Thursday, May 12, 2016

The Stages of Reading a Really Good Book

Or at least my stages of reading a really good book. Of course these won't apply to everyone, but all of us bookworms tend to have tons of things in common, including our reading habits. I'm sure many of you can relate to this.

Me with a new book . . . or an old one . . . or any of them, really.
Page 1: *reading somewhere normal, like in bed or on the couch* I can't wait to finally read this! I wonder if it's as good as everyone is saying. Recommendations from three different friends on Goodreads must mean it's great, right?

Page 10: All right, I'm starting to see what all the fuss was about. I'm hooked already. I'll finish the chapter, maybe read a couple more and then go to bed--ooh, a plot twist already?!



Page 50: *having already read past midnight* Holy cow, I can't take my eyes away! Is that the love interest? Okay, I should really go to bed soon though. I can always read tomorrow.

Page 100: An early morning while running on little sleep is nothing compared to what this character is going through. So what if I have to be up in six hours? I have to see what happens next.

Page 150: *has fallen asleep with her face in the book*


Page 200: *reading in the car while being driven to whatever event is happening that morning* No. Way. Oh my God, did anyone else see that? Am I the only one who sees how insane this is?


Page 250: *explains every last detail to little brother while walking the dog because she needs to talk to someone ASAP*

Page 300: Everything's going to be okay, no one's dying, the author wouldn't do that, writers aren't that mean, hahahahahaha . . . Yeah, I'm definitely going to cry by the end of this.


Page 350: *goes through an entire box of tissues from gross sobbing*


Last page: That. Was. AMAZING!!!

Acknowledgements: *frantically texts/tweets/instant messages every single bookish person she knows urging them to read the book*


Phew, even writing about the process has me on an emotional roller coaster all over again. What was the last book you read that you feeling like this?

9 comments:

Dr. Mark said...

The way I read lately, your page 150 is my every page. "How am I falling asleep? This book is so good!" :/

I think I've witnessed you experiencing all of these stages.

To answer your question, the last book that grabbed me like this is "11/22/63" by Steven King. So many pages. Couldn't put it down.

Hannah said...

"Is that the love interest?" - Literally my reaction when I was reading The Invisible Library and Kai slouched in.
The Inivisble Library was the last book I read that made me feel like this. ;) ...Or was it The Raven King? I did stay up past midnight reading that one...

Boquinha said...

This is so great!! Just like the articles on Book Riot, etc.

Hmmm, honestly, I really loved rereading "Little Women" recently and especially sharing the book aloud with you and Max.

Truth be told, it's been a while since a book has totally captured my attention like this, sadly. I can think of awesome books from several years ago that fit this - The Thirteenth Tale, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Shadow of the Wind, etc. And with you and Max - Wonder, Flora & Ulysses, The Fourteenth Goldfish, etc.

Also, I love that you tell Max all the details when you HAVE to talk to someone. That's awesome.

Unknown said...

It's almost like that with every book I read. In high school, I read at least 5 books every day. I read during almost every class. School was so boring--most of the time. Yes, even back in the dark ages teenagers were bored. But Daniel Defoe, Mark Twain,James Fenimore Cooper (I read all of his novels),Alexandre Dumas and hundreds more helped me escape boredom. A very few books didn't take my life over within the first page or so; they had to wait for me to get smart enough to appreciate them. Back then, the publishing process was so expensive and concetrated in a few hands, only the very best books made it into print. Now, all manner of garbage gets to readers, and readers therefore are prone to not learn from good writers.

Carly said...

I can totally relate to this! You basically wrote out everything that is in the contents of my brain while I'm reading THE perfect book. Hmm, it's really hard to say the latest book that made me go through this process since I have a lot of books that I REALLY like, but I can't say that a lot of them are my favorites or stick with me for a long time. But I think The Truth Commission By Susan Juby stayed in my head for awhile (and by that 2 days XD). I finished the book after midnight and went to school with a full 2 hours of sleep. Ahh, the beauty of time management skills. XD

The Magic Violinist said...

@Dr. Mark

You probably have. xD Sometimes I have all of these stages happen in a day if the book is good enough.

Ha, that was going to be my guess for you!

@Rain

So I'd never heard of The Invisible Library before and when I looked it up, I saw it described as "Doctor Who with librarian spies." SOLD.

Ooh, The Raven Boys had me up pretty late! I'm so behind on all of the sequels though . . .

@Boquinha

Ha, funny you say that since this is actually one I tried submitting to Book Riot a while ago!

I could give you several suggestions if you're looking for a book that'll keep you up. ;) Lots of the middle grade books we've read together have really been fantastic. I'm looking forward to that new Kate DiCamillo one.

Hehe, I do that with books, TV shows, roleplay adventures, you name it.

@Jesse Porter

Wow, five books a day? That's impressive!

I guess the upside to there not being too many options then is that the ones that did get published were really good. But with lots of options now, you get a mixed bag. I do think every book that gets published, even if it's nonsense to a lot of people, always has that one fan who connects with it. The book world is pretty cool that way. :)

@Carly

Yessss, that's what I was hoping to do!

Oh my gosh, school on two hours of sleep? You're a brave bookworm. xD Priorities, right? The books that do that are always the best. I've never heard of the The Truth Commission before, but the title intrigues me already.

Lara Liz said...

I love EVERY SINGLE ONE of these GIFs. And your description is like every five star read I have ever read ever.

That is all. Please carry on with your bookish brilliance.

The Magic Violinist said...

@Lara Liz

GIFs are brilliant. I can't believe I avoided using them for so long before joining Tumblr.

THANK YOU!!

Unknown said...

@Carly
I agree. I wish that I had a good way to sift through all the choices to try only the good ones. Most of the books I read now are eBooks, so tossing bad ones is not so expensive. So many books, so little time.