Reader Rules

There are no rules for readers. Some readers say there are, but since reading is largely a solo affair, I have to disagree. I for one, break "the rules" all the time and probably you do, too, whether you admit it or not. I have been known, as one offense, to break the biggest rule of all and read the last chapter of a mystery before getting there legally. Most of the time, it's because the book drags on and on and I am not really interested in what goes on in the middle and need to flip to the end and get things over with. Other times, I do it because I feel rebellious and want to be one of the people who can giggle my way through the book knowing how it turns out while all the other lawful readers, don't. Tee hee. Most of the time, however, I try not to cheat. Other book rules I break, and I am sure avid readers do  all the time, is to shut and toss a boring book on the return-to-the-library pile without a second glance. Some books are a sheer waste of time. It seems this can apply to "best sellers" as well as the oh-well-I'll-give-it-a-try books. Best sellers are often varying plotted carbon copies ground out by authors who have found a great way to make money doing a book a year - or more. And then there are the books that are highly recommended but are just not fun to read. Who wants to plow through a book just to be able to sound brilliant at the next book club meeting? Not for me. Reading should be an enjoyable experience. We are no longer students who deign to read The List provided by the professor. We are free to read whatever and however we please, thank you very much. Another bad habit I have, and perhaps you, also, is concerning books with photographs, I look at the pictures first. I open where the darker hints show on the pages, and search out each fuzzy face and read the names from left to right and top to bottom or try to guess from a sea of faces which are the significant ones. I do it without guilt. There is no referee of reading about, so why not? I want to know my hero or heroine right off, his and her childhood photos and all. It gives me a feeling of having been introduced before taking in the details of that person's life. Seems perfectly logical to me. Other books about those who do grand things and meet famous people often have me turning straight to the tales about the particular persons in question. I am reading currently, about a well-known photographer of the high and mighty, and I am more interested in the latter than the photographer and his beginnings. I'll get to him later. I am also guilty of putting my book into a copier to get the title page, back and front, so that I can refer to the book's details quickly. What is the copyright date? What publisher is responsible, and is this a new edition? It's all there, and I prefer not to write it all out. I have also been known to beg librarians to allow me to finish books that I have waited a long time to get and whose borrowing periods are up before I am done, to please, please let me have the book just for another week? It seldom works, but I try. If not successful, I have been know to sit in the library almost up to quitting time, desperately reading, before having to return the due-that-day book. Librarians watch me above their eyeglasses, with pointed stares but I always do, rightfully, put the book in the slot, however reluctantly, right on time. I do not ever want to offend my librarians. What would we do without them? And what would we do without reading, legally or not?