SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
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How fast do you read?
Don't be self-conscious, first of all. Everybody does what everybody does. Reading is reading. You shouldn't overthink it.For me? If I'm swept up in a book, the movie begins and I let it wash over me. There is no stopping until the book is done (unless for short breaks to jot down thoughts about my own books, or if a dog decides they want attention). I read two books - one last night at about 400 pages, one this morning at about 300 pages, in about 4 or 5 hours each. (One caveat - I haven't read fiction in YEARS, though I'm starting to get back into it now that I've decided to become a serious author. So this is not normal for me.)
I might skim over descriptions, I haven't really noticed. Sometimes, I might miss something important and have to go back and reread. The same thing happens when I'm writing too - I tend to get swept up in dialogue and forget to describe what's playing out in my head.
Again, everybody's different. As long as you're enjoying the book, why worry?
Varies quite a bit. Recently I've had a combination of much writing and not much money, so I've tended to have few books and consequently read them slowly. As a child and teenager I used to devour them. Hundreds of pages a day was common (my biggest item of expenditure as a teenager was books).
I sometimes 'hear' the words in my head. I wouldn't worry about being slow or fast, just so long as you enjoy it. (Ahem).
What's so important about doing it fast? I tend to "subvocalize" as well, if you want to call it that. I literally read it to myself as if I were doing an audiobook.To me that enriches the reading experience. Yeah, it's slower, but it also captures the pacing, emotion and drama better.
I do, however, sometimes skip over descriptions. If a work has set the setting adequately enough and you can tell no significant plot advancement is going to happen, then too much description really doesn't help. Depends on the book, though, and how good the author is. For example, in Zelazny's Amber series, he goes on at length initially describing shadow walking. That's cool, we haven't seen it yet and we doing know what's going on--it's important to have that description. But then, 4 or 5 books into the series, suddenly he goes on a multi-page shadow walking description again for no reason. I mean, we understand how it works, he's not showing us anything new...it served no useful purpose, so I skimmed it. Likewise, in a Bujold fantasy story I just read, very near the end there are long descriptions of preparations for a religious celebration in a setting that was already described. I ended up skimming through until something important happened...it just felt kind of gratuitous.
But reading is for enjoyment. It's not a race. I say read in the way that gives you the most pleasure.
I read fifty pages an hour, but I have a life outside of reading. So sometimes I can spend a number of hours reading and sometimes only one. I typically read three books a week on average. This means that there are some weeks when I have more time and read more than that. Then there are other weeks when I have very little time and read only one book.Whether I skim descriptions depends on whether they describe something that interests me. I skim descriptions of battle scenes unless they contain characterization. This means I'll read it if it's written from the character's perspective and I get that character's thoughts and feelings in addition to the battle. I want to make a distinction between a clash between armies and a one on one martial arts scene. I'd read every word describing a martial arts scene. I love martial arts fiction. I would also never skim a description of a religious ritual. To me, that's absolutely fascinating.
I don't subvocalize so I can plow though things fast. Most of what it comes down to is how long of a book I'm reading. If I'm reading short books sometimes I get though multiple in one day if I have nothing better to do. I would say in a mass market paper back book I go though about 100 pages an hour on average depending on the difficulty and of course some books have bigger fonts/spacing one recently I got though 100 pages of the last Vatta war book in 40 minutes because of it's text spacing.
speed is not important, the love of reading is. Read at your own pace that lets you enjoy the book. Enjoyment is what it's all for anyway!
I like slow reading - I enjoy stopping, reading over an earlier passage, then reading quickly, stopping again, taking a walk to think about what I read, then back to reading...
If it's contemporary, i usually just fly by it fora few hours but if it's a classic or the theme has a weight on it, i do take my time reading especially slower so i could take time to really focus on it and enjoy it and pay the book respect so to speak..I'm usually around 300 plus wpm. i hate skimming so i don't do that but i do put down the book in its best scenes/thought provoking/heart rending parts just so i can relish on it a bit more before returning to read it a few moments later.
if it's a favourite book, all the fluffs in the world cannot stop me from enjoying it!
