♥ Nothing Better Than Reading!! ♥ discussion

How often do you skim a book before reading it?

not too often. but when i do i see to it that the print is moderately big with enough space between the lines. and of course, i look for the reviews page too (esp. if its a so-called bestseller).

Never before reading but occasionally while I'm reading I'll skim forward a bit. Usually if I know there's a good bit coming or if I'm bored and want to see how much longer it lasts.

Very rarely, unless it's a book for school. If it's an assigned book, I like to see what I'm getting myself into. But if it's just a book for pleasure, I very rarely actually open the book to skim before reading.

I will consider the title, and read the back of the book for the description; and then I usually evaluate it for excessive "Gushy Blurbs" - positive comments from authors. Up to three is usually okay, unless they are all "read-alike" comparisons; that annoys me. "Read this if you liked Hunger Games, Divergent, and 13 Reasons Why!" "This book is like a John Hughes movie!" What??

I will also check to see if any of the authors who wrote the Gushy Blurbs, also wrote any books I like. If Ellen Hopkins compares a book to her CRANK, I have learned to stay away from it. Those are usually too gritty for my personal taste. But if Laurie Halse Anderson, or AS King writes a blurb-like comment, I definitely consider the book in question. I haven't read anything from them I didn't like.

I like to skim through a book before reading it just to see the chapter titles, length of chapters and print size. It's more of a habit than anything.

I don't like to skim before I read because I read a lot of mysteries and I am always afraid I will ruin the surprise or a plot twist if I skim it.

Ruchi wrote: "How often do you skim a book before reading it?"
Never. I don't want to be influenced.

Never with fiction. I will occasionally with non-fiction, I guess to see what I can expect from the format and writing style.

Never! What if it gives something away!

Very rarely: Only when I'm unsure of where the story is going.

If I have a hard copy, I do kind of flip through it and read sporadically. But most of my books are e-books now, so no skimming.

I would say rarely. Only when the story starts to confuse me or when the book is boring.

Never. Not unless checking the number of pages (to make sure it's the complete book, i.e, same no. of pages as given on GR), the fonts and the no. of chapters count!

I don't actually skim but often will read the first and last sentence. It's kind of a game for me. Do I recall that sentence at any point while reading? Did the meaning I gave that sentence change after having read the book? Could I have predicted anything based on those two sentences? Were either sentence, or their intent, used elsewhere?

Fairly often actually. It's usually during the slower sections of the book but the only reason i do it is to check when the my favourite characters are gonna appear again ^.^ so i don't read whole passages or sentences - i just search for their name and then read super quick to that section of the book so i can wallow in their awesomeness

Lots. I always go to the library to pick books. First, I always look at the cover and skim it through. I read some of the pages. When the book is good I pick it out.

Never. I occasionally open it to a random page a third of the way in or so and read it, but I never skim or look at the end, like a friend of mine used to do.

I used to be really bad with skimming books before I read them. I would look at the front, read the back, read the inside cover, read the summary if there was one, see how many pages there were, see how long each chapter roughly was, and even read the last one or two paragraphs at the end of the book! I still do some of that but I stopped reading the last paragraphs.

I mostly skim/'flash read' through almost all 'YA' books, cause those are not worth reading....takes me 20-30 minutes though, still trying to make me faster than Barry Allen

I check the number of pages, read something from the firts page, check what font they used and sometimes even sniff it. No matter how good of a book it seems to be, if it smells bad, I leave it.

I read the book jacket, stare at the cover and read the first page or so. If I don't like the book jacket or the first two pages I put it back.

I don't usually - if in doubt will read some of the first page to get a feel for the writing style.

I read the back summary and then I read the last page or so I'm a terrible reader

NEVER.

almost never. sometimes I can't help but peek in the back

I never do any Skimming .. I feel that skimming spoils like coffee spoils dinner.

I don't do that, other than to try one paragraph just to see if I like the writing style. And I only do this when I'm not sure whether to buy it or not.

Skim? No. Read the last page? Almost always.
It's a sickness.

It depends. If I'm not really convinced I might skim it a bit, otherwise I don't do it often.

I usually don't skim, but my ritual with a new book is to go to the last page and only read the lady word on the page and nothing else. it gets me excited and thinking what that word may bring !

I don't skim pur-say, if I want to see if the book is something I'll enjoy I usually read the first two pages to see if I enjoy the story and the way the author writes.

I usually read the description and also read the reviews on goodreads if they aren't good than I probably won't read it unless the description hooks me.

Never, really. I read the dust jacket & maybe open it up to glance at the type size/style before I borrow it from the library.

Hardly ever. I will read the synopsis on the dust cover flap, but that is about all.

I don't skim and a lot of the time I go in blind without knowing much at all about the story.

Sometimes but mostly no just read the blurb and then directly on to reading it.

I read the blurb, a few chapters and if it's good I keep going. I don't skim - waste of time.

I just read the synopsis before reading the book. Only if it's too boring or disappointing do I skim ahead to see if it gets any better or not.