*New thing! From time to time, I’ll post a “thread” a.k.a. something like this. Replies and conversation encouraged.
I tend to start one book, then another, and then another, reading (at most) three books at any given time. My fiancé, on the other hand, reads one book at time.
If you ask her, she’s doing it right and I’m weird and disorganized. But I don’t know. I like jumping between stories and genres.
Do you generally read one book at a time, or multiple? Why? 📚
I generally read a TON of books at a time, over ten. I think I just have trouble abandoning books, so when I slow down with one, instead of being honest with myself it enters "book purgatory." Every few years I DO finish a book in book purgatory though, so it's ambivalent to the extreme.
I don't regret this way of reading though and have always had it. It makes travelling difficult because I tend to pack ~6 books, when I don't even have the intention of finishing any :-)
I think at the bare minimum I'm actively reading one book of non fiction and one of poetry and one of fiction. I don't think these kinds of books can replace one another in any way, they are different mind spaces and I can't stand not having anything to read when I want a fictional escape, or to be informed, etc. Hope that makes sense!
Curious how others read and whether they'd defend it :-)
Wow. Ten! You take things to a whole new level. But I totally get it. At least, when you slow down on one, you're honest enough to sort of abandon it. My fiancé will trudge through a book that she's clearly not enjoying on principle. Time is precious, and IMO, abandon the thing if it's no good after 100 pages.
The traveling with six books thing is hilarious. Why do books have to be so heavy!? When visited Europe with only a backpack, I also had five or six books. And I purchased at least two more throughout my travels.
Heehee! Don't have a Kindle myself but I DO read library books on my phone and I ABSOLUTELY do this! Sometimes I'm brushing my teeth and I'm like "ah, I feel like starting a new book, what is available RIGHT NOW?"
I remember I started reading the Cliffton Chronicles by Jeffery Archer. I got to the end of the second book in the series, and the story took place in the 1920s (I think), when the hero comes into New York and ends up getting arrested and they read him his Miranda rights. That didn't come into law until the 1960s. I didn't pick up the next book in the series. That ever happen, when you find a mistake so glaringly bad, you can't let yourself carry on?
Yes. That's a great point. Anytime trust is lost in the other, it seems like everything is lost. If this is lazily made up, what else is? I like me some verisimilitude.
We must be related Matt! When I read paper books I read several at one time depending on how I felt. Now that I listen to audio books I usually listen to one at a time, but occasionally I listen to two when the sleep timer isn't working on Audible. I like to go to bed listening then fall asleep but I have to be able to count on the timer to work.
Right!? To me, there is a freedom and power in letting yourself do more, stretching yourself even at the risk of spoiling the reading experience (which hasn't happened very often for me). It's really fascinating to hear how this applies to your audio books!
I wonder if, falling asleep to audio books, you sometimes dream of yourself in the story. Or if, in your dream, the reader is still reading. I don't know that I'd be able to fall asleep to an audio book. I think I might be too focused on each word. But maybe not. I'll have to try it :)
One book at a time if I'm hooked. Multiple books at a time if I'm moderately interested in it at the time. Sometimes I need to book the moderately interesting book to the side and pick it up later when my mood or life changes and then it becomes my solo book.
Same, 3 as a minimum, for different times of the day and different mind states - fiction for before bed because anything else either gets my brain overactive or my brain is incapable of processing; philosophical in the morning to focus and contemplate during meditation, and then another non-fiction that's likely related to whatever it is that's interesting me at the time. And then there's the audiobooks. And possibly a bank of articles and newsletters I've saved up. It's a lot, and I do sometimes question the value/pitfalls of my methods, whether the over-consumption overfills rather than fuels me. But I know that it works (or is it a habit that's hard to break?). Ditto, my partner immerses himself in one at a time and mocks me for being a poindexter. Frankly, I'll take that label!
