if a book is bad enough that you don't even want to read it then just read something else. I can only imagine skipping or skimming in books I've already read

> I commented in another post that it's perfectly fine to skim over, or even skip, scenes or pages - heck, entire chapters - while reading

Just skip the whole book.

Why would you even read at all?

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Edit: Should clarify that I don't mean this as "why would anyone even READ lmao." I mean it as "why would would you (OP) read a book that is intended to be consumed as a whole, if you omit large parts of the story completely? What is the point in it?"

Never. I've tried but some part of my personality won't let me do it.

No, I read every word. If I accidentally miss a sentence, or a paragraph, or a page, I go back and read it.

I even read the sections in languages I don't understand.

I think you would have gotten a different response if you had said that skimming is an option that you enjoy, instead of outright stating that skipping and skimming is one of the most important skills you need to be a reader. I don't care if you skim stuff, but I don't unless it's a reread and I don't remotely agree that everyone needs to learn to skip over parts of books. I don't think most readers are skipping sections of books. Everyone can read in their own way so there's nothing wrong with skimming - but there's nothing wrong with not skipping anything either.

LMAO, are you deliberately farming downvotes or something?

If you don't like a book, why read it for pleasure?

But moreover, why do you care so much what others think? If you enjoy reading novels by skipping every other page.... Why should anyone else care?

God no. More power to you if you do, but I honestly don't see the point. If the book is making me not want to read it then I'll read something else that holds my attention.

No harm in skipping or skimming if one wants, but for me personally I have never, could never, and the idea never even crossed my mind 😛

I only skim if I’m reading for a deadline. If I find myself wanting to skim while I’m reading for pleasure, I just put the book down. When I’m enjoying a book, I read every word.

That said, I might come back later to a book I put down if I feel like I just wasn’t in the right mood at the time.

R/books hates reading.

You're not delusional if you do.

I don't skim or skip. If I find the writer has lost me and I've tuned out for even a sentence, I'll go back and read it again.

So what if you skip entire chapters? Who cares? It's your time, your enjoyment. Spend it how you please.

What you take from a book is up to you and you're not hurting a single other person by skipping anything. If it appalls them that you do so, that's their problem - something they need to deal with.

I never skip anything outright but sometimes if i'm reading like a fantasy novel and the author takes a break from the present story to start going on and on about some kind of mythology or thousands of years of backstory my eyes kind of glaze over and most of the words don't make it all the way into my brain.

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.

Never skipped anything fictional but won’t judge you if you do

I do read everything, except when poems appear. My eyes and brain go into cat mode and refuse to read it and do anything but read it and look at everything except the poem. I just skip that.

I think you said that it's what makes a 'good' reader, like skip if you want but it's not something someone has to learn to make them 'better' at reading for enjoyment. That's where the sticking point is. It doesn't make you better, and it doesn't make you worse. That's what rubbed me the wrong way about your comments.

If I skim through a book, I won’t consider it read. If I read the summary through a wiki article OR online notes, I also have not read it.

If I’m reading for pleasure, I should be enjoying reading the book as a whole—if I skip chapters or skim it: that book would have not been very good for me and I won’t finish reading it. And I won’t put it on my list of read books. I’ll just pick another until I find one that can keep me entertained through and through.

I completely skim when I revisit my favorites though. Especially when I just want to go back to a particular part.

There is nothing wrong with skipping or skimming, it’s just that I can’t do it as I feel I will miss something important in the plot. When younger I wondered how people could read so quickly. I thought that I must be such a slow reader. It didn’t make me read any differently though. Sometimes I might not be enjoying a book, but as I have invested the time and feel the need to see it through. I feel I should respect the author and 99 times out of 100 I end up getting something out of the book.

There is no book cop in the sky making sure you read every word, so I don't see why this would be a source of worry for anyone. You can "read" a book however you want to read it. Personally, I don't know why someone would deliberately skip sections. If I don't want to be reading the book, I'd just as soon put it down and move on to the next things than keep turning the pages w/o really reading the content. But if that's how someone wants to handle things, then so be it.

I do the opposite. I reread sections if I don’t get the point. I reread books that I love, my favorite books 4 times (maybe 5 soon). Read however you want, but as Nabokov said, “one cannot read a book: one can only reread it”.

I skip or skim gratuitous description, like in the Wheel of Time series. I usually don't miss anything important.

If I really like a book, I read it again and attempt not to skim. But honestly, even re-reading Lord of the Rings I'm like, "Do I really need to know about the grass that grew on this grave?"

>Particularly if you're reading for pleasure, do what pleases you!

If all I cared about was pleasure, I'd spend all my free time jerking off.

Obviously, do what you want, no one is going to kick down your door to stop you. But someone who regularly skips whole chapters or skims on the reg doesn't actually strike me as someone who genuinely cares about books or writing. They're just using a book as a dopamine button, useful only in is function to indulge themselves. It's not rooted in any sort of interest or valuing of literature as a thing to be savored and appreciated on its own terms.

I skip or skim whenever I feel like it

No. If the author took the trouble to write a million words, and if one sets out to read the author’s book, one should read all million words.Don’t skip - you may miss something important.

Unless, that is, one is skimming a book as a way of deciding whether to read it in full. I skimmed LOTR twice, before falling in love with it.

You can do whatever you want, but if you’re skipping and skimming, you’re not actually reading the book. Where is the line? One chapter skipped? 20% skimmed? You’re missing a lot. Just pick a different book

"Do what pleases you" is such a dumb thing people say on this site. Sure, do what pleases you, but you didn't read the book and if you say you did, you are lying.

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No harm in a little skimming here and there

I don't skip anything when I'm reading for pleasure. I like to read slowly, pronouncing the text with my inner voice for full immersion. I will sometimes skip with rereads when I know a book very well and only want to read my favourite bits. And I most certainly skim through pages/chapters when I'm reading for work.

Just check the Right of the readers by Pennac

Sometimes I’ll skim unintentionally during tense scenes. The instinctive desire to see what happens next, especially in a scene where a character or characters that I care about are in some kind of peril, can override my attempts to read thoroughly. Those situations make for great re-reads though.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Otherwise always meeting deadlines in high school, I one night realized—to my horror—I had a test on the novel The Yearling the next day with only half the book read, so I was fated for an F. Then I thought, "I'll skim the second half but keep an eye out for the plot points." Remembering those, I took the test and got a B.

I don't think there's a formula to reading. I used to have a rule with myself that i need to finish a book word for word. But I realized that there are too many books to read and only one lifetime. I don't want to waste my time with reading rules. Read how you want. I look at reading like eating. Whether I peel my potato, eat it with the skin, or fry it up as chips is no one's business.

I have another controversial approach to reading though: I read the last chapter first. If it's intriguing enough, I'll read the book in its entirety.

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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!

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.

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.

With my personality, I just could never skip or skim. I have to know everything. Although I personally skim/skip over sex scenes…just not interested in that….I guess I’m a prude…? 🤷‍♀️ If the book is bad enough to where I would want to skip, I’d probably just not finish it.

I do not!

I personally do not do it and if I do it, I ask myself why?

Last time I was doing that was from the Dexter books and I was becoming more and more pissed with the book because I was skipping too much. So I stopped and asked my partner to give me a summary instead.

If half the book is skipped, maybe just search for a summary? It could be the writing style of the author is not for you. Or your brain needs something different (lighter/heavier) at the moment.

I tend to have different books in my Currently Reading so I can switch my attention and keep my brain interested, and if I see one is not interesting I simply remove it. I think we have enough books in our “to read” lists that we shouldn’t really feel bad about removing some for not liking them.

Sometimes I skim, especially at wordy descriptions- I’m looking at you les miserables. Nobody has the patience to read every word of a 20 pages description of the sewers of Paris.

I do it sometimes when I have my blank out moments. I usually try to catch myself and reread it but I know there's some books that I have accidentally skipped through.

I agree with you, OP. When reading for pleasure, I’m under no obligation to read every word, sentence, paragraph, whatever. Or to finish the book, for that matter. I read how I like. What I like. When I like.

That said, I generally do try to read as I assume the author intended. But, if a book doesn’t grab me within the first 10-15%, I have no issue with skipping ahead to see if it gets better. Occasionally, I’ll even skip to the very end, just to see how everything turns out (for books where I’m not invested in how we got there).

It’s a little more difficult with books of short stories, but I’ll generally try to give 2-3 stories a try to see if I like the author’s style. Again, I’ll skip through the volume.

honestly i think the way i read is very skimmy in general😭 not that I skim everything or miss stuff, but i feel like literally it's the way I read

I get the impression on here sometimes that people think reading is an inherently noble pursuit - replete with traditions, ethics, and responsibilities. These same people tend to get pretty self righteous about it as well.

I’m not a prude, or a crazy religious nut, but I usually skim or skip the sex scenes.

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