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Reading Backwards

Jun 16th 2007Sabrina Jeffries
Sabrina JeffriesGoddess Readers Speak Out

Okay, that’s an exaggeration. I don’t exactly read backwards. But I DO read the ends of books long before I get to them. Feel free to scream at me now.

ScreamingWhat? No screaming? Is that because some of you ALSO read the ends of books first? Plenty of people do, you know. They just lie about it. Mainly because the never-read-the-end people have a tendency to gaze at us in horror and then try to convert us into not reading the end, which is never going to happen. Trust me.

That’s because we read the end for a reason. I don’t know what other people’s reasons are, but here’s mine: I can’t stand the tension. No matter how much I tell myself that the book will end satisfactorily (I KNOW that any of the goddesses’ books will have a wonderful ending), I can’t believe it until I actually see how it will be done. And because of that fear of what might lie at the journey’s end, I rush through the book without savoring the wonderful moments the author has put in just to give me pleasure. So reading the end first defuses the tension. It literally enables me to enjoy the book more.

Lady of FortuneIn fact, the better the book, the more likely I am to read the end shortly after I begin. Sometimes I (gasp, horror) even skim ahead. I’ll admit it’s a delicate process, but I’ve gotten pretty good at it. I’ve even mastered the art of reading the HEA of romances that contain a mystery … without actually learning the answer to the mystery. Once in a great while I do screw up–I ruined Mary Jo Putney’s Lady of Fortune for myself by skimming ahead so often that I ended up knowing too much. I went from unbearable tension to no tension at all. But luckily for me, I’m getting old, and I’m starting to forget what I read. So even when I screw up, I get a second chance. I figure in a couple more years, I’ll be able to try Lady of Fortune again.

The Family StoneBy the way, I also occasionally watch movies backwards. I saw the last twenty minutes of The Family Stone not long ago and liked it, so the next time I was surfing channels and found it at an earlier point, I watched from there. I finally saw the beginning a week later. Would I have liked it better if I’d watched it straight through? I don’t know. I liked it just fine in pieces. Yes, I’m weird (but you knew that).

What about you? Do you read the ends of books? (Tell the truth now.) If you do, then why? Do you do it with every book or just certain ones? And have you ever enjoyed a movie in backwards pieces?

56 Comments »

56 Responses to “Reading Backwards”

  1. MizMacgyver on 16 Jun 2007 at 6:15 am #

    My name is Dianna and I occasionally read the end first. I don’t do that with every book, but I have been known to get in a tiz and go to the back and take some pressure off my brain. It is really hard to be in the middle of a book reading and trying to figure out the end at the same time. Most of the time I have complete faith that my favorite authors are going to give me a HEA but if it is an author I am not familiar with, and there are several options for the way it is going to go, I will skip ahead and make sure I am not going to end up depressed. I haven’t watched a movie that way, after Somersby I wished I had known how that was ending, I would never have watched it. I have found that it is usually the movies that take a nasty turn and end wrong, there has only been two or three romances that has done that and left me depressed and re-writing the ending in my head.

  2. Karen Rose on 16 Jun 2007 at 7:00 am #

    Sabrina, I knew we were twins separated at birth. I do the same thing and receive that same horrified look from other people. I even read the end first for the same reason. If I get too caught up in the tension, I find myself racing to the end, skimming, and not enjoying the book. My DH says it’s because I’m a control freak, but I disagree. To me, the reading of a book itself is the pleasure, not seeing how it ends. It’s seeing how the plot unfolds to get to the end that I find so fulfilling. Sometimes, like Miz MacG, I read the end first just to make sure the author doesn’t do something wonky, like kill the hero or heroine in the end. Thats SO wrong.

    I like puzzles and like Sabrina, have a math background. Maybe that’s it. I enjoy seeing how the author weaves all the threads of the story into place to achieve the end. Or maybe DH is right and I’m just a control freak.