Very fascinating! Poindexter. Nice. That is a word I haven't encountered in . . . I don't know when. Going to have to squeeze it into something, somewhere in the future. Thanks for your thoughtful comment. Have an excellent weekend :)
Liked the honesty, I feel we should do what we want if you don't want to read that's ok but we have to not want because of our laziness and procrastination and continue if we see the benefits
I'm same as you. Although I only generally read one novel at a time (sometimes two), I'm always dipping in and out of others.
For example, currently reading collections of short stories by Dostoevsky, Sartre, and Bernard Mamamud. Also reading New Europe by Michael Palin. A book on the language policies in the ex-Yugoslav republics, which I don't think would interest anyone but me! A book by a teenager forced to defend Berlin in the dying days of the Third Reich. And still trying to find a novel I can get into, since finishing one a few days ago.
I do both, which at first sounds like a paradox, but really what happens is this: I pick up several that I start and sometimes float between. These are often non-fiction,with one fiction in circulation. Then, I will reach a place in one of those books that captures me more than the others and I will then read that one till complete. Usually it’s the fiction one, though not always. I have started Michener’s The Source two months ago and read several books since that one. It is a 1,000 pages, after all.
I don’t think there’s a wrong or a right way, just a preference or what suits you. Some people are not able to follow more than one plot-line or hold different learning topics and thus need to read one book at a time. I wonder how your girlfriend, and people like her, managed in school, where one had to read multiple books at a time? (Well, in my day…I’m 44, maybe they don’t do that anymore, or only in college?).
Interesting approach. I like this. It's almost as if you're taste testing multiple dishes. When you find one that you love, you focus on that, getting to the others later. Also, as you mention with the 1k page book, being willing/able to read multiple books is great for long books like these. Otherwise you're stuck with only one book/author/universe for a while. Which is fine. But if you have the capacity for more? That would get to me.
I think your approach is somewhat true for me too. Often, when I find something extremely compelling, it takes over my life. It's the only reading I do until I'm finished.
And to answer your question: The only time I had to read multiple creative books at once -- in any meaningful way -- was as a Lit/Writing student in college.
I’ve been trying to practice radical freedom with my reading lately. If I want to start another book while I’m in the middle of one already, go for it. If I want to put a book in the graveyard even though I’m a third of the way in, okay no problem.
I’m also wildly inconsistent with reading. One month, 5-6 books, another month, one-third of two books and another in the graveyard!
Radical freedom reading is not for everyone. What I will say though, is that the books that come into my life that I finish, they’re all top 10% to me. Maybe I’m allowing more magic in rather than controlling my consumption.
Dig this. I agree, although I don't know if I'm totally able to do this. But I think it's the right approach for the regular reader. If you're some kind of academic or critic, obviously not.
I also think it's a great approach for the writer. If your primary focus is writing, picking up and dropping books seems great. Get some inspiration, get some ideas, read a whole novel, whatever, then get back to your stuff.
Thank you for this take. It's fascinating and I want to explore it more.
Frankly, I have never ever read multiple books at the same time. Not because I have something against but simply because the thought of starting other books while I’m already reading one has never occurred to me. If I fall in love with a book I want to finish it reading real quick because I’m impatient that way. I just have to know what’s going on and how’s it going to end.
Also, I used to be like your fiancé- not abandoning a book (especially if it’s from a author I like) because ITS A BOOK. How can you abandon a book? But not anymore. Now, if I don’t connect with the book in first few pages I stop reading it.
I have a question of my own, if I may? Do you and others here have book goals? Like I will finish reading 3 books in a month. That type of thing. Because I don’t.
I think this a great approach to reading, Priya. Like I said, mine is very likely as weird and disorganized as my fiancé claims. But it just works for me. I also totally understand zipping through one amazing book. I've done it many times and still do when something really grabs my attention.
"IT'S A BOOK." Yes, I think this is her mentality. She's no quitter! But I think, in time, she'll realize what you've realized.