I like tasting the words, and hearing the rhythm. So I read pretty slow if it's written well. If it's not, then I just stop reading.
I think that I read too quickly- it's not uncommon for me to read 3 books a week, depending on the week, and the books involved (I do have a life as well *S*). I don't skip things (I love setting/character descriptions), but I do read in 'blocks'- instead of reading by word or sentence, I seem to to take in a paragraph/half page at a time. I find it frustrating, and wouldn't recommend it- I never set out to read this quickly, but most of my family does the same thing. And while at the end of a book I've gotten all of the action and most of the details, I find that I often go back and re-read as it's not uncommon for me to forget some of the book a few weeks or months down the road, and I definitely do miss subtle details at times. I probably spend as much time on re-reading a book that I've enjoyed as a slower reader does the first time, so I think that it works out to about the same effort.
I'd read at the speed that comes naturally to you- the only 'advantage' that I can see to reading quickly is that bad books are over with more quickly, and getting through school reading was a bit less daunting for me than for some other people I knew.
And enjoy it- one of my favourite things about reading is that 'first time read' feeling when you're reading a great new book, and you never want it to end. That feeling gets to last longer for you :-)
It really depends on the book. Sometimes, you really just want to slow down and savour the book.
Sherjav I can certainly relate to what you are saying. I guess I'm a rather slow reader compared to some people on here and other book sites. It really amazes me how people can read so fast. I get really jealous of fast readers, not because I feel the need to compete with anyone, but just because they get to enjoy more books than I do in a period of time.Then again it's all relative. Someone on another site called me a reading machine and I read a lot more than anyone else in my family(though this might change once my sisters are out of college and have more free time).
I'd say that I usually read 2-3 books a month, though if I'm reading a really long book than I might be lucky to even finish that one book in a month. I also subvocalize, though I didn't know that's what it was called until now. I definitely think it slows my reading down, and at least for me, it also means that I really can't read unless I have quiet because I need to be able to hear myself think as it were. I'm pretty sensitive to noise in general and while I can tune out some sounds for reading purposes, there are a lot of situations where I want to read but can't because of noise going on. A good example of this is waiting rooms where people are either talking a lot, or there's a TV on. Almost all waiting rooms have TVs now and I find it so frustrating not being able to use that free time to read.
Another thing that slows my reading down a lot is chronic illness. Even if I get past the noise issues and I have the peace and quiet I need to be able to focus on reading, there are lots of times when I'm simply too tired to be able read. Hell there are times when I feel fine when I start to read and then shortly after I can't stay awake anymore even if I'm really enjoying what I'm reading. But of course if I'm having trouble falling asleep and I try to read to help me fall asleep it doesn't work.
I usually don't skim though parts of books at all. The only exception would be if I'm reading a series and the author goes over certain things in every single book in order for people to be able to jump in at any time. So if I'm already very familiar with all of those details, of course I'm going to skim through it until I get to new material.
I really wish I didn't have all of these obstacles to my reading so I could get more reading in. I guess it just creates a strong sense of longing when I look at my TBR pile and know that I'm never really going to make a dent in it because I don't read that fast and more books keep getting added onto it, plus the fact that I like to re-read books from time to time. Though I sense this would still be true, but to a lesser extent, if I could read over a hundred books a year.
Same for me. When I was a teenager everybody called me a reading machine, and even suspected I skimmed (I never do)
However, my average speed has not varied through time and now I see that compared to other binge readers my speed is subpar.That is, 30-35 pages per hour.
I used, as most, to have more reading time, but now I stick to 1 daily hour plus weekend stretches. That results in 3 books a month.
What saves my average is audiobooks. I commute.
