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Nov 12, 2010

What Makes a Book a Fast Read?

I recently read A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz. It was such a good book and the kind where I just kept turning page after page without being able to stop and go to sleep. It was just so easy to cruise through 10 or so pages without even realizing it! It makes me pose the question--besides PLOT, what makes a book a "fast" read?

*Short chapters. It is so easy when the chapters are short to read"just one more chapter." then another and another, you get the idea.

*Less dialogue. This is a personal choice, but it seems to me that some of the books that are quickest to read don't have scenes with tons of dialogue.

*Length. I always feel the book goes so much faster in the second half. If I can reach the middle quickly I can usually finish it even quicker.

*Big type & spacing. Sounds dumb (or logical), but the quicker I am able to turn the pages, the quicker I can read.

Now, the biggest problem here is that some of the books I could not put down (and that I loved) I would not consider "fast reads" although I might have finished them quicker than A Tale Dark & Grimm. For example, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I blocked off the whole day after it was out and kicked my family out of the house and just read straight through. But it was not a fast read. Same with The Hunger Games and The Knife of Never Letting Go and Rot & Ruin. They were hard to put down, but by no means "fast" books.

However, whether it be a fast read or a can't put down book they are mostly all satisfying reads!

What makes a book a fast read for you?

1 comment:

  1. I think a book becomes a fast read once I fall in love with the characters. Monsters of Men was a solid 624 pages, but I was so in love with Todd and Viola that I just couldn't put it down.

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