Sophia, as with other indulgences, that depends on my book/drink of choice.

Sox, he hasn't even looked at it yet. He's been too busy playing with the Xmas gifts he got me.

I think I read too fast, but when I get caught up in a story I can't help myself. I think it affects my writing, because I think everyone reads the way I do, and I tend to gloss over dense paragraphs of description to get back to the story.

I'm reading the descriptions of all you immersive readers with deep envy. I *used* to read that way, as a kid and maybe up through college or thereabouts, but somewhere along the way, I stopped being able to do that. I'm a much slower reader these days, and I frequently read a paragraph two or three times before moving on to the next one. The thought that I might have missed a word or not fully envisioned a description will nag at me until I go back and reread. Every now and then, if a book really sucks me in, I can hit short stretches where I'm reading more quickly and just sort of letting the text flow over me, but it's rare these days. And I miss it.

He's been too busy playing with the Xmas gifts he got me.

hee.

I frequently read a paragraph two or three times before moving on to the next one. The thought that I might have missed a word or not fully envisioned a description will nag at me until I go back and reread.

Well, while it's a great way to be immersed in YA or thrillers or trashy romances I read, it was NOT good for studying chemistry in college (can't gulp paragraphs of that, had a hard time figuring out how to read SLOWLY), or anything that's all about the literary/writing/words....needless to say, I rarely read fancy books. :) Or as Javachik said while I was talking to her the other day "So, for you reading 'The Help' is practically literary?" It's true.

it was NOT good for studying chemistry in college (can't gulp paragraphs of that, had a hard time figuring out how to read SLOWLY), or anything that's all about the literary/writing/words....needless to say, I rarely read fancy books. :)

I can read the other way, and perhaps even take joy in it, because I was a literature major. However being a literature major made me realize that "liking stories" was actually not a good reason to be a literature major. I would have been much happier as a history major, I think, given how much I liked my history classes, and the parts in the english classes where we learned about history.

I can catch the literary words, as meara says and all that reading immersively, but I DO slow down a bit if I am researching.

And manuals and physics and such, I have to study -- I read quickly, but not immersively.

My non-fiction reading style is vastly different from my fiction style. In fiction I'm after an experience, entertainment, some kind of thrill--literary, visceral, whatever. With non-fiction, I'm after information that I can integrate into my personal databank, so I'm looking for a different interaction with the words. Wit and style are necessary in fiction, but too much of those can get in the way with non-fiction.

All right, I have finally joined Goodreads! Be my friend if that is a thing that should happen.