Oh yeah I had completely forgotten about my pre-teen and teenage years. I used to be able to read a lot more back then. I didn't have the health issues I have now and the internet wasn't as big of a distraction. I think my family got the internet when I was 14 but there was just one computer that the whole family had to share and it was dial up back then so obviously I didn't spend nearly as much time online back than as I did once I got my own computer a few years later.Then again another thing to consider is that the reading level of the books I was reading back then was lower as I was mostly reading children's and YA books. That in itself could also have contributed to faster reading as the material was easier. I know that if I go back and read some of those books I can go through them much faster than the adult books I normally read.
For me it depends how good a book is. If it's a good book and has my attention then it will be gone pretty quickly :D
I read at different paces given the material. To me, reading (and writing, for that matter) is much like the gait of a horse. In most circumstances, a trot is appropriate. In others, a walk is necessary. Sometimes, one should cantor or gallop. Upon occasion, one should rein in and then sidle along carefully and slowly in order to fully appreciate the terrain. Like any ride, it can vary according to the ground one is covering.(OK, enough with the horsey metaphor.)
As a general rule, I don't think you should have a single reading style. Some things (often poetry and plays) really need to be read aloud to fully understand. Other things can be skimmed--though not usually something literary.
As for the number of books you read in a given period of time, I don't think that matters either. It's really a quality over quantity issue. One reading of Hamlet is worth dozens of average pulp paperbacks. Of course, one shouldn't be bothered by reading something low-brow any more than one should be required to read something high-brow. That is much like diet.... A nice variety is necessary for good nutrition, but the occasional "sugary snack" won't hurt you.
I love reading but I'm definitely on the "very slow" spectrum of reading speeds. I could never finish a book in a day like a lot seem to be able to. Even when a book is very captivating, it takes me days or even weeks to finish a book.Depending on how often I get to read and how much I like the book it usually takes me this long:
300+ pages - 4 to 10 days
400-600 pages - 2 to 3 weeks
600 -1000 pages - 3 weeks to more than a month
I really wish I could read faster because there's so many books I wanna get to and my book pile is constantly getting bigger.
Some people speed read, but they miss out on so many details that make the book more pleasurable IMHO. I like to take my time and enjoy it to the fullest.
It depends on what I'm reading, and on what format. I'm finding my nook color really heavy, and it has quite a glare in sunlight. At the same time, my Kobo mini has no backlight, and is poor in low light. I wish there were something with a backlit, high contrast surface, sort of like an iPad with a Kobo surface. Come to think of it, I'd like a phone like that, too!Anyway, I read fairly quickly with regular books, less so with most ereaders, and abysmally with some other electronic media.
I'm a very fast reader. I can read a full length novel in a couple of hours. Nowadays it takes me quite a while to finish books, though its lack of time rather than me slowing down at all :(
Zayne wrote: "Hey Sherjav, I know how you feel. I've got Goodreads friends who read 100 or 200 books a year, and I'm like how do you guys do that? Like you, one of my problems is subvocalization (I can't figur..."
That's how I think books are intended to be read and comprehended as though the author were speaking aloud to the reader. But it keeps me from reading more books than I really want.
Jen wrote: "but I do read in 'blocks'- instead of reading by word or sentence, I seem to to take in a paragraph/half page at a time.
I find it frustrating, and wouldn't recommend it- I never set out to read this quickly, but most of my family does the same thing."
Could you explain what you mean with reading in blocks? How did that start?
Aaron wrote: "I don't subvocalize so I can plow though things fast. Most of what it comes down to is how long of a book I'm reading. If I'm reading short books sometimes I get though multiple in one day if I h..."
Wow I wish I could do that! How did you get rid of the subvocalization? So you don't hear your own voice in your head at all whilst reading? Do you have any tips?
