Caught myself speed reading to finish a chapter just so I could argue my point in book club

Last Thursday I realized I was skimming through the middle of a book just to get to a quote to prove someone wrong, and I totally missed the whole character arc. Has anyone else caught themselves reading for the debate instead of actually reading the story?

2 comments

2 Comments

hollym121d agoMost Upvoted

Wait till you start choosing books based on how good your hot take will be. Picked up a popular thriller last month just to rip it apart. Hated every page but couldn't stop. Felt like I was reading for an argument that only existed in my head. Realized later I was just trying to feel smarter than the book. It's not about the story anymore, it's about winning points nobody's keeping.

nora_wells5821h ago

Oh man, that's way too real... I catch myself doing that with normal conversations sometimes, not even just books. Like I'll be listening to someone tell a story at dinner and I'm already lining up my counterpoint in my head before they finish their sentence. It's like we've all got this little judge living in our brains now, scoring everything like it's a competition instead of just... experiencing it.