What exactly do you call "reading a book" ?

[SmokeAndMirrors]

I answered the first option - I read everything. But, unlike some of the others, I am not that bothered by abandoning a book I'm really not enjoying.

If I do that, whether I count myself as having "read it" kinda depends on how far through I got. I don't count myself has having read The DaVinci Code - I only got about 50 pages in before I decided I didn't like it. But I do say I've read the first Harry Potter book, even though I still had a little way to go when I lost interest.

I'm a moderately fast reader. I can read with good comprehension a fair bit faster than I speak, and I have a bit of a clip - I'd guess I read at 200wpm with good comprehension. I can skim at double that.

But in practice I often take longer to finish a book than my reading speed would suggest, especially if I'm really, really enjoying it. I'll go back and re-read passages that moved me 2 or 3 times over before moving on. I usually re-read the last page I read when beginning a session. So the more I like a book, the longer it takes me to finish it. And even in general, I take a bit longer with reading a book than I strictly have to.

[Joy736]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

I could finish an average 300+pg novel in 3 days.

That's 100 pages a day. That's something I can understand for someone who just has a lot of free time or is able to read at work, etc.

It's just those peolpe who claim to read at least one book a day.
They'll have to only be reading, eating and sleeping, every day

[Blossom]

Well I read alot of Harlequins which are about 200 to 300 pages in PB form. I can read one of those in one sitting in about 5 hours or less. They are about 50,000 to 60,000 words. The Kitty Norville and Midnight Breed books take about 8 hours for each book for me. I don't know their word count but I do read them straight through because they are so good!

Regular Romance books are about 500 to 550 pages They take me about 16 hours to finish. I will say two days. They are around around 80,000 to 160,000 words. That doesn't count the book I read at bed time on my phone which is about 3 to 4 chapters before I go sleep each night. That one I finish more slowly.

I do not skim pages. I read every word. I have no life other then taking care of hubby so I have lots of time to read.

[speakingtohe]

I read every word. If I find my mind wandering I will go back and re-read it. I do not skim pages at all. If I find a story moving slow I just stop and take a break and read something else till I am ready to pick it up again.

I have been known to lay a novel down and finish it six months later. I do have few DNF books but I try to finish the ones I think are worth reading.

I love books where I read every word, but...

Some books just creep me out in places. I like the author and the hero or anti-hero and story but I don't want to read details about torture or unpleasant sex, or crimes against children etc.

A fairly innocuous example is Tim Dorsey's Serge Storms. I like Serge Storms but he does some pretty unpleasant stuff.

And then there are the times when it is late at night and just have to know the ending. Usually I return to where I left off, but not always.

Helen

[SmokeAndMirrors]

Originally Posted by Joy736

That's 100 pages a day. That's something I can understand for someone who just has a lot of free time or is able to read at work, etc.

It's just those peolpe who claim to read at least one book a day.
They'll have to only be reading, eating and sleeping, every day

Depends. I've known some people who read extremely fast with pretty good recall. I'm no slouch and they'd finish a book in a quarter of the time I can.

There was a girl I knew in high school who literally did read a book a day. And I'm not talkin' novellas - proper 200-300 page novels. I've personally seen her do this, since we went to the same debate camp which was a bit over 2 weeks long. She brought more books with her than I usually read in a year and finished all of them, while still doing all the activities at the camp.

One of them I'd read, and she seemed to have good recall of what happened, so she wasn't skimming. She was just crazy-fast.

[voracious71]

I have been known to skip long winded introductions and acknowledgements. As far as the actual chapters, I read those in their entirety.

[ilovepurple2234]

Originally Posted by Loosheesh

Even when a books sucks I sometimes read way more than I should in the hope it'll get better, because I hate leaving books unfinished - they haunt me

Exactly.
I even read the part about the copyright information and publication dates and stuff. If it's a reprint, I also read the comment excerpts from the newspapers.

In short, every single thing in between the covers, even the ads for the next books by the same author or (this is on really old paperbacks) the order forms for other books by the same publisher. When I say everything, I do mean everything. It's actually fun to read those parts :P

[Asawi]

I really hate not finishing books, so I often skim through the ones I really SHOULD just stop reading unless I realize very early in the book (the first 20 or so pages) that it's not for me. When people ask me if I've read it (often these are popular books with lots of readers) I truthfully say I skimmed it, not read it.

I also skim certain episodes in books I otherwisw like. I read a lot of crime novels, and the "romantic episodes" that somewhat randomly gets put in some of them just make me yawn...