Sherjav wrote: "Could you explain what you mean with reading in blocks? How did that start? ..."The best way that I can think to explain it is that it's like reading a sign...if you see a sign that says 'no shirt, no shoes, no service' you're probably not reading each word individually- you just see it as a whole. Even if it's not a sign that you see every day (Santa Claus and his reindeer are at the mall from 2-4), you're likely not reading each word separately. I think that's the way that I do it, only with larger blocks of text. I do read more slowly if I'm reading books with complex language in them, unfamiliar vocabulary, or often non-fiction, but for books with fairly straightforward language that seems to be how it works for me.
I don't know how I started- as far as I can remember, that's just how I've always read. My mom and my brother also do it, and while I don't think that we ever even talked about it when I was young, maybe we somehow picked it up from watching my mom read.
The thing is, you don't need to read every word in a sentence to understand what it means. Articles, for example, can be tossed onto the scrap heap pretty quickly. Conjunctions can usually be ignored as well - context provides enough information most of the time. If you look only at nouns, adjectives, and verbs you can usually get a good sense of what a sentence means.
Jonathan wrote: "Shawn wrote: "Some people speed read, but they miss out on so many details that make the book more pleasurable IMHO. I like to take my time and enjoy it to the fullest."I'm with you. My inner vo..."
I'm with you. When I really enjoy a book, I'll slow right down and savour it.
I'm a super slow reader and I don't let the incredible reading speed that some people have let me feel inadequate in my own reading. I enjoy what I read and I read in my own pace - nothing wrong with that :-)Ps. an novel, depending on lenght, I can read in anything from 1-8 weeks. Normally, if I have a lot of stuff going on in my life I tend to read even slower (or not at all). On average, pr year, I read around 30 books.
Sometimes it's not about how fast you can read, but how much time you devote to reading.I have a bad habit of prioritising reading above a lot of other things to do, which, if I think about it, are quite important, that's why I can read a bunch of books in a week :)
I never really understood the reason for wanting to read faster. I do understand that if you need to read certain books, for instance in school/college, that you would like to acquire a more efficient reading tempo but why anyone would like to read quicker just for the sake of reading faster is beyond my comprehension. You could also fast-forward a movie and then brag about being able to watch 100 movies pr. day... Usually the easiest way to read faster is just to read a lot. The amount of reading you'll be able to take pr. hour will increase over time. At least that is what I have experienced.
When I was a child and teenager, I read fairly fast. However of course YA and children books go faster as the material is easier.But imho, if you read too fast, you miss some of the good parts. I used to race through books--now I feel reading one book and really enjoying it is better than racing through three average books.
Also, since my last eye surgery in 2003, my reading speed dropped by about one-third. My eyes also get tired faster---I am 64.
But I strongly urge slow readers---do not be concerned. Read what YOU want at YOUR own pace. It is not a competition----it is a pleasure. Savor it!
Ooops I am back! Just wanted to mentioned even if I could speed read, they are still putting out books so fast, I will never catch up anyway.I read three books---and put four that sound good on my TBR list. I am never going to read everything I want--so I quit worrying about it. I do try to be more selective when I buy books---only so much money.
I've never taken a speed reading lesson and I don't think I "speed read", but I am a fast reader, and I'm amazed at how many people think that means not reading for pleasure, not savoring it or not taking in all the details. No, no and definitely nope. I don't know why I read fast or how, but I usually talk very fast too, which means that even aloud I read very fast. (Perfectly modulated and intoned, just fast) It also means that I get annoyed at the slow pace of audiobooks.
I don't subvocalize either, and while I think it's awesome that some people think of books as a storyteller voice in their heads, I don't. I mostly work with images. For me, books are like a movie in my head.
I guess if you are subvocalizing, you would have to read the full name of a character every time it pops up on a page; while I associate the name with a specific image of the character and every time it pops I don't have to read it, seeing it immediately evokes the image and I can go on.
Not subvocalizing also means I don't have to worry about correct pronunciations, which is particularly helpful with fantasy books. And I second Jen's idea of reading in blocks (for me it's reading in sentences)
I guess the easiest explanation of this would be learning another language.
