Play Book Tag discussion
Footnotes 2017-2018
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Do you read every single word?
I read every word, which explains why I don't read as quickly as many other people.
It depends on what I'm reading. I do tend to skip descriptions of character's appearance, especially if the author has already told me that this character has 'piercing blue eyes' or something similar, half a dozen times before.
I didn't think anyone read every word either. I had the impression that our brains are very good at filling in the gaps, but I suppose each person's mind works differently. Sometimes I'll slow it down and read every word if a sentence is particularly poignant, or if I haven't understood what I have read.
It depends. If I enjoy the book I read every word. I start skimming if I get bored or if I have to hurry, but I think it takes away from the enjoyment.
Same for me - it depends. If a book is well written I linger over the words. If it really has an impact I will even go back to re-read passages or pages. When a book bores me but I still want to finish it, I rush over certain parts especially through excessive description.
I read every single word. Every single time. I do not skim and I do not skip parts, even if I do not think they are interesting/important.
I don't skip or skim, but I don't necessarily read the joining words. Does that make sense?
I read every word. I feel like the author spent time crafting and editing his/her words so it's important for me to read the way that he/she intended it to be read.
I should say I read every word but my eyes don't necessarily stop on every word. I'm finding it hard to articulate what I mean! I absolutely take in everything though. I'd rather turf a book than skim it to the end.
I'm in the "read every word" camp for at least 95% of the books I'm reading. Probably more.The only time I "skim" is if a book is very easy reading . . .and I'm really not into the story. Even then, I feel like I read all the words . . .but I may not be focusing on them in the same way I normally do. I never skip.
Interesting question. I have a friend who regularly admits to skimming, and then she doesn't like the book. Not sure which comes first - - she skims because she doesn't like the book, or she doesn't like the book because she skims.
Susie, I get what you are saying; because we are fast readers, my eyes do not necessarily stop and pause on every single word, but I am reading it and taking it in. Jen, I agree, especially about literary authors who put so much time into actually crafting their language. Or researching nonfiction and pulling together facts in a coherent and engaging story.
Susie wrote: "I should say I read every word but my eyes don't necessarily stop on every word. I'm finding it hard to articulate what I mean! I absolutely take in everything though. I'd rather turf a book than s..."I think this is different than skipping words. Strong readers can read more than a word at a time; I bet most of us aren't exactly reading word by word. But that doesn't mean you don't read every word. I do think the brain permits you to view and absorb multiple words at a time, especially filler words like "and" and "the".
I largely read every word, unless in two circumstances. If I am truly having a book, like a one star, I'll do what I can even skimming full chapters at a time, just looking for something interesting, or just to find my way to the end. Because it's near impossible for me to throw the book away. I either keep hoping something redeeming will happen at the end, or at least want to know how it turns out. I also agree nonfiction is tough for me, and in that circumstance I'm certainly not reading every word. I totally get what you were trying to articulate, Susie. And I think you're right. Our brains do an interesting thing to connect our gaps. Since I read every night with my kids, I can see this happening with my 12-year-old. Instead of actually reading he jumps around with words, and then instead of reading the actual word, emerges with the guess that he think should follow, instead of what's actually written. It's like conceptual thinking, one's brain jumps forward. But it doesn't quite help him with reading comp. I also see this happening when I'm really tired. Like I'll be reading with the kids, and before I know it I've trimmed off into dreamland and I'm actually speaking lines that aren't even on the page. Because this is what's happening to me when I'm reading in bed and I fall asleep, I took the story into a dreamed imagined direction, that is nothing to do with the words on the page. Our brains take over. So I do think when I'm tired, or feel rushed, I read less carefully and my brain wanders, and relies more on what Susie was talking about.
Think of when you see a road sign that says "New York City". You aren't reading those three words separately. You recognize them as if they were one.I think that's the case with lots of common words. But you are still reading them.
I read every word. Hence I am a slow reader.
If I'm enjoying the book, I hang on every word. If not, I will skim over long descriptions, especially pages of scenery, war battles/violence or poorly written sex scenes. But that's only if I have to read the book- for a book club, or an assignment. Otherwise, it either gets set aside for later, or abandoned.
I read every word, but as Anita says it may be being able to look at a sentence or group of words and know what it says. But I don't skim, unless I am not enjoying the book.
I'm in the "read every word" camp, as described above ... i.e. some phrases are recognized immediately without specifically stopping at each word. (Love the NEW YORK CITY example, Anita!)The only time I truly skim is when I've previously read a book and want to refresh my memory before book club discussion. Then I use this technique: Read the first chapter in its entirety; read the first paragraph of each succeeding chapter (or sometimes 1 'graph per page); read the last chapter in entirety. It's amazing how much you'll pick up ... even if it's been YEARS since you last read it.
