Side Stories - Do You count them when tagging a book completed status?

geetop

I am wondering if anyone skips reading the side stories? Would you count a Volume as completed if you skip the side stories?

Here is some context:
I set myself a reading goal this year and I tend to read the whole Volume to count the book as completed. But when trying to read the catchups It probably would help me to skip the side stories. But than I feel guilty counting that particular volume as Read (completed etc).

Anyone else struggle with this?

Geezer Weasalopes

@geetop said in Side Stories - Do You count them when tagging a book completed status?:

I am wondering if anyone skips reading the side stories? Would you count a Volume as completed if you skip the side stories?

Here is some context:
I set myself a reading goal this year and I tend to read the whole Volume to count the book as completed. But when trying to read the catchups It probably would help me to skip the side stories. But than I feel guilty counting that particular volume as Read (completed etc).

Anyone else struggle with this?

If dealing with self-perception...
Unless you are able to convince your sub-conscious that skipping the side stories allows you to consider it 'completed', I'd say you'd best read the side stories or not label it as completed because part of your brain disagrees and more stress you don't need.
Other than that, if you got out of the book what you desired to get out of it, call it complete; anything else is dessert, and sometimes one doesn't feel like eating dessert.

Myself?
Side stories are part of the published volume.
The way my brain works that means if I don't read them I can't say I've finished the book; the main story line included in that volume, yes, the volume being finished, no.

If reporting figures to someone else...
You need to be on the same page concerning what 'completely read' means.

geetop

@Geezer-Weasalopes

This is what happens when I use Goodreads to track my reading challenge for the year. You get these kind of threads out of me. ; )

Vegangoth

I tend to skip the side stories most of the time mainly because I’m soooo behind on certain publications that reading those (side stories) would mean I’m slower at getting into the next volume of the series. I can always go back later to read them. So, for me, “completed” is just finishing the main story of the book.

pcj

To me it greatly depends on which novel series it is. In some of them, the side stories are meaningless slice of life with the characters, nothing to do with the plot. They're literally just there to let you have fun hanging out with the characters a little longer. In others (Bookworm is a REALLY good example of this) those stories are actually important to the plot, and just told from a different point of view than the main story, and in that case, skipping them means missing out on important pieces of plot.

geetop

@pcj said in Side Stories - Do You count them when tagging a book completed status?:

skipping them means missing out on important pieces of plot.

This is my biggest worry. Not knowing if I will miss something integral to the plot.

Kotenmaru

My view on it usually comes down to whether I buy the volume or if I'm reading something through streaming/catch-up. If I buy it, it's complete after the side stories are read once the full volume publishes. Streaming/Catch-up are complete once I finish the volumes parts.

I find side stories are mostly just minor slice-of-life, so it doesn't usually impact anything going forward, but I'll gladly read them when I have access to them. When I don't, it's because while I might enjoy the series, it hasn't wowed me enough to buy it. There are a few exceptions where it just has too many volumes for me to break down and buy them at once so I keep putting it off.

HarmlessDave

Realist Hero has side stories that add depth to the main story, so to me you haven’t completed the story unless you own the premium epub and read it all.

For some like Arifruetta I find the what if and fairy tale stories not very enjoyable and just skip them.

Most others are in between those extremes, and I consider them optional but worthwhile.

Kurzaa

Physical copy of Arifureta has side stories. So they count towards reading progress, which is why I still haven't finished my rereading of volume 6. Not sure I have been tracking my rereads in Good Reads or not though. At least not consistently.

Bonus stories with j-novel e-books are also included, hence why I bought them. Pretty sure I failed to track reading them though.

As for active translations and catch-ups however, they don't have bonus stories. So after I finish the translation, I'm finished with the volume. Some might have side stories included in the translation, but I feel like those are usually relevant to the ongoing story somehow which is why they were included in the translation rather than as a bonus story.

WaterDweller

I'd say skipping side stories will always be a risky business, unless you're rereading a series and know what will be of importance to the plot and what won't.

Take In Another World With My Smartphone as an example. There, you can skip pretty much all the chapters titled "interlude". Except for that one interlude that somehow contains an essential part of the main story, which left me confused when I was doing a reread skipping all the interludes a couple of years ago, and the story suddenly started focusing on prior events that I thought were yet to come. Turned out, those had happened in an interlude I had skipped. So, just based on that, I'd be very hesitant to tag a book as completed unless I've read all of it, side stories and all. (Sometimes (though not often), even afterwords contain interesting or useful context that might help shed light on and enhance my understanding and appreciation for a series.)

Seleena

It depends. I think reading the main story is enough to get you from one volume to the next. But in some books the side stories actually add to or clarify the plot. I'm thinking of Ascendance of a Bookworm. I enjoy the series, so I tend to read the side story. In others, I can take them or leave them - depending how I'm feeling that day.