Julia's Opinion: Fast Reading

I have been debating on creating an opinion post for a while now. Obviously, not everyone may agree with my opinion, and I might not agree with theirs. Writing an opinion post could cause issues based on the different opinions that people have. But after wondering for many nights if I should write one of these posts, I finally decided on doing it. After all, people like opinion posts (or at least I do!), and they are more casual and friendlier.

What is "fast reading"?

I am not exactly sure if I have the term right. (Thus I am writing this little introduction/explanation.) What I call "fast reading" is when you read a book in a short period of time or when you rush through a book. (I have rushed through a few books for school.) This includes reading large portions in only a few hours, reading a book in a single sitting, or reading it in only a few days. Maybe you call this "speed reading", but I thought that the term fast reading was more inclusive of all of the types of reading paces and choices that I plan to cover in this post.

Am I a fan of fast reading?

No. I am not a fan of fast reading. 

(Take some time to let that settle in all of you fast readers. Are you okay? When ready, continue. I would greatly appreciate it for you to see my point of view.)

I know that a lot of people do read rather quickly. Some people finish off a book or a long section in a single sitting, or in a day, or in two days, etc. Others speed-read, and rush through several pages in minutes! First of all, how do you do it? Are you really understanding what you are reading? Perhaps I am but a clueless slow-reader. Secondly, I do see the good side to this. Like I said earlier, I have read in this way before. Reading a book quickly gets things done, and is also useful if you need to last-minute read something else (ex. school assignments), and sometimes when I have last-minute read a book, I have remembered more information. Also, if you read something quickly, you get to read more books, and that's always good!

Overall, though, I believe that fast reading is not good, and should not be done.

When you read something in a day, you don't truly get to appreciate the book. I even find this to be true for a couple of days. Sometimes you'll be reading a book that really should be read slowly, so that you can think about it. I am not just referring to analyzing the theme, metaphors, possible foreshadowing and such, but also predicting. I mean, who doesn't like to predict? To think of some sort of wild and near impossible reason for why something happened? 

I know that some people may want to complete a reading challenge or read-a-thon, and that's fine, but I don't believe that you should rush through a book just for a title. If you truly love the book, then by all means, savor it like it's that last bit of your iced coffee or special treat. I don't believe in ruining a perfectly book for others. So what if it takes you a month to read it? At least you enjoyed it. And isn't that why we love to read?

---

Like opinion posts? 'Cause guess what? Julia wrote another one, Julia's Opinion: Teen Romance Novels:

"Just scroll through the #bookstagram community or the teen section of a book store. What do you find? Teen romance novels. Lots of them. The Fault in our Stars. Say What You Will. To All the Boys I've Loved Before. I can't tell you how many times I've seen these titles. But what about others? I mean, some people like this large number of romance. Others don't. What do I think? 

I don't like the numerous teen romance novels that dominate bookstores and bookstagram. If you..." Read more