When you are reading in another language, sometimes you don't understand a word, but you can still deduce its meaning from the context. Using a silly example:
The car was azul, like the sky
While you might not know what azul means, the immediate association with the sky will let you know that it means blue.
If you were reading this aloud you'd have to stop and think about the pronunciation, and then you'd notice you don't know the meaning of the word. Since I read the whole sentence, I assume the meaning, don't worry about the pronunciation because it doesn't matter for my picture and keep on reading.
I know this doesn't help with how to learn to read faster, but I just wanted to give you an insight into how it feels like.
Do you just want a bigger reading count? If that is the case I would recommend short serial books/standalones. I subvocalize and do this one thing where i can look at /read a paragraph without reading the entire thing? I'm not sure if that has a name to it. But that should be done with practice otherwise you'll miss what the gist of the paragraph/segment was about.
So, I don't believe it's preventing you to read faster. Time restraints, distractions are often my problem when reading. Maybe that's what is going on with you? Too many things going on or whatever?
I go through reading a lot to hardly reading. This year I've read 88 books (mostly children and children novels + a few for me), and last year I only read 10, I think.
It's possible those you know have a lot of time to read or skim. I was surprised to find out that a lot of people skim read books.
Unless the books are for class I would not worry about it.
The only time I skip is when it's going into too much detail about manners. I read a book a few years ago (cant for the life of me remember the name!) where it went thru too much detail about a tea ceremony! I read it thinking something major was going to go down...and after the fourth page... they were just doing it cos it was "Polite" and the way they do things before DISCUSSING STUFF. I was so mad.
I also have images in my head in addition to subvocalization, though the images aren't as vivid as I like. No wonder I read so slow if I'm doing both of those things.
Kythe42 wrote: "I also have images in my head in addition to subvocalization, though the images aren't as vivid as I like. No wonder I read so slow if I'm doing both of those things."That's pretty good reason to read slower tho :D . I don't fully visualize either, but I am trying to practice "seeing" what I'm reading. I usually just am drawn in by the story and how it's flowing and whatever .. I can't explain it.
Yeah I mean I do enjoy the voice in my head and being able to visualize somewhat, but at the same time I wish I could read faster. It's not because I feel inadequate, want to increase my book count, or compete with anyone. I just love books so much that I wish I could get more of them in.I guess I wouldn't feel this way if I didn't see so much time in my day that technically could be spent on reading, but there are just all these barriers/obstacles that prevent me from doing so.
That's how I am --- I want to fit as many books into my day as possible. I can't read as much as I would like because of physical pain from holding a book or sitting at the computer too long, so I understand barriers.
Alexa (message 35) I myself miss things if I try to speed up. I know many people who can read very fast and still get every word. I certainly did not mean to criticize how you or anyone else reads and I apologize if I offended you.
Not at all Mary! I know that for some professions speed reading is necessary to go through huge amounts of text fast. And that they just take the most important parts and skip the rest.
I just wanted to explain that it doesn't have to be that way, it is possible to read fast just for the pleasure of it and still pay close attention to the details.
I think reading retention and comprehension are even more important than reading speed. As some of the more recent posts have alluded to, I don’t mean to imply that the two are mutually exclusive. Some people can certainly read fast and still understand and retain what they read. I just think there should be less emphasis on speed and more emphasis on what really matters. If one can't read both fast and thoroughly, I think reading thoroughly is usually preferable. Reading is so much more rewarding when you feel like you fully understand what you’ve read and when you’ve grasped all the little nuances.Sometimes I read reviews or posts discussing a book and, even if the person just finished reading it, you can tell that they missed or misunderstood major elements from the book. They have questions about things that were clearly explained, they misunderstood motives that were spelled out, and so forth. Poor reading comprehension can also cause a lot of time to be wasted out in the “real world”. At work, I frequently see people answer an e-mail with bad information because they misread the e-mail they were replying to. I’m also taking college courses in (late) pursuit of my degree and I often see classmates who didn’t seem to understand the assigned reading material. They waste time struggling with an assignment that they could have completed easily if they had just read the assigned reading more thoroughly.
