It is my considered opinion that there are two kinds of people: those who read fast and those who actually read, and that those who read fast, whilst undoubtedly able to get the ‘drift’ are far less adept at judging nuance.  It is to do, I think, with not leaving sufficient pause for full stop, comma and all other ancillary punctuation marks.  I am a proficient, but slow reader.  When I speed up to anything above my habitual lope, I cease to understand.  I read what the characters say – word perfectly I would say – but I do not hear them.  They talk, but do not speak.  As I ratchet up my words per minute, books become politicians: I hear almost every word they say, understand about fifty percent and believe none at all.

If I’m honest, I am yet to be convinced of the desirability of reading quickly anyway.  I know that there are lots of books out there waiting to be read and obviously you can’t get through them all without swallowing up the pages with the speed of a paper shredder, but a little perspective here, there are few good books and even fewer great books: most of what you read will be pants and there cannot be much justification in cramming more of that into the memory bank than you have to.  The ability to read, for instance, Ulysses in a super-quick time (in my case, anything under 64 years) would be welcome, but would it make the whole overblown ragbag any more understandable, more readable, more entertaining?  No, it would be none of the above, but it would, at least, be over quicker.

When I read a book that I like, I want to know what happens, but not too quickly.  I don’t want to reach the end before I understand the beginning.  I have more than enough problems in holding down the nuances of plot without ripping through them like Usain Bolt on a pogo stick.  I realise that I should be able to retain details of carefully drafted characters, but on a single read I find that quite often I cannot.  This is just me – it has always been so – but ‘scanning’ always makes it worse.  Without taking the time to read each word and punctuation mark correctly, I find myself grasping the wrong end of the stick more often than a fishing lake carp.  At least by reading at my own pace, I don’t have to keep going back to remind myself who people are and why they did whatever-it-was they did to whomever-it-was they did it.

I am definitely camped in the ‘slow’ school.  I might not find out whodunit first, but when I do work it out I will, at least, remember how, why and possibly – providing I didn’t miss one of those dratted nuances back in chapter two – wherefore…