Do you read 100% of your book or do you skip chapters or pages?

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Well, that's a reason to abandon a book, if one is the kind of person who abandons books, which I am not. Skipping makes even less sense to me than abandonment.

Agreed. I now wish I had done so. I don't skip. I either "endure" the whole book or abandon it.

Originally Posted by Catlady

Plot twists and reversals are why I read most books.

Same here, if they're not obvious and telegraphed.

[Tarana]

I only skip pages if I don't like the book and just want to find out the end and be done with it. I mark it as abandoned and move on.

Edited to add: I also tend to skip over sex scenes.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by issybird

Mandatory if you want to avoid being spoiled.

I wish they’d put spoilery stuff in an Afterword, but at least I’ve been burned sufficiently that I know to leave it until I’m done.

I got burned by one of those when I was young and didn't know any better. After that I skipped them

I've also been burned when I've just finished say, book 3 in a series and the excerpt from the next book turned out to be not from book 4, but from the most recently published book, like Book 7 or something, so just reading that one chapter gave away spoilers for what happened in the books in between.


I also skip:

Overly long descriptive passages (like when the characters in Kellerman's Alex Delaware series drive somewhere - I don't really need to see everything they pass along the way)

Detailed sex scenes

Detailed descriptions of a murder or mutilated body

Chapters of a thriller mystery told from the point of view of a psychotic killer. The first time or two I encountered this it was sort of interesting, but got old fast.

Action scenes like a fight or chase - as someone else said above, it's hard to picture those. And even if I'm watching a video I fast forward through them because they just aren't that interesting to me. Also gambling scenes like a poker game.

When the detectives in a mystery are rehashing all the clues to date. I have a pretty good memory for things I've just read and don't need the reminder.


As others have said, if I've decided a book is a DNF I may skim through what's left or skip to the last chapter or two to see how it ends.

[Paperbackstash]

Depends. If it's a romance book that starts getting too repetitive on the sex scenes, I may start skimming those as example. Sometimes I read the author foreward, sometimes not.

[JBaby]

I skip the front and back matter. I only care about the story. I read the forewards after I finish. I’ll also read the Author’s note. But I never read the acknowledgements.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by ekbell

I skim or skip visually oriented descriptions and most fight scenes simply because I am unable to visualize them (aphantasia). So I normally read just enough to figure out the purpose of the description (if possible) or the outcome of the fight and move on. Just because I am unable to properly appreciate all of the author's work doesn't mean that I shouldn't enjoy what I can.

With non-narrative books or anthologies I only read the bits I'm interested in.

I am able to recompile part of the descriptions and fight scenes, but never vividly.
I read on or DNF the book. On rereads less usually than not I get stuck on a chapter. It happened with LoTR and HPotter book 4. The latter I have chalked as a lost cause and have moved on.

[skb]

I'm a bad reader (I mean, I don't read very well), so I skip without even knowing it sometimes. It's why I read books more than once. I've read Pride & Prejudice many times and I'm still surprised at what I find.

I also deliberately skip sex scenes because they're usually as interesting as Ikea instructions and seem sometimes to be written by the same people.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by skb

[...] I also deliberately skip sex scenes because they're usually as interesting as Ikea instructions and seem sometimes to be written by the same people.

I only buy Ikea for the instructions.

[kyrilson]

…. I read the whole book and don’t skip. Why would someone skip parts of a book unless it’s a reference/textbook?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by skb

I'm a bad reader (I mean, I don't read very well), so I skip without even knowing it sometimes. It's why I read books more than once. I've read Pride & Prejudice many times and I'm still surprised at what I find.

I also deliberately skip sex scenes because they're usually as interesting as Ikea instructions and seem sometimes to be written by the same people.

Why do you read books with sex scenes since you know you'll be skipping them? That's like watching porn and skipping the sex scenes. There's not much left.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why do you read books with sex scenes since you know you'll be skipping them? That's like watching porn and skipping the sex scenes. There's not much left.

That's only true if the book is pure Erotica. There are a lot of romances with a story, especially if part of a series. Depends on the content and other stuff in the book. And I only tend to start skimming if it becomes redundant or overdone/dull - some writers don't write those scenes well but I still like the characters/story otherwise

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by gmw

I only buy Ikea for the instructions.

[Freeshadow]

pass 60% in a book I start to skip chapters or paragraphs to rush the time it takes to read a book even if its a good one

In other words: You don't enjoy reading even if it's a good book. In this case it goes completely beyond my understanding why you bother to try to read books at all

[Galaxxxy]

I thought I was the only one doing this. I am a broken perfectionist and always want to read a book from beginning to end, but somewhere in the middle I realize that the chapter I am reading is absolutely useless for me (I usually read popular science literature, so skipping chapters is not so bad in in terms of "plot", as, for example, in fiction), so I start reading only those chapters that interest me, and I think this is right.

[crossi]

In often re-read books I might skip parts that I don't enjoy as well. Why not, I know what's in them.