To answer some of the questions from Sherjav’s original post, I almost never skim through material. In fact, if my mind wanders while I’m reading, I’ll usually go back to re-read what I missed. This makes the reading process take longer, but I don’t want to miss important details or nuances that will help me appreciate the story more. And, in the case of school textbooks, I don’t want to miss critical information that I need to know if I want to successfully complete assignments and pass tests. The only exception would be with repetitive material – nothing is worse than repetition in a book. It’s a book, after all. The words don’t disappear. If I didn’t understand it the first time, I can go back and re-read it. Don’t try to force me to re-read it by including it multiple times.
I don’t have any quantitative information about how fast I read. For me, the biggest factor is how much time I actually have available to read. When I was younger, up through perhaps my mid-twenties, I could easily read a book or more a day if I enjoyed the books. As I’ve gotten older, I have more responsibilities and other interests. These days, it can take me a week or two to get through a book even if I’m enjoying it. I don’t think I read much faster than average, at least among people who enjoy reading regularly. When I start reading something new, I tend to start off slow, taking time to really understand the new setting I’m entering. Then I pick up speed as I get familiar with the world because I can more easily connect the new things I’m reading about to the things I took the time to understand at the beginning.
If I subvocalize, I’m not aware of it. Perhaps part of it relates to how early a child learns to read, and how early a child is encouraged to read quietly in their head without moving their mouth. If most of a child’s early exposure to books is through books being read out loud, as opposed to reading them inside their own head, will they be more likely to develop a dependency on hearing the actual words formed? I don’t know the answer to that. I learned how to read when I was three and, when I was four years old, I was tested at a tenth-grade reading level. I spent most of my childhood being very proud of that fact until I actually got to the tenth grade. One day, as my tenth-grade English class was taking turns reading a book out loud, it suddenly occurred to me that a tenth-grade reading level wasn’t so great after all.
Back in school, when books were read out loud as a group, I always had a really hard time staying on track with the rest of the class. If the story caught my interest, I would unconsciously stop listening to whoever was reading out loud and just read the words on the page in front of me. Before I knew what had happened, I’d find myself several pages ahead of the class and then I’d have to scramble back to find the right place. Then, after I flipped back to where the class was, I’d get bored because I’d already read that part myself. So my mind would wander off to something else altogether and then I’d fall behind because I wasn’t listening. When it was my turn to read out loud, I’d slowly pick up speed until I was reading so fast that my teacher would have to tell me to slow down because nobody could keep up. Clearly group reading sessions never worked well for me!
I don't think about it. I just read, usually at about a page every minute. I think my pace varies some with context: I slow down to savor some things and speed up to trot through others.When I read about JFK and others who learned to speed read I always feel it would be OK for reading at work but I can't imagine speed reading fiction.
I read an article some years ago by an American who had been held under strict house arrest in China for more than a year. He had only one fiction book to read, so he read it at about one word per minute, taking time to study and ponder each word. It was something of an epiphany for him and he was still doing it occasionally after his return to the U.S.
Heh, I never participate in the monthly group reads. I'm just here for the general discussions. I just want to read what I want to read when I want to read it. Even if I'm interested in the group read going on, it's going to feel like a chore to me if I'm not in the mood to read it at the time.I guess that's a big reason why I could never get into a real life book club plus the fact that I could never find any that were focused on sci-fi/fantasy. I'm not sure why there are never any casual book clubs in real life where everyone just meets and talks about what they read that month instead of having assigned books that everyone is supposed to read and discuss.
Kythe42 wrote: "Heh, I never participate in the monthly group reads. I'm just here for the general discussions. I just want to read what I want to read when I want to read it. Even if I'm interested in the group r..."Because if none of you knew anything of the books you have been reading a discussion would pretty much fall flat. The points of a book club are many but essentially you want to have something in common to talk about when you meet.
