[worry]

Few have tried, and even fewer have managed not to get bored halfway through. Thus I reign.

[Assail]

worrywort, on 05 February 2013 - 09:03 AM, said:

Few have tried, and even fewer have managed not to get bored halfway through. Thus I reign.

You must not know who I am. Assail by day, Fluffy Princess Pony by night.

Game on.

[D'iversify]

I read at a fairly medium pace and take in a lot of detail whereas my fiancee is able to speed through pretty thick tomes when she wants to (for one Christmas, I got her both Murakami's Norwegian Wood and his Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and she read both of them in about a day and a half). I have topped 200 pages in a day several times, but I think the only book of that sort of length I've read in a day is Vonnegut's Sirens of Titan.

[Illuyankas]

D, on 05 February 2013 - 10:26 AM, said:

I read at a fairly medium pace

can't not post in response to key phrase

(not safe for work, or people with taste)

[worry]

Ah, I too remember the halcyon days when Adam Sandler was funny.

[Illuyankas]

Day. The day when he was funny. Let's be fair here.

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

Briar King, on 05 February 2013 - 09:48 PM, said:

Thats about the most Ive done in a day, and I only do that with New Star Wars EU books the day they come out. They are usually only 330-430pgs so 2-3 days and Im done and waiting the nest 4mths for next one.

Four months? I WISH they were that infrequent. I'm 6-7 years behind (just about ready to start Outbound Flight). It seems like they were publishing multiple titles per month at one point. That's the one thing I'm dreading about the new movies - the inevitable flood of tie-ins. I suspect there will soon come a day when I just throw my hands up into the air and give up on trying to keep up with Star Wars.

[Abyss]

Kruppe, on 06 February 2013 - 04:53 PM, said:

... I suspect there will soon come a day when I just throw my hands up into the air and give up on trying to keep up with Star Wars.

Yes, that's right, give in to your hate, strike them down with all your anger and your journey to the dark side will be complete...

[McLovin]

I like to keep up with the EU comics. The art's almost always great, which makes up for the almost always mediocre stories. The EU novels are mostly mediocre with no art. Comics ftw.

[QuickTidal]

Hmmm. I've only read 3 books in one day (24hrs).

HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS

THE DA VINCI CODE

THE STORIES OF IBIS

In all of those cases it took me nearly the full 24 hours to do it. I read fast, but nowhere NEAR that fast.

If someone asked me to read a 900-page hardcover book in 4 hours...I dunno man, I don't even know if that's possible. At least not properly read it anyways. Even skipping to action and dialogue.

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

You people are lightweights. My record is ~ 2500 pages during a 7 hour period when I was stuck somewhere with nothing else to do. Granted, several of the books bored me, so I ended up reading them quickly. For stuff that I'm interested in and want to read with near-complete understanding, a more realistic speed for me would be 2-3 pages per minute.

When you read silently in your head, it's not necessary to read as slowly as you would if you were reading the book aloud. Once you get past that mental block, it's actually pretty easy to read quickly without hindering your comprehension.

[Assail]

Kruppe, on 06 February 2013 - 09:42 PM, said:

You people are lightweights. My record is ~ 2500 pages during a 7 hour period when I was stuck somewhere with nothing else to do. Granted, several of the books bored me, so I ended up reading them quickly. For stuff that I'm interested in and want to read with near-complete understanding, a more realistic speed for me would be 2-3 pages per minute.

When you read silently in your head, it's not necessary to read as slowly as you would if you were reading the book aloud. Once you get past that mental block, it's actually pretty easy to read quickly without hindering your comprehension.

That's intense. I'm not going to naysay, because there's plenty of shit out there that blows my mind like that. I can agree on what you said as far as reading goes though. I've never really considered my comprehension level after reading as fast as I can.

[Salt-Man Z]

Assail, on 06 February 2013 - 09:47 PM, said:

When you read silently in your head, it's not necessary to read as slowly as you would if you were reading the book aloud. Once you get past that mental block, it's actually pretty easy to read quickly without hindering your comprehension.

That's what I've heard. It's just a matter of training yourself not to "read aloud in your head". Though I do wonder if you lose something of the language that way.

[McLovin]

I did A STORM OF SWORDS in one night and the following day, continuously, stopping only to call in sick to work. Can't remember exactly how long it took...18-20 hrs total?

I think I did SWORD OF SHANNARA in one day, like 12 hrs iirc.

There's been 1-2 others I've done in a day. Can't remember what now. One of the Black Company books maybe?

Even if I had the time to try it now, I no longer have the eye strength or ability to go without sleep.

[Andorion]

Assail. Went through it in two sittings ignoring everything else. Since I read fast my books dont really consume my life as they are finished before they can do much. But if I am reading a series then its a different kettle of fish totally.

[Gwynn ap Nudd]

Salt-Man Z, on 06 February 2013 - 09:53 PM, said:

Assail, on 06 February 2013 - 09:47 PM, said:

When you read silently in your head, it's not necessary to read as slowly as you would if you were reading the book aloud. Once you get past that mental block, it's actually pretty easy to read quickly without hindering your comprehension.

That's what I've heard. It's just a matter of training yourself not to "read aloud in your head". Though I do wonder if you lose something of the language that way.

That mental block really is the big thing that prevents most people from speed reading. From what I understand the average deaf person reads far faster than those who can hear do, entirely because of this (not that I would make that trade off).

As far as speed reading, I never thought I was a fast reader but after seeing some of the comments in this thread I guess I could be called one. I don't think I've read a Dresdencrack book in more than one day, while reading everything except the descriptions that were repeated in all the early books (Mac's bar and how it is designed for example). Something like 60-100 pages per hour seems reasonable to me depending on the density of the prose.

[Gabriele]

Kruppe, on 06 February 2013 - 09:42 PM, said:

When you read silently in your head, it's not necessary to read as slowly as you would if you were reading the book aloud. Once you get past that mental block, it's actually pretty easy to read quickly without hindering your comprehension.

For me it's a sign that I really have a foreign language when I got past that stage.

[End of Disc One]

For me, Words of Radiance was an all consuming book. It came out during my busiest time of the year and I tried to read it at any chance I could get. I would wake up at 5:00 AM to get some reading time in before work. One of my all time favorite books, up there with Memories of Ice.

There are two other all consuming books I've read this year. One was part of Bakker's Second Apocalypse series. The other was Heroes Fucking Die.

[Andorion]

Now that I think about it, Judas Unchained probably qualifies as an all-consuming book. I read the last 70% at a stretch. no breaks, in a few hours, with (for some bizarre reason that I can't recall) Nirvana playing in the background. When I was done, I was so buzzed, so out of it basically, that I just wandered around in a semi-trance and grunted when people asked me stuff.

[Salt-Man Z]

Lord Gator, on 22 August 2014 - 06:19 PM, said:

So how is someone supposed to break this mental block? When I read I say the words in my head like I'm reading out loud.

And if you manage to get past the block, is the beauty of language (depending on the author, of course) reduced? Do alliteration, meter, and other tools of the artist lose their power when you stop "hearing" the words in your head, and start seeing them as pure symbols?