• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

i want to speed my reading

Quite fast, when I have enough time. I often read 2 or 3 books at the same time, which means I start a book (1), find a better one (2), get bored by both of them, try another book (3), finish 1, read in 2, finish 3 and then I finish 2 etc...
That shows how desperate I'm looking for good books, but when I can't find some I read nearly everything with pages. I don't mix up the stories and most of the time I'm skipping paragraphs, pages or chapters because they are so bad. By the way a weekend without books makes me crazy.

If the book is a really good one I can read up to 500 pages in one turn. :D
 
direstraits said:
i find that if i don't enjoy the book, or if it gets boring, i tend to speed up. when i get to parts i like, i slow down to savour the details.



like me, don't you have to split your free time between books and computer games? :D

ds
Click to expand...

I have to split my time between many things! I have so many hobbies and interests! Well, not working so much now and have more time! Go me!
 
When I'm writing a lot, I can't read, especially not fast. The words won't go in. When I'm in that state, I do the London Times crossword every night to loosen my brain knots.

I like to read only books I enjoy and I like to take my time with them. The people I know who read fast seem to miss half the book. They miss subtleties of plot and language and character and sometimes can't even remember whether they liked something or not. I attempt a conversation about a book we've both read, and they have nothing in their heads at all. I think reading like that's a total waste of time.

I like to read as if I'm sitting down to a really fine meal, take my time, and pause to think about the craft. But then, I was an acquisitions editor and a freelance developmental editor for years and years, and you don't always get to choose what you read in that line of work, and you rarely have the luxury of reading just for pleasure.
 
direstraits said:
aha! this is what i'm fishing for...! how can you read so fast? is there a technique you use i.e. skip boring paragraphs, skip words, pick up only the vowels...

like dele, my average is 2-3 days. a novel of average length (i.e. 200-400 pages). however, i cannot finish a novel in an evening, 300 pages or no. well i can, if i don't mind not understanding what the heck happened in the book. :eek:

order of the phoenix took me > 1 week!

ds
Click to expand...

It seems to me that some authors lend themselves to quick reading better than others. My two favourite authors are Clive Cussler and Sidney Sheldon. I've noticed that I can read one of Sheldon's books in a day if I'm not busy, while Cussler's always take me longer - although I did finish the last one of his in two days. I guess that's because the one has a simpler writing style, while the other is much more descriptive.
 
So much depends on the book. I am reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell right now, and it's a read that goes slowly, just because it needs to be savored. I'm going to miss it when I'm done.

I've also been reading (and writing) some poetry, and I think when I do that it makes me read fiction slower for a bit. More involved with the language I guess.

But there's a lot of books I'll tear through in an evening or two.
 
novella said:
I like to read as if I'm sitting down to a really fine meal, take my time, and pause to think about the craft.
Click to expand...

Gorgeous discription! :D :D :D

I love doing that too, but reading tends to calm me down and helps me to think clearly. I prefer reading good books, but most of the time they are not availabel because I can't get them in the library and honestly Dickens for example writes good books but for me it is hard work to get through.
I have to say, that I don't have a TV (there is one in my dormitory but I seldom use it) and just reading something is a great way to relax in the evening.

When I'm watching TV I get tense, fretful and excited and after that I'm behaving like a hyperactive child and can't study. Reading alerts my mind in a good way.
 
I can read quickly if necessary, but I find it reduces the enjoyment. I find I prefer it when I read at a narrator's pace, so rather than just processing the words on the page I am listening to the narrator in my head :)
 
If i really, really want to read a book, generally one i've waited ages for, i'll find a nice quiet day and read it all the way through, 6 or 7 hours for a normal size papieback.

Phil
 
Unlike most people, I can't finish a 300 page book in 2-3 days lol. I'm so slow at reading... The fastest I've ever read a book was Michael Crichton's Prey which is like 502 pages, I finished it in 4 days. :)
 
Fastest for me was Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident, which I finished in under one day. But that book is written in a very simplistic style, and has only 300 pages or something.

I hardly ever finish a book in under a week, and I'm glad with that, because if otherwise it would cost me loads of money.

Cheers
 
direstraits said:
aha! this is what i'm fishing for...! how can you read so fast? is there a technique you use i.e. skip boring paragraphs, skip words, pick up only the vowels...

like dele, my average is 2-3 days. a novel of average length (i.e. 200-400 pages). however, i cannot finish a novel in an evening, 300 pages or no. well i can, if i don't mind not understanding what the heck happened in the book. :eek:

order of the phoenix took me > 1 week!

ds
Click to expand...

Hmm, I guess this is sort of like asking why my eyes are blue. Haven't a clue! But I do read every word, and my comprehension rate (according to high school testing) is 92%. Of course, I also type at 110 wpm, so maybe it's just some sort of built-in warp drive. :D

Cathy
Penguins read pretty fast too, but have trouble turning the pages.
 
Definitely depends upon the book for me. The Order of the Phoenix actually only took me about 6-8 hours, but I wanted to make sure I finished it before anyone told me what happened. I used to be able to read an average paperback in 2-3 days, now that I'm working part-time and going to school full-time (grad school) I can read an average book anywhere from one week to a month. It all depends on how much free time I have and how much I am enjoying the book. The more I enjoy a book, the slower I read it because I want to savor the experience.

Like Martin, the book I've read the fastest in the recent past is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which I just read this weekend. It took me only a few hours...it reads extremely quickly.
 
Martin said:
Does that mean you're naked?

Because I fully support female nudity.

Cheers
Click to expand...


I just don't know what to say to that. Except that it's a little chilly to go around naked all day. ;)
 
dele said:
It's a curse all right... Most girls buy clothes, I buy books. And I'm broke. :(
Click to expand...

Your absolutley right! My sister has clothes and I have books. I'm wearing her things all the times, but she never touches my books. LOL
 
Like most people it takes me about a week to read a book. It'll also depend on how much I like a book or how much time I have to read. For example sometimes if I read for 15 min I can't get more than 10 or 15 pages in, but if I read for an hour I can get 100 or more pages in. You get into a groove where the only thing holding your attention is the book.

The fastest book I've read lately was Stardust - Neil Gaiman. A reletivaly small book, 300 pages or so. I read it in 2 days.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top