Overheard a guy at Starbucks say he skips the first 50 pages of every book

He was dead serious. Said he jumps straight to chapter 4 because 'that's where the plot actually starts.' My book club read 'The Left Hand of Darkness' last month and I can't imagine skipping the opening on Gethen. What do you do when someone in your group admits they skipped half the book?

3 comments

3 Comments

lunah128d ago

Isn't the whole point of reading a book to actually, you know, read the whole book? I mean, if you're skipping the first 50 pages, you're missing all the setup and character stuff that makes the rest of it make sense. The author put those pages there for a reason, right? It's not like they're just filling space. If someone in my book club did that, I'd have a hard time taking their opinion seriously on anything about the plot or characters. Skipping half the book is like saying you went to a movie but showed up an hour late and then complained you didn't get the story.

wyatt1358d agoMost Upvoted

nah fr, "the author put those pages there for a reason" is exactly right.

aaron_mitchell8d ago

Guilty as charged, I've definitely done that before.