I know some have book goals, for sure. For a while, even I was kind of tracking my reading progress on Goodreads, thought I didn't have a book goal per se. I still don't. I just read as much or as little as feels right -- and as time allows :)
So interesting! I’m exactly like your fiancée and my husband is exactly like you! We both suspect gender might play in a role in this behavior - he thinks the ancient hunter instinct is driving men to read multiple books at a time (I don’t know? Like the equivalent of catching multiple prays?). Either way, I’m always fascinated that he can read 4-5 books at a time. Like how does he (and you and all the multi-book readers!) keep track of the story threads? Do characters ever get swapped out? I think he likes having different books for different moods and times. Honestly for me it would create too much confusion. I like to read one book at a time because I like to be fully absorbed in one story, immerse myself in one world and get intimate with those characters. I also have a (I think bad) habit of not being able to NOT finish a book. Even when it’s not great. It’s like I made a pact and I got to get to the end.
To each their own, right? Very fascinating to hear about both your tendencies. Thank you for sharing, for reading, and for having a thoughtful way of writing that also makes me think. Funny that you and my fiance are similar in your dedication, and your husband and myself and similar in our lukewarm loyalty towards our books. Anyway, thanks again. Have an excellent week :)
I struggle with reading more than one book a time. I have to read one at a time or I’ll get lost. However, it isn’t the same with blogs, articles, courses and others… I read all day long, in different devices and about different topics
I guess for me it’s a matter of internalizing what I’m reading - If I care to internalize a book I will read it alone and only when I can make time to fully focus on it
Fascinating take, Brandon. It makes a lot of sense. I agree with you on the device-reading. I do a lot of reading on my computer. So much pops into my inbox everyday, and most of it interesting! It's honestly becoming a problem maybe. Which sucks. I really do want to read it all, but there's not enough time, and that means missing -- and knowing that I'm missing -- interesting reads everyday.
It's tough. But what can you do. It prompts the valuable life lesson: life is short and life is precious, so spend your time selectively and wisely.
I do my best. It sounds like you do too.
Thanks for reading and for your thoughtful comment. Have an excellent week :)
I typically have 5 or so books in rotation - a mystery/crime novel (lately Western/crime guy C.J. Box’s Joe Pickett books), non-fiction music or film book (lately “Dreaming the Beatles”), maybe a short story collection, a Hemingway novel or Hemingway studies book, and a literary novel. I like the variety, I guess.
I do have a hard time abandoning any book I start, although as I get older I’m more willing to cut out on something I decide isn’t worth reading. Because, ya know, life is too short to …
I always read two books at a time, one fiction and one non-fiction! I didn't use to do this when I was younger, only reading one book at a time. But in recent years I've gotten used to juggling between a fiction and a nonfiction, and I feel strange if I'm only reading one book at any given moment. Current nonfiction: The Noonday Demon. Current fiction: White Teeth.
White Teeth is excellent, one of the best fictions I've read in a long time. The Noonday Demon is a very popular and considered definitive account of depression, but I really can't say I'm enjoying it! I don't like the writer's prose and that's a book killer for me. I'd be curious to hear how you find both! :)
I usually read up to five at once (ebooks for reading on the go, audiobooks for multitasking, and regular books for bedtime). But I also read 10-15 serialized webtoons every week lol. Oddly enough, I don’t have trouble keeping the stories straight. I used to be a one book at a time person, but I wasn’t able to finish that many for my reading goals, so I started getting multiple formats from the library instead. I’m averaging about 120 books a year now. I guess I’m just addicted to storytelling (and always need to be entertained 😄)
Holy smokes! That's a lot. You are pro-reader. That's for sure. Maybe one day I'll reach those levels of readership, but probably not. Sounds nice, though. And I agree about always needing to be entertained. At least, that's my tendency. I try to go against it by taking time to just do nothing. No stimulation besides whatever is going on in the outside world.
