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Is there an expression or word that describe the action of reading a book very quickly or enthusiastically?

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  • 2
    Well, "speed reading" is the (teachable) skill of reading a text quickly while still maintaining reasonable comprehension. – Hot Licks Dec 28 '15 at 4:09
  • Yeah but I mean more as if you're extremely into/excited about a book and then read it very quickly because of that rather than as a skill. – Bernardo Meurer Dec 28 '15 at 4:10
  • The reader perhaps "drank in" the book. – Hot Licks Dec 28 '15 at 4:11
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devour

dəˈvou(ə)r/

verb gerund or present participle: devouring

read (something) quickly and eagerly. "she spent her evenings devouring the classics"

Source: google search

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The only thing I can think of besides speed reading (which Hot Licks already suggested) is "skimmed." For example...

She skimmed through the book.

Type "skimmed through the book" into Google and you'll see many examples.

However, skimming doesn't necessarily denote enthusiasm. On the contrary, some people may skim through books they find boring; they simply want to go through it as fast as they can to find something of interest or determine if they want to read it.

If a person is truly interested in a book but wants to read it quickly, he or she will probably stop skimming and get into speed reading mode.

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I'd suggest, gobble up

: to read rapidly or greedily

M-W

Conceptual Domains and the Acquisition of Metaphor

Table 4 (Continued)

E: The boy gobbled up the book

C: He read it in one whole--he read it--I’m not sure...gobbled up...

E: Do you know what gobbling means? Like when you gobble up food?

C: Yeah--but he couldn’t gobble up (laughs)--I don’t know, he’d have to have an operation (laughs)

E: So what was he doing if he was gobbling up the book?

C: Reading it

Yale

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"I couldn't put it down." This expression covers the "enthusiastically" part, but not necessarily the "quickly" part.

If you cannot put a book down, you are ​unable to ​stop ​reading it until you ​reach the end:

It was so ​exciting from the first ​page I couldn't put it down.

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Tear through (or tear into) might work, as in

He tore through (into) the entire collection of Hardy Boy mysteries.

American Heritage offers this example

To begin to do or eat something with great energy: tore into the meal.

Also lapped up is heard.

(I note that many of the offered answers use food analogies.)

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You could also say "The book was a real page-turner," meaning that it was so fascinating that you continued reading and turning the pages quickly.

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