Are you an adamant reader??

[CD44hi]

I have a bad reading habit. Most times I tend to pick up a book, start reading, I'll finish it without too much of a "time off." However there are a few that I have started and have taken a break from. Interestingly, I do seem to remember and ponder what's going on with the characters exactly at the place/time where I left them while I am off. There are some extreme examples....

The Stand: I left the troop of wanderers (not quite wanderers after all) stuck at mother Abigail's for about 1 month. So I wondered what where they up to, playing in the corn fields.

Brother Odd: Left odd looking/following a bodach/beast (won't tell more so that I don't spoil) in the basement for three months. So I wondered whether the doggie would survive

City of saints and madmen: Left the character looking at the beautiful woman on the window for about six months. I am sure he was enjoying the view....

and there are a few others...

but the all-time record is Imajica: Left Pie'oH'Pah wondering the meaning of the dopelganger Self and Judith after crossing that funny sea. And there they have been, for the last TWO years..... I think that I got burned out on barker's style after reading most of his other books, the size of this one is not helping either...

I am meaning to pick up this title again and read more or even finish it, heh. This is what made me wonder if there are any of you who do this. Believe me, this doesn't happen to all books, but it may be the the level of interest ATM I guess. So if you pick up a book do you read it from cover to cover within a reasonable period? Any extreme examples of time-off, disinterest?

Edit, spelling!

[CD44hi]

Oh, forgot to mention, to make clear, that of all the books mentioned, the only still unfinished one to date is Imajica.

[Dusty Chalk]

No. I am a voracious reader.

Like you, I tend to finish a book if I start it. There have been few that I haven't finished, but those that I haven't, I have well and truly gave up on...erm...given up on. There are books that I have found more harrowing to finish than others, they take longer to finish and I tend to take a break from reading after I've finished them. But I do finish them.

Dante's divine trilogy -- at the point where the angel warns you not to continue reading if you aren't a believer, I stopped reading. Yes, I really did heed her warning. I think if I ever made a movie version, I'd portray her as a dominatrix, and Dante as a willing submissive.

Atlas Shrugged -- jesus fucking h christ, that woman can wax philosophical. I think she did the writing equivalent of forgetting where she was in the story.

Those are the only two that I can remember not finishing.

Re: Barker -- even though I cited him as my favourite author for the longest time, I used to think he didn't know how to finish a book. I used to think his endings were long and wandering and winding and that he lost his path. It wasn't until I more recently read his book, Coldheart Canyon: A Hollywood Ghost Story that I think I finally got him -- he writes his books as if they were a sexual act between the writer and the reader. The climax doesn't come at the end, the climax comes before the end, and everything that follows is resolution, so -- like a good lover -- he takes his time with the resolution.

At least, that's my theory. It ends up making more sense.

PS Irrespective of whether or not you agree with my theory, finish Imajica -- one of my favourite books by him, along with Weaveworld.

PPS I just looked on wikipedia, and it looks like there's going to be a third book of the art (Great and Secret Show, Everville).

P^3S I'll probably finish Dante's trilogy despite her admonishments, but I'll probably read the whole thing again.

[slwiser]

I have read about 15 books over the last 6 weeks while recovering from my quadruple-bypass surgery. Before I got really bad off I read a lot as well. I use to read about four books a month years ago. I am reading at this time C. S. Friedman's Black Sun Rising.

[Thelonious Monk]

Normally when I really get into a book I'll finish it in a few days.

I haven't finished a book for a long time now... too busy with instruments/listening to music/schoolwork/blagh blagh.

[CD44hi]

Re: Barker, I hear ya. I'll pick it up again once I am done with the dark tower series.

Oh, BTW, I did pick up the daywatch/nightwatch series and that in on queu as well. Heh, now that I remember, I started the daywatch one and left it half done (read only the first leg), once I reached the part where the movie ends, I stopped. Dang I tell ya, bad habit. Good thing though is that I do remember where I left off.

Re: Barker -- even though I cited him as my favourite author for the longest time, I used to think he didn't know how to finish a book. I used to think his endings were long and wandering and winding and that he lost his path. It wasn't until I more recently read his book, Coldheart Canyon: A Hollywood Ghost Story that I think I finally got him -- he writes his books as if they were a sexual act between the writer and the reader. The climax doesn't come at the end, the climax comes before the end, and everything that follows is resolution, so -- like a good lover -- he takes his time with the resolution.

At least, that's my theory. It ends up making more sense.

PS Irrespective of whether or not you agree with my theory, finish Imajica -- one of my favourite books by him, along with Weaveworld.

