The Book Feed

I absolutely loved Rick Riordan's writing style. Read the first sentence out of The Lightning Thief and you will see what I mean. Read it off Amazon's sample: The Lightning Thief: 

Out of the five books, I would say my most favorite was The Last Olympian (the last book) and my least favorite was The Sea of Monsters (the second book). In order of favorites, it would have to be:

1. The Last Olympian (Book 5)
2. The Titan's Curse (Book 3)
3. The Battle of the Laberinth (Book 4)
4. The Lightning Theif (Book 1)
5. The Sea of Monsters (Book 2)

Summary Section: (placed here to reduce the scare factor)

The Lightning Thief: 

Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school... again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he's angered a few of them. Zeus' master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus' stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

The Sea of Monsters:

The heroic son of Poseidon makes an action-packed comeback in the second must-read installment of Rick Riordan's amazing young readers series. Starring Percy Jackson, a "half blood" whose mother is human and whose father is the God of the Sea, Riordan's series combines cliffhanger adventure and Greek mythology lessons that results in true page-turners that get better with each installment. In this episode, The Sea of Monsters, Percy sets out to retrieve the Golden Fleece before his summer camp is destroyed, surpassing the first book's drama and setting the stage for more thrills to come.

The Titans Curse:

IT'S NOT EVERYDAY YOU FIND YOURSELF IN COMBAT WITH A HALF-LION, HALF-HUMAN.

But when you're the son of a Greek god, it happens. And now my friend Annabeth is missing, a goddess is in chains and only five half-blood heroes can join the quest to defeat the doomsday monster.

Oh and guess what. The Oracle has predicted that not all of us will survive...

The Battle of the Labyrinth:

Percy Jackson isn't expecting freshman orientation to be any fun. But when a mysterious mortal acquaintance appears on campus, followed by demon cheerleaders, things quickly move from bad to worse.
In this fourth installment of the blockbuster series, time is running out as war between the Olympians and the evil Titan lord Kronos draws near. Even the safe haven of Camp Half-Blood grows more vulnerable by the minute as Kronos's army prepares to invade its once impenetrable borders. To stop the invasion, Percy and his demigod friends must set out on a quest through the Labyrinth - a sprawling underground world with stunning surprises at every turn.

The Last Olympian:

All year the half-bloods have been preparing for battle against the Titans, knowing the odds of a victory are grim. Kronos’s army is stronger than ever, and with every god and half-blood he recruits, the evil Titan’s power only grows. 

While the Olympians struggle to contain the rampaging monster Typhon, Kronos begins his advance on New York City, where Mount Olympus stands virtually unguarded. Now it’s up to Percy Jackson and an army of young demigods to stop the Lord of Time.

In this momentous final book in the New York Times best-selling series, the long-awaited prophecy surrounding Percy’s sixteenth birthday unfolds. And as the battle for Western civilization rages on the streets of Manhattan, Percy faces a terrifying suspicion that he may be fighting against his own fate.

Question: 

How do people visualize when reading?

My Experience:

I remember reading when I was little and I would create settings, scenes, and characters with relative ease. Yet, now I find my visualization lacking. Although, it could be because I'm over thinking it. For example, when I'm reading, most of the characters/scenes/settings are hazy. Sometimes, I feel like I need to stop and actively create a crisp image, to then become frustrated, because the process is supposed to be passive (right?). However, once I've finished reading, I can play back what I've read without a hitch.  Could it be that I'm too conscious when reading? By too conscious, I mean that I'm overly aware of trying to visualize and thus interrupting the passive ability. For now I'm convinced that my method of visualization is collecting data as I read the book and letting it "sink in". If this is true, it still explains why I can remember characters from years ago, just not when they became crisp in detail. 

What's your experience with visualization?