14 June 2007

Booking Through Thursday: Dessert First

1. Do you cheat and peek ahead at the end of your books? Or do you resolutely read in sequence, as the author intended?
2. And, if you don’t peek, do you ever feel tempted?

1. Oh dear ... I have to admit that I do - sometimes. (Probably more often than I should!) If it’s a particularly dull book I’ll read the last few pages so that if I give up out of frustration, at least I’ll know how it ends. But usually I only look at the very last page; to assure myself of a happy ending, or out of impatience or idle curiosity. I try to avoid it when reading mysteries, just in case; the villain is generally revealed before then, but there could be something at the end to give it away - or at least to rule some people out! And I never, ever peek at the end of convoluted thrillers, because I don’t want any last-minute twists to be revealed ahead of time (see, I do have some standards!).

It is a habit I’d like to break, since it does feel a lot like cheating - okay, it is cheating. No luck so far, though. Maybe I should enjoy my vice while I still have it :-)

2. See above.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am now reading Persuasion, too! So far it is my favorite Austen novel.

Stephanie said...

Nope.....not me. Never peek! It just ruins the end for me!

Happy Reading! I loved Persuasion!

CeeCee said...

Sometimes you just have to peek!

Tia Nevitt said...

I loved Persuasion! Is this your first time reading it? I've read all the Jane Austen novels at least twice.

I don't usually peek. It doesn't even occur to me.

--Deb said...

I peek, too--just a glimpse, mind you, mostly a glance to see if a character's name appears at the end.

Oh, and I liked Persuasion, too. I can't count the number of times I've read it . . . though, not as often as P&P!

Bookfool said...

I do peek if I'm afraid a book is going to end in a way I'll hate and I'm thinking about ditching it. Otherwise, I usually don't. But, fortunately, I tend to be a little forgetful and it doesn't ruin a book for me. I don't feel guilty about it at all.

Literary Feline said...

The only thing I may peek at on that last page is the page number. :-)

Amat Libris said...

I will always check out the page number, even if I don't actually read the words!

This is my second reading of Persuasion, and I'm loving it; I can't believe it's taken me so long to get around to rereading it. I can't even remember when I read it first . . . about seven years ago I think! Too long.

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