The Hub

I agree that one will probably absorb something through passive reading. I can tell that my girl friend, who's unlike me have been an avid reader since childhood, has learned a lot about what makes a good story just by reading without aiming to do so. However, I still think one can learn much more if one focuses on doing so while reading, even though it makes the reading go slower and be more of a chore sometimes.

Yeah, I can't help notice the weak points of a story either, but that, I think, is the easy part. Noticing what the author did right is the difficult part. And I find that when I'm reading just before going to sleep, I'm too tired to really pay attention to this.