I'm curious --- How do you read a book?

I think I can answer this more by what I don't do.  I don't imagine myself as either character.  I don't envision the scenes unfolding.  And I wouldn't say I'm a caring observer.  Hmmm...  I'm definitely a plot driven rather than a character driven reader.  I think I just like to get lost in the world the author creates but yet I'm not envisioning it at all.  I don't notice (other than the rare instance, like when Tom Cruise was in INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE) when the cover doesn't match or when the hair color changes, etc.  Because I am just lost in a story.... I don't know really how to explain it any other way.  Maybe some other responses will help me out here.

And in that context, I'm an observer.  I just was thinking of a friend who literally envisions each scene as if she is watching a movie and I don't do that.  But yes, I'm definitely an observer.  I don't like it when a book actually has anything that I truly identify with to the point I'm like one of the characters~ it defeats for me the whole purpose of reading fiction, if that makes sense.

Of course, the smart-arse answer is: with my eyes!

With a lot of the Harlequin/Imprint books, I really don't find myself living vicariously through some of the characters or wanting to be them, but find them mostly as "ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances."

That being said, with a lot of the SOLDIER and NASCAR stories, I DO actually feel as if I'm there and that I'm the HERO and the pretty Heroine, just out of reach, will soon be mine -- and we'll live HEA!

I think I do a combination of both "being the heroine" and "seeing the book" as if it is a movie that I am watching. In my twenties, I read Regency Romance exclusively. I remember being the heroine almost everytime I read the book. I wanted to live in that time and wear those cloths and have the hero fall for me.

I have always seen the books in my mind like a movie. I see the hero and heroine and other characters. I see their homes, business, the scenery described plus more. Details that are described by the author and some that are not because my mind fills in the blanks.

I love Emma Darcy and I loved the book you quoted by her. As I read it again, I am remembering much of the scene. Especially with the son. She was outside walking home with her son and then sees Luc so she tells him to go inside. I see him going but then turning and telling the hero that he had better not hurt him mummy. The he runs into the house.

I think seeing it in my mind with such detain helps me to remember the books better. I still will often make myself the heroine especially if I really like her and if he is really yummy. :)

Margie :)

I'm not one that analizes about reading!  That said, I read for enjoyment and don't think to much about how I'm reading.  Pulling my thoughts together to post about the books is enough of a challenge for me.  However, this is an interesting question & discussion.  I'm missing more discussions like we had last year when we really had "groups".  I don't get that feeling so much this year with the changes.

I just stopped in to see what all of you "Quiet Canadians" are reading.  Have a great weekend.

A great question.  I read in several ways. 

I do not necessarily imagine myself as a character but I do like it when a book of fiction makes me think of things I have experienced or gives me insights.  There is one part of me that reads in a personal way.  It isn't a one-to-one correlation though.  Like Trish Wylie's last HR book giving me insight into my mom as a divorcee with a child even though that is not the exact situation in her book at all.  I find fiction teaches me about myself and the world in many ways from emotional to spiritual.  But I do not ever imagine myself in the scene.

I do like to see women in books portrayed as strong, smart etc.  It's the feminist in me.  I guess it means in that instance I look for role models....although that is not really at all how I read in other ways.  Medieval literature can seem very anti-feminist in certain corners/works and yet that time period is my passion. This probably comes more into play with books set in moder times.  And ye I do like stories of women who break through cultures or situations that are not good to women... telling the stories can make silent women's voices heard if that makes sense.  It's not necessarily a role model thing but similar for non-fiction and spirtual writing.  I read to get something out of it applicable to today.

There is part of me that reads for artisitc and aesthetic pleasure.  That's why I studied literature for so long.  I love the how and why of stories as much as the what.  It's not a stuffy or pedantic thing and it's not a right/wrong thing...maybe it's weird but I get really, really excited looking at stories and when the writing has parallels of this and echoes of that, and all that stuff.  It doesn't even matter to me sometimes the plot or characters or anything or if it is a story I typically like or a genre I like or any of that if the writing itself draws me in.  I can feel just as passionately about a book for these reasons as the story itself.  It gives me great pleasure to see that while reading and it isn't something I turn off when I read strictly for pleasure.   I really love art and I guess I look at writing like I do the visual and performing arts.  

I also read with questions.  I sort of open up a book and ask what a book has to tell me.  I try to approach a book so it opens my mind instead of necessarily trying to put myself into or over a book.  Instead of having checklists of what I do and don't like and what I expect, I try to just ask questions of a book.  Why is it this way and not that?  Things like that.  It's not a judgemental thing but more open-ended questions to see where the book takes me.