Am I the only one in this world who reads the last few pages of a book first?
Seriously. Why is this so hard for people to digest?
After reading the foreword, acknowledgement, and the first page of a new book, I flip to the last few pages and read the ending. Then I come back to the front again.
Is that really so weird?
Why do I do that?
Because it gives me immense peace of mind in knowing how the book ends, and once I know that, I can happily read the rest of the book. If it’s a sad ending, I’ll be prepared for it. If it’s a happy ending, I’ll be super-duper excited about it.
It’s as simple as that, really! There is nothing to break your head over it! And I really don’t think it’s weird. I think I caught that habit when Maari and I used to read Nancy Drew novels. The last few pages of the novels always used to have a making-out scene. So we used excitedly skip to the end and read those pages. :) I guess the habit just stuck on after that. Every single book that I read, I read the last few pages first, whatever be the genre.
Even with Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, I read the end first, found out who the prince is and who killed Dumbledore, and then started from the beginning. And the book was just as fascinating for me as it would have been for someone who didn’t know the surprise ending.
A line from When Harry Met Sally comes to my mind when people give me incredulous reactions at this habit of mine. Harry tells Sally, “I read the ending of a book first, so that even if I die without finishing the book, I’ll at least know how it ended”. Or something along these lines.
One of my friends, to whom I happened to mention this during our conversation, described it as similar to “wanting to have an orgasm before the foreplay”. Err.. I don’t think it’s like that AT ALL. :/
Do you guys have any habit like this that seems normal to you, but everyone else considers you cuckoo for it?
P.S:- For all those who eagerly opened the post after seeing the title, so sorry to disappoint you. What can I say, I'm a born tease. :p
What is so abnormal about it! I do the same but not for ALL the books. May be 50% of the times, I read the ending first.
ReplyDeleteThis is the same thing with men too! First of all, they hardly read any books. If they do read, for example 'Mills and Boon',what do you think they will read! The pages in between, but ofcourse!
P.S. I knew something was fishy when I read the title, so I didn't build any hopes :D
Ih ya, there were guys in my class too who read only 'those pages'. :p
DeleteI dont do that with the books, but its the case with newspaper. After reading the headlines on the front page, I directly head to the last page and come in the reverse direction. And I know few people who do the same...:-)
ReplyDeleteActually, I read magazines also like that. Peeche se. :p
DeleteHahahaha. Loved the title! And it wasn't disappointing at all! As usual, it is fun reading your posts :D
ReplyDeleteHeh. Thanks babe. :)
DeleteStrange!:)I remember doing that only for a certain Grisham book about a death row convict.I had almost reached the fag end of the book and absolutely had to skip 6 pages to know whether he will be executed,the tension was killing!But to know the ending at the beginning is a totally different story altogether...
ReplyDeleteSo I can safely assume,you belong to that extremely rare breed who will not murder me if I reveal a movie spoiler or the ending of a movie you've been dying to watch?:)
PS:No need to apologise.I am orgasmic about books too:)
Not only do I ask for the movie endings, but I also go around telling it out to others who don't want to know. :p People don't get this either. I have absolutely no qualms about knowing the ending of a movie I haven't watched yet.
DeleteHAHA!! LOVED the P.s! Funny as always!!
ReplyDeleteActually I find it surprising but not shocking that you do so. Cause I know a few people who do that!
not normal habits? :D Falling off the face of the earth! People (most people) cannot imagine that I am not tempted to create a new FB id. Ah the peace from not being on is magnificent. Not normal enough? :P
I totally understand what you're saying. When I had deactivated my account, people found it rather strange that I didn't want to rejoin. That I eventually did is a different story.
DeleteHa! Hilarious. I tend to read the first line of the book and then skip to the last to read the last line and then back to the front. you are not wierd, just different.
ReplyDeleteAh, that's a relief to hear. :)
DeleteI read the last pages first too :)
ReplyDeleteHigh-faive! :D
Deleteyou are not just the only insane one dear, even I love knowing the ending first, and trust me, the book's as exciting as it should be
ReplyDeleteunless I know the ending, I really can't concentrate on the book :)
Exactly! I just cannot concentrate on the book until and unless I know how it ends.
DeleteYes I read ur blog first just coz of the title :D. I am highly disappointed :P. Man I dnt read the last pages first ever. nd well but whenever I go for a buffet, I eat the meal first, then dessert and finally the SOUP. I find it absolutely normal.
