Pacing

Clearly, many factors impact how much someone enjoys a book. Everything from genre, literary style, plot, characters, etc. plays a role. However, I think that one factor typically gets overlooked: pacing of reading. Some of this, I'm sure, varies person to person, so the following thoughts likely really only apply to me. That said, the pace with which I read a book certainly shapes my perception of the book, at least to a certain extent.

Some books may be best if you can luxuriate in them, taking your time, savoring each page. I remember that there were parts of The Ground Beneath Her Feet where I just had to stop reading and relish the previous passage. On the flip side, I read The Joke in a few short, intense bursts over the course of one afternoon. Being so intensely in the moment with the book increased my enjoyment in that case.

I tend to read books in two ways, depending on whether I start it on a Sunday or Monday, or if I start it on a Tuesday. If I start it on S or M, I usually read it very quickly, generally in one day. If I start it during my work week, I might take the whole of the work week to finish it. In some cases it likely matters less, but regardless, it does impact my experience of the book. I'm reading The Sun Also Rises more slowly than To Have and Have Not, and it's much more enjoyable (it's also a better book, but still, for me I need some breathing room with Hemingway). In other cases, dragging out a book just makes it painful (say, The Corrections).

Regardless of how long it takes me to read a book, I'm always glad with the serial novels that I am not stuck waiting for the next installment. If I had to wait months for the next chapters of each and every Dickens' novel, I'd go crazy.