One mindless fiction among too many mindful books keeps me progressing and regressing. I am like a planet in this way. Move forward many steps with many philosophical boos, move back into comfort zone (a nice fiction), again move forward and so on and so forth. Ebb and flow
Nice. But! I don't think reading fiction is regression. Just my two-cents. Sounds like a nice reading regiment. Please share some of your favorite mindfulness books sometime. I really loved Be Here Now by Baba Ram Dass.
I have fifteen-ish books on my nightstand and about forty more on a bookcase in my bedroom and am generally pecking at many of them on any given day. I sometimes say I have literary commitment issues, but really I just like a lot of variety. I grew up on serialized fiction like comic books and soaps, so it feels right to me to dip in and out of a lot of things at once rather than sticking with just one book to the end.
I also read nonfiction very differently. Well, resource nonfiction, not like biographies and such, you know, narrative nonfiction. With resource books, I read from the index. (It's sort of like reading Wikipedia and following links.) I find I take them out in no time that way because my interest is my guide rather than the layout.
Wow. You've taken it to a level I didn't know possible. I know, with certainty, I couldn't manage this. I'm like a one-book-at-a-time reader that has graduated to multiple. You? It seems to be in your nature to take on your whole library at once. Thanks for sharing. I'm going to have to try your index approach sometime.
I tend to read one book at a time. I don’t think I have ever done more than that, excluding research where I will be just finding the information I need from books and where there is no need to read the whole book.
Hats off to you if you can read several books at once.
Whatever works, Roland! There's nothing better or worse when it comes to how many books you read at once. I think we can all agree that reading, regardless, is a pleasure :)
If you include "listening" to a book, I'm always reading 2 books simultaneously. I have the book (almost always fiction) I read at home, evenings and weekends. (Currently rereading Blonde Faith by Walter Mosely, god what a rich, enlightening read) My commute is an hour each way so I get 2 hours in every weekday on the audible.
Definitely include listening! Haven't done it, but I hear it's popular. Sounds like a great way to spend a long drive. I'm going to have to check out the Mosely book, Fred. Thanks.
It's a great thing to do on long road trips. If you have a good story and a good reader the miles fly by. It completely takes your mind of the monotonous part of road grind. Same is true for commute, its like the cars become visual background noise, easily ignored. Lee Child's Jack Reacher series read by Dick Hill I would recommend unreservedly. Hill is so subtle, but a master of intonation and nuance, perfect.
Lol. That's great!! Nothing a new book to compel you to finish up. I wish I had this much discipline. It seems like every other day I'm placing an order for a fresh stack of books. Very soon, I'm going to need a new bookshelf. And it's a vicious cycle, isn't it? Because with more books, I have more stuff to read simultaneously. And as we know, one book usually gives birth to at least three more.
Beautifully said, Elmer. I couldn't have stated it better. It's really just a "feeling it out" kind of thing, isn't it? If you're enjoying a few books at once, continue. If something grabs your attention so powerfully that it dominates all else, focus only on that. I think, as you mentioned, the main idea revolves around freedom to do as one pleases, and not feeling beholden to any rules or standards, as is -- paradoxically -- so often the case when it comes to art.
I generally read a TON of books at a time, over ten. I think I just have trouble abandoning books, so when I slow down with one, instead of being honest with myself it enters "book purgatory." Every few years I DO finish a book in book purgatory though, so it's ambivalent to the extreme.
I don't regret this way of reading though and have always had it. It makes travelling difficult because I tend to pack ~6 books, when I don't even have the intention of finishing any :-)
I think at the bare minimum I'm actively reading one book of non fiction and one of poetry and one of fiction. I don't think these kinds of books can replace one another in any way, they are different mind spaces and I can't stand not having anything to read when I want a fictional escape, or to be informed, etc. Hope that makes sense!