    Either way, Sabrina and I have some serious DNA comparing to do.

  3. Karen Rose on 16 Jun 2007 at 7:07 am #

    I read a suspense several years back and forced myself not to read the end first, because someone had convinced me of how bad I was to do so. At the end, the heroine, who’d led a horribly damaged life and really deserved happiness with the weary-but-valiant hero, put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger in front of the hero! I was traumatized, truly. (So was the hero.)

    I didn’t expect that ending and had such hopes, nay plans, for that couple’s happiness. I was emotionally invested. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Mercy, it’s been at least six or seven years and I still get upset by that ending. So now I say “POOH” to you who’d make me wait for the end.

    Of course you all don’t need to read the end of any of our books if you’re uncomfortable doing so. I promise a happy ending! Except for the villains. No happy endings for the villains.

  4. Judy F on 16 Jun 2007 at 8:12 am #

    Ah I have found my soul sisters… My name is Judy and I say a good portion of the time I read the ending first. Or I have read a bit and flip to the end. Sometimes I think its to make sure things will work out. I agree with Karen, I like reading how the author got me to the ending. Maybe its a security thing that at least this in my life is going to work out ok.

    I flipped ahead to one book a few years ago and was so ticked I didn’t finish the book. The hero and heroine had broken up. And she was pregant, she thought about what was wrong and went to see him. Well he was busy getting serviced by his secretary. grrrr…That was so wrong

  5. amy1242 on 16 Jun 2007 at 9:02 am #

    Ok, doesn’t reading the end first take the fun out of it? I can’t imagine reading the end first, or shortly after starting the book. Yes, sometimes I don’t like the ending and I may fume about it for a day or two and toss it directly into my “get rid of” pile, but that’s part of the reading experience, IMHO. I’ve never even thought about reading the end first. Hmmm, must be the black sheep in me. I’m going to have to try it and get back to all of you, let you know if I was missing something. I just started a new book yesterday and am 3 chapters into it. I’ll skip to the end and let you know. By the way, do you go to the last chapter, last page, what?

  6. anneriailin on 16 Jun 2007 at 9:02 am #

    Glad to see I am in good company….My name is Dorothy and I will read the ending of a book, from time to time, just to make sure the author hasn’t done something crazy. Not so much with authors I am familiar with, like the Goddesses, but with authors I am unfamiliar with. I agree with the comments already been made for the reasons why I read the end to make sure I get my HEA. Reading is my escape. I like the happy ending. I deserve a happy ending, dern it! :) At the same time, I like to enjoy the trip or adventure that the author takes me on to get me there. If reading ahead give me that assurance is what it takes, then so be it. Then I can sit back, enjoy the book and know am in safe hands and will get my HEA.

    –dorothy

  7. elsiehogarth on 16 Jun 2007 at 9:15 am #

    I don’t read the end per say but the first thing I do before I start any book is see if there is an Epilogue. Then I will read it and then I will start with the first chapter. I just like to see how much time has passed from when our heroes met and have gone through all the things they do to get to that point. Does that make sense?

  8. Bethany Hamilton on 16 Jun 2007 at 9:22 am #

    Yes, I’m joining this club :)

    I *always* read the end first. The book doesn’t even make it to the checkout counter with me until I’ve read the last few pages to ensure that everything turns out happily. I find if I don’t, I find myself skimming ahead and when I get to the end realize I’ve missed half the book and it wasn’t enjoyable. Reading the end first just makes sense.

    Hubby is horrified whenever I do this, as is my sister. I picked up a book my sister was reading and flipped right to the last page as she was telling me about what she had read so far. She looked at me, eyes bulging out of her head, and mouth agape. You would have thought I just made some heinous sacriligous error the way she acted!

    In the movie Alex and Emma, I think Emma describes it perfectly. “If I don’t like the end, then I know not to waste my time getting there.”

    Such sound logic!

