Net Work Book Club discussion
Prologues, Introductions, Forewords...read or skip?
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I don't often read forewords or introductions, but I do read prologues because they usually describe events and characters leading up to the story proper
Well, yes, there is that. But when it's a new edition of a mystery novel, skip because they are usually full of spoilers! There's a Nero Wolfe novel that was published posthumously, turned out to be a rewrite of a Tecumseh Fox novel. The person who wrote the Foreword told the Fox story in great detail, assuming nobody would want to read it I guess. But if you read the foreword it also ruined the Wolfe novel you hadn't got to yet!!
Read prologues as long as they are short and pithy.Never read introductions or forewords as they are often either spoilers or people giving their opinions of the book. I wanna make up my own mind
Jane wrote: "Read prologues as long as they are short and pithy.Never read introductions or forewords as they are often either spoilers or people giving their opinions of the book. I wanna make up my own mind"
^^This. I get tired of "look at me" forewords. Some of them read like somebody's term paper!
I always skip intros, but usually read prologues. The best way to read, I find -- or to do almost anything, for that matter -- is to go in without any expectations. That way you're never disappointed. When I read The Catcher in the Rye and Wuthering Heights I was disappointed 'cause I went in with such high expectations, and neither of these books really "did it for me." I did, however, love Jane Eyre and highly recommend it for someone who wishes to read a novel by the Bronte sisters.
I don't read prologues, or forewords, or introductions, but disclaimers, yes.
I hear you both! A prologue is usually safe, as it's written by the author and forms an integral part of the text...but those intros written by someone else, no thank you.
My books do not have intros. or anything about the Author. I figure with a push of a button you can fine out whatever you want about an Author. I do have good prologue, which leads you into the start of the story.Raydon Cooley
I just put Christina's tribulation into the search box and clicked on Raydon Cooley. The prologue is not the one for this book. It is the one for Dangerous Love; heat activated.
I will read up to about 250 words of prologue. Any more and I'm wondering when the book is gonna start
Currently reading China Witness: Voices from a Silent Generation. Definitely don't want to skip the author's introduction. But then her books are the exception that confirms the rule. I never read them at bedtime because they tend to grab me by the scruff, shake me and say, "Hey!! Pay attention, this is something you never thought about, let alone knew it!"
Since I read just about every word I come across, I'll probably start reading the introduction and foreword until I get the sense of it, which is about two or three sentences. But I will read the prologues all the way through as they are part of the story.
Net Work Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
China Witness: Voices from a Silent Generation (other topics)The Oxford Companion to Food (other topics)
Not to mention that so often when dealing with novels, Forewords written by someone to present a new edition tend to be filled with spoilers for the new reader...because after all, everyone has read The Maltese Falcon or The Grapes of Wrath or Kokoro, haven't they? (If they had, they wouldn't need a copy, would they now!)
So I usually skip them until I've at least read the book, particularly if they weren't written by the author of the text. What about you: read or skip?