I have been using the following setup in several scripts (especially with version control):

sudo apt-get install unoconv odt2txt     # installs both tools

doc2odt test.doc                         # creates test.odt

odt2txt test.odt                         # displays the contents in the terminal

or for a docx file:

docx2txt test.docx                       # converts docx file

less test.txt                            # read the contents

Works like a charm and you can read your doc files in the terminal. This method is more complex than catdoc but it has the advantage that entries from a bibliographic management system are not displayed in their raw form.

For a LaTex file you can just your favorite terminal text editor to open and read it.