Saturday, January 7, 2012

[TSS] On the Merits of Skimming

I am reading Middlemarch over the next couple of months with the fabulous Zibilee from Raging Bibliomania.  The book weighs in at over 1000 pages on my Kindle and while I have enjoyed the first 20 percent of the book immensely, I admit that I have done some skimming.

There are many books that I've skimmed through before, even many books that I ultimately really enjoy.  For example, I used to read a ton of epic fantasy, and I skimmed through every battle scene in those books.  I do the same in historical fiction, pretty much leaving all of those battle scenes unread.  In Middlemarch, Eliot spends a significant amount of time describing medical ailments and treatments (odd, I know), and I skim through those paragraphs, too.  For non-fiction, if the author spends a lot of time on a topic I don't find particularly interesting or relevant, I will skim that portion of the book.  If there is a scene that really disturbs me, I will skim that.

I don't know how many people skim in their reading.  I think there is a fine line between judicious skimming and just DNFing a book.  But I feel strongly that you can really, really enjoy a book as a whole while not loving each and every page of it.

I suppose there are two paths you can take here:  you can either not read books that have sections that really do not interest you, or you can read those books and just skim/skip the parts that you don't find relevant.  I prefer the latter method.  There are so many things that I've learned from books that I've read in this manner.  For example, I didn't like Isabella Bird much at all, but I was fascinated by her life in the Rocky Mountains and how independently she lived.  So whenever she got prosy or preachy or annoying, I just went down to the next paragraph, and then the next, until she got interesting again.  And I'm very happy to have read her memoirs, even if I didn't enjoy every single page of them.

This happens to me a lot with classics, too, particularly those written in the Victorian era.  Frankenstein, The House Behind the Cedars, Middlemarch, The Leavenworth Case- I skimmed some pages of all these books.  But I am so glad that I read all those books, even if I didn't read every single word.  I think the effect of knowing and understanding the whole is much more important to me than reading each and every line.

And so often, instead of just giving up on a book, I'll skim for a bit and see if it gets better for me.  And often, it does.  I'm not saying that my life changed forever for the better because I made it through to the end of The Leavenworth Case.  But my life hasn't changed forever for the worse, either, because I skipped most of the battle/rape/violence scenes in George R.R. Martin's novels.  I think what's important is that I did find lines to enjoy, lessons to ponder and themes to mull over and appreciate in many books that I would have otherwise given up on.  All because I allowed myself to just skip a few paragraphs or pages and then get back into the action.

What about you?  How often do you skim a book?

34 comments:

  1. The only book that I've really skimmed large portions of was Atlas Shrugged. I just got really tired of the long philosophy sections. But, otherwise, if I start to feel like skimming, I'll usually just set down the book until another time. I figure that the author had a reason to include even the most "boring" passages and I won't really experience the book as it was meant to be read unless I read the whole thing. I'm a bit jealous of your skimming skills though. :)

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  2. lol at first I was like, no I don't skim, than you mentioned battle scenes and I realized I do!

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  3. I have a line between skimming.. and SKimming. Usually I do skim, for me it is love scenes. Especially in pnr, I am not gonna read page after page so those I skim.

    But then there are books that I give up on and skim just to get the general idea of what they were about. Those are the dnf skim books in a way.

    But yes you can enjoy a book while skimming :)

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  4. I don't usually consciously skim something, but I definitely let my brain wander as I go over battle scenes like you and, like Blodeuedd says, some sex scenes, especially in PNR which tend to have vastly more than other kinds of romance (or at least so I've found in the few that I've read). If it's not really adding to the plot / characterization in those sorts of books, I'm probably not paying much attention.

    I don't remember skimming through Middlemarch but I definitely did in Lorna Doone - I'd never have gotten to the end otherwise!

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  5. I don't skim much, normally if I find myself skimming I end up abandoning the books at least for a little while until I have the interest in reading again. I'm always worried I will end up missing something important.

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  6. I can't say that I do skim, not consciously, anyway; but there are parts of some books that I'm less attentive about. Battle scenes might be a good example. And in another book I read recently, it was endless environmental/mountain-removal issues....And I can say that I enjoyed other parts of these books, so I was glad I read them. Interesting topic!

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  7. Like others have said, I don't consciously skim, unless I'm giving up on a book and want to get a general idea of where things are going. But I definitely read some parts of books more carefully and attentively than others! Battle scenes are a good example of something I read for the gist but don't worry much about the details. And I absolutely agree with you that you can enjoy a book and not enjoy every page of it.

