I finally realized I was reading books totally wrong in my book club

So for like 2 years in my book club, I would just skim the last few chapters before our meetups to get the gist. I thought it was fine cause I could still talk about themes and stuff. Then last month, someone asked me about a specific scene in chapter 12 of our latest read, and I blanked completely. The whole group just stared at me while I fumbled for an answer, and one lady said 'did you even read the whole thing?' That's when it hit me that I was cheating myself and the group. Has anyone else caught themselves doing something similar with prep for book discussions?

3 comments

3 Comments

miam7514d ago

Used to think skimming was totally fine, honestly. I'd tell myself I was a "big picture" reader, but really I was just lazy. @riveradams you're right about that gap thing, once I actually started reading every chapter I realized how many small details I was missing that made the whole story hit different.

riveradams14d ago

idk it really makes you think about how much we actually get out of something when we half-ass it like that. i mean i've done similar stuff with TV shows where i'd just read the recaps online and then pretend i watched it. it's wild how easy it is to trick yourself into thinking you know something when you really don't. once you slip up like you did though it's hard to unsee the gap between what you thought you knew and what you actually know.

eric72314d ago

damn this is actually hitting me pretty hard because i used to be the opposite. i thought you had to be fully locked in 100% of the time or you weren't doing it right. like i wouldn't even start a book or show unless i knew i could give it my full attention. but after reading this i'm starting to wonder if that's just another way of avoiding things too. maybe the real problem is that i was so scared of half-assing it that i just didn't do it at all. and honestly that's probably worse than skimming or reading recaps cause at least you're getting something out of it. i think you and miam75 are onto something about the gap though, it's scary realizing how much you miss but it's probably better to know than to keep pretending.