Curious how others read and whether they'd defend it :-)
Wow. Ten! You take things to a whole new level. But I totally get it. At least, when you slow down on one, you're honest enough to sort of abandon it. My fiancé will trudge through a book that she's clearly not enjoying on principle. Time is precious, and IMO, abandon the thing if it's no good after 100 pages.
The traveling with six books thing is hilarious. Why do books have to be so heavy!? When visited Europe with only a backpack, I also had five or six books. And I purchased at least two more throughout my travels.
Thanks for sharing your take. Super interesting.
Get a Kindle! Problem solved.
Heehee! Don't have a Kindle myself but I DO read library books on my phone and I ABSOLUTELY do this! Sometimes I'm brushing my teeth and I'm like "ah, I feel like starting a new book, what is available RIGHT NOW?"
Crazy how things have changed since I was a kid.
I think about this all the time. Reminds me of when we were kids and our parents talked of black and white TV.
My students can't comprehend how spoilt they are, and how different it was not that long ago.
Even going back to the days when Amazon was just an online bookseller, nevermind the days before the internet!
Crazy isn't it?
By the way, the Kindle app for the phone is pretty good if you haven't got a Kindle.
I remember I started reading the Cliffton Chronicles by Jeffery Archer. I got to the end of the second book in the series, and the story took place in the 1920s (I think), when the hero comes into New York and ends up getting arrested and they read him his Miranda rights. That didn't come into law until the 1960s. I didn't pick up the next book in the series. That ever happen, when you find a mistake so glaringly bad, you can't let yourself carry on?
Yes. That's a great point. Anytime trust is lost in the other, it seems like everything is lost. If this is lazily made up, what else is? I like me some verisimilitude.
We must be related Matt! When I read paper books I read several at one time depending on how I felt. Now that I listen to audio books I usually listen to one at a time, but occasionally I listen to two when the sleep timer isn't working on Audible. I like to go to bed listening then fall asleep but I have to be able to count on the timer to work.
Right!? To me, there is a freedom and power in letting yourself do more, stretching yourself even at the risk of spoiling the reading experience (which hasn't happened very often for me). It's really fascinating to hear how this applies to your audio books!
I wonder if, falling asleep to audio books, you sometimes dream of yourself in the story. Or if, in your dream, the reader is still reading. I don't know that I'd be able to fall asleep to an audio book. I think I might be too focused on each word. But maybe not. I'll have to try it :)
If only I used the sleep timer. I’ve slept through The Power of Now more times than I want to admit. I hear it’s very good!
One book at a time if I'm hooked. Multiple books at a time if I'm moderately interested in it at the time. Sometimes I need to book the moderately interesting book to the side and pick it up later when my mood or life changes and then it becomes my solo book.
Same, 3 as a minimum, for different times of the day and different mind states - fiction for before bed because anything else either gets my brain overactive or my brain is incapable of processing; philosophical in the morning to focus and contemplate during meditation, and then another non-fiction that's likely related to whatever it is that's interesting me at the time. And then there's the audiobooks. And possibly a bank of articles and newsletters I've saved up. It's a lot, and I do sometimes question the value/pitfalls of my methods, whether the over-consumption overfills rather than fuels me. But I know that it works (or is it a habit that's hard to break?). Ditto, my partner immerses himself in one at a time and mocks me for being a poindexter. Frankly, I'll take that label!
Very fascinating! Poindexter. Nice. That is a word I haven't encountered in . . . I don't know when. Going to have to squeeze it into something, somewhere in the future. Thanks for your thoughtful comment. Have an excellent weekend :)
Liked the honesty, I feel we should do what we want if you don't want to read that's ok but we have to not want because of our laziness and procrastination and continue if we see the benefits
I'm same as you. Although I only generally read one novel at a time (sometimes two), I'm always dipping in and out of others.
For example, currently reading collections of short stories by Dostoevsky, Sartre, and Bernard Mamamud. Also reading New Europe by Michael Palin. A book on the language policies in the ex-Yugoslav republics, which I don't think would interest anyone but me! A book by a teenager forced to defend Berlin in the dying days of the Third Reich. And still trying to find a novel I can get into, since finishing one a few days ago.
