Which bits of books do you skip?

Yes to poems and songs. And I really hate people writing out regional accents - fortunately it has mostly gone out of fashion apart from JK Rowling who still does it. Just tell me the character has a broad black country accent, or a strong Cornish burr or whatever. Or, you know, don’t because it doesn’t matter. But please don’t try to spell it out.
Mostly can’t skip it though, being dialogue not description. So I read it and fume

I read Bleak House recently and it was wonderful, but I skipped lots of bits about the Chancery court and I have no regrets.

Never. If I want to skip bits, I'm not enjoying the book, and I give it up. I only really enjoy a book anyway if I feel I can "trust" the writer - meaning I need to believe they are a good writer who knows what they're doing and won't screw me over with a cop-out ending or plot holes or annoying characters. And so if I do trust the author, I won't skip, as I trust that everything is there for a reason.

I always find it odd when people will say they love a TV series but they always fast-forward scenes with XYZ character or plotline in them. You'll miss things that might be important

Song lyrics and poems at the beginning of every chapter

The only time I ever skipped a part in a book was in Stephen Kings The Stand, I had to skip the crucifixion part. I don't know why, I don't mind gory scenes and read all other Stephen King books, no problem, but this...

Any description of the countryside by Thomas Hardy. So dull. I'm an English graduate and I understand pathetic fallacy but life is too short to read that much description of hedgerow.

All of the war bits of War and Peace.

I think literally everyone skips both of those!

Like a pp, I skip Joseph’s speeches in Wuthering Heights. I skip Ash’s poetry in AS Byatt’s possession, but not Christabel Lamotte’s. I skip all the curate scenes in Shirley.

Long drawn out fights. Every sword thrust and parry, just skip to the bit where the foe karks it

I never read epigraphs. And I particularly hate it when they do them for every chapter. JKR does this in Strike and while I adore the series I don’t see the need for all the silly quotes

Another who skips the long songs and verses in LOTR.

Also any sex scenes, I'm just not interested in reading the details.

I don't like the quotes at the start of the Strike chapters either! I wish you could skip them on audible, they get on my nerves. It's probably just become I'm not clever enough to understand them though 😆

I like little quotes at the start of chapters. I sit there and wonder, why did you choose that? or oooh, must read that poet/novelist/ whoever.

All the little quotes at the start of a chapter in the Strike books.

Sorry JKR - I do love you though.

The descriptions of school plays in the later Chalet School books. Too formulaic even for comfort reading

I really should skip introductions. I'm reading 'The End of the Affair' at the moment and the introduction revealed a major plot point in the first sentence! I assumed it would be something that happened fairly early in but no, last 20 pages. FFS.

The introduction to my Penguin Classics version of Daniel Deronda usefully had a warning at the beginning telling you not to read it because it revealed the denouement. I read it many years ago and first had to look up 'denouement' then spent the entire book thinking 'is that the denouement? Or that?' But for a modern reader the denouement is not as shocking as it would have been for a Victorian so it completely passed me by. Should really reread, I'm probably a better age to appreciate it now!

Anyway, I never skip anything to my detriment. I'm an enthusiastic reader of Amazon samples though so I don't buy many duffers any more.

Same, italics kill me, skip over them completely.

Shocked English teacher here: I never skip bits! I didn't think that was allowed the librarian might come and arrest you!!!

If I'm going to skip bits of something I wouldn't read the book in the first place or I'd abandon it had I already started. I couldn't keep reading it having skipped bits! That would be cheating!!!

I came here fully prepared to say ‘None, NEVER’!

Also yes, Tom Bombardil. The only time I’ve ever skipped reading part of a book.

Was it also written in Latin @MrsDanversGlidesAgain?

If you haven't read it I can't tell you without telling you how Lord Peter finds out how the murder was done and by who. 🤔Or how the victim came to be dead, to be more accurate.

I was reading the Bhagavad Gita but it had long rambling notes by the translator before each chapter and frankly I just wanted to know what Krishna was up to now.

Any descriptive bits, there is no point the author describing a room, a weapon or anything really in detail, I can't picture things so its wasted on me. It's the main reason I gave up on the Hobbit, all those people calling to his door, each one described in detail, drove me nuts!

In the case of Dan Brown, I skip the part between page 1 and the end.

That could have been any of them 😬 I think the mammoth hunters was rather poem laden.

Bits in italics that describe what the protagonist or, more often, someone of whose identity you're intentionally not quite certain, was doing 20 years ago.