When you begin a new book do you have rituals? I do.
I hold the book, get a sense of the weight of it. Study the cover and read the back in detail. Sometimes I read the reviews....usually not.Then I read the first sentence - for the second time. I check what year the book was published, fan the pages a few times and finally see how many pages the book is.
Do you just pick up a new book, crack it open and get right into it? Does it take you a while to get into a story typically or are you pulled in right away? Do you obsessively make yourself read the entire first chapter in one sitting? Or (gasp!) do you read the last page first?
5 comments:
I read the back and the inside flaps in detail first. I used to read the reviews and comments before delving into a book, but then I realized that so many of them have SPOILERS, so I stopped.
I always try to read the first chapter in one sitting. Then I measure my progress by looking at the top of the book and the place of my bookmark in the midst of the pages.
I never read the last page first. Ever. And I am always crestfallen when the back of the book is filled with indexes, blank pages, and (worst of all) book club discussion questions. In those cases, the book always ends way sooner than I think it should, given my tendency to gauge the amount of pages left by looking solely at the top of the book.
Interesting!
What DO I do? Ummm. Well, first I have to choose which of the many I pick for reading which can range from eenie-meanie-miney-moe to the mood I'm in.
Then I focus in on the quote before the book starts. Either that or the dedication, although I much prefer a quote so I know what I'm getting myself into.
Oh and then I like to feel the pages as I turn them. Because I am creepy. I will not purchase a book based solely on the feel of the pages.
Wow. I'm weird.
I love this post!
I think I usually skim through the book to see how it's organized then I jump right in.
When *picking* a new book to read, I follow the advice of an English teacher who was in my school book club. She tends to read the first paragraph and the last paragraph of a book to see if it seems readable. (Last paragraph won't give anything away when you are just choosing...)
I can't wait to be done work to have more brain power and time to read!
My ritual? I go by the cover art if it's a book I've never heard of. Then I read the inside jacket or back for a description. Brace yourself... Next, I read a few sentences from the last chapter. Yup, totally doesn't make sense. Maybe I need a sense on how it ends before it begins?
The ritual varies for me. A novel, it has to be the author's bio . . . non-fiction, I check out the index. Don't ask why, it is probably the academic in me. It is the ritual of life that I like. As we collect memories, wisdom, or friends, it is those rituals that make life interesting.
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