Whether I’m reading fic or non, I often pick up my laptop to check out something referenced in my book. Maybe a photo of a person mentioned. Or maybe if they refer to a food, plant, historical event, or just a word I’m not familiar with. Today, I just started a novel - The Golden State, Lydia Kiesling - and it described driving from San Francisco up I5 to the high desert. I pulled up a map to let me know if the setting was a real place or, if not, at least approximately where it is.
I didn’t used to do this, but seem to have started over the last year or 2. Any of you do the same?
(It is currently -15F here near Chicago. I’ll likely be doing quite a bit of reading today!)
I do this while reading and watching movies. I recently watched a series set in Tasmania and had to stop every 5 minutes to look up a slang term. It was worthwhile.
It is currently 81F here in St Martin, with a lovely sea breeze. Reading Rum Punch (which became Jackie Brown) on the beach, a tradition the last ten years).
I do the same thing. While reading fiction, if a place is mentioned that sounds like it might be a real place, I often look it up to see if it does exist, like the OP. I look up unfamiliar words I come across. A great feature of the Kindle is its built-in dictionary, so I can just tap on a word to instantly get its definition.
When reading non-fiction on Kindle, I will stop and see if a book that is mentioned on the same or related subject is available on Kindle. I have found doing this to be a good source of new books that I want to read.
Had to check that, of course. My browser says it is -22°C, but only -8°F at 8AM.
So, short answer: Yes, I do that all the time and it has lead me to many a deep rabbit hole. Wikipedia in particular can lead me to unexpected links which in turn…
Wunderground.com showing -10F at my location at the moment. But I’m not gonna quibble. Suffice it to say it’s “damn cold!” Don’t envy the dog having to go outside to piss and shit today…
Frequently. Most often to check whether a place or person is real or fictional.
Or sometimes in an SF book where I get the niggle: hang on, that doesn’t seem right, let’s check the math.
This is one big advantage of Kindle books for me, although I don’t like the way they do the dictionary now. I’m often reading my Kindle with my phone nearby to look things up.
This is one reason I find it hard to warm to audiobooks. When I see an unfamiliar word, I can look it up immediately. If I just hear it, it’s a lot harder.
I have such mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I like the author building a world, and I tell myself it shouldn’t matter if the thing is real or not. On the other hand, I do it all the time. Especially if it’s some odd event I’ve never heard of, or some old building or person I’d like to see a picture of.
Definitely and quite often. It’s so easy with a finger tip to highlight a word or phrase and use search the web for additional information. Wiki is fine but I usually pass over it in favor of other sources.
Since I do about 80-90% of my reading on a cell enabled tablet or bedside kindle, yup! Especially when I’m reading alt-history books or harder science fiction and want to get a better understanding of where the line got blurred.
This is what I was going to say as well. I do most of my ‘reading’ these days via audiobooks, especially when I’m on my daily walk. l will hear a word, or place, or phrase, or name, and say to myself “You need to look that up when you get back home.”
Invariably, I either forget to look it up, or forget what I was going to look up.
Especially if it’s some odd event I’ve never heard of, or some old building or person I’d like to see a picture of.