  9. Sabrina Jeffries on 16 Jun 2007 at 9:27 am #

    Elsie, anything makes sense to me. I think people’s reading experiences are as varied as people are.

    Karen, you might be on to something with the control freak thing. I’m definitely a control freak. But surely a lot of writers are–why else would we want to recreate stories so they satisfy US?

    Amy, what Karen said is pretty much the same for me–it’s not so much about the end as it is the journey. The tension of not knowing the end, for me, overwhelms the enjoyment of experiencing the book.

    Miz MacGyver, I think you’re right about movies–they go wrong WAY too often. Once in a while, I’ve watched the last part of a movie, discovered that it had a sucky ending and saved myself the pain of watching it through. And for me, it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with its being sad. I just hate unsatisfactory endings (Karen, the heroine blowing her brains out qualifies).

  10. Sabrina Jeffries on 16 Jun 2007 at 9:29 am #

    >In the movie Alex and Emma, I think Emma describes it perfectly. “If I don’t like the end, then I know not to waste my time getting there.”

    EXACTLY!!!

  11. Sabrina Jeffries on 16 Jun 2007 at 9:34 am #

    Karen, I just have to ask–do you write a detailed synopsis for your books? Or an outline? I do. I like to know where I’m going.

    But some writer friends of mine hate it. They say that if they know that much about the book, it takes the fun out of writing it. What?? For me, it’s the journey, the details, the stuff in the middle. What HAPPENS doesn’t matter to me–it’s how it happens. I don’t know if I think that way because I’m plot-driven or if I think that way because of the math/reading ahead gene.

    So what’s YOUR writing process?

  12. Karen Rose on 16 Jun 2007 at 9:45 am #

    I’m starting book 9 and my DH tells me I do the same thing every time. I fall into some hypno-state where I don’t remember from one book to the next. Kind of like childbirth. A year after the wounds are healed you say, “It couldn’t possibly have hurt that badly. I think I’ll try it again.”

    My process:
    1) PANIC - OMG, where do I start? How do I start? How did I ever think I could do this again?
    2) SMAIFOTC - Sit my ahem in front of the computer. This process takes from days to weeks, with lots of solitaire in between.
    3) I start with the character profiles, a loose plot (like one or two scenes) in my head. Once I start building the characters, what they do becomes clearer
    4) I have an outline, yes. Beginning is well-flushed, ending is decided and the middle, stuff happens - enough stuff so that I have the major landmarks in place.
    5) I write, and write and about 2/3 of the way through I PANIC. OMG - I’m not on my outline anymore!! What happened?
    (more)

  13. Karen Rose on 16 Jun 2007 at 9:47 am #

    6) I go to the end and work my way backward, figuring out how to tie where I want to go to where I got stuck. Post-its clutter my office and create colorful rings around my monitor. I see this as tunnel diggers each starting from the end and working toward the middle. Hopefully I do a Chunnel and make them fit and not that tunnel in Japan where they said “Crap” because they were a few feet off, lol.
    7) I write and write some more until all the postits are gone.
    8) I sleep.

  14. Karen Rose on 16 Jun 2007 at 9:50 am #

    Oh, and inbetween the #5 panic and #6 post-its my DH says “You do this every time” and my daughter nods and sighs heavily “EVERY TIME.”

    Most of the goddesses have written way more books than me. Do you forget the process in between times?

  15. Sabrina Jeffries on 16 Jun 2007 at 10:03 am #

    Every single frigging time. This time is ALWAYS worse than the last (except this time I think it really is), and I always panic. I’m in panic mode now. Actually your process is much like mine. Half to three-quarters of the way in the book, I go, “What was I thinking? This won’t work. It makes no sense. I must have been out of my mind.” And my friends all laugh and say, “You’ll work it out, you always do.” Just last night, I said something about this book being harder than most, and my husband said, “Aren’t they all?”

    Maybe we’re just drama queens!

