Thursday, June 14, 2007

Booking through Thursday

  1. Do you cheat and peek ahead at the end of your books? Or do you resolutely read in sequence, as the author intended?
  2. And, if you don’t peek, do you ever feel tempted?

I'd like to say no, I don't cheat, because I'd like to honor the intent of the author. After all, she labored to put the words and sentences into a particular sequence to express her own particular and linear storyline, whether fictional or not.

However -

I do cheat, though not if I'm reading a mystery - what would be the point of spoiling the ending of a mystery?


I cheat a lot when I'm reading nonfiction - especially biographies - by attacking the index and plates before anything else. I make up for this egregious sin, however - I read every word of acknowledgements!

melanie

11 comments:

Marianne Arkins said...

So far, I'm the only peeker in the bunch! Yikes! I feel so alone.

Thanks for visiting again this week! Have a wonderful weekend.

Tara said...

I didn't think about nonfiction, and looking at the photographs ahead of time! I definitely do that, and sometimes there are 'spoilers'.

Anonymous said...

I consider myself a selective peeker or cheater. LOL.

Melwyk said...

Never, never peek! That was one of the worst things about my early job as a cataloguer - I was always turning to the last page for pagination checks and ending up reading the ending of every book. I couldn't help myself! Now I never do, at least if I can help it.

Alice said...

Hi Melanie, you brought up a good point there on non-fiction. I think it's OK to peek at non-fiction and adopt a different style of reading. I use the index a lot and jumped sections to see things most relevant to me at that particular moment.

However, for fiction, I will try my best to stick it out from the front to the back. No peeking for me (but I think recently I peeked a book somewhere in the middle...).

I always get a kick out of reading acknowledgements. :)

Literary Feline said...

I don't think reading the index counts. I read a book recently where I was constantly flipping back to the glossary at the end of the book, but to me that's different than actually reading the end of the "story" be in nonfiction or fiction. So, to me you really aren't cheating at all!

teabird said...

Thanks, Literary Feline - although, really, you can learn a lot from an index...

Melwyk said...

Oh yes, an index can be very helpful. Especially when you are writing the seventh paper of a term comparing two books...and you've only read one. :)

Carrie K said...

Don't feel alone, Marianne, I peek too.

Doesn't everyone read the acknowledgments? I always expect to know someone. Yes. Never do. (Unless you count celebrities listed as "knowing them").

Dorothy said...

I agree with nonfiction books, that the plates and index and someimes the references are where I go first. But fiction? Never read ahead. It spoils the fun of the adventure with the author. Even if it is dull.

Athena said...

This sounds corny but to me all books are mysteries so I don't really peek for that reason.

You're right about nonfiction. Sometimes, especially with school, I will cheat, skip and peek.