Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion

Do you ever look ahead at the ending of story before you've read the whole book? I've never had the urge to do this. Yet, my sister says she does it when a book is bogging down. How about you?

Very rarely and only if I am reading a murder/mystery, or a spooky novel and have to check the ending to make sure the person lived! OK, I'll admit....also if I'm reading a romance and have to check the ending to make sure "they" got together!

I never, ever peek, but I always look to see how many pages the book is. The reason is that I also study books as I read them, so part of me is keeping an eye on pacing and the story's arc to see how it unfolds. This is especially true for mysteries, which is what I what.

How different we all are! Cindy, you made me smile.

Sometimes, like Debra, I check the number of pages yet to go, especially when the book is dragging.

Debra, it must be interesting to be able to have such perspective, perceiving the story's "arc" and being conscious of pacing. I've never thought much about that. It must be the writer in you.

Actually, I had to learn to read like a writer, so to speak. And it took awhile. For me, reading is as much about learning as it is about pleasure. And now that I review books, the way I read a book has changed a little too.

That's interesting, Debra. Does it take away from the relaxed reading mood when you know that you will be writing a review of a book?

A little of the relaxed reading mood goes, especially for mysteries, but the truth is I love reading so much that even if I'm looking at it from a learning and reviewing perspective, I still enjoy the process.

Debra, I love your enthusiastic attitude. It's contagious. That's what's so great about Goodreads.com. Everyone catches the reading bug!

Well, the reading bug is the only one I don't mind catching and spreading!

I never look ahead, sometimes I will even cover up the bottom of a page or the next page, because I am afraid my eyes will wander!!!

AH! That would be sacrilege! (LOL)
I don't want to know the end until I get there. The 'need to know' is what drives me to finish the book and put the time into it to get there.
It's not necessarily the end of the journey that gives me pleasure, it's the journey itself.

LOL, Becky. I've done that once or twice.

My problem is that I'm compelled to copy down good passages or sentences. It slows down my reading quite a bit. But some writing is so exquisite or so meaningful to me that I don't want to lose it. So I copy it on loose-leaf paper and save my scribbles in loose-leaf notebooks.

It's fun to go back and read what I copied. Sometimes I wonder why I copied it. LOL Perhaps I'm no longer in the same frame of mind.

BTW, for Christmas I've asked for a pen-like gadget which can copy words out of a book
so that I can save them on my computer.

Has anyone heard of that device?

Jackie, I agree. That is so true. In fact, I like the idea so much that I bought a pendant with the quote: "Life is a journey, not a destination." The following link shows the pendant:
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http://www.catalogfavorites.com/itemd...
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Below are quotes like that, from my quotation files:
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"Life is a journey, not a destination." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The beauty is in the walking -- we are betrayed by destinations."
-Gwynn Thomas

"It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end."
-Ursula K. LeGuin

"It is not the destination that is important, but the journey there."
-Chinese Proverb

"The journey is the reward."
-Chinese Proverb

"Happiness does not come from happiness itself, but from the journey towards achieving it."
-Finnish Proverb
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Ever onward!

I tend to live my life in this manner also.

Joy-I don't what that device is but I would be interested in seeing it. If you could post a link to one please. I have a little book that my daughter bought me last year-it is small & called Books To Check Out A Journal, there are spots to write down books you have read, let out, want to read & favorite lines or passages....I think she bought it at Barnes & Noble, I take it with me whenever I go to a bookstore!!

Becky, the device is called a pen scanner.

See the article at the following webpage:
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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/26/tec...
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The article (written in 2007) describes different types of pen scanners and their pros and cons. I sent the link to my sons who might be able to choose the right one for me.

Also, you might search at Google for "pen scanners".

I found the following webpage at amazon.com:
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http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&...
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The page shows a variety of pen scanners.

I love those quotations, Joy. I view my whole writing life as a journey. People tell me to have major writing goals, a plan as it were, and do I have goals in the form of writing deadlines from time to time. But really, I write, edit, obtain feedback, edit some more, publish, promote, meet new people, learn some more, all to see where the writing journey will take me. I have no set destination in mind which will probably strike some people as odd. But at the end of the day, whether I sell a thousand books or a million books, whether I make $1,000 from my writing, or $1 million won't change the fact that I lived my life as best I could. In the end, this is all that really matters to me.

Well said, Debra. It's as if we must maintain a balance in our attitudes. We must keep goals in mind, but we have to remember that it's the journey to those goals which matters.

A wise woman once said four words to me which brought home that idea. I was complaining about the long, messy process of renovating an old home. I whined: "When does the fun begin?" The wise woman said: "This IS the fun."