  16. Sabrina Jeffries on 16 Jun 2007 at 10:04 am #

    The problem is–the process is just a teeny bit different everytime, enough to fool me into thinking I’ve gone off the deep end.

    It’s not that I forget–it’s that I don’t believe it.

  17. Nicole Jordan on 16 Jun 2007 at 10:11 am #

    My name is Nicole and I think you all are just so sad — except for Amy, who clearly knows the proper way to read a book. Backwards is not proper; it’s, well, backwards. And twisted. And warped. And deplorable.

    How can you ruin all the delicious tension that way? That’s why I read romances and thrillers, for the tension, so it all goes POOF if I know the ending.

    I hate missing the front of movies, too, even if it’s tiny little bit of a scene. I’ll spend the entire rest of the film wondering what I missed. Sabrina and the rest of you, I think you need serious therapy. Of course, I can understand those of you who were scarred for life by a bad ending. But still…..

    NJ

  18. Karen Rose on 16 Jun 2007 at 10:23 am #

    Sorry Nicole :-) Would it help if I said I used this method to study the great suspense writers as I was learning to write? That gives it some educational value at least.

  19. Karen Rose on 16 Jun 2007 at 10:45 am #

    I can come into the middle of a cop show or movie with ease, but my DH hates to. It’s kind of a game for me, I watch and wonder what I missed, then make it up in my own mind. Later, I might watch the episode again to see if I was right. Most of the times I’m pretty close. Other times, I’m not and it’s fun to think about all the different ways a story can be told.

    So, my name is Karen and I’m guilty as charged. Twisted and warped. I buy that. Deplorable’s a little harsh, but I can see your point.

    Now I must get to my scene which I’ve been putting off writing all morning. It’s emotionally stressful and I’ve been circling around it in my mind trying to find the least painful way into writing it. I think I just have to close my eyes and rip, like a bandaid. I see boxes of kleenex in my immediate future. Then I’ll need the therapy…

  20. OV_099 on 16 Jun 2007 at 10:46 am #

    The only time I ever looked at the ending for the express purpose of finding out what happens is A Rose in Winter. I just had to know before I started reading it an idea of what happened because you had these two guys in the gal’s life, and I just simply needed to know. So I saw it. . . and once I started reading the book, I couldn’t read fast enough to get to the end to how they got to that ending. :) Alas, I wonder if I would have figured it out had I not seen it ahead of time. LOL :)

    Lois

  21. Sabrina Jeffries on 16 Jun 2007 at 11:12 am #

    I LOVE Rose in Winter. It’s one of my two Woodiwiss keepers (no, The Flame and the Flower isn’t the other–but I adored the Wolf and the Dove). I can’t remember if I read the end, since I read it so long ago. Now, I would guess the end in a heartbeat, but then I didn’t see it coming. Or maybe I suspected it but wasn’t sure. I can’t remember.

    Karen, I too can come into the middle of a show and enjoy it. Drives my dh crazy. In fact, that’s how I got hooked on the Law and Order group of series. I saw SVU in the middle of an episode and was totally sucked in. I mentioned to Deb Marlowe that I liked it, and she informed me that the original was better (not sure I agree, but I digress). So I watched it and loved it. Criminal Intent had to grow on me, but now I love it as much as the others. I guess I have a thing for police procedurals. I try NOT to pick those up in the middle, which is a testament to how much I love them. Oh, and Deb and I mourned Jerry Orbach deeply. We LOVED Lennie!

  22. Judy F on 16 Jun 2007 at 12:06 pm #

    Sabrina I love L& O in all shapes and forms. I didn’t watch it when it all first started but my mom had taped something for me and L&O was after it. I just started watching. Now I am hocked. I miss Lennie too. He had such a way to deliver a line….

  23. DebMarlowe on 16 Jun 2007 at 12:37 pm #

    Judy–you said it! My dh has a whole repetoire of Lenny’s lines that he quotes at will. Of course, no one else ever knows what he’s talking about, but I laugh every time.