ReplyDeleteHa, so somewhere, we're in the same league. :p
DeleteYour post got me. Especially the title.
ReplyDelete(kidding)
But I know people who have dessert first, just incase they die waiting for their main course to arrive.
I'm the freakish OCD'er though. I like the consistent pattern. The suspense till the end. And then extreme emotions. Either rage or happiness, or the feeling-of-being-dumped-after-reading-the-last-book-in-a-series.
That last thing is so so true! The feeling-of-being-dumped-after-reading-the-last-book-in-a-series. I felt that after HP ended. :(
DeleteMy habit is that I look into it for colorful pictures.. if there aren't any, then I keep it back...
ReplyDeleteYes, u insensitive tease!!!
:)
The title would fit better on your blog na. :p
DeleteShiva! Shiva! the things ppl think of my blog :)
Deletefc*klove
I do n0t think that this habit is weird..
ReplyDeleteBut, I do not feel to know the ending so soon. Not with books and not with movies! :-)
Its also something like in the film 'Remember Me'..when the lady says...'I like to have my dessert first'..
Well..Dessert I can have before...bt not the ending. I like to have suspense. :-)
I cannot stand to be in suspense. If someone tells me "I have something to tell you, I'll tell you later", unki tho gayi.
DeleteI too read it for the title :P!! But I wasn't disappointed as ever! And I do read the end of the book when I reach a part where it is either completely boring or suspense!! But I don't find your habit weird at all!!
ReplyDelete:) Thanks for that word of comfort!
DeleteDifferent people enjoy differently. Nothing abnormal about it.
ReplyDeleteBut are't you just killing the suspense when you know how a book ends? If the book is a suspense-thriller, you will just have the thrill part but no suspense, I think.
I usually keep the best for the last, which is basically the end part, don't you think?
And the title. You should have ended with the Sheldon Cooper's fantastic word : BAZINGAa. (Just Sayin) :P
I don't like being in suspense, that's the whole point. :)
DeleteAnd yes, Bazinga!! :D
Ahh..here after a long time...I read your last couple of posts...:-D Delightfully entertaining as usual!!!:-)
ReplyDeleteThank you ji! :)
DeleteFor one, reading the end does make an interesting habit - but imagine reading Hitler in reverse order - it becomes a story of a guy who rises from the dead to become an evil dictator :D :D.
ReplyDeleteSuch a tease you are - I ran helter skelter to see what the title meant and I`m so disappointed :P.
Cheers :)
Oye, I didn't say that I read a book in reverse. I jsut read the ending first, that's all. :/
DeleteI do the same when reading a suspense novel. I start guessing who the killer might be and then my curiosity gets better of me. I go to the last pages to confirm :)
ReplyDeleteHigh-faive, then! :)
DeleteThere is nothing weird AT ALL. There is something to know the climax first and then see how it actually goes. Thrilling na.. Ofcourse I read the whole book. I do this with movies too :)
ReplyDeleteMovies, somehow, I haven't done that yet. Maybe I should start. :p
DeleteUnlike the others above me, I did not come here because of the title but for the intellectual stimul.. ah !! who am I kidding !! I came here because of the title as well :)
ReplyDeleteAnd sorry, gal.. you're on your own here.. I never read the ending of the book.. I do speed read across worthless descriptions etc etc but no peeking to see if the butler is the murderer :D
Intellectual stimuli, my ass! :D
Deletepfftt..i was expecting some fireworks in the post okay..
ReplyDeleteanyway..that apart...aaaan..even i have the habit like u..but i feel super guilty if i go read the end first.
i feel guilty..and i still go read the end..and then i feel guilty and i read the book and decide never to read the end again before but i still do.
blahahahahaha..that made absolutely no sense no :D:D:D
so i have this another habit okay..
whatever i get or see or do or have..i always try to do it in a trio kinda thingy..i mean...its really weird okay..
y?
i also dont know..3 is my lucky no? aa maybe...
so
3 chocolates.
3 hair pins.
3 pens.
3 relationships (*double grins*) its 4 actually...but the 1st was tp..
i mean u get the gist right...? of my madness..
khi khi khi
PS-hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..foreplay after orgasm...aaaan...i would probably go in for a 2nd orgasm directly...just fuck the foreplay...
jahahahahhahaa
u know me..i had to say it dei...
awesome crazy post wonlyy maa
cheers!!
I'm always at a loss as to how to reply to your comments. Seriously. :/
DeleteThat's no weird. I do that!