Beside you can afterwards talk about what else you have been reading that month.
Which pretty much means there's no place for me in traditional book clubs. Having to read an assigned book within a certain period of time just makes it feel like a lit class to me and takes the fun out of reading unless I'm actually in the mood to read the assigned book at the time it's being assigned. Online book clubs like this are so much better for me because I can just participate in whatever discussions I want without having to worry about the group reads.
Kythe42 wrote: "Heh, I never participate in the monthly group reads. I'm just here for the general discussions. I just want to read what I want to read when I want to read it."I’ve never participated in the monthly group reads either. Although the school-like nature of having a reading assignment doesn’t bother me, I definitely identify with your comment about wanting to read what you want to read when you want to read it.
I actually like the idea behind the group reads. It would be fun to read a book and discuss it with other people while it’s fresh in everybody’s minds and we can have some substantial conversations. My first (and so far only) experience with that was when a smaller group of people who had missed the original group read and wanted to read Wool read it together and posted in the old threads. I enjoyed that.
Many of the group read books look interesting to me, but I have my own reading plans and I want to go about them in my own way. If I read both group selections each month, it would potentially take up my entire month of reading time because I don’t have much time to read. Even if I only read them occasionally, it would still hinder my goal to get through my own backlog of books. Since the group selections are often the first book in a series, they would be that much more of a hindrance to my own reading plans. For that matter, they would be a hindrance to my ability to participate in other group read books. If I liked the book, I would want to read the rest of the series before moving on to something else.
If a book is ever chosen that’s already in my backlog, then I would participate. I know I could nominate books and perhaps increase the chances of that happening, but that would require learning too much about the plot to determine whether it meets the monthly theme before nominating it. I’d rather just go along my merry way, doing things my own way, and participate in the group reads if by happy chance our paths merge.
Before joining this group, I had actually put some effort into finding a group that didn’t do group reads at all and only had general discussions, as that seemed like a better fit for me. But the Goodreads group search functionality is cumbersome and I never managed to find any active groups along those lines.
Kythe42 wrote: "Which pretty much means there's no place for me in traditional book clubs. Having to read an assigned book within a certain period of time just makes it feel like a lit class to me and takes the fu..."...which is perfectly fine. I was merely stating why "traditional" book clubs are made that way. Having a club where members just meet to discuss what they have just read last month easily becomes dull if you never read the same books.
But I don't see what this "separate discussion" has to due with this thread?
I was just responding to a comment Jonathan made. Sometimes conversations go off in different directions for a bit before getting back on track.
I read fast ... learned to speed read in my later high school years and polished the ability in college. Still read fast. I know I miss some of the details, which may be part of the reason I like to keep favorites and do re-read often.But I have few other indoor hobbies, don't watch TV, don't do any of the usual crafts or handwork and can always manage to ignore housekeeping for a new book!
I used to read super fast, sometimes 200 pages a day. Now I'll be lucky to get that a month. Kids!
I usually manage a couple of books a week, unfortunately, they are almost always for school. At least they are good books! During the summer (like now) I'll read 3-4 science fiction books a week. I live near an awesome library that has over 30,000 science fiction and fantasy books. Moving here was heavenly, although the temptation to read what I love instead of non-fiction is strong.
To answer the other discussion, I don't skim through anything when I'm reading, not when David Weber goes on about cannon balls, sigh.
I'm new to Goodreads (first post) and have been reading extensively for about 2 years.
I've seen people on Goodreads finish 4 books a week!
I wish I could read that many books in a week! After a bit of research I found out that I Subvocalize in my head which apparently makes me read slower?!
Also people seem to skim trough descriptive parts of the book? I always tought that part was most important to understand in Fantasy/SciFi books.
Can any of you confirm that Subvocalizing is indeed keeping me from increasing my reading speed?
Do you skim trough parts where the author describes the world/envoirment?