Ever loved a character so much...?

[TheDustyZebra]

I have done it a few times, but I can't remember which books. And at least once it totally spoiled things for me, but again, I can't remember what book that was. I just remember that it was a bad idea.

When I was a kid, I would get so deeply into a book and be scared to death that they were all going to die, and my mom would walk through and say, "it's Nancy Drew. You know she lives, because she's in the next book."

Sorry, spoilers....

 

[hopewrites]

i cant read a head, but i will read fastet and longer. some times going without sleep to make it through an especially exciting bit.
but my reasons for not doing so have always been "well how do you know where to skip a head to? "

but then I've never been able to skim. if i start "skimming" the page becomes one of those 3D eye puzzels and odd demensions and half shapes start appearing to recede back from or pop out of the type face.

 

[nightdreamer]

Yes, I confess. But I can't think of an example offhand.

 

[JoanDrake]

"The Cold Equations" put me off so much that I make it a conscious decision to not read that writer anymore. It's a very good story, for just that reason, and that's why I made it.

There's something wrong with that reasoning somewhere but it's like Anselm's proof of god. I KNOW it's a bunch, but I just can't see how. (and don't care to)

 

[thaddeus6th]

No, such is sheer blasphemy!

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Don't try this with any book in the Game of Thrones series...just, don't...

 

[Sunseal]

Weeellll, I don't skip ahead and read whole pages, but if I'm particularly invested in a character or am growing desperate to know how a particular part of the plot is going to play out... you maaaay find me skipping a few pages ahead and skim reading the odd sentence here and there.
I don't want to spoil the whole thing for myself, but just to find a hint/name in one of the sentences to tell me if a character is still alive or something of the sort...
I know. It's naughty. *tut*

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Does one of my own count? I've never done it in reading but my oldish mentory type character was hanging by a thread for longer than I could bear so I skipped a few chapters in writing to find out.

 

[elvet]

Guilty. I sometimes skip to the end and scan for the name rather than reading the end of the book. I remember doing that in the Malazan books - too many favorite characters to count.

 

[StormSeeker]

Absolutely. I've done this a few times but stopped recently as I find the spoiler makes me anxious for some reason.

 

[Ronsworth]

I have though I cannot remember which books. I will feel the pull at particularly tense moments if the series already has it's claws in me. I'm usually able to resist as I'm truly only tempted to see if they're living, not to spoil a single thing. Trying to balance the two can be tricky which is usually how I fight off the urge to attempt.

 

[Mangara]

I did this rather shamefully in Game of Thrones: A Storm of Swords after my favorite character appeared to die. I was going to stop reading the book out of rage, until I flicked forward and spotted their perspective chapter. All was forgiven!

 

[Timba]

Never! Cannot imagine it. Geez the typical book only lasts a day or maybe 3-4 if it is a whopper in size, how impatient can you get?

 

[charande]

Oh yes. Actually, I often skim forward when reading, not only to see whether characters have survived but just out of curiosity. I'm a very impatient reader. Afterwards, I go back and read the omitted bits.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Only with LOTR after Moria; and I wished I hadn't.