ReplyDeleteI like to know how it ends, and the excitement of reading the book is so much better :D
Yes, precisely. :)
DeleteI read the title, and thought - ah, finally someone like this! Damn you, bitch :)
ReplyDeleteNot weird at all :) I did it for HP too. Esp, now days I do it for mush-ones, so that I know who is winding up with whom and for mystery, it helps to keep track of what the bad guy does through the book.
Appadiyellaam sollaathu chello. :p (I hope I got that right)
DeleteNothing weird but I never do it.. I like the suspense.. of course foreplay first and then orgasm ;-)
ReplyDeleteI can never bear to be in suspense. :(
DeleteNothing weird but I never do it.. I like the suspense.. of course foreplay first and then orgasm ;-)
ReplyDeleteloved the title :-)) a little disappointed to be honest ;-)
ReplyDeletewell, you are not weird but I don't do that with a novel but with newspapers and magazines, I tend to read the last paragraphs first then the first and then the middle (not necessarily in that order.. generally a little haphazardly). I don't like if someone reveals the end of a movie or a story even if it is not a murder mystery/thriller!
Actually, even I read magazines from the back. ALl the fun stuff is at the back. :p
DeleteHahaaa Spiff, I read the end tooo! Mostly because these days I've become a slow reader (thanks to all those exams and deadlines) and then I cannot wait to find what happens at the end. So I flip over to the end, satisfy myself about the end, and then continue as if I knew nothing :D Looks like I'm not the only weird one! :P Same goes for movies- I read reviews (with spoilers, pester people who have watched it to tell me all about it, and then only will I go watch it.
ReplyDeleteSame pinch! Unless I'm watching a movie on the first day itself, I make sure I get all the dope on it beforehand. I pester to know the suspense ending too. I totally kill the joy for people who come up to me and say "Hey I saw that movie. Shall I tell you how it ends? Mwahahaha" with that evil look. And I'll be like "Sure, go ahead." :D :D :D
DeleteI read just the last line of the book. Enough to leave me totally confused and all the more intrigued about the story :)
ReplyDeleteI have read entire chapeters and epilogues. :/
DeleteTagged for a blogger award at http://godyears.blogspot.in/2012/05/versatile-blogger-award-and-7-new.html
ReplyDeleteThank you, doc! :)
DeleteArey Spiff,
ReplyDeleteKnowing you, I didn't expect anything beyond the title :P
Oh, I don't read the end - I like savouring it right from the beginning and rise and fall with book and all. What I do however sometimes is reading the last para for the chapter - I like the way some authors end chapters with something startling in the end and all.
What I share is the part about reading foreword, preface and all. I even like to read where the author lives, how many daughters s/he has, whom did s/he dedicate the book to etc.
But I don't find your habit even a wee bit weird Spiff. Quite a few I know do this :)
Hehe. My reputation precedes me, no. :p
DeleteI read every bit of the ackowledgemtn, foreword and intro. :)
There is nothing abnormal about it.I do it almost always.Fabulous title!
ReplyDeletep.s: I wiki the American sitcoms ,one season a time, before watching them.I don't think its weird!
My world, my thoughts, my musings....
Oh my god, I'm sure we were sisters in our previous birth. I wiki sitcoms too. :/ I read up on the season 7 finale of HIMYM before downloading from torrent. I simply couldn't wait to find out who Barney's bride was. :)
DeleteIs saying same pinch allowed these days??? :P
DeleteDamn, whatta title!!
ReplyDeleteWell who wouldn't like an orgasm first, and then re-live it. It works in all cases ;)
Nothing wrong with you, I'm a sucker for orgasms too. I need to see if its worth the foreplay or not :D
LOL at the title...! Yes I think its weird :-| I am the type who will yell at u if u told me the climax beforehand..I like to be surprised !
ReplyDeleteI am just wondering how the orgasm, foreplay and make out scene fitted so perfectly.....coincidence?
ReplyDeletehm....
Stay Blessed ^_^
P.S. No, I don't think it's weird
Haha no, even I do that....first the summary on the back cover (which I keep reading every once in a while) then to the penultimate page. It irks my dad a lot :P
ReplyDeleteI LOVE LOVE LOVE your title! And yes, I do that sometimes. When I can contain it anymore and am about to explode. Haha...(that's what she said!)
ReplyDeleteHi! I'm back!
I sometimes can't take the suspense any more and read the last page, but not for every book. I agree that it doesn't always spoil the ending, and can make reading much less stressful :)
ReplyDelete