While I speed read some books I reda others very slowly. When I come across a book with good language I can sort of "hang on" to the words and re-read sentences just because they are so good. Those books i REALLY "read"!

[Rumpelteazer]

I chose option two although I mostly read books word for word. I might fast read over long descriptive passages and sex scenes and I occasionally skip a foreword/introduction if it's long or more to do with the author than the book (although in the latter case I might read it after finishing the book).

When rereading book, especially those I've read several times already, I might skip my least favourite scenes and chapters.

[maianhvk]

Originally Posted by Kevin8or

Surely not all of you read every word of every non-fiction tome? For example, I see book called "That Used to Be Us," by Thomas Friedman, on the NYT bestseller list. Its subtitle is: "How America fell behind in the world it invented, and how it can come back." My guess is that you can glean most of what this book has to offer without reading it cover to cover. (If you have the desire to read any of it, that is. )

Ah, it's interesting that you think so The truth is quite the opposite, I mean. Books like that I read very slowly, carefully, word by word, and at least twice I only skip lengthy parts when reading's for fun

[RDaneel54]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I chose the second option, although for most books, it's more true for the first. But if I'm reading a romance with way too many sex scenes, I do start skipping over those.

I do a periodic re-read of the JD Robb "Eve Dallas" series, and I regularly skip the Eve-and-Roarke sex scenes in those.

wow. I don't read romances, but everything else you wrote is spot on for me. The Eve-and-Roarke sex stuff I always skip.

I get really uncomfortable reading the "inside the serial killer's mind" stuff in thrillers, too.

Added:

As far as how fast or how much I read, I retired last year and I finally can spend serious time reading. I have read one book in a day, but average one in three days.

That average includes fiction and non-fiction books. I like reading history books, for example, Winston Churchill's WWII books. I do not read the appendices, though. I usually skim those. I consider that those are not part of "the book" proper, but added information to support the conclusions in the book, or additional details, or supplementary information for those interested in more.

I think audio books are books that just go into my brain differently. I rarely do audio books though, because they are often read too slowly and too poorly for me to retain interest. An exception are the Trader Tales by Nanthan Lowell (I listened to 3 of them because he hadn't yet put them out in written form and I wanted to finish the series.) He reads his own books and does an excellent job maintaining interest. It still takes more concentration for me as it is a different medium than pbooks or ebooks.

[astra]

I voted for I read most stuff on any given book, skip some stuff occasionally but if/when the skip part happens it is more than likely I won't finish the book. So, maybe I belong to the first part...I read every words, sentence, page, chapter of every book, no exception

[Loosheesh]

Originally Posted by Joy736

That's 100 pages a day. That's something I can understand for someone who just has a lot of free time or is able to read at work, etc.

It's just those peolpe who claim to read at least one book a day.
They'll have to only be reading, eating and sleeping, every day

I read very quickly and can finish, at most, 3 Harlequin Presents (about a little under 200 pgs) in a non-work day (though I may have to go bed very late to finish the 3rd ). During a work-week, I can finish about 5 books, averaging one a day, though I may not actually finish one every day.

Last year, while on vacation, I read a 600-pg book in a day (in about 12 hours). I was hooked from the start - it was one of those books you get super-engrossed in, and you start shouting at the characters and making threats when things don't go your way. At one point, I almost threw my Kindle across the room, thinking it was a paperback I really calmed down after that

I fit reading into every moment I can. I read on the bus, on bank lines, while waiting for the doctor, on coffee breaks, on lunch breaks, on supermarket lines, between loads of laundry. Seriously, my Kindle sits on the kitchen counter while I'm grating cheese for a macaroni pie

My quick reading was honed from very young, when my classmates and I loaned books to each other. I'd finish a Sweet Dreams book (does anybody remember those ) during the school day so my friend (who invariably borrowed it from someone who didn't attend our school) could return it to the owner at the end of the school day. During English literature (when I was supposed to be developing a love for literary fiction (), I was reading Stephen King's The Stand propped in front whatever book we were supposed to be reading in class. So yeah, I've got this quick reading thing down to a science

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Quexos

.... And yes you are on trial here and I'm the judge !
....

I'm a slow reader. It makes me sick to my stomach the speed at which some here whiz through books, makes me think of exactly this question.

My life is now in your hands, but remember "Judge not, lest ye be Judged."

[kya]

I skip pages from time to time but when I start skipping that usually means that I don't like the book, so I'll soon stop reading it. But if I don't finish the book I don't even talk about it or consider it "read".

Usually I skip the introduction because sometimes they talk too much about the plot and I don't want to know anything in advance but if I really liked the book then I go back reading the intro.