Do You Ever Purposely Spoil a Book For Yourself?

Brianna: You once wrote a comment where you said, and I quote “I'm the worst mystery spoiler! I can't stand suspense so sometimes I cheat and read the last 15 pages of the book and then go back to the beginning.” *gasp!* You will read the end of a book first and spoiler it for yourself?!!

J9: I suppose you took a damn screenshot so I can’t delete my comment and deny I ever admitted that, huh? I’m not a great mystery reader or movie watcher for that matter.  I like to know who the villain is so I can enjoy how the story unfolds.  Once in awhile if I can’t stand the suspense I’ll read the last 15 or 20 pages of a book so I know how the mystery ends.  I think this is why I am a romance reader: because I *know* the leads get a HEA, it’s how they get there that is the story.  So you’ve honestly never spoiled a book for yourself?

How have others spoiled books for you then and how do you react? And tell the truth because I have my own little proof about someone on Goodreads spoiling a book for you and what you did! Not that I’m going to use said evidence but it is in an undisclosed location in case I need it! ;-)

Brianna: Of course I grabbed a screenshot!

I get that - that it’s the journey - but for me, sometimes the destination is just as important. As a big romantic suspense reader, I love the thrill of not knowing who the villain is until the time is right. I don’t want to be able to easily guess who it is, so no, I don’t spoil a book for myself. Never have and probably never will. I like piecing together the information to figure out the villain. I love the suspense of it. But I understand you wanting to enjoy the story unfolding without spending all of your concentration on the ‘who done it’ part. I make a lot of notes, do a lot of highlighting, and bookmark lots of pages in romantic suspense books, especially ones that have snippets from the villain’s POV. That way, after I find out who the villain is, I can go back to those little nuggets of information and rehash it all over again, knowing exactly whose POV it was. Because it does give it all a different feel to it once you know who the bad guy is.

My memory is pretty bad so I’m not sure if this is the particular example you’re referring to. I’m thinking it was the time I saw the way a person on Goodreads (someone I’m ‘friends’ with) shelved a particular book. I inadvertently found out the heroine gets pregnant in the book and it ruined it for me. I was pissed. Of course, now, I can’t remember which book it was, or if I finished reading it or not, but my point is I don’t want to know plot details like that. If it’s not in the book’s description, I don’t want to know about it until I’ve read it for myself. And I’ve inadvertently come across spoilers on Twitter as well. When I see that someone is talking about a book that I haven’t read yet (but plan too), I try to avoid looking at those tweets.

J9: I agree, there is a huge difference between spoiling a book for myself and having other people spoil the book for me.  I also avoid reading tweets about books I plan to read because I don’t want anyone to inadvertently spoil a book.  I have to admit, I’ve had reviewers spoil books too and I always keep this in mind when I write my reviews not to do this to others.  I admit, this isn’t always easy. 

For instance, I recently read an MM book that I thought was just gonna just be erotica (fine but nothing remarkable) but then this THING happens about half way and the book TOTALLY changed directions.  I couldn’t figure out how to write the review without telling this thing because it moved the book into a tremendous emotional romance that made me rethink one of my hard and fast relationship rules. So I opted not to review the book for fear of spoiling it.  Since I’d purchased the book I didn’t feel bad about doing this but I say this to illustrate my commitment not to spoil books when reviewing them!

Brianna: That is exactly the reason I do not read reviews for books that I plan to read either - the fear of spoilers! And we don’t all agree on what is or is not a spoiler; It depends on the individual reader. What could be considered a spoiler in my eyes may not be a spoiler for you. That’s why I try not to summarize a book in my review. Some things are best left for the reader to experience first hand by reading the book themself.

Sometimes it’s hard to articulate how you feel about a book without giving away plot points. You can try to be vague but I sometimes worry that going that route might just be too confusing to the reader and I worry that my point might get misconstrued.

J9: Very good point, we may not all agree what’s a spoiler but we do agree let’s not spoil it--unless I need to do it myself! :)

 

What about you – do you ever purposely spoil a book for yourself?