Nice! Yes, you sound a lot like me. If you're looking for a good novel, I really liked Stoner by John Williams, if you haven't read it.
What's the title of the last book you mentioned, "by a teenager forced to defend Berlin?" Sounds interesting.
Berlin Soldier, by Helmut Altner.
If you're reading eBooks, this is a good place to get hard-to-find ones for free: https://fr1lib.org/ You might need to use a VPN, I do where I am.
I'll definitely check out Stoner. With that title it could be my autobiography :)
Just discovered that it's not about a stoner :(
😂
I do both, which at first sounds like a paradox, but really what happens is this: I pick up several that I start and sometimes float between. These are often non-fiction,with one fiction in circulation. Then, I will reach a place in one of those books that captures me more than the others and I will then read that one till complete. Usually it’s the fiction one, though not always. I have started Michener’s The Source two months ago and read several books since that one. It is a 1,000 pages, after all.
I don’t think there’s a wrong or a right way, just a preference or what suits you. Some people are not able to follow more than one plot-line or hold different learning topics and thus need to read one book at a time. I wonder how your girlfriend, and people like her, managed in school, where one had to read multiple books at a time? (Well, in my day…I’m 44, maybe they don’t do that anymore, or only in college?).
Interesting approach. I like this. It's almost as if you're taste testing multiple dishes. When you find one that you love, you focus on that, getting to the others later. Also, as you mention with the 1k page book, being willing/able to read multiple books is great for long books like these. Otherwise you're stuck with only one book/author/universe for a while. Which is fine. But if you have the capacity for more? That would get to me.
I think your approach is somewhat true for me too. Often, when I find something extremely compelling, it takes over my life. It's the only reading I do until I'm finished.
And to answer your question: The only time I had to read multiple creative books at once -- in any meaningful way -- was as a Lit/Writing student in college.
I’ve been trying to practice radical freedom with my reading lately. If I want to start another book while I’m in the middle of one already, go for it. If I want to put a book in the graveyard even though I’m a third of the way in, okay no problem.
I’m also wildly inconsistent with reading. One month, 5-6 books, another month, one-third of two books and another in the graveyard!
Radical freedom reading is not for everyone. What I will say though, is that the books that come into my life that I finish, they’re all top 10% to me. Maybe I’m allowing more magic in rather than controlling my consumption.
Dig this. I agree, although I don't know if I'm totally able to do this. But I think it's the right approach for the regular reader. If you're some kind of academic or critic, obviously not.
I also think it's a great approach for the writer. If your primary focus is writing, picking up and dropping books seems great. Get some inspiration, get some ideas, read a whole novel, whatever, then get back to your stuff.
Thank you for this take. It's fascinating and I want to explore it more.
Frankly, I have never ever read multiple books at the same time. Not because I have something against but simply because the thought of starting other books while I’m already reading one has never occurred to me. If I fall in love with a book I want to finish it reading real quick because I’m impatient that way. I just have to know what’s going on and how’s it going to end.
Also, I used to be like your fiancé- not abandoning a book (especially if it’s from a author I like) because ITS A BOOK. How can you abandon a book? But not anymore. Now, if I don’t connect with the book in first few pages I stop reading it.
I have a question of my own, if I may? Do you and others here have book goals? Like I will finish reading 3 books in a month. That type of thing. Because I don’t.
I think this a great approach to reading, Priya. Like I said, mine is very likely as weird and disorganized as my fiancé claims. But it just works for me. I also totally understand zipping through one amazing book. I've done it many times and still do when something really grabs my attention.
"IT'S A BOOK." Yes, I think this is her mentality. She's no quitter! But I think, in time, she'll realize what you've realized.