I am in the read every word camp. To this point I actually don't believe you can say you read the book if you skim more than a page in total. Readers would be furious if authors just decided to write "imagine a location in the mountains" instead of writing the scene but those that skim read it exactly that way. It's not authentic.
Mitchell wrote: "I think thats true, Anita. But, thats fundamentally different from skimming the text."Agree completely . . .skimming, to me, is reading purposefully fast where you kinda get the jist of the plot, but really aren't fully absorbing the meaning or nuances.
J.W. wrote: "I am in the read every word camp. To this point I actually don't believe you can say you read the book if you skim more than a page in total. Readers would be furious if authors just decided to wri..."Ha ha, I like that . . ."imagine a location in the mountains" . . .I think with skimming it is almost worse. It's more like, "someone did something in the mountains".
Book Concierge wrote: "I'm in the "read every word" camp, as described above ... i.e. some phrases are recognized immediately without specifically stopping at each word. (Love the NEW YORK CITY example, Anita!)The only..."
When I was in high school, we had to read a history book and write a book report on it EVERY WEEK. I literally would read the first chapter, the first and last paragraph of every subsequent chapter and the last chapter write the report based on that . . .
I'm in the "read every word camp" in the style Susie and Anita described. If I'm bored with passages in a book that I am generally enjoying and I try to skim, I end up going back to read the passage more completely. So that would be a waste! It would take a lot for me to skim or skip but I have done that on very rare occasions, I'm more likely to ditch the book unless there's a reason for pushing through.
I read the whole book 99% of the time. The only time I skim is if I've read over half the book and have decided I don't like the book but want to know how it ends. I agree that you can't really get the feel of the book if you are skimming large parts of it.
Susie wrote: "I don't skip or skim, but I don't necessarily read the joining words. Does that make sense?"And that's what I do, even when I am interested.
Susie wrote: "I should say I read every word but my eyes don't necessarily stop on every word. I'm finding it hard to articulate what I mean! I absolutely take in everything though. I'd rather turf a book than s..."I know what you mean because I'm the same way!
Anita wrote: " I have a friend who regularly admits to skimming, and then she doesn't like the book. Not sure which comes first - - she skims because she doesn't like the book, or she doesn't like the book because she skims...."And I do this if I'm not liking a book.
I guess the word "skim" isn't quite what I meant, but I think Susie described what I meant. My eyes don't stop on every word and I don't necessarily read the joining words.
Book Concierge wrote: "i.e. some phrases are recognized immediately without specifically stopping at each word. ..."I think this is what I meant by "skim a little bit" in my original question. So, most people do read groups of words without stopping at each one. I guess I didn't clarify with my RL friends on that.
When I do actually skim is when there are long descriptive passages or I'm just bored with the book. I don't give up on books... I keep "reading" till the end, but if I'm bored, I'm skimming until the end. However, "some phrases are recognized immediately without specifically stopping at each word" is more what I normally do. So, if people are considering this reading every word (I wasn't considering it that when I asked the question), that I do that, too (except in the instances in my paragraph above).
I remember someone, while we are at shelfari, once saying that that's why audio books take longer to listen to than it would take to read... because the narrator is speaking every.single.word.
Barbara wrote: "I'm in the "read every word camp" in the style Susie and Anita described. If I'm bored with passages in a book that I am generally enjoying and I try to skim, I end up going back to read the passag..."I think I'm in this boat also. It's funny, we read so often, but thinking about HOW I read is different. I just read, I don't think about how I'm reading ever. I can't skim or skip parts though- I'm way to OCD about reading the whole book.
Did I mention this already? I took a Reading Theory (or something along those lines) class in library school and I found it so interesting! One of our assignments was to interview someone about how they read. I was surprised at how different we all read! But, it was very interesting.
I would compare this to something that happened recently to me. I had listened to a book on audio for my f2f bookclub because I couldn't get it in paper or ebook. Carpooling to bookclub later my rider and I were discussing the book. But she kept mentioning parts that I had no recollection of yet they were important enough for her to recall them and bring them up in discussion. The book I had listened to was A Man Called Ove and I thought it was amazing but I was surprised I had missed so much. I do skim paragraphs actually when things get boring but hope I'm not missing anything I would regret.
A lot of the audiobooks are abridged versions of the books. I normally check to make sure I get the full book, but sometimes I miss the indication. I wonder how much the appreciation of the book is affected by the shortening.