    And I never read the end of books before I’m supposed to. Ever. But I do obsessively read the author bio after the first few pages. Have no idea why, but I do.

  24. Lismore on 16 Jun 2007 at 1:34 pm #

    Guilty! Although, I don’t do it with every book and really don’t why that is. I am afraid it is genetic, because by daughter started doing it.

    Recently, and much to my chagrin, I read the end of a book and it ruined the book for me. I was loving the book and thought, oh, I’ll just take a peak. Arggh, she was not with the hero I was bonding with. I then started skimming backwards hoping to see if I would help. Made it worse. I will try and read it again in six months.

    Karen, Sabrina, love hearing about the writing processes of your books!

  25. catslady on 16 Jun 2007 at 4:11 pm #

    I would have to say over my dead body!!!! I don’t even want to watch a movie if there is a book to read. I have a friend who gets mad if I give her a good book because she won’t put it down until it’s finished and she’s been known to look - my opinion is if you know how it’s going to end, why bother. I want the tension. I want to look forward to reading it and not knowing. I like being surprised. I like knowing there is something there waiting for me. I have no preference to how a book should end other than when some authors (of suspense mainly) have what I call a trick ending. In other words they didn’t have an ending that fit or couldn’t think of anything good.

  26. Marg on 16 Jun 2007 at 6:50 pm #

    I would say that I read the end of a book 95% of the time. I don’t really know why…but I read a few pages at the beginning, and then a page or so at the end, and then I read the whole book! Just habit I guess! There are only two books that I wish I hadn’t done that on - My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult and Red Leaves by Thomas Cook. They had such big twists right at the end that it changed the reading experience for me, but two books out of hundreds isn’t enough to stop me doing it!

  27. Claudia Dain on 16 Jun 2007 at 6:54 pm #

    I *demand* that I be surprised. Can’t even imagine reading any part of the ending first or any part of the book out of order. In fact, I’ve gotten so demanding in my demand that I be surprised, that if I’m reading a book and know everything I need to know and can figure out the ending, I stop reading then and there.

    Talk about a different pattern to my DNA!

    This plays directly into my writing. No outlines, no character studies, absolutely no plot points. If I had any idea where it was going to go, I’d lose interest and start something else.

    I am obviously a prime example of ADD. *G*

    But I can say proudly that I watched the very first episode of Law & Order and said, “Wow, this is a truly great show.” I’ve seen every episode of every L&O spin-off multiple times. But can I write suspense? No way!

  28. Sabrina Jeffries on 16 Jun 2007 at 8:40 pm #

    Now, see, Claudia, I think there must be some connection between the writing gene and the reading gene. For me and Karen R, the fun is all in the playing out. For you and Nicole, the fun is in the climax. Huh, let’s hope the reading and writing genes have NOTHING to do with the sex gene. :-)

  29. Brandy on 16 Jun 2007 at 9:20 pm #

    I’m in the “read the end” camp. I want a happy ending and I’m going to make sure there is one, before I invest my time and mind in the book. AND I have sat and watched the end of a movie, and then watched it again and again! Oh, and I always like to just watch the ending of Dirty Dancing. “Nobody puts Baby in a corner”. *G*

  30. BethanyHamilton on 16 Jun 2007 at 9:49 pm #

    On this same topic…

    I refused to see Pirates (the one that just came out) until someone told me the ending. I ran into three people who flat out refused, and then I finally bugged someone enough until they caved :D. Now, the down side is, (don’t worry, I won’t give spoilers.) I was completely dissatisfied and now I won’t bother seeing it. I’ll just wait until it comes out on DVD, because I do *have* to see it, I’m just not going to shell out $30 for me and DH to go when we can just wait a few months and spend just $4 at blockbuster.

    I plan on doing the same with the new HP book. I’ll wait till someone else reads it first, tell me the ending, and then I’ll know whether I want to shell out my $$.