I know some have book goals, for sure. For a while, even I was kind of tracking my reading progress on Goodreads, thought I didn't have a book goal per se. I still don't. I just read as much or as little as feels right -- and as time allows :)
So interesting! I’m exactly like your fiancée and my husband is exactly like you! We both suspect gender might play in a role in this behavior - he thinks the ancient hunter instinct is driving men to read multiple books at a time (I don’t know? Like the equivalent of catching multiple prays?). Either way, I’m always fascinated that he can read 4-5 books at a time. Like how does he (and you and all the multi-book readers!) keep track of the story threads? Do characters ever get swapped out? I think he likes having different books for different moods and times. Honestly for me it would create too much confusion. I like to read one book at a time because I like to be fully absorbed in one story, immerse myself in one world and get intimate with those characters. I also have a (I think bad) habit of not being able to NOT finish a book. Even when it’s not great. It’s like I made a pact and I got to get to the end.
To each their own, right? Very fascinating to hear about both your tendencies. Thank you for sharing, for reading, and for having a thoughtful way of writing that also makes me think. Funny that you and my fiance are similar in your dedication, and your husband and myself and similar in our lukewarm loyalty towards our books. Anyway, thanks again. Have an excellent week :)
Matt
I struggle with reading more than one book a time. I have to read one at a time or I’ll get lost. However, it isn’t the same with blogs, articles, courses and others… I read all day long, in different devices and about different topics
I guess for me it’s a matter of internalizing what I’m reading - If I care to internalize a book I will read it alone and only when I can make time to fully focus on it
Fascinating take, Brandon. It makes a lot of sense. I agree with you on the device-reading. I do a lot of reading on my computer. So much pops into my inbox everyday, and most of it interesting! It's honestly becoming a problem maybe. Which sucks. I really do want to read it all, but there's not enough time, and that means missing -- and knowing that I'm missing -- interesting reads everyday.
It's tough. But what can you do. It prompts the valuable life lesson: life is short and life is precious, so spend your time selectively and wisely.
I do my best. It sounds like you do too.
Thanks for reading and for your thoughtful comment. Have an excellent week :)
Matt
I typically have 5 or so books in rotation - a mystery/crime novel (lately Western/crime guy C.J. Box’s Joe Pickett books), non-fiction music or film book (lately “Dreaming the Beatles”), maybe a short story collection, a Hemingway novel or Hemingway studies book, and a literary novel. I like the variety, I guess.
I do have a hard time abandoning any book I start, although as I get older I’m more willing to cut out on something I decide isn’t worth reading. Because, ya know, life is too short to …
I always read two books at a time, one fiction and one non-fiction! I didn't use to do this when I was younger, only reading one book at a time. But in recent years I've gotten used to juggling between a fiction and a nonfiction, and I feel strange if I'm only reading one book at any given moment. Current nonfiction: The Noonday Demon. Current fiction: White Teeth.
That seems like a perfect mix. Thanks for sharing! And thank you for adding the titles. I'm going to check those out :)
White Teeth is excellent, one of the best fictions I've read in a long time. The Noonday Demon is a very popular and considered definitive account of depression, but I really can't say I'm enjoying it! I don't like the writer's prose and that's a book killer for me. I'd be curious to hear how you find both! :)
I usually read up to five at once (ebooks for reading on the go, audiobooks for multitasking, and regular books for bedtime). But I also read 10-15 serialized webtoons every week lol. Oddly enough, I don’t have trouble keeping the stories straight. I used to be a one book at a time person, but I wasn’t able to finish that many for my reading goals, so I started getting multiple formats from the library instead. I’m averaging about 120 books a year now. I guess I’m just addicted to storytelling (and always need to be entertained 😄)
Holy smokes! That's a lot. You are pro-reader. That's for sure. Maybe one day I'll reach those levels of readership, but probably not. Sounds nice, though. And I agree about always needing to be entertained. At least, that's my tendency. I try to go against it by taking time to just do nothing. No stimulation besides whatever is going on in the outside world.
