- Do you cheat and peek ahead at the end of your books? Or do you resolutely read in sequence, as the author intended?
- And, if you don’t peek, do you ever feel tempted?
I NEVER cheat and peek ahead at the end of my books. That’s cheating, she says sanctimoniously.
Seriously, though, I feel that I’d be cheating myself out of all the fun of arriving at the denoument the way the author intended me to. I’m never even seriously tempted, either. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to know what happened. When it’s a book that I’m seriously dying to know the conclusion to, I read it in great gulps, like a man who’s just arrived at a desert oasis falls to his knees and drinks in water until his belly is bloated. I read faster and faster, and take in paragraphs at a time. I’m like a speed machine with but one purpose: ingest the contents of the book. That’s why I will frequently finish the book and, if it’s a good one, immediately begin to reread it: to catch the finer points I may have missed on my first reading.
When I get my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as close to midnight as possible on July 21st, I will inhale it in one huge gulp, scarcely coming up for air. Then I will turn the book back to the first page and start reading again until I fall asleep. After a good nap and some food, I’ll have the book read again that day.
6 responses so far ↓
--Deb // June 14, 2007 at 2:33 pm |
July 21st can’t come fast enough . . .
Janet // June 14, 2007 at 3:30 pm |
No, and no! I read HP the same way…altho…I really am not looking forward to it ending!
melanie // June 14, 2007 at 7:32 pm |
My response was similar – I don’t really want to change the author’s intent…
Wendy Lou // June 14, 2007 at 8:13 pm |
Yeah, I was so mad when someone spoiled OOTP for me. I was ticked. I had not even turned in the voucher for my book.
I was VERY glad I did not peak to the end of HBP. I would have been crushed.
I won’t peak, but I will race through it to get to the end. When I re-read, I’ll find huge parts I don’t remember.
I can’t wait either. I don’t want to know how it will end. I have my thoughts, and I don’t like what I think.
If I cried when the person who died at the end of HBP died, I’ll sob when the person who I think will die at the end of the last book dies, if that happens.
Jane // June 14, 2007 at 9:33 pm |
No peeking for me.. And I’m looking forward to the next (and last {sob}) Harry Potter.. DH & I will probably take turns sleeping and reading as we’re both fans.
--Deb // June 14, 2007 at 10:51 pm |
Oh, and actually, I do sometimes peek, but resolutely refused to let myself with the last HP book . . . but I made the mistake of glancing at the table of contents as I opened the book. The chapter heading, “The Phoenix’s Lament” pretty much told me which main character was going to die . . . On July 21st? I am NOT looking at the TOC!