whole story. “No,” he said, “I don’t think it will be any good trying to go back through the wardrobe door to get the coats. You won’t get into Narnia again by that route. Nor would the coats be much use by now if you did! Eh? What’s that? Yes, of course you’ll get back to Narnia again someday. Once a King in Narnia, always a King in Narnia. But don’t go trying to use the same route twice. Indeed, don’t try to get there at all. It’ll happen when you’re not looking for it. And don’t talk too much about it even among yourselves. And don’t mention it to anyone else unless you find that they’ve had adventures of the same sort themselves. What’s that? How will you know? Oh, you’ll know all right. Odd things they say—even their looks—will let the secret out. Keep your eyes open. Bless me, what do they teach them at these schools?”

Buh??

[wyndslash]

@amaradoll: well, basically just to see how it all turns out i don't think the last page literally, but maybe skimming the last chapter.

[purple_fishy]

Lots. Life it too short to read books you don't like. I have many books that I re-read over and over because they are so special to me. There are many books that I start and never finish because I hate graphic sex scenes, graphic descriptions of violence, particularly against children, and because like I said, life is too short to make myself read things that I don't like.

The only exceptions to this are a few classics which I disliked initially but made myself keep going a bit and then actually ended up enjoying the book.

[purple_fishy]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

My mother-in-law does that. She wants to know if the ending is good before she invests in the reading. I don't really understand it myself -- I don't think I'd UNDERSTAND most endings without the context.

Then again, I suppose if the ending was, "And now that everyone was dead, Paul kicked a puppy," you might want to know that in advance.

I can understand that. I have done that several times in books because I am so emotionally invested in certain characters that I want to make sure I know what's coming so that I won't be caught off guard. Key example of a moment in which I was caught off guard- HP5, Sirius Black gets killed in a totally random way. I learned my lesson, and for HP6 and HP7, I skimmed ahead so I could be prepared. Much less heartbreak for me.