PPS I just looked on wikipedia, and it looks like there's going to be a third book of the art (Great and Secret Show, Everville).

P^3S I'll probably finish Dante's trilogy despite her admonishments, but I'll probably read the whole thing again.

[CD44hi]

I have read about 15 books over the last 6 weeks while recovering from my quadruple-bypass surgery. Before I got really bad off I read a lot as well. I use to read about four books a month years ago. I am reading at this time C. S. Friedman's Black Sun Rising.

Ah, sure reading keeps you out of trouble. All the best for you recovery. Nice, one book a week would be a good goal. I am lucky if I can fit 2 a month.

[Dusty Chalk]

Oh, BTW, I did pick up the daywatch/nightwatch series and that in on queu as well. Heh, now that I remember, I started the daywatch one and left it half done (read only the first leg), once I reached the part where the movie ends, I stopped. Dang I tell ya, bad habit. Good thing though is that I do remember where I left off.

Well, the 'watch series lends itself to stopping and starting more, since it's "episodic".

[Dusty Chalk]

I just thought of another one, and it's curious because I'm not the only one who stopped where they stopped:

Orson Scott Card, Enchantment -- me, my sister, and my mother all stopped at pretty much the same place. It kind of drags a little bit until it gets going, but once it gets going, it really gets going, and the funny thing is, we all stopped after it got going (without spoiling too much, once the bear is encountered). Really good book, BTW.

[CD44hi]

In thinking about this I realize that probably the first time I remember doing this was in high school. It probably was the beginning of it. And I actually enjoyed quite a bit doing it because the book was Tom Sawyer (or may have been Huckleberry?) when they go down the river.

I clearly remember stopping as they started going down on the river and starting imagining all the fun stuff they would get into. So it was kind of a imaginative stop on this sense.

[jinp6301]

i've never finished Stranger in a Strange Land. i've read the book up to the last 20 or pages several times, but i've never finished. i'll finish it some day, but right now i like the fact that it hasn't ended for me.

man thats a good idea. never letting the story end

[grawk]

Stranger starts better than it ends, so don't let it end

[Smeggy]

I hate to admit it, I am an avid reader of everything but novels. I've read a grand total of about four in my entire 49 years. I just can't get into them. I've tried a number of times and nothing sparks. My wife is a total bookworm. We are polar opposites in our reading habits.

[Smeggy]

what the fuck for fuck's sake? instead of meeting you, i now want to beat you with a bat. buy this now.

Nah, I'll wait 'till the film comes out

I prefer real engineering myself. I read stuff all the time, just not fiction. Unless it's Government policies...

[HiWire]

I try to finish books in a short time period, if possible. Unfortunately, I've probably got about 10 books that I started but haven't finished...

[Thelonious Monk]

i'm the same way. i only watch documentaries, too.

[Smeggy]

I'm still trying to figure out how people find time to read books, watch films, tv shows, listen to music, do DIY, work, commute, do chores and all the rest.... no time. I need a 30 hour day!

[Salt Peanuts]

I'm still trying to figure out how people find time to read books, watch films, tv shows, listen to music, do DIY, work, commute, do chores and all the rest.... no time. I need a 30 hour day!

I do most of my "reading" in my car through audiobooks during my commute. One side benefit of having to commute for about 2 hours every day.

[Thelonious Monk]

I'm still trying to figure out how people find time to read books, watch films, tv shows, listen to music, do DIY, work, commute, do chores and all the rest.... no time. I need a 30 hour day!

Just don't sleep or socialize.

[hardwired]

I always have a book I'm reading. I'll take it to the bathroom with me, or pick it up and read it for 5 minutes while flying somewhere in Warcraft, and I always finish up my day with at least an hour of reading with headphones on. If it's a good book I'll read it in 2-3 days, but some books can take 2-3 weeks. I do abandon books sometimes when they suck. I also reread books 5-10 times over the years if I really liked them. It's like visiting an old friend.

I keep having to add bookshelves because I hate to part with a book. And I almost exclusively read fiction: science fiction, fantasy, or detective fiction because I'm a programmer and anything I read during the day is a manual or coding sample so I get my fill of non-fiction. Strangely, on TV I watch science or nature channels mostly so go figure.

[CD44hi]

Dang, I've been on a rampage. I am almost done with the Dark Tower series.

Probably, next would be the "the demon in the freezer" and "the hot zone," those should have been required reading earlier, but never got to them...

[Dusty Chalk]

I've been on a Kelley Armstrong kick -- I'm on Broken.