One mindless fiction among too many mindful books keeps me progressing and regressing. I am like a planet in this way. Move forward many steps with many philosophical boos, move back into comfort zone (a nice fiction), again move forward and so on and so forth. Ebb and flow
Nice. But! I don't think reading fiction is regression. Just my two-cents. Sounds like a nice reading regiment. Please share some of your favorite mindfulness books sometime. I really loved Be Here Now by Baba Ram Dass.
I have fifteen-ish books on my nightstand and about forty more on a bookcase in my bedroom and am generally pecking at many of them on any given day. I sometimes say I have literary commitment issues, but really I just like a lot of variety. I grew up on serialized fiction like comic books and soaps, so it feels right to me to dip in and out of a lot of things at once rather than sticking with just one book to the end.
I also read nonfiction very differently. Well, resource nonfiction, not like biographies and such, you know, narrative nonfiction. With resource books, I read from the index. (It's sort of like reading Wikipedia and following links.) I find I take them out in no time that way because my interest is my guide rather than the layout.
Wow. You've taken it to a level I didn't know possible. I know, with certainty, I couldn't manage this. I'm like a one-book-at-a-time reader that has graduated to multiple. You? It seems to be in your nature to take on your whole library at once. Thanks for sharing. I'm going to have to try your index approach sometime.
Let me know how it goes!
Usually one main one at a time, plus a few more for different moods or because I couldn't give it up yet or because it was due back to the library.
I tend to read one book at a time. I don’t think I have ever done more than that, excluding research where I will be just finding the information I need from books and where there is no need to read the whole book.
Hats off to you if you can read several books at once.
Whatever works, Roland! There's nothing better or worse when it comes to how many books you read at once. I think we can all agree that reading, regardless, is a pleasure :)
Absolutely!
If you include "listening" to a book, I'm always reading 2 books simultaneously. I have the book (almost always fiction) I read at home, evenings and weekends. (Currently rereading Blonde Faith by Walter Mosely, god what a rich, enlightening read) My commute is an hour each way so I get 2 hours in every weekday on the audible.
Definitely include listening! Haven't done it, but I hear it's popular. Sounds like a great way to spend a long drive. I'm going to have to check out the Mosely book, Fred. Thanks.
It's a great thing to do on long road trips. If you have a good story and a good reader the miles fly by. It completely takes your mind of the monotonous part of road grind. Same is true for commute, its like the cars become visual background noise, easily ignored. Lee Child's Jack Reacher series read by Dick Hill I would recommend unreservedly. Hill is so subtle, but a master of intonation and nuance, perfect.
For novels, no. For anything else (short story collections, biographies, history, etc) of course, yes
Nice. Me too. 1 novel, 2-3 others. And if something cuts my head off with its beauty, I'll focus on only that till the end.
I always have three or four on the go, depends what mood I am in to which I choose to pick up in the moment 😊
Every so often I will say to myself... no more buying new books till I finish this one... so I speed up and finish it... so I can buy a new book 😂
Lol. That's great!! Nothing a new book to compel you to finish up. I wish I had this much discipline. It seems like every other day I'm placing an order for a fresh stack of books. Very soon, I'm going to need a new bookshelf. And it's a vicious cycle, isn't it? Because with more books, I have more stuff to read simultaneously. And as we know, one book usually gives birth to at least three more.
Life could be worse.
Always prepared! That's great.
Beautifully said, Elmer. I couldn't have stated it better. It's really just a "feeling it out" kind of thing, isn't it? If you're enjoying a few books at once, continue. If something grabs your attention so powerfully that it dominates all else, focus only on that. I think, as you mentioned, the main idea revolves around freedom to do as one pleases, and not feeling beholden to any rules or standards, as is -- paradoxically -- so often the case when it comes to art.
Thank you for confirming what, deep down, I've known all along : I am weird and disorganized.
Glad to know I'm not alone :)