    I feel like I should put myself in a corner…

  31. Sabrina Jeffries on 16 Jun 2007 at 10:31 pm #

    Once in a while, I do avoid spoilers for something I really want to be surprised with, but if it’s something I’m ambivalent about or really don’t care enough about to be put off by the ending one way or the other, I’ll read the spoilers. I worked really, REALLY hard not to read or see the spoilers for Sixth Sense when it came out, and I’m glad I did. The twist took me completely by surprise. But some movies and books depend wholly on the ending or the twist for their ability to amaze. Others don’t. I’m usually pretty good at guessing which is which.

  32. MJ on 17 Jun 2007 at 2:02 am #

    Sometimes I do…..and sometimes I don’t. Being contrary as always….

    If I read the beginning….and I ’suspect’ where it’s going, then I may read the end and then I’m really intrigued…. HOW did it happen? How’s she (the author) going to get us from A to X? Inquiring minds want to know…..

    Sometimes I know the ending and love it - doesn’t spoil my enjoyment of the story itself, sometimes heightens it. This applies both to reading and to watching a good miniseries or movie. As you may be able to tell, I’m a great re-reader and re-watcher of stories I like…..

    But I also will read a book through in order without skipping to the end. Depends on my mood, the time of night, why I’m reading…..and if I think I’ll have time to read the whole thing at one sitting (far more likely to skip ahead if I think I won’t get there at this ‘read’).

  33. Bethany Hamilton on 17 Jun 2007 at 9:34 am #

    Anything by Stephen King or M. Knight Shalyman (sp?) I try not to find out the ending for. But then again, I trust them implicitly, so maybe that’s it. For most of their movies, the ending IS the whole point, so to know it ahead of time completely makes getting to it pointless.

    Anything else, I’d prefer to know the ending first.

  34. Ronlyn on 17 Jun 2007 at 9:39 am #

    Oh heck no! I must read it (at least the first time) from front to back, beginning to end with no peeking at the ending. Unless I have no intention of finishing the book, then I will probably peek at the last few pages to before tossing it aside.
    The one time I tried to sneek a peek at the ending a new character had been introduced and I had NO CLUE who he was and it bugged me for the rest of the book. LOL.

  35. Tracy on 17 Jun 2007 at 12:17 pm #

    I cannot read the end first! It totally ruins everything for me! Although, I will admit that I do skip some of the parts with no talking - but only if im WAY too eager to find out what happens. It depends on the author really; with some authors, you can’t just skip the parts with no talking because those are the parts that make the novel saucy! But I definitely won’t rip on you girls who do read the endings first - sometimes I’m tempted to but at that point, I just put the book down and take a break so I don’t ruin it for myself!

  36. Helen K on 17 Jun 2007 at 12:33 pm #

    LOL My name is Helen and I very rarely read books from page 1 straight through to the end. Some books I read that way, but most I read the ending a few chapters in. Some I read in bits and pieces skipping throughout the book until it has all been read. (but every page does get read)

    My DH thinks I’m crazy especially with romance, he always says, “You know how it’s going to end, why do you have to read ahead?”

    LOL I have also read the ending in books he is reading (I have to pick it up if it’s near me) and his eyes do bug out when he realizes I read the ending (and some of the middle) of a book I never intend to actually pick up and read.

    I don’t think I need a 12 step program. This way keeps me on my toes…

    :)

  37. Helen K on 17 Jun 2007 at 12:36 pm #

    Oh, and sometimes I think it’s saved me disappointment. I know what’s coming, so I can accept what happens easier than if I was expecting something totally different.

