Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about boys and reading…
When reading do you read every word? Do you ever skip chapters or skim over parts?
Being a close reader who lingers on the language and writing style, I usually read every word. The genres that I read usually require ruminations of words and language in order to fully appreciate the meaning, if not just the story line. Books by author like Toni Morrison, Edmund White, and John Banville also require re-reading of passages as I read along. Authors like W. Somerset Maugham, Rebecca West, and Henry James challenge readers to read between the lines and read beyond the meager dialogues. Books written in dialects like Zora Nearle Hurston needs to be read out loud. To summarize, it depends on the language and mood with which a book is written. Some books are invincibly difficult that even close reading would not conquer its meaning. Books that aren’t as engaging or are fluffy I would skim through quickly. I also skim through books that are fairly easy to read. As a matter of fact, I have outdone one day’s worth of reading for Gone with the Wind. 155 pages read.
Filed under: Books, Meme, Personal, Reading | Tagged: Books, Meme, Musing Mondays, Personal, Reading |
A Guy's Moleskine Notebook 
Yep, I read every word too! Some passages are just so beautiful that I’ve to re-read them again! And of course, there’re times that I’ve to re-read to fully appreciate the meaning! ;-P
Wow, great progress on Gone with the Wind! We’ll be visiting the bookstore tomorrow so I hope to get my copy so I can start already.. can’t wait! (I read every word, too, if I like a book. The only times I skim are when I don’t like a book all that much and just want to go to the end to find out what happens.)
I almost never skim unless I’m in a desperate hurry. I reread frequently: to untangle meaning; to savor the language; sometimes a passage or a description will send my mind off on a tangent and I find my eyes have scanned the page taking nothing in while I was in my reverie. I’m also very easily distracted unless I’m in an isolated situation. So, while I can read at the speed of thought, many things will slow my progress through a book. In short: I’m not an efficient reader.
Whenever I read some web or media tidbit about people with rapid reading ability I cringe. Slow reading is simply the requirement for all but the most familiar and unproblematic types of texts. I often ask people who claim to have rapid reading habits questions about what they have read and they have no awareness of how little they retain or notice. I have a mathematician friend who enjoyed ‘Gravity’s Rainbow’ but was (astonishly) unaware of the rich layers of allusion on every page.
Postscriptum: there are absolutely situations when skimming is a valuable skill, especially general web surfing and news. It just isn’t the default.
It depends what your definition of “skim” is. If you mean “read fast”, then almost always (depending on the language… the less good I am, the slower and more meticulously I’ll read). Still, I have distinctions. Some books I’ll force myself to read slowly to savor the quality, but often if it’s a book that has little written merit but rather is great in terms of story, I’ll bounce along, skimming the slightly duller parts. I’ve been trying to avoid this in the last few years but sometimes bad habits arise again…
I have never read gone with the wind. My post is up.
Musing
I’ve never skipped whole chapters, but I have skimmed a paragraph every now and then if I find it boring. Usually it’s if the narration or description gets to be too much.
I never skim or skip…my anal retentive character will not allow it! I can’t believe you got through 155 pages in one day. I need to get focused!
I’ll skim if, like Yvonne, there’s overly descriptive passages that are setting the scene, but I’d never skip an entire passage. I at least like to pass my eyes over the page! I’m just not a skimmer, and I’m definitely not a speed reader (just grabbing clusters of words here and there). If I don’t like a book but want to know what happened, I generally just turn to Wikipedia or do a Google search for a synopsis.
And I think certain books defy fast reading. The richer the language, the more time I’m going to spend on the book in order to try to absorb as much as I can!
I will skim under some circumstances, but not when I’m totally engrossed in a well-written book and not when I’m engaged in close reading.
This question brought a bit of dialogue from Stage Beauty to my mind. Billy Crudup is directing Claire Danes as Desdemona, and she does a very artificial period pose of a woman sleeping, so he demands “Is that how you sleep?” And she says “how do I know? I’m sleeping when I sleep!”
My answer is how do I know? I’m reading when I read! I can’t imagine that I skip any words. On the other hand, I had no idea that I could read those scrambled-up words where the first and last letter remain the same:
Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are.
I definitely skip words, paragraphs, and chapters. i get bored and need to move the story along. I don’t feel like I’ve ever missed anything important in a book. And it helps me get through more books!
Good post. I didn’t think about that. I do read more slowly when it comes to close reading.
Not typically but sometimes and it’s usually reserved for when I’m getting near the end of a book that hasn’t been all that great then maybe I’ll skim a bit more and hurry up so I can move on to the next book 🙂
Melody:
I always make a note of favorite passages, usually with post-its. That explains why I keep most of the books I read.
claire:
I’ll slow down my reading as I enter a week full of paper grading and lecturing. But I try to at least read some everyday to keep on track. 🙂
Greg S:
I tend to get distracted when I’m not in isolated locale. To be able to read at Cafe Flore, I have to re-create that oblivion with my headphones. Reading wise, dense prose like that of Virginia Woolf and Toni Morrison requires undivided attention. I find pointing the lines with a pen really helps keep me on track.
interglossa:
I, too, know people who literally devoured books in no time. But when conversation nudges to the direction of a deeper levels regarding the context and layers, they simply have no clue because they have completely missed the details. Critical thinking and asking questions slow me down almost so naturally when I read.
interglossa:
Skimming is helpful when I’m at the bookstores trying to decide what books I’ll take with me home.
Biblibio:
I skimmed through Moby Dick because I cannot stand the frequent digression on marine history. I also skim through pulp fiction because in my head I know the language will have no artistic value.
thebluestockingguide:
I skim when I’m not engrossed.
Yvonne:
I would worry if I’ll miss out awful lot of information skimming a whole chapter. In high school, I skimmed through Thoreau’s Walden and Civil Disobedience. In college I skimmed through Moby Dick.
Sandy:
You and I would be great reading buddies. I’m way too meticulous to skim. Overly descriptive passages I would skim, but usually I hang in there even if a book is slow.
Steph:
Yeah, the richer and denser the language, the slower I read. I do not like overly descriptive passage because at least I like to see some momentum. Unless, of course, it’s something is not plot driven, like Notes from Underground.
Beth F:
I totally agree with you.
Jeanne:
The spacing and the fonts affect my reading. I find it very difficult to keep my eyes on the line when the book is too dense. I also don’t like long paragraphs in italics, that I would for sure skim.
Jamie W:
It really depends on the book, doesn’t it? I skim all overly descriptive paragraphs, and everything in italics.
Robin:
I think I tend to read slower when I’m in awe of the author.
iliana:
I do the same as well with books whose ending I no longer care. I just want to move on! Bel Canto is one of such book.