Binge watching is one of the most used terms on the internet. We all know what it is. But what is binge reading? Binge reading is quickly reading books without stopping, possibly skimming or even skipping parts we're not interested in.
Why don't we already binge read? Maybe it's because it feels impure to do so. It might be a result of the schooling we had growing up. Skimming was a sin and not knowing exactly happened in a specific chapter was unacceptable. We took notes, highlighted passages, and pored over every line. For some, reading is a grueling task, and it doesn't have to be.
When we don't have a lot of time, reading for fun gets pushed aside. We'll binge watch Netflix before we'll open that book sitting on the nightstand, a bookmark poking out of it. Why? Because we want to enjoy every part of the book, not missing anything.
We won't read a book that isn't worth our while. We need that book we'll love. There is something condemning about not finishing a book. What if we skipped even paragraphs or sections we didn't care for? That's what we do with TV by fast forwarding. We play our Netflix shows in the background as noise, barely paying attention, only picking up the important parts. If we miss something, we rewind it or wait to see if the show explains it later. Books should be no different!
We, avid readers or not, so rarely pick up books that weren't recommended to us or have a stamp of approval on them. We don't walk up to a random shelf and decide to read a book without any forethought. But we should! And we would know that we didn't have to make the commitment of reading every word on each page and finishing the whole book being able to give a detailed synopsis. We can binge read a book, indulging in only the parts we want to.
Binge reading may be the next big thing. As in, the newest series being published might be released together instead of yearly installments.The Wire book club said the publisher of VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy chose to release all three volumes within an eight-month period so readers could consume them all at once. "The idea was to do for book reading what Netflix did for TV: make it binge-able." Publishers are realizing what Netflix already knows. Waiting to publish books in a series stalls the momentum. Complex characters and plots lose their intensity when readers have to wait for the next book.
Remember reading the Harry Potter series in almost one sitting? Inhaling all the books that were published and then having to wait for the next book? If you didn't experience the gap between publications, you don't know how it changed the experience. So what if the next series is boom! published and on shelves ready for you read all at once? Like Netflix automatically plays the next episode, the next book installment is at your fingertips.