    (Also why it was good to get an ultrasound and find out I was having a boy. I sooooooo didn’t want a boy. But I got over it, planned and now can’t ever imagine I ever wanted girls. Which considering I have 2 boys now, is a good thing) :)

  38. dbrown3400 on 17 Jun 2007 at 12:49 pm #

    I’m in the “I’ll wait ’til Christmas” group unless the action is making me angry. Then I’ll skim to make sure things are going okay. I don’t read last pages because it spoils the book. I do read thrillers and mysteries that sometimes leave things hanging or are continuous where the last page would especially ruin everything. There is a current bestseller that did just that. I was surprised at the TBC since this author does one book a year.

    Sabrina, Karen and Claudia, thanks for discussing your approach to writing. I’m always curious about an author’s game plan.

    Sabrina, I share your appreciation of Jerry Orbach. I have some of his Broadway recordings which further emphasize his great talent.

    Donna

  39. Sabrina Jeffries on 17 Jun 2007 at 2:17 pm #

    What’s interesting is that I DO like to be surprised for presents … just not in books and movies.

    But I have to say, I’m delighted to find so many kindred spirits. And those of you who aren’t–I understand where you’re coming from. I just don’t come from there. :-)

  40. Bethany Hamilton on 17 Jun 2007 at 4:39 pm #

    I hate being surprised - at all! I read one Lurlene McDaniel book, and was forever against surprises. That was the first, and only, time I ever read a book without checking the ending first. I was traumatized.

    However, my hatred of surprises (including presents) came much earlier. By the age of twelve I had mastered finding, unwrapping, and rewrapping presents so well my mother never even knew. :devil:

  41. Helen K on 17 Jun 2007 at 6:07 pm #

    Presents? Absolutely love surprises!

    My DH is the type where once he buys it, he must give it and I drive him crazy because I’m willing to wait until the day/birthday.

    I don’t want to know ahead of time on presents. Just books.

  42. MizMacgyver on 17 Jun 2007 at 6:18 pm #

    Bethany! A kindred spirit, my mother would wait until Christmas eve to get me a present because that was the only way to surprise me. I could get in the package and re-wrap with no one the wiser. Unfortunately, she had seen me do this with a package we had wrapped but she wanted a card inside it. I sat right there and did the whole open and re-wrap never thinking I was telling on myself.

  43. Kay on 18 Jun 2007 at 12:06 am #

    I ALWAYS read the end first. The last HARRY POTTER, my kids couldn’t believe it when I turned to the end RIGHT IN THE STORE. I think they were expecting lightning to strike me or something. LOL

    I want to know what happens, so I can enjoy the book. I would never enjoy going on a trip if I wasn’t sure of the final destination. I would worry and fuss. I am such a control freak. :-)

  44. cail on 18 Jun 2007 at 7:29 am #

    I never read the end first. I think its mostly due to the fact that I read insanely fast and can quickly get to the end point. A normal romance novel lasts me around 2 hours or so. The last harry potter took me 10 or 12 hrs (straight).

    I do however like to read the backs to figure out who is who. Also, I can usually figure out whats going to happen in a mystery about two chapters in.)

  45. Kasey on 18 Jun 2007 at 9:13 am #

    I skip ahead and read the end first in a lot of books. Sometimes I can restrain myself but about 90% of the time I skip ahead. So far I have restrained myself from doing that in the Harry Potter books but I know it is going to be really hard for me to do that this time around. I just want to make sure that Harry, Ron and Hermione survive. I am seriosly going to have a hard time not reading ahead when I get my hands on that book.

  46. Bethany Hamilton on 18 Jun 2007 at 11:05 am #

    I was thinking -

    Does anyone think Emma Watson leaving had any affect at all on the Grand Finale? I can’t remember if she announced her decision before or after the end was decided. Now that I’m completely off topic :D

    Miz -

    My mother found out too, hehehe. She ended up having my dad lock them in the upstairs of the garage where I couldn’t get to them. How unfair!

  47. Kasey on 18 Jun 2007 at 11:20 am #

    Emma Watson isn’t leaving - she is going to stay and make all 7 movies. I also do not think it is going to affect the finale at all because JK said she had the ending of the series planned when she started writing the first book. So I don’t think even the speculation that she might leave will have any impact on the way the book ends.

