The Booking Through Thursday question for this week is:

1. Do you cheat and peek ahead at the end of your books? Or do you resolutely read in sequence, as the author intended?
2. And, if you don’t peek, do you ever feel tempted?

I used to look at the end in my undisciplined youth. 🙂 But I found that actually spoiled the story for me. Part of the enjoyment is the unfolding of the story itself, the anticipation, the guessing of what’s going to happen.

I had a similar experience with Christmas presents when I was a child. I was playing near the Christmas tree when I realized that some of the wrapping paper on the presents was light enough to see through. I came back later when no one was around and investigated and made out what most of my presents were. I was delighted! Until Christmas morning when there were no surprises left. Then I was bereft and deflated. I never again yielded to the temptation to find out what my presents were ahead of time.

I’ve come to love savoring the story, not just finding out the ending — unless it is a really boring book. There are times when I am reading through kind of a dull part of a book that I’ll skim through the next few pages and see where it’s going, and I’ll usually come back and finish the dull part before going further. But I do like the save the end for the the last thing.