Heh?

Do you ever read something and not “get” it? And I don’t mean in the grand scheme of things. I finished a book recently and there were a couple of times in the story where I flipped back and forth, re-read the passage and still, it felt like something was left out (and I am talking paragraphs not just a few omitted words). I even took a break, stopped reading for a while, came back to it and still… I was missing something. I’d like to think I am not that dense, but well add and “I” and you have Denise… anyhoo…

I must admit, I tend to read pretty quickly. I don’t skim and I’m not a speed-reader, mind you, but I have read over my husband’s shoulder enough to know that I read twice as fast as he does. And no, he’s not *that* slow. I think it may be because when you read 30 some odd novels every year, as well as reading over your own work a bazillion times, you tend to be able to pick up on the rhythm of the writing and it just flows as you read along (the hubby seldom reads fiction—or books at all for that matter—just doesn’t have the time). It is like any other function, you can hone your reading skills. As I like my analogies, I’d guess it’s the same as workers on an assembly line, they get their rhythm going and can knock it out easily/smoothly.

I can’t presume to know what the author was doing in such passages—I mean after a slew of editors went over it, the scene must have worked, so it was clearly me, but still… Maybe it’s like those pics you see (another analogy ) where holding the pic one way it’s all squiggly lines but squint just right and turn it slightly and it’s a 3D pop-out pic. Maybe, I just didn’t squint with the correct eye. I will say, one part of the story could very well have made sense had I read the previous two books, but there was another scene where the H/H were in this one position, then somehow magically completely reversed without actually moving… {shakes head… and I tell you, I read that sucker *several* times}

Have you ever read through a book and wondered if you weren’t getting some part of it? Was there ever part where you thought maybe the author wrote just enough to give you the idea but not enough to completely follow along? Worse, have *you* written a scene that was fully cemented in your mind but you left holes once you got it down… I know I have!

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