Bad Reading Habits

I dogear books. I bend them until the spine cracks. I lose the jackets of my hardbacks. The pages of the books I read are usually sprinkled with cookie crumbs or blotched with spaghetti sauce. The tell-tale warp of the pages reveals my penchant for drinking beverages when I read. None of this really bothers me (if the book is borrowed, I'm far more careful...or I borrow books from people with the same habits). I do something worse.

When I was a kid I loved getting the T.V. Guide and reading ahead to find out what happened the next week on my favorite shows. I was never satisfied waiting until the next week to find out what was going to happen. What new fantasy would Mr. Rourke provide on Fantasy Island? Would Gopher get a date on Love Boat? And lets not get into the soaps. I remember sneaking peaks through the soap magazines at the grocery store to find out what was going to happen to Bo and Hope.

I'm just as bad with books. I always catch myself going to the last page. Usually it doesn't mean much. The hero and heroine have generally ironed out their differences and author rewards us with a light epilogue which gives us a glimpse at the love birds. But I take it a step further. I read random pages, trying to get a preview of what lies ahead. It's such a habit I don't notice it anymore. I love to be in the know. And I'm curious. With the "Twilight" series I was desperate to hear how it all ended, however, I didn't really care for the first book. The thought of plodding through all of them didn't appeal. Luckily my son got peer-pressured into reading them and he gave me the cliff notes version.

Am I the only what that does this? What bad reading habits do you have?