Has there ever been a book you absolutely didn't want to end so you could keep reading it forever? Or are you the type that absolutely must get to the end the story?
I've been wondering a lot about the different types of readers lately, and posted an inartfully phrased but ultimately useful question here six months ago, but I think this question better hones in on what I want to know. I'm definitely the latter type: I must get to the end, I must know what happens, I must get to a resolution from which I can look back at the whole thing. Even with the most captivating literary fiction (e.g. 100 Year of Solitude) I still wanted to consume the whole thing, even if I end up reveling in the memory of the adventure of reading it. (That was probably the book I came closest to wishing would keep going.) Yet I know so many people who legitimately say they wish some book they read never ended, and I've seen people intentionally stop reading for a bit to slow down how quickly they'll get to the end. I'm not saying that's the wrong way to do it – obviously anyone can read any way they want to – but I cannot relate to it at all.
Where do you fall on this spectrum?
PS: (I know I split an infinitive in the title, and I think that's fine.)
by kingharis
3 Comments
The Silo series
It only happened to me once and that was with war and peace.
The Passenger and Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy. I knew these would be the last things of his I would ever read so I really luxuriated on the words and read slower than I usually would.