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The question. They read it because they enjoy it. How they choose to enjoy it is irrelevant. Let me give you a comparison. I draw. When I'm drawing a character, I'll start with JUST the human form in whatever position I'm drawing it in. Then, layer by layer, I add everything else. But if someone skipped drawing the form first, I wouldn't say, "Why even draw at all, then?" Just because someone is doing something differently than you doesn't make it a waste of time. Or, if somebody gets up in the middle of a movie to use the restroom or grab a snack, is there no point in finishing the movie? "Why even watch the movie, then?"

I discovered the Pendragon series in middle school (06-07ish) and kept them with me when I got married in 2013. They're in a box now due to a downsize, but I really enjoyed them for a very long time. They were a big part of my love for large books, alongside Tamora Pierce's Tortall novels and the Harry Potter series.

I loved that book so much. I agree that it will probably be more impactful on older people. I also read Butchers Crossing and was just amazed by the writing and the story. I had never even heard of John Williams before someone mentioned him on her a couple weeks ago but that book had a major impact on me.

All that 'brain-training' suggests to me are rehab after a trauma to the brain, having an overwhelming influence on someone's early childhood, and constant indoctrination by a totalitarian government,not reading in hopes of establishing neural connections.

I've not read every word of your post--reading French authors of the last 100 years might train your brain to condense many words into succinctness--but forgive me it has a ring of the self-help and of self-righteousness about it.

If it was people giving you stick about reading so much that provoked your post, never mind them; just carry on reading.

I’m a skimmer. To me, it’s like watching TV. Do you sit with your eyes glued to the screen 100% of the time or do you allow you’re attention to drift? If I’m watching something intense and more dramatic I’m going to focus 100% of the time, or nearly. I might wait until later in the day to watch and turn the lights off and set my phone to silent so I can focus more. If it’s something more light, like a sitcom maybe, my attention is going to drift a lot more. I might be texting or chatting with a friend - not giving all my attention to the show.

That’s how I read. Some books (and authors) I absolutely will not skim. I want to be immersed in every word. Other books I’m able to enjoy at a quicker pace without needing to be so focused on what I’m reading. And sometimes that changes within the book at different parts.

As someone who reads a lot, I’m really thankful I’ve learned to tailor my reading style to the book. There are a lot of fun books that are worth the read that I just wouldn’t have had time to read if I spend as much energy and focus on as I did with some heavier works.

I think it makes (for me) to tailor how I read between “This is how you lose the time war” and “house of leaves” and “if this book exists you’re in the wrong universe” and “The Martian.”

But there is no wrong way to enjoy a book!

I own that one as well. It definitely moved up on the TBR pile after finishing Stoner.

Yeah that's probably when the anxiety/dread is most impactful haha

Depending on who you ask, Stephen King's Colorado Kid. It's a non-ending.

what?

23 years on this planet and I only heard about it a few months ago! So glad I did. Damn there really is a subreddit for everything! Definitely joining.

Yes I bought Morpheus road as well! Excited to read it.

Love your username btw, Spader is the best.

I skim sometimes, mostly unintentionally. If I get too excited or a really long description comes up, I'll (sometimes) start to skim.

This is absurd.

Great book! Highly recommend Butcher’s Crossing as well. Totally different subject matter, but that same fantastic prose style.

Her later books aren't as good - but that's the case with Christie, too.

other ideas:

Josephine Tey (don't start with "Daughter of Time" despite its reputation - and get a little familiar with Shakespeare's Richard III before you do read it)

Dorothy L Sayers is great - but her early stuff is borderline silly, later stuff is borderline academic so she's not to everybody's taste

Read The Henry Sugar collection about 40 years ago as a child and found them absolutely mindblowing. The Hitchhiker and Henry Sugar in particular. Not read it for 40 years but can remember the light blue BMW and the fact he spits on the paintwork. Henry Sugar was borderline terrifying from memory.

it's always great to see people getting into pendragon, as it's been my favorite series and really my favorite thing ever for around six years. it's not always easy to find other people interested in the series (since it's relatively old and obscure) so just to point you in the right direction, i'd recommend r/Pendragon or our discord server if you're ever interested in discussing the series!!
also, i recommend reading the other books by the same author, particularly morpheus road :)

Detecting the inverse is going on. Education has dropped and redefined language with deep meaning. It was going on when the Inklings, Tolkien and CS Lewis writers club, were producing their works. They've got some comments deriding the erosion of language. CS Lewis more openly attacks the urge that leads to this in That Hideous Strength. JRRT is superior dialogue. Those of us today are less accustomed to it.

For concrete example consider the rewrite of the Hardy Boys books in the 1980s. The publisher edited to reduce the grade level of the writing, stripped literary elements such as suspense, turned it into a more action emphasized experience intended to match pacing of action television shows in that era. This sort of major revisions have occurred little by little over the last hundred years. What kids are receiving in school today is far more stripped down than kids received 100 years ago.

Reading older works from that distance means much of the nuance is lost. You do not pick up on the references or the connections baked in.

Yeah, such a great book

agree. I read the series in english translation, in my thirties.

seems to me I wouldn't have been able to make sense of it when I was any younger.

swann's way (the first volume) and the past recaptured (the last volume) are the best, and were written first, as I understand it. the middle volumes can be thought of as digressions, elaborations on a theme, or set of themes, and although they have merits of their own, they can drag on in my opinion. some of the references are so specific, they make you nostalgic for a time and place that you yourself never knew.
it's remarkable.

like they say, some experiences can never be known, they can only be referred to, and perhaps recognized.

but don't fight it. skip them if they bore you. burn them if they infuriate you. that's what he did with some earlier versions, and that's he would tell you to do, too.

proust's inner voice is one of those things, one either relates to and recognizes it as if it were your own, or perhaps not. if so, then it becomes so engaging it is irresistible.

but proust's immense powers of observation are undeniable, have been vastly influential and remain, I think, unique.

these are some of the few books that whatever else happens, when you finish, you are not the same person you were when you started them.

Stop after Swann’s Way. It gets progressively worse but SW is a masterpiece.

I skip any scenes of graphic violence or sexual assault.

I try to avoid books that have content I don't want to read, but there are exceptions. Sometimes I like the overall story but don't want to expose myself to certain scenes that might upset me or bring up trauma. Or sometimes there will be a scene I wasn't expecting for that type of book.

People can read however they like. If someone wants to skip parts, that's their business.

Yes! Agreed! It’s my fave Bronte novel by far.

Agreed. Because they're usually boring. I'll skim to the end of it in case something happened that affects later scenes but otherwise, no.

And dream sequences.

I don't skip or skim when reading. If I find myself wanting to skip ahead then that usually means the book is not interesting and I'll consider DNFing it, or doing what I call a slow read. A slow read for me is a book I'll read in small sessions over a long period of time while reading other books at my normal pace.

I do believe that each of us gets to choose how we interact with books, and I try to stay judgment-free about how others interact with books and try to ignore if anyone has an opinion on how I interact with books.