Do You Ever Skip to the End of a Book?

[Kit★]

I really really try not to, but sometimes, yea, if I get really worried about a character I'm loving, then I can't resist the urge to check, just real quick.

[Dave]

I have been known to skip ahead although I always feel suitably guilty afterwards.

I particularly remembering doing this with the final Harry Potter book. To the point of having to find the version that was available on line a day or so before the book was released.

[Kasi]

Brenda wrote: "I realize that I only am impelled to glance at the end of the book, if it is a really really good one, with a gripping plot and wonderful characters. Then I can't stand it, I need to be reassured ..."

Me too. I want to know my favorite characters are going to make it. If they die before the end, sometimes I don't finish it. :(

[Shereen]

"Do You Ever Skip to the End of a Book?"

Always :)

[Brenda]

Sometimes it is not the plot or the characters. I had to glance at the end of BRING OUT THE BODIES, the latest Hilary Mantel novel, even though everybody knows how Anne Boleyn is going to wind up. And if/when she ever writes the third volume, that's not exactly going to be a surprise ending either.

[Jalilah]

Brenda wrote: "I realize that I only am impelled to glance at the end of the book, if it is a really really good one, with a gripping plot and wonderful characters. Then I can't stand it, I need to be reassured ..."

I just realised I am the exact opposite! The slower I find a book the greater the temptation is for me to peak ahead to see if it will be any better. The more I love a book, the greater my willpower is to resist reading ahead!

[Lawrenz]

What's the point of reading a book if you skip to the end? It's the journey that's important.

[Brenda]

I worry that there will be a failure in greatness. Perhaps the author had a health problem, and the end of the book is disappointing. She might even have died! Somehow a peek at the end is supposed to assuage this.

[carol. , Senor Crabbypants]

Brenda wrote: "I worry that there will be a failure in greatness. Perhaps the author had a health problem, and the end of the book is disappointing. She might even have died!

Lol!

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Brenda wrote: "I worry that there will be a failure in greatness. Perhaps the author had a health problem, and the end of the book is disappointing. She might even have died! Somehow a peek at the end is suppos..."


:-D

[Olga]

Brenda wrote: "I worry that there will be a failure in greatness. Perhaps the author had a health problem, and the end of the book is disappointing. She might even have died! Somehow a peek at the end is suppos..."

Ha-ha. As good a reason as any for our common weakness.

[Brenda]

I am not alone; when Madeleine L'Engle was a girl she got a copy of a book just out, THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. Due to paper shortages during WW2 the publishers broke LOTR into 3 volumes. L'Engle says she prayed every night that Tolkien would live to get all the books out.

[Dave]

Brenda wrote: "I worry that there will be a failure in greatness. Perhaps the author had a health problem, and the end of the book is disappointing. She might even have died! Somehow a peek at the end is suppos..."

I,m just checking how many pages there are when I do this - any plot points I pick up are purely coincidental ;)

[Elaine]

Iused to look at the end a lot when a chils with less pacience:) but I stopped as I found it often spoiled the book for me. Once I read the end I was no longer sucked into the story so much or turning pages so eagerly so the whole process seemed pointless. Now I only do it if I'm seriously not enjoying a book and think I may just give up;I scan to the end and then read the conclusion as I hate to give up on a book half way through

[Donna]

Brenda wrote: "I am not alone; when Madeleine L'Engle was a girl she got a copy of a book just out, THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. Due to paper shortages during WW2 the publishers broke LOTR into 3 volumes. L'Engl..."

The Lord of the Rings wasn't published until 1954-55, nearly a decade after the war ended. Tolkien was in the midst of writing it during the war. He finished writing it and showed it to the publisher in 1947, and still had revisions to do after that.

I've never heard of paper shortage being the reason for breaking it into 3 volumes. I think it was just a business decision on the part of the publisher. I wonder if L'Engle has her memories a little mixed up?

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

My mom remembers reading LotR back in those days. We have English family members and they gave the books to her as they finished reading it (before US release).

[Eric]

Don't think I've ever skipped to the end. If the prose can't hold my attention, I simply set the book aside and move on

[Traci]

When I was younger I peeked in books that I really liked. To make sure favorite characters lived. Or whatever. But as I got older it's the other way now. If I'm not really interested enough to finish but interested enough to see how it ends I'll peek. And sometimes I find things on accident looking at how many pages there are in the book. Or how many pages are left in a chapter. The only two books I did not go ahead at all in for any reason, not counting ebooks, was the last Harry Potter book and the last Malazan book. And I'm so glad I read both without any knowledge or hint of how they would end.

