I mostly read mysteries, and in that context spoilers can be pretty serious business. (I've never forgiven an Internet reviewer who accidentally gave away the killer in a book I'd been looking forward to for months.) I don't know why I mind, since I reread favourite mysteries as often as anything else. And since the solution to the mystery is usually followed by a few pages of wrapup, I frequently turn carefully to the very last page to see if one or another favourite character survives/is innocent. That eliminates some of the suspects, but I don't care. Like you, if I am too anxious about something in the plot it ruins my pleasure anyway.
I also enjoy the unrolling of the plot as much as the being-fooled element, so knowing Flicka and Kennie are both alive and well at the end of the book doesn't spoil my pleasure one whit.
I recently reread a mystery by Patricia Wentworth, and was amused at a scene in which her character Miss Silver chooses a library book for her niece. She picks a nice family story, checks the final chapter to be sure "no harrowing incident cut short any of the infant lives," and finding the family "grouped around the Christmas tree" at the end, takes the book. I may have done the same, for myself or others!
I also enjoy the unrolling of the plot as much as the being-fooled element, so knowing Flicka and Kennie are both alive and well at the end of the book doesn't spoil my pleasure one whit.
I recently reread a mystery by Patricia Wentworth, and was amused at a scene in which her character Miss Silver chooses a library book for her niece. She picks a nice family story, checks the final chapter to be sure "no harrowing incident cut short any of the infant lives," and finding the family "grouped around the Christmas tree" at the end, takes the book. I may have done the same, for myself or others!
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