Spoiling the Surprise (and a Contest!)

by Julie Coulter Bellon

I was talking to my friend a few days ago about a book I was reading and how I couldn’t put it down until I’d seen how the author was going to end it. I’m usually a “big gulp” sort of reader, in that if the book is really good, I read it in one big gulp so I can see how it ends. My friend is a piece reader, she reads it slowly, a chapter a night. I asked her how she ever had the patience to do that and not want to rush to the end. She smiled and said, “well, I read the end first.”

That flabbergasted me. In my mind, she had ruined the whole surprise of the book by reading the end first. But that’s how she could go through it slowly, because she was just reading the events that would lead up to the ending. She already knew how it ended so she wasn’t in a rush to see. She claimed it was easier to savor it that way.

For me, I like to go along with the characters, try to figure out the mystery, or be on the rollercoaster of suspenseful surprises that lead to the end. I want to experience the unknown with the known, and that means that I don’t read the end first. Of course, I do sometimes skim if the author is prone to over-describe or over-conversationalize, but that doesn’t happen very often. I’m along for the ride. And I’m always sad when it’s over.

However, as those who know me, know, I don’t have a lot of patience for surprises in any other realm than reading. My husband doesn’t even put out my Christmas gifts until Christmas Eve because I can’t leave them alone. The presents call to me, wanting me to open them and to know what’s inside. No surprises for this girl. And it’s the same when I’m having a baby. Out of the seven children that I have, I was only surprised with one of them and that was incredibly hard for me to do. I usually find out the gender beforehand, which, in some people’s mind spoils the surprise I’m sure, but for me I get to feel more prepared and ready for the baby that’s about to come.

With my current pregnancy, we are going to find out the gender a week from today, (if the baby cooperates, of course). Since I haven’t done a fun contest in a while, I thought I would do one today. In the comment trail, if you list your guess as to what the baby will be, a boy or a girl, I will enter all the correct guesses in a drawing for a copy of either All’s Fair or Dangerous Connections, your choice and announce the gender and winner next week. (And if you’re going by odds, I currently have five sons and two daughters.)

Oh, and if you’re so inclined, tell me whether you’re a reader who reads the end first or not. I’m curious to see if there are a lot of readers who are like me or like my friend. I think most people read like me, and read to experience the book. But, on the other hand, I also like to spoil the surprise in other areas of my life so maybe I’m more like my friend than I think. What about you?