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  8. I sometimes skim too but rarely admit it! :--)

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  9. I skim, too. I actually skim when descriptions drag. It's not that I don't enjoy hearing what things look like, but when the descriptions go on longer than I need I find myself skimming until something starts happening in a book. This is why I don't read a lot of books where description and all that is the main idea behind the author... I am not good with 'quiet' books. I need a bit of action here and there.

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  10. I'm a big believer in skimming. I dont' think I'd make it through some books without it! Rarely, I actually skim through a whole book, but this is only if I can't DNF a book I really hate (like it's a book club selection I have to lead on).

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  11. First of all, I can't tell you how ridiculously excited I am about a future Middlemarch review from you and Heather :D Secondly, I completely agree with you - you can certainly get a lot out of a book without enjoying every moment of it, and if skimming keeps you from giving up on it then it's worth it.

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  12. I have decided to skim some books this year. And I will count these in my Books Read list.

    I can do that, if I want. Right?

    Here is my Sunday Salon. I hope you will stop by!

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  13. Anonymous1/08/2012

    I very rarely skim at all, I have to say. I don't know why, I just feel like I need to absorb every ounce of meaning from a book when I read, and skimming seems counter to that! I think you make great points about it being a great way to plow through boring parts of books - maybe if I employed the skill I would have made it through the Lord of the Rings! The extensive battles scenes were too much for me! Generally, if I'm well into a book and a boring part crops up, I just force myself to push through, but you've given me food for thought re: skimming those parts instead. The next time I come across something that doesn't hold my interest, I will try to skim it and see if that works better for me!

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  14. I don't usually skim new-to-me books, but I've been known to breeze on through certain sections of beloved rereads. Like you said, it's possible to love a book without loving every page of it, and I sometimes find that certain sections don't warrant that many close rereads.

    Probably my biggest skim-book is THE VAMPIRE LESTAT by Anne Rice. I love the story to itty bitty bits... except the Marius sections. I've skimmed them a few times, and the last time I read the book I let myself skip them entirely. It improved my reading experience tenfold. :)

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  15. I'm a real slow reader. So skimming is something I should learn to get over pages sometimes, or else I'd be so bogged down. I hope Midnight's Children 500 plus pages are manageable for me without too much skimming. Thanks for stopping by my blog Ripple Effects, and, glad to share a unique name, albeit with one less letter to type. :)

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  16. I skim all the time. I am the hugest dialogue junkie so when it is massive chunks of descriptive text I get persnickety and skim forward to see about dialogue. I think it's valid! It's like the same way I let myself read the end if I need to give my reading experience some momentum. PERFECTLY VALID.

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  17. I definitely skim sometimes, especially with books where I know I'm not really missing much by doing so. We Need To Talk About Kevin is the one good example. I skimmed the heck out of that book, because I wanted to get to the end, but it was so horrible. I can't think of too many books that I really enjoy that I skim, though.

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  18. I really wish I could skim. I try sometimes, but I always end up feeling like I have an itch till I go back and read what I missed. It's like I want to have the whole experience of the book, good or bad, rather than take the good stuff and leave the bad. Spontaneously self-analyzing, I think this has to do with my tendency to second-guess myself.

    Wow--I just had some personal insight. Not something that happens every time I leave a comment on a blog.

    If I want to read a book that I think I'll want to skim, I usually go with the audiobook. Then if my mind wanders, I sort of read the whole thing.

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  19. I'm reading Pierre Bayard's How to Talk about Books You Haven't Read, which has some pretty interesting thoughts about reading and not-reading and all the states in-between, which definitely includes skimming. It's really got me thinking!

    I don't skim very often at all, not intentionally anyway, but I don't remember what I read very well either, so I do wonder whether I'm not "checking out" at times, or whether my memory is just that flawed (I take a LOT of notes to try to compensate!).

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  20. Is skimming when you actually jump over paragraphs/pages without reading them at all? I don't do that unless it's a rape scene, but if I'm feeling a bit bored at times, I'll start to 'speed read.' When I read quickly, I still get the gist, but I don't focus on the details/savour the language. It's not my preferred reading method, but it definitely helps when I'm thinking of abandoning a book!

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  21. Oh, I am so glad you said this! I admit that I have been skimming parts of Middlemarch too, and at first felt guilty about it, but then saw that there were some great pockets of greatness surrounded by bubbles of things that were of less interesting to me. I don't think it hurts to skim, and in fact, my opinion of this book would have probably suffered if I didn't! So glad that I am not alone!

