The series goes downhill around the third book. Swann's Way is the best.

I would have shoved her ass down the stairs.

Thanks bro 👊

I get that. I would never skip in a fiction book I don’t think.

Gone Girl. Hated it. Spent the whole book wondering when I'd get to the part everyone loved so much. By the time I got to the end (light spoilers), I figured they both got what they deserved for their next miserable decades together. There was no satisfaction in the book or the ending for me, I was just annoyed and glad it was over.

I don't care what other people do, but I would never skim. I mostly read to enjoy good prose and cool ideas, so just getting the gist of the plot isn't really beneficial

It's amazing how many contradictions and polysemous statements you've made in your overly succinct reply. You didn't have attention span to finish reading the post, but you persist on dismissing my opinion just to replace it with your own (self-righteousness indeed). So my brain is demaged because I want to improve? And on top of that I had a harsh childhood? You're being a psychic at this point (not a good one, but...). Btw, I don't need to write succintly, because it's not a book. The main goal is to paint a clear enough picture for anyone to understand, since I want an objective discussion. Your opinion is always welcome, and was quite refreshing, thanks!

Read what you want, my dude. I loved the Pendragon series growing up too - it doesn't need to be a literary masterpiece to enjoy it.

I tend to skip toward the end chapters where the story is near conclusion and some writers style to hasten the pace by switching voices or POV of the narration. this is where I skim pages just to get to the conclusion then I would backread when I know how the story would turn out. llol

You can skim with non-fiction, depending on the level of information you want to obtain. For fiction tho the point is to absorb the story, it’s not an index of information

Shutter Island was so frustrating to me!

One of my favourite novels! I see what people mean about it hitting harder if you're a little older, but when I first read it in my early twenties I must've sat in silence with tears running down my face for a good ten to fifteen minutes after finishing it. I wasn't sobbing or anything, just spontaneous tears and a total lack of will to do anything but let the whole thing sink in, as though I were recalling my own life rather than the plot of a novel. Very few works have transported me so completely, before or since.

Platform capitalism is a particularly insidious way many tech companies have completely restructured certain markets. It is good that Sanderson is standing up to Amazon who are arguably the worst offender, but he is doing so by getting into bed with another company who should also be treated with extreme skepticism. Ultimately, I don't foresee this really having any sort of knock on benefit for other authors, but I would be open to hearing from small-time authors' opinions on that front. It's one thing for a superstar like Sanderson to take his following elsewhere, but for people who don't have a built in fandom, there aren't a lot of options, and they don't individually have a lot of power to fight back. I.e. they either put up with Audible's extortion, or risk having even less of a potential audience.

I haven’t gotten to Stoner yet, but Butcher’s Crossing is high on my list of personal favorites. A truly great novel.

Sometimes the book is really good in general but mistakes were made. I'm not reading a full page or chapter of said mistakes in detail, but I'm also not DNFing an otherwise great story if it's just a small part 🤷

I think any fantasy reader can confirm too many authors write armor and battles without doing their research. The romance crowd must be familiar with the bad anatomy sex scenes. And the bookworms binging series know all about copy-paste descriptions and recaps. But I don't think those are bad enough to abandon good plots.

Most of my reading is fantasy. I skim fight scenes every time. If it turns out to just be back and forth trading of blows I skip forward entirely.

I used to read all of it out of a misguided sense of completionism but my retention of those scenes was just as bad as if I'd skimmed anyways.

I read every word and sentence. If the meaning and context does not convey itself immediately, I will go back and read it again and again until it does. I read quite a lot of older fiction (including Dickens), so the relatively arcane style can be a challenge. But for me, reading is not only about pleasure, it is a learning experience and I'm happy for a book to take as long as it takes.

That's what I'm talking about! I can respect someone who has the courage of their convictions.

That's too bad. You'd clean up. There are more ways than one to enjoy absolutely everything. There is more than one way to draw a picture. There is more than one way to enjoy a movie. There is more than one way to enjoy a book. It's not a waste of time to do something that they enjoy just because you wouldn't enjoy it that way. To ask, "Why even read?" Is pretentious and absurd.

It wasn't. I don't use /s for sarcasm. I hope my words convey my message adequately.

Often leads to downvotes, though, I gotta admit.

I stopped reading John Grisham for this reason. He spends a whole book faffing around then in the last chapter he uses the plot ending I thought of in chapter one. It’s as though he gets tired of writing and uses the most convenient wrap up. Not creative at all.

I most certainly am not haha

Keanu for Kang! He has a lot of time travel experience.
Kanganu: "You’re an Avenger? Have I air-guitared with you before?"

No, it's not. People are allowed to enjoy things in a way that you don't enjoy them. That's my point. Are you competing in some kind of "out pretentious the other guy" contest?

omg what a ridiculous false equivalency lmao