I was in the mood for vampires the other night, and nothing on my (overloaded) shelves was calling out to me, so I downloaded Vampire Vendetta off of Amazon (great book, by the way). I don't own an e-reader. I haven't yet been able to pull that trigger because I like print books too much. But I do have the Amazon for PC application on the computer and it's nice. I like it for when I want a book immediately (impatient much?) or if a book is coming out at 12:01 and I'm a dork enough (guilty as charged) to stay up and get it right away.
But there's one thing I discovered last night that makes me think e-readers may not be for me after all. When things get exciting in a book, and I'm all jacked up on the suspense and I need to know what is going to happen next...I flip ahead. I cheat. It's an awful, awful habit and it probably interferes with my enjoyment of the book, but there you go.
I knew the romantic ending of Shadowfever on page 23 - because that was the point where I snuck ahead and skimmed the ending. Want to know the end of Ghouls, Ghouls, Ghouls (the latest ghost hunter mystery), I knew before I ever left the book store. I admit that one was bad - worse than usual.
And it leaves me with a Kindle dilemma. Do you know how hard it is to flip ahead on an electronic book? I must have hit that little arrow key a hundred times last night. Didn't stop me, mind you. Or even slow me down. But it did make it 100% crystal clear that I am indeed a page flipper, an ending-peeker.
I like it that way. I've done it since I was a pre-teen reading Agatha Christie. It's just that nobody has ever made me think about it while hitting an arrow key over and over like a trained monkey. Curses to Kindle. Well, until next time at least.
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Confessions of a Book Addict
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23 comments:
I do the same thing. I'm awful. I'll read more than half a book in bits and pieces on my worst day. But I *adore* my Kindle. LOVE it. I'm a devout lover of all things book, so I really wasn't sure I would even tolerate the Kindle well, but it's my favorite way to read lately.
Part of it is probably the instant gratification. Part of it is probably my other, equally bad, habit of having 43 books in progress at one time. The cat never loses my page in any of the 43 in progress. The husband doesn't trip over my leaning tower of bookage. It's also way easier on my eyes than the laptop, and sometimes more comfortable than a paperback, depending on the reading configuration I've decided to adopt. All is well and oh-so-portable!
Do I miss reading ahead? Actually, I haven't, which is odd. The few paperbacks I've read lately I've done the read ahead thing with them, but haven't with the Kindle yet.
Just my .02! Oh, and I started out by using the Kindle for PC and BlackBerry apps way before I got the Kindle. I don't know if that helped me make the decision or not, but it certainly eased the way.
Angie,
I never expected you to be a cheater. LOL. I haven't bought an e-reader yet either. Soon, I tell myself. One thing that I will miss about real books is the look and feel of a well-read novel.
CC
I can't do this! It would make me crazy to know the ending before I got there. I'd just put the book down. LOL! How can you do that??
I never thought I'd like an eReader and then some coworkers bought me one as a present. I admit, I let it sit unused for a year. But then I read a couple books on it and fell in love. Now I don't want to go back to print. I will, since I have a million print books TBR on my shelves, but I'm looking to put all new purchases on my Sony.
Angie -
You crack me up. It reminds me of the Billy Crystal character in When Harry met Sally. He always read the end off the book in case he died before he finished it.
I've never been one to read ahead. I'm always afraid I'm going to miss something of great import. But then when I write, I have to write in order too. I'm always amazed at people who can write ahead. I'm curious to find out if you write ahead as well.
Oh, and I got a Kindle for Christmas and I adore it.
*ROTFLMAO* OMG, I didn't even think of this. I don't have a reader either, but I'm so guilty of flipping ahead and skimming that now I'll be annoyed that I can't skip ahead. *LOL*
I cannot skip. Can't do it. It ruins the experience for me!
I also haven't gotten an e-reader yet because I just love physical, tangible books way too much. I like e-books, too, don't get me wrong. If a book is only available in ebook and I want to read it, I certainly buy it.
But I just can't bring myself to buy the ebook version of a book that's available in print. I guess I like killing trees too much or something.
I do not read ahead in a book. I even have tor ead a series in order. I have had a kindle for 3 years and I am so addicted. It is very easy to skip ahead. You can jump ahead by page or chapter or to the very end or just a particular section. Custom made for peekers.
Book peekers unite, Cricket! I'm glad to find a kindred soul. I should have asked what everyone on this loop was reading so we could peek ahead and read the endings. ;)
That's what I should have used as a headline, Christie - I'm a cheater (and proud of it). And, yes, I love holding a book. And remembering where I was when I first read it.
A few years ago, a friend of mine offered me her shiny almost-new copy of Interview with the Vampire because she'd read it once and was cleaning her shelves. I couldn't take it, even though my own copy is falling apart. Because I have the original with the gold cover that I bought in college and skipped class for a week to read. And that memory is as important to me as the book.
But Terri, how do you know what you might want to know if you don't skip ahead and see if it's worth knowing?
That makes sense, right? Don't answer that.
Robin, I totally forgot about that Billy Crystal line, but it makes sense, doesn't it?
Ironically, I'm not a scene skipper at all when writing. In fact, it's the opposite. I'm so linear that I have to have a chapter nailed down before starting the next one.
Okay, see? Ms. Hellion is a skipper too! I love this. I'm not alone. Perhaps Amazon needs to come out with the e-skipper version. Three speeds: quick skip, skip to the extra naughty sex scenes or skip to the end.
That's where I am, Amanda. My print books are well loved. I like the convenience of going online to get things right away, or if it's only in ebook, but the physical shelves will always be full as well.
Oh no kidding, Mo? See, they don't do that for Kindle PC. I'm still in the stone age, hitting that arrow button.
I'm a skipper. I skip ahead to read the ending with almost all the books I read. And while I have Kindle and iBook apps for my iTouch, I don't have a dedicated ereader, there's just something about holding a book in my hands and smelling the paper and ink. There's also the fact that I read books while exercising on the stationary bike and have been known to drop one. I'd hate to do that with an ereader! *G*
Hah! My Sony Reader allows me to type in a page number, so I can bookmark and then go ahead if I wanna. I knew choosing Sony over Kindle was a good thing :-)
Frankly, I'm surprised there isn't a button somewhere that would let you skip ahead. I bet they remedy that some day lol. On the other hand, I'd rather be tortured than find out the end of a story. It's the journey afterall lol.
I never peek at the ending. It would ruin the whole book for me.
I love my Kindle.
I flip to the ending if I feel I'm getting too emotionally invested in a book and would be really upset if things don't turn out well. I have to make sure it has a happy ending!!!!! If I find out it's not happy, the book doesn't get read.
LOL Brandy. Yet another reason for me to stick to paper books - I'm always dropping things.
So you could type in the last page, Zita. Nice! Although how do you program the Nook to find the hot sexy scenes. Or wait. Is that just me?
Oh I know it's the journey, catslady and Estella, but what's a journey without a little forward investigation?
Oh me too, Diane. Or if it's a cliffhanger ending, I want to know that too. Otherwise, I get frustrated when all of the story threads aren't wrapped up.
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