The Next Best Book Club discussion
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How many books are you reading at once?
I can only concentrate on one book at a time, with family and work demands I lose sight of a book quickly but am in awe of those who can juggle more!
I'm loyal to my current book...one at a time for me. When I was younger I also used to read multiple books at the same time, but now I've learned to slow down and enjoy the story.
I usually can only read two books at a time, one non-fiction and one fiction.
How do you keep the stories from merging?
Usually because I read a non-fiction and fiction, so it's easier to keep track of where I am.
Something totally opposite of each other, maybe I could try that to decrease my tbr mountain!
My brain can only handle one at a time...:)
Hmmm, sometimes, only when the book isn't a top priority and I haven't heard many rave reviews about it.
Emma,I do the same.I read a fiction and a non-fiction though I tend to read the non-fiction much slower as my interest picks up in the fictional choice.
That's exactly me Sherry! I tend to finish the fiction books faster.
I tend to only read one book at a time with perhaps an audio thrown in. Occassionally, like now, I'll take a break from one book and start another. Usually I'll finish the "relief" book before returning to the original.
Holly, what a good question!!I read anywhere between 2-4 at a time. In September, I tried the one at a time thing and found that I grew tired of the book way too fast. Right now I'm reading 3. I decided that one is the living room book (Dracula -- I spend most of my day in the living room with the baby), one is the bedroom book (Love is a Mix Tape -- be read before I go to sleep), and one is a fluff book (The Girlfriends' Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood). And, I try to keep all of the books in completely different categories, so there is no confusion between stories.
Holly - I think I'm more like you (and the same w/the husband of almost 20 years!)I am reading 2 non-fictions and 2 fiction books right now, and ready to start 2 more fiction books. I mix up audio / print, sometimes listening and reading the same book, sometimes different ones (but always have an audio and a print going).
At any time, I could drop any one with no guilt (I've gotten over feeling guilty for not finishing one.) And I don't give a book very long, either, esp. if it wasn't highly recommended by someone I really respect.
If it's not working, back to the library it goes. I hardly EVER buy fiction books, they have to be highly recommended or a book club read that I couldn't get at the library for some reason. Lucky for me the Howard Co. library system here in MD is one of the best in the country, and they also have tons of audiobooks, which I couldn't live without.
Laura, you and I are kindred book spirits!! I'm feeling less guilty for the ones orphaned in the corner now.
I've got four going right now and I've started carrying around another. I usually have one or two on hiatus also. I focus on the one I'm most captivated by at the moment. I keep them separate by choosing very different styles and plotlines. Right now, I've got Dracula, Wuthering Heights, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and John Berger's G. Hard to get them mixed up...
I read one at a time, I like to savor and really get into whatever my current book is. My fiance and I do read the Harry Potter books to each other, but that doesn't mess with the other book I am reading because I've read the series enough times now, I know what happens.
For the moment I am only reading two. I often read only one book at a time but sometimes I get so enthousiastic or unpatient that I read several books. When I read a book and I see many others that I just can't wait to read...then I start them too. For now my record is of reading five at the same time.When I wander true my bedroom and pick up a book, I am sometimes started reading it without realizing it, so I read on even if i am already reading a book.
I enjoy it a lot reading more than one book at the time.
Usually I prefer to read one at a time so that I can immerse myself completely and I do when it's fiction but due to amount of reading I'm having to do for my course this year I've been reading perhaps 4 or 5 non fiction books at the one time. It drives me mad!
holly,just loved ur use of metaphor. well i prefer indulging in adultery and so read more that one book at a time. ;) My all time best had been when i was reading six at a time. Well i am single so i dont think thats bad. :)
Giovanna, I also read more than more books at the same time, but what keeps me sane is that i try to keep the topic as diverse as possible. Like recently i was reading a book on medical mystery, a love story, a philosophical book, a horror book and a book on murder mystery. I think it may help.
I always have 2 going at one time-audiobook and "real book". I try to keep them different genres, so I don't overwhelm myself with too much of a good thing (up until last night I was reading House of Leaves and listening to Odd Thomas--that got confusing and scary! So, I'm reading Spellman Files now to lighten up!)I usually try not to have two paper books at a time, but I'll start several books if the one I'm reading currently isn't keeping my interest and I find I'm in a reading funk.
Don't want to be stagnant with all those TBR on my shelves!
Jessalina (message 18)-I do the same thing when I'm reading multiple books. I'll take a tasting of each until one really starts "getting good", and I'll focus on that one and see it through to the end.
Well, I tend to be monogamous in my reading, especially with fiction. I like to focus in on one story. Well, okay, I can only focus on one. Ha, ha. However, I can handle a fiction book and a nonfiction book at the same time. What is especially nice is to have a nonfiction book dealing with subject matter contained within the fiction one. Did I hear someone say, "theme?"
Mod
But as far as novels.... ONE at a time... my poor brain cant handle more than that!
One at a time. I like to be into a story and hopefully the book is good enough that I don't want to put it down to read another book. Every once in a while I get about 3/4 of the way done with a book and it is dragging. I obviously have to finish it, but I will take a break start the next book for the day or for a few hours and then pick the first book up again to finish it.
lol@Rajan. Six books and still single.I'm reading 5 books right now. One interesting non-fiction, ok-ish book of short stories, a badly-written travelogue and a sociology text on waitresses that started out great. I also have a 'duty' book, the Sociopath Next Door which has died on me but until my neighbour does I feel I have to keep trying to read it.
Petra-I read the Sociopath Next Door just recently and I did not think it was all that great... I was hoping for much more! I usually read one book at a time, but if I am reading a non-fiction and it does not grab me, I will read a fiction book as well.
Usually one fiction and one non-fiction book at the same time. I used to read several books at ones before but I have hardly time to read right now therefore I cut it down to just two books. I don't mind if I can't continue with a non-fiction for weeks but I hate to put a fiction book aside for such a long time because then I have to reread the laster chapter or two since I no longer remember what happened.Gee, that sounds like I am getting old already :-)
Any more than 2 tends to drive me crazy. One is usually more fluff than the other. I read the fluff at my desk at work when I have the time, because it usually requires less concentration, and the more serious book during my commute. And at bed time, depending on how I feel, I pick up one or the other. I carry them both to and from work though, you never know.
I usually have two going - one audiobook for my commute and one regular book that I read to unwind at home after work. My profile here says I'm reading 3, but that's not entirely true. I tend to skip around a lot with several books for the first few pages until I find one that really fits with me at the moment then I'll read it through. That's what happened this time. I started I Capture the Castle, read about 20 pages, picked up A Great and Terrible Beauty and have stuck with that one. As far as audio, I'm listening to A Clockwork Orange right now.
I usually have 2 or 3, with one of those being read with my son. We read together every night. I don't know how long this will last, but I will keep on with it till he kicks me out! lol When I have 2 going, I usally get into one more than the other.
Angela - I don't know anyone who did like the book that much. What I want is a real self-help book - something that will immediately make the neighbour decide they have to go and live elsewhere or fall on their knees and, offering me money for the six times I've had to replace the locks, not to mention the screwed-up plumbing, gas, oven etc, beg me for my forgiveness. Now that would be a really good book.
I'm a 3-4 at once kind of reader. Like Melissa, each room in the house has a different book for reading, plus the Kindle for when I'm out and about. I've never had a problem going from one style of book right into another and the only bleedover I've experienced are some rather crazy dreams.
@Petra- Yeah and am done with one today.. so am left with just five.. :) But i guess i will survive. will hit on a new book. The road by Cormