How I Read (and a bit of what, and why as well)

I judge books by their cover. Not metaphorically speaking--literally, I go for the books with good covers. This has gotten me into plenty of trouble; terrible books can have some pretty awesome cover art. Anyway, I picked up two books Saturday that had great covers; Book #1 was a piece of crap. Luckily, I realized it early and I was able to return the relatively untouched book for a full refund. Book #2 was good, if not what I really wanted (I read fast, so it is best if books are worth re-reading. I glean more from them this way, I really get my money's worth). I probably won't read it again, though I liked it. I'm now reading another, and it's turning out to be not that great also. The main character is recovering from a serious illness and as a side effect he's getting fat. Fat. He's getting fat. I'm sorry, but can I have a deeper, less superficial conflict than this? Please? I don't want a book where the antihero is ashamed because he can't stop putting on weight and his finance is like, ew. I'm a sucker for an antihero, troubled and flawed yet saves the day, etc.. But not overdone, also. You can overcook a hero in a second. One page.

I should probably stop criticizing and write something of my own. Then, when it sucks, I can just stop complaining and read on, lesson learned.

If a book is good, I start off slow. I read every single word, skimming nothing. If it slows down and gets boring, or takes me away from the most interesting pov, I start to go faster. I pick out the dialog and the necessary details to follow the plot. I leave out the 'fluff.' If it's a bad book, this is pretty much what I do the whole book, but to a greater degree. If it really sucks I'll throw it across the room and sulk, and pick up an old, worn out friend. One book I reread so much the pages started falling out. I used them as bookmarks.

If a book is really, really good then I will read it all diligently. Then, later I will read it again. Time between reads is always different. If the book is long, then I will read it sooner (I have most likely forgotten more of it, yes?). If the book is in a series, also I will normally read it sooner and more often. However, some of my all time favorite books are the small ones. The children's books, the simplest and the most innocently entertaining. I don't reread those very often at all.

I don't usually like my books to be informative or persuasive. I read to get away, and so I like my books to be far from reality. I don't want to read about Bill or Hillary. I don't want to read about philosophy, or-quite frankly-people's opinions. I really just want them to be creative and yet not to contrived. I love good, believable characters. I love good writing, elegant and appropriate.

This all may seem silly to you, but it's just how I think about these things, and have thought about things since 7th grade. It might not seem important to you either, but when you're 14 and dying a little inside every time you go to school, when you get home it's the most important thing in the world. It's not so significant to me now, but then...it got me through things. Now, it's habit. Now, it's good and familiar. I love reading.