Page number wildly differs from actual pages

[Jelle]

Okay, so. I'm re-reading this book (which totally messes up my previous stats from the last time I read it, but that is a different question :( ), and noticed the number of pages hadn't been added yet.

So, I added them, but then I remembered that the page numbers (the actual numbers on the pages) differ wildly from the actual number of physical pages, because, at one point the author decides something like "lots of stuff happened in the last 200 pages, but they weren't very interesting, so I left them out", but page count goes up by 200 anyway. So the last page in this book says page 900 something, whereas, in reality, there are only 700 something pages. I'm gonna be vague about these numbers, because the book is downstairs and I can't be bothered to actually go and get it. No matter.

So basically, what I'm asking is, should I enter the number of actual pages or the number that the (fake) page numbers indicate?

[Kim]

It should be the actual numbers of pages

[❂ Murder by Death]

I'd add a librarian note too, to keep someone else coming along and changing it to the printed page numbers. :)

[Jeff]

I always add the actual number of physical pages. The confusing thing I find is people add the last page number, but fail to account for the intro, foreword, etc. that is numbers with Roman numerals or something else, and then the actual book by the author starts with page one; meaning the number of pages is the end page number plus the number of opening pages.

The main thing that stinks about this though, is when reading it and updating your page status, you need to look at the page you are on, and remember to add the number of opening pages to that in order for a real status page number to be reflected.

It would be nice if Goodreads had a field that you can list the opening non-story page numbers in, and then the actual page numbers of the content, so that people would see them separate and the status updates would be accurate if you just put in the page number you are on.

[Amanda]

If the introduction is done in Roman numerals (or some equivalent) then they aren't counted in the page numbering on goodreads.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Kim wrote: "It should be the actual numbers of pages"

I disagree. The page count should agree with that of the last counted page (if it has a number).

We did this in the past with a book that ran from page 400-965 (or something like that). Users should not have to do arithmetic to find out what page they are on for status updates.