Reading styles - quick skimmer or slow "take it all in" reader?

[Bekka]

I chatted with several fellow readers at an in-person book club meeting recently.

A topic that came up is how thoroughly we read the books we read.

The other people present all said they read a book fairly quickly – sometimes in a day or two. In a sense, they ‘skim through’ many of the books they read. On the other hand, I take the time to digest many or all aspects of a book while I read it. Therefore, it usually takes me at least a week to get through a book.

I find this difference in reading styles interesting. I’m wondering which of these reading styles is more common.

Which type of reader are you? Why?

[Meran]

I never skim, am not capable. I've always been a fast reader though; I've been told I ~devour books. When I was a school kid, we were tested quite often, on the reading speed and then had to take a test on the books.

Like you, I also like to digest what I'm reading... I usually read by chapters... I'll read a few chapters, then go do chores, so I can think about what I've just read. Many times, I get "ah HAH! moments when I think about the books. And it keeps my mind from being bored about chores
(Hmm. My post was cut off...
I'm currently reading a non-fiction book called Ghettoside by Jill Leovy, a quite possibly 5 star read!)

[Bekka]

It's never occurred to me to just skim a book - unless I'm just looking for something specific (like a how-to manual).

I'm pondering whether how a person reads may be symptomatic of how we approach life in general. Curious. When I do just about anything, I really delve in to all aspects of what I'm doing - not just with reading. I've been generally aware for years that I do this perhaps more so than most people. Hmmm.....

[Meran]

Bekka, I think you're on to something here...

I also watch tv and movies with my full attention too. My hubs plays games on his phone or tablet, constantly, then complains that he "just couldn't get into the show"... When I ask what he thought about this event or that person, he has no idea what I'm talking about...

He rarely reads anymore either.. Sigh...

I've always been one of those who thinks "I need to know how to do this thing, just in case" and then learn it. In case you'd like to know what that's called, look up "autodidact". I'm one. You may be another.

[Janice]

I am a skimmer, which meant I missed a number of typos in my own book, even though I thought I had it covered.

Fortunately I have a friend who reads every word and thanks to her it was published typo free. :)

Like many of you, if it is important I read slowly and sometimes several times over to learn something important.

[Peggy]

I read (almost) every book very thoroughly, like sentence by sentence, and often go back as well to check things etc. So it would take me about 1 week to read an average sized book.
Interestingly, I am the exact opposite with TV / movies etc where I usually just half-watch, do other things as well (being on my laptop, reading....), It's very rare for TV or a movie to hold my full attention.