feather_ghyll

I saw this elsewhere on the internet.

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And now I'll go look at what was going to be the next review I posted.

Via callmemadam and lizarfrau

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The meme did make me think a little about chapter breaks and how the author really can't control the readers' experience. I was rereading the Binchy book; I came to it with a bit of a prejudice, but after reading about half in one go (circumstances meant that I read the second half in a bitsier fashion) I found that I was enjoying it more than I'd expected, and during the break had a bit of a think about what I remembered (not much) and guessed what would happen next and circled around what I made of the characters. I couldn't remember whether I'd read it in one go the first time, without the break to muse five years ago.

It occurred to me that there are so many possible permutations of a reading experience that the writer can't control. Chapter breaks, to some extent, but for most novels, the reader isn't likely to stop after every chapter, and they could stop anywhere almost. There are some chapters where it's easier, such as if the main characters have to get to Venice to do something, you'd be inclined to stop when they got there, whereas the momentum of the story meant that you 'couldn't' tear yourself away before the point. Perhaps it's more likely for books that have distinct Parts (fantasy novels and historical novels spring to mind). Those create natural breaks. Even so, that's up to the reader or the reader's circumstance, and those breaks from the books vary the experience - you may come to a definite conclusion about a certain character, fair or not. In that break, external events may colour your whole reading of a book.

That probably seems very obvious to everyone else. I tend to (or think I tend to) read books (novels then) in as close to one go as I can get, which may be why it struck me.