Sushicat wrote: "A lot of the audiobooks are abridged versions of the books. I normally check to make sure I get the full book, but sometimes I miss the indication. I wonder how much the appreciation of the book is..."I hate when I accidentally end up with an abridged audio! It's happened a few times, so I try to remember to double check first, but sometimes I do forget.
I read ALL the words! Unless it's a re-read and then I might skip parts that I remember or boring part if I'm just re-reading for a book club discussion.
I can sometimes consciously put myself in "fast mode", if I'm not really enjoying a book, which would be akin to skimming, but my eyes get sort of weirded out by trying to go fast.
I actually thought everyone read every single word. But I guess what you originally meant, Cindy, is something different. Obviously I read words in sets, so to say, instead of analyzing each and every single word. That I only do when reading poetry, I think it makes more sense. Otherwise, if I read fiction/non-fiction in my own mother tongue or in a language I know well, obviously I get the whole picture without analyzing every single word, but that doesn't mean I don't read all of the words. It's just as Anita says.I do agree as far as audiobooks are concerned. Sometimes I tried listening to an audiobook while reading the ebook at the same time, and I found it incredibly slow! It took me more or less double the time it would take me to just read on paper/Kindle. I know that because my Kindle tells me about my reading speed by saying how many minutes are left until the end of the chapter. So I'm positive this is the case.
LibraryCin wrote: "Did I mention this already? I took a Reading Theory (or something along those lines) class in library school and I found it so interesting! One of our assignments was to interview someone about h..."
What an interesting assignment! Wish I'd had one like that when I was working on my MLIS!
A funny note. I went back to school as an adult, my kids were going to school so I enrolled for my Bachelors in History and then went on to my Masters in Library Science. I rarely read for pleasure, it was all assignments and analysis. One year, I think my third in my Bachelors program, I was all caught up, we were on a holiday break and got snowed in. So I picked up one of my husband's books. It too me forever to read! I had forgotten how to read fiction! Forgotten how to read in phrases. I found myself rereading passages because I couldn't let it flow and I got bogged down in the words. Glad to say I'm past that now but I'm still a fairly slow reader - much slower than I was in my youth when I would knock down a book in a day or two.
Sushicat wrote: "A lot of the audiobooks are abridged versions of the books. I normally check to make sure I get the full book, but sometimes I miss the indication. I wonder how much the appreciation of the book is..."I avoid the abridged like the plague! I totally agree that audio is slower, and I might even be the one that mentioned how slow audio can be because of the reading. every. word. thing. However, when you are into a somewhat mindless physical activity, audio is a great use of time....just much slower than sitting down and reading. Since I have lots of those somewhat mindless physical activities, they work perfect for me. Doesn't work with anything that requires mental focus. Knitting, quilting, gardening, housework, etc works great.
Barbara wrote: "However, when you are into a somewhat mindless physical activity, audio is a great use of time.."Completely agree, Barbara. Audio's might be "slower reads" because if timing, but the convenience of being able to multitask with driving especially for me, I often finish audio books faster because I have more time in the car than I do to sit down and read at home.
I normally have two audiobooks going - one resides in the car, the other is reserved for sleepless nights, when I listen in the dark until I fall asleep. I will sometimes pick that one up when doing boring chores.
Funny -- I generally have a kindle book on bedside since I have the Paperwhite. In fact, my husband often find the kindle in the bed between us for when I fall asleep.Unfortunately if you fall asleep with a Paperwhite and your finger is on the screen, then it makes flips forward some amount of pages.
If I pick up the kindle (I've got a paperwhite too) chances are I'll still be reading come morning.
Barbara wrote: "What an interesting assignment! Wish I'd had one like that when I was working on my MLIS!..."It was very interesting! I had no idea people read so differently!
Barbara wrote: "A funny note. I went back to school as an adult, my kids were going to school so I enrolled for my Bachelors in History and then went on to my Masters in Library Science. I rarely read for pleasure..."Oh, that is funny! Wouldn't have thought of that!
Barbara wrote: "However, when you are into a somewhat mindless physical activity, audio is a great use of time....just much slower than sitting down and reading. Since I have lots of those somewhat mindless physical activities, they work perfect for me. Doesn't work with anything that requires mental focus. Knitting, quilting, gardening, housework, etc works great.."Agreed! For me, yardwork and housework are the main ones where I don't get distracted. I also read while I walk, but sometimes I can get distracted in those cases!
How many people here do that? Do you read every word or skim a little bit?
I think I would find reading every word tedious! Certainly, I'm not always a fan of a lot of description and skim over that sometimes, and if I'm bored with a book, I tend to skim on purpose, but even normally, without even thinking about it, I know I don't read every word.
Just curious about others, now...