Who else does this?

DH is watching QI, and I have just heard Sandi Toksvig mention: the "spoiler paradox", where you are more likely to enjoy something when you know how it ends.

I instantly thought of this thread

Oh dear!! this is a habit which so annoys my children. I enjoy reading historical detective stories. Usually read the first two or three chapters, then turn to the read the last one so that I know 'who did it'. Then turn back to where I was and can continue to read happily. This way does stop me reading for far too long at night (the only time I do read). My children think it is a sign of me getting old, but have always done it.
With regard to sad endings, whenever I watch a performance of Romeo and Juliet, I always turn it off/ leave -before the final scenes when Juliet awakes to find Romeo dead beside her.

I read magazines from back to front simply because I'm right-handed. It's easier to turn the pages that way. It's not as if a newspaper is telling a continuous story from page 1, so surely the order you read it in doesn't matter.

I wouldn't read the last page of a book till I got to it though, but I have heard of those who do.

Reading the ending first is just wrong!

It depends - if it's a whodunit or not.
If it is I like to guess who it is and check to find out.
And NanKate - I also read the newspaper back to front ( to see the obituaries)

Interesting. People must have different reasons for reading a book.

Why would anyone do that minimo. I can't see the point of reading a book if you know how it's going to end. It would certainly not occur to me to do so.

Never a book but always newspapers/magazines. I'm Irish ...

No, I prefer the suspense. However, I take a peek to ensure that the last page really is the last page - nowadays at the back there's often a preview of the next book by the same author. I see how many pages there and work out when I reach halfway - daft I know.
Late FIL used to get MIL's library books for her - he had to check the back pages to ensure that they had a happy ending - or she'd refuse to read it. Childish or what?

Wikipedia is good if you want to know the end... (Providing there is an entry in the first place)

I don't think I'd ever do that - in any case, the last page of a complex story wouldn't necessarily help much. I do sometimes let me eyes stray to the end of a page or chapter, and then relax and enjoy how the narrative takes me there.

I do re-read novels very occasionally, so it's not essential not to know how it ends. It gives you more chance to see why and how the story turns out the way it does, and a good novel will still hold your interest.

As for films, plenty of people see films numerous times. I have enjoyed The Shawshank Redemption several times, although the first time was probably the best because it has such a splendid and satisfying resolution.

Recently my granddaughter was watching Titanic for the nth time, and I nudged her and whispered, "It sinks, you know!"

That would spoil a book for me but I do read magazines from back to front, don't ask me why I just always have.

I always flick through the pages of any book l'm considering reading, reading snippets as I go. I frequently read the final two or three pages, and always read the last page. My favourite genre is crime/thriller and I just have to know the outcome so that I can follow the twists, turns and significant moments of the story.
Of course I do exactly the same with every book I read, regardless of genre, which seems to negate my 'alibi' and confirms that I am a woman of little patience!

I read a wonderful Margaret Forster book and all the way through thought it was a true story. I was devastated to read at the end that it wasn't! I had even made plans to write to the authoress and ask her further details about the person in the book.
What a marvellous story teller she was.
I haven't put the title in this post in case others haven't read it!!

I'm afraid I take a peek if I'm concerned about a character but it's just a peek!

Nooooo never! Why would you do that.

How odd ?

Rosesarered's post says it all for me.
When my neighbour told me she always looked at the back page, I couldn't believe it - thought she must be a one off but apparently not.

It would never occur to me to read the last page first, but what I do do, is to plough stoically on to the last page even if I am not enjoying idt!
That's worse really, as it is wasting my time, but totally illogically I feel guilty if I even think about giving up on a book. I must have wasted years of my life doing this as I always have/ need a book to read.

Sacrilege!! Although I have been known to 'just check' to see if a particular (usually favourite) character survives...

I don't check the end of a book unless I am really not enjoying it, and just want to finish with it, put it aside and read something else. But I do read magazines backwards, always have, not sure why!

I guess it just depends on how the story is grabbing me. If it's somehow dragging and I think I can guess the outcome I have been known to take a peek. If I'm correct, I may then discard the book or if wrong I might soldier on to discover the twist. On reflection, I maybe shouldn't be reading the particular book at all if I am ever tempted. Change of practice required here methinks!

I often read the end of a book so I can relax and enjoy the narrative. My GD did the same with picture books when she was three. My mother likes to know the end of films and books too. I thought this was normal

Nope, never! A book is an experience, be it sad, happy, harrowing, weird, wonderful.Just start it and go on reading....that's the only satisfying way to read a book and tbh I thought that everybody did that ( obviously not.) ?

I certainly do it. I need to understand where a book (novel) is going before I start reading it, otherwise I find it utterly confusing because I cannot sort the incidents in it out; to know what is important or significant and what isn't and I just get bogged down in a morass of incidents which I cannot differentiate between.

With factual books, and most of my reading is factual, I do not read the last chapter, but I do spend a long time reading the cover blurb, and all the scramble egg at the front, Index to chapters, pictures, maps, diagrams etc, authors preface etc.

I think I like to understand the landscape of a book before I start reading it, using a map rather than satnav.