Do you take breaks while reading a book? Or read it straight through? (And, by breaks, I don’t mean sleeping, eating and going to work; I mean putting it aside for a time while you read something else.)
I sometimes have more than one book going at a time but I almost never take extended breaks from a book. I read just about everything straight through. Now that I think about though, in the case of War and Peace, I guess you could say I've taken a 18-month break since it's been at least that long since I picked it up!
More Booking Through Thursday here.
16 comments:
I took a six month long break with The Blind Assassin!
BTT: Breaks
War and Peace is a problem. I started reading it back in college, but never managed to get all the way through. So it looks like, in that case, I've taken a break that's lasted over thirty years now!
Any extended break I take from a book usually results in me giving up on the book (which is RARE).
But sometimes a book just doesn't work for me!
I only take breaks from books that I don't like.
I didn't participate in BTT this week, I did a Creative Writing Exercise instead.
If my break lasts too long, it turns into a permanent break, because I feel I have to reread from the beginning to remember everything. So while I sometimes intend to take breaks in theory, it never works out in reality! But I VERY frequently have to take short breaks from reading, especially if it is emotionally intense!
I have a few books that I am so familiar with that I pick them up and read where the bookmark is and then put them down. (P&P, GWTW, Cold Sassy Tree). But new to me books are read straight through.
One book at a time, and a straight sitting, that's me. Here's mine.
I have taken breaks on occasion if he content of the book is extremely vivid and/or intense...Holocaust books are often that way.
But, my breaks aren't for a long period of time...and often, when I put the book aside to take a respite, I quickly return to it, because I must.
I usually read my books straight through too.
I usually try not to take breaks because I have found that when I do, I often loose the thread of nuance in the books I read. I admit to having on occasion putting a longer book down for a week or two, but I really try not to do that. I like to read my books all the way through without stopping, if I can.
I took a ten year break from Ulysses. My full answer is here.
Some of the long classics dictate a break. Here is my response:
http://beastmomma.squarespace.com/from-shelf-to-hand/2010/3/25/booking-through-thursday-break.html
Typically I don't... If I'm reading two novels, it's typically a fiction and non fiction
I can imagine that War and Peace would require breaks. A couple of years ago I read the unabridged Les Misérables and it took me nearly a month-and-a-half, and that was at a time when I was unemployed and had nothing better to do and didn't take any breaks, so I can image that W&P on a busy schedule would be a long haul.
My BTT is HERE
After 18 months do you even remember what was going on? I take breaks sometimes and other times read right through. My full answers is on my blog (a day late.)
Like you, I usually read a book straight through. That's why it's so difficult for me to read more than one book at a time (although I am trying).
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