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  22. I don't usually skim, though yes, detailed battle-scenes I can do without! I usually try to take the view that every word, every description, is there for a purpose - though some classic authors really do push that theory to the limits, and some of the chunkier contemporary books could really do with better editing.

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  23. You certainly hit on a topic near and dear to a blogger's heart, Aarti! If I'm skimming a book, it usually means that I'm required to read it (even if I've made the requirement) and I'm not enjoying it so much. I believe I skimmed all of Moby Dick in college. And I also skim when I like one aspect of a book, but not another. I skimmed the war chapters of Gone with the Wind, as I recall -- to get to the good stuff! Great topic!

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  24. I did skim a lot in college, but I rarely do now. If I do, it's generally sex scenes, especially the graphic ones. If I'm not liking a book, I'm not likely to skim to see if it gets better.

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  25. Yeah, I'm a skimmer. Usually it happens when I'm loving a book so hard I can't wait to see what happens; this is not the good kind of skimming, because then I miss stuff in my haste. But I'm also a re-reader, and always slow down the second time to savour things.

    Like Amanda, I'll often skim things that I have to read for leading book club or other obligatory purposes but don't really feel like reading. Sometimes I'll get hooked enough to do a thorough read. And for the purposes of my job, I often skim though new releases in a very perfunctory way (beginning, middle few pages, end) so I know what's what for matching books to readers.

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  26. I agree with skimming in principle (at least for the reasons you listed), but I find it really hard to accomplish in reality. I USED to do it all the time, and I got through a lot more books that way. But my major had such a focus on the importance of EVERY WORD (which I know logically is not true of every book, but I cannot tell my brain this) that I find it almost impossible to skim over anything.

    But yeah, you totally should in at least parts of Middlemarch. Eliot does all this research for her books, and then sometimes includes too much of it (see: Romola, omg so much unnecessary information on medieval Italy).

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  27. I'm too much of a chicken to even consider skimming a novel. I would be too worried I might miss something. Nonfiction, on the other hand, is entirely different. Great post.

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  28. I skim a lot reading non-fiction and textbooks (which I often read through to find a useful section to use with the college students who work for me, teaching writing). I don't tend to skim through recreational reading, except when writers get a bit technical for me, like Douglas Hofstadter (Godel, Escher, Bach) or Neal Stephenson (I Am A Strange Loop).

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  29. oops, I Am A Strange Loop is also by Hofstadter. Stephenson (who I find generally more readable) just commented on it once and it stuck in my mind, probably because I was skimming through it!

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  30. Very interesting topic and discussion. I don't think I skim a lot when I read, at least not with fiction. Sometimes I might look ahead to see where something is going, or to assure myself about a particular aspect, but then I'll go back. If I'm truly skimming, it usually means I'm about to give up on the book. Except that wasn't true with Lord of the Rings - I skimmed through all the songs and I still enjoyed them. I've skimmed in nonfiction before, especially if I'm after something particular contained in its pages.

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  31. You know, I haven't skimmed anything since I started reading the classics, because I have this "feeling" I'll miss something. I used to skim sex scenes in books...

    This is a great topic. I haven't actually thought about this! I know that a friend recommended Outlander to me, and I couldn't bear to read it because every two scenes was a pointless sex scene. For some reason it didn't occur to me to skim, so I DNFed it. I think I've gotten out of the habit! Now I might actually return to it, eventually, since you've reminded me it's okay to skim. I just couldn't abide reading 400+ pages of sex without purpose, just to get to the other 400 pages of story!

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  32. It depends. I don't like skimming, to me that is not reading. I usually only do it when I get really bored with a book and it usually just starts to escalate from there onwards. I'm willing to put up with a few boring passages but not much. I like to think I've read every word in a book rather then skipping a few paragraphs.

    Saying that... in The Pillars of the Earth I did skim through the idiotic explanatory paragraphs Follett thought necessary in case the reader was too stupid to understand what had just happened.

    On the whole though - I don't skim and it ruins my enjoyment of the book if I have to.

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  33. I've been known to skim a time or two - the key example being when I read War and Peace back in grade... 8 or 9. hah. Generally I try to read every page, but skimming certainly has it's merits :)

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  34. Skimming! shocking! but I'd probably get few a few more books faster if I did. I might try that for 2012, actually.

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