[Roshio]

It depends on the book. If its one I love, I would never dare to skip but just enjoy the journey. If its an average book, the only reason i'd skip is to ensure its gonna end the way I want so as not to waste my time. Its only ever counted when I read romance with a love triangle OR if a protagonist is ill and looks like they are gonna die. For anything else, I tend to be patient enough.

[Reading]

I haven't skipped the end of a book before, per se. I have, put it down and forced myself to read the ending weeks later and I have put down books altogether but never just before the ending. Like Roshio said, if the book looks bad after a while, I wont waste my time.

[Snarktastic Sonja]

I do! I do! In this day and age of "realistic" fantasy, I cannot STAND for those I fall in love with to be killed off in some authorian manifest to be more "real". Deaths of characters can leave me depressed for days (I mean seriously - I am sorry - can't help it), so knowing they survive is imperative to my enjoyment of a book. I will not skip to the end unless deaths like this seem likely. Might also skip ahead to see if a romantic entanglement is of great importance to me.

NOT worrying about these things makes it much easier for me to enjoy a book. IF it is the ONLY thing that matters to me, may cause me to not finish, but if not - just makes it easier.

And, my kids have LEARNED if there are deaths in movies, I need to be warned ahead of time so I can decide how to deal with it. I am not allowed to see or read The Hunger Games. And, it is partially (other than the ya aspect) that keeps me from reading Harry Potter. And, I haven't seen the last 2 of those movies. My daughter cautioned me on the 6th, but I handled the sadness with aplomb and she sobbed her eyes out. We laughed. :D

I read to enjoy the trip with friends. So, for me, it is about the journey, not the destination.

[Brenda]

You probably want to avoid the GAME OF THRONES series.

[Snarktastic Sonja]

Brenda wrote: "You probably want to avoid the GAME OF THRONES series."

Yep. :D I read the first one when it came out. Never could be bothered to go further.

But, thanks for the heads up. :D

[Kevin]

I would also avoid both Steven Erikson and Glen Cook as fast as you can, but they are not as bad as George R.R. Martin.

[Pauline]

Sonja wrote: "Deaths of characters can leave me depressed for days"

Another one to avoid - Stephen Deas' Memory of Flames Trilogy, starting with The Adamantine Palace. I think there might just possibly be a couple of characters who survived the carnage...

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Sonja wrote: "I do! I do! In this day and age of "realistic" fantasy, I cannot STAND for those I fall in love with to be killed off in some authorian manifest to be more "real". Deaths of characters can leave me..."

Yeah. I'm like that, too. ALl my friends know that I stay far away from the books that I know are going to upset me.

I couldn't even finish A Game of THrones.

[Snarktastic Sonja]

Kevin wrote: "I would also avoid both Steven Erikson and Glen Cook as fast as you can, but they are not as bad as George R.R. Martin."

Good to know. These 2 have been on my "hmmmm" list for a while. There was just something that caused me to keep resisting them.

I am currently debating Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy.

MrsJoseph wrote: "Yeah. I'm like that, too. ALl my friends know that I stay far away from the books that I know are going to upset me."

Good to know there is someone else out there like that! Though, from reading through your various comments about various things, I think we may be kindred spirits.

I have even been known to go so far as to re-write endings to books that I loved all the way until the ending. Especially if I think the author only ruined the ending for "shock" value.

I love me some Joss Whedon, but I seriously want to smack him upside the head! His stuff is frequently re-worked in my head. :D

[Brenda]

Speaking as a writer, I always set out planning to write a tragedy. Death, fire, woe! They're all gonna DIIIEEE! But then, as I go on, the characters don't want to die by fire and sword. They have other plans, thank you very much. And by the time I get to the end there they are, planning to move to California, or kissing their wives, all in all having a happy conclusion.

[Olga]

I love happy endings too and I hate it when heroes are killed in the end. So, like Sonja, I often look into the end of the book. Although I don't always stop reading even if I know who dies. I stop reading if the book is written badly.
I've noticed a trend lately, not in fantasy books but in another kind: contemporary mainstream with several women friends forming a club of some sort. It could be a book club, a knitting club or whatever, and one of them often dies of cancer at the end of the book. I've already read two or three such books. As if death of cancer is the only bad thing that can happen to a group of female friends. As if it's mandatory. It's getting so frustrating that I'll never read another book with a circle of female friends as the protagonists.