  48. Bethany Hamilton on 18 Jun 2007 at 1:41 pm #

    Really?? That last I heard was a few months ago and she had said she decided not to come back for the final two. I know she went back and forth for a while, but I hadn’t heard she changed her mind again. I’m glad, then. I couldn’t imagine anyone else playing her!

    I knew JK originally had the ending all planned out - but I had also heard (don’t remember where, of course, lol) that the reason she didn’t have it ready for the original release date was because she couldn’t decide on exactly how she wanted it to end. Some speculated she had planned it one way, but then had a really hard time with the ending she had planned because she had grown so attached to all of the characters.

    Since I don’t remember where I had heard that, it could have been from somewhere completely without credit. So, I suppose it’s just a rumor :) No one can avoid those, unfortunately. At least it wasn’t a bad one!

  49. Bethany Hamilton on 18 Jun 2007 at 2:01 pm #

    OK - I just looked. I got pulled in by the tabloids, apparantly *eye roll* Emma Watson never said she was def out. That’ll teach me to pay more attention to where I’m getting my info!

  50. TheNightPoet on 19 Jun 2007 at 1:37 am #

    I never read the end of the books. I don’t because then I would know the ending and it would ruin the suprise of how it’s going to end for me. I like being suprised and I like getting through the conflicts that the characters have and reading the end puts the icing on the cake. :) I do have a friend that reads the end of books all the time. She say she has to know what happens before she knows she’s going to buy the book. I always end up shaking my head at her.

    Andrea

  51. Kasey on 19 Jun 2007 at 7:51 am #

    I heard those same rumors though too, but I knew she wouldn’t back out if the rest of the cast signed on. She would have had a lot of upset fans if she backed out? Last I heard though was that all three of them signed on for the last two movies already.

  52. Bethany Hamilton on 19 Jun 2007 at 9:38 am #

    Kasey - Yes, I just read a photocopy of a magazine article on one of the Harry Potter websites. All three signed already, and they have shots of everyone filming the next one (Ginny and all them). I’m happy :)

  53. Kasey on 19 Jun 2007 at 1:43 pm #

    Bethany - that is awesome! I am really excited to see the 5th movie next month but I am even more excited to finally be able to read the final book.

  54. Bethany Hamilton on 19 Jun 2007 at 9:06 pm #

    Amen to that!

    I think the best part about this series is that it keeps kids interested in reading from the time they are young, until they are older. The first few books are PG, so I’m really not worried about my daughter reading it young. By the time she sledges through to the point it starts getting more graphic - she’ll be old enough to handle that too. Great thinking on J.K Rowling’s part! Or just a really great outcome ;)

  55. Kasey on 20 Jun 2007 at 8:55 am #

    I know and it completely makes sense because Harry is aging in the books too, so it would stand to show as he gets older he is going to learn and face more obstacles that an adult would face. In a sense the reader’s are growing up right along with Harry.

  56. Susilien on 25 Jun 2007 at 2:39 pm #

    I must be a total throw back. I hate to find out the end too soon. My mother and I often cannot watch TV movies together because I will not watch a movie that I have never seen before without watching it from the beginning. If it is even 15 minutes into the movie, I will refuse to watch it. This often is not a problem for my Mom, because I will usually just leave the room and go read a book. I’m odd that way.

    I hate finding out the ending of a book or a big plot piece when I have not had the pleasure of reading the whole book yet. I will often read the exerpts of books or the flap stuff to decide if I want to read a book. If a book is buy one of my favorite authors (about 87 currently) I will go scope out thier website and find out from thier as much as I can until the book comes out in print. Otherwise I go around telling my friends and family DO NOT Tell Me!

    Most romance books take me 2 to 5 hours to read and Harry and the Half Blood Prince took me 8 Hours to read.

    Susie