How do you read a book? The “normal” way is to read a book from beginning to end, but that’s not always possible, especially if 1) parts of the book are boring, 2) you want to know what the ending will be [which is frankly just another way of saying “the rest of the book is boring"], or 3) the entire book is boring, in which case you don’t bother to read beyond the first few paragraphs of the first chapter.

But what about the other ways people read books? An example would be where the person reads a certain number of pages in one book before moving on to another book to do the same, and so on.

I read a book on Friday night in three hours and I’m now eyeing three other books I’ve been trying to get through or want to start; I will probably read them in the same fashion as the above blogger reads, or give that fashion a try. No previous experience with reading exams required, either.

Across the bow is another way to define a certain style of writing - namely, the way an author writes her books. Some authors are very diverse with how they write, although diversity is relative depending on the author. Stephen King, for instance, has a distinctive descriptive style that I like, and he’s written novels about a single theme or setting (Castle Rock comes to mind), all within the realm of horror or fantasy fiction. I won’t address genre much because that doesn’t have much to do with style, at least not in this context.

The book I read Friday night is Christian romance fiction, and I didn’t think about the author’s style much until I finished the book. That’s when I noticed several things about all of her work that I’ve read previously, as well as the current book. Firstly, the reader will immediately recognize the same plot the author’s used in her other books, which usually entails a similar obstacle the main female character must overcome in order to love the main male character. Secondly, there will be the same “sweet personality” traits for the main female character. Thirdly, there will always be the same kind of pastoral figure. Finally, there will the same themes of family and God and church. History is probably the only diversity offered because all of the books take place in different historical periods.

I don’t have a problem with an author using the same kind of style for every book she’ll have published, and I should probably expect any future work to be modeled after this style, too. Still, I’m wondering how I can read essentially the same story without getting tired of it already. Who is better: an author who uses a different style for every book she writes even if she may stay in the same genre, or an author who uses the same style for her published work and the only difference the reader notices is the framework of the story (i.e. setting and time period)? And do readers immediately recognize that recurrent style - if applicable to the author - and if they do, what changes for them?

NOTE: This is a Revised & Expanded version of one of my posts from another blog.