[Karen]

I never skip the end of a book. The journey is more than half the pleasure.

[Samuel]

Yes, yes, yes! I am THAT guy. I'll read the last page just in case I buy the farm before I get a chance to finish the book. I have been very, very bad, but I'm not sorry ;)

[Barb]

Never ever!

[Forrest]

Never. In fact, I often cover up the last paragraph in a chapter with my hand so I'm not even tempted to peek at the end of the chapter.

[carol. , Senor Crabbypants]

Forrest wrote: "Never. In fact, I often cover up the last paragraph in a chapter with my hand so I'm not even tempted to peek at the end of the chapter."

Why not look if you want to?

[Forrest]

When I was 10 years old, I figured out that my parents kept Christmas gifts in a certain closet to be brought out on Christmas morning. That year, I snuck a peak at what I was getting. I loved the gift, but felt so rotten and disappointed by not having waited for the surprise, that I'm loathe to repeat that act again.

For me, the tension and emotional intensity of reading is strongest (and best) when I don't know what's coming. To quote Deep Purple: "It's not the kill, it's the thrill of the chase."

[carol. , Senor Crabbypants]

Ah, I see.

[Carl]

I don't really see what the upside the skipping to the end would do. Without the context, it doesn't hold a whole lot of meaning.

[carol. , Senor Crabbypants]

Well, it does. Or enough. Say, for instance, the book is initially decent with a decent mystery hook and then it gets a bit stupid; heroine making dumb mistakes. Plus, it turns out to be a "one of us is the killer" environment. So I start skimming or skipping because I'm a little bit plot OCD and want to know the end, but don't actually enjoy the prose enough to read just for language enjoyment. (my review in this instance: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...)

[Mina]

I only skip ahead on those books that I can't bear to keep reading, yet something about the plot intrigued me and I want to know the answer.

But the books I enjoy, the ones that just pull me in, I read straight through.

[Hanne]

i skip ahead quite often. actually this is one thing i find annoying with e-readers is that you can't do it as easily.

there are a couple of reasons i do it
- because i want to be able to sleep, so i quickly have to check whether someone will survive or that they'll win a battle in the end
- because i quickly want to peek whether i still have to meet some important characters
- or just simply because i'm too curious and i can't control myself

[Brenda ╰☆╮]

No...never...huh, huh...
Part of enjoying a book (for me), is the anticipation. I will even put it down when it gets exciting. Kind of creating my own cliffhanger.

[Sharon]

I do on occasion. Particularly if I begin to suspect that a book may have a cliffhanger ending ... which really, really annoys me ... or if I suspect one or more of the main 'likeable' characters is going to end up not surviving, which is another thing that irritates me to no end.

The cliffhangers just annoy me ... the death at the end angst is depressing and since I read for entertainment I prefer to avoid grim and depressing whenever I can.

[Rusty]

I find myself skipping to the end of a slow moving book. Guess I want to determine if it's worth continuing the read!

[Robin P]

I dislike spoilers so much that when I start to read a book I make a point not to read the back cover or flap description (although I may have read it when I bought or chose the book at the library, usually that was a while before and I've forgotten what it said, just that it was interesting.) Sometimes in an exciting part, I'll cover up the page to stop myself from looking ahead.

That's one benefit of ebook or audio, you can't easily skip ahead. But still, occasionally I just have to know if a character is really dead or whatever, so I'll peek to see that they show up again.

Sometimes I am reading a book for a book club, and I don't really like it so I skim the last part or skim till just before the end. That way I can sound intelligent at the meeting without spending dull hours on it.

[Kimberly]

If it is a story, a narrative, absolutely not. I compulsively must read from start to finish. I don't even want to skim. If it is a textbook or informational book, I jump all over the place.

[Michele]

sadly, yes...mostly guilty of looking ahead while continuing to read

[Tara]

I usually don't skip to the end, if it's a bad book I either just stop reading (book is not interesting at all to know what happens) or I drag along until I finish it. Although I did read the brief storyline on wikipedia for a book I stopped reading (you can find the whole summary of the some books there).

[Jalilah]

If I do that with a novel it is usually a sign I am not liking it that much.

[[deleted user]]

My daughter does this all the time.I ask her what's the point? And I didn't know so many people did it.

[Olga]

I always peek in the end. I like to know how the story ends. The more spoilers I read in the reviews here, the better it's for me. I guess I just don't like the unknown. That's why ebooks are not the best reading material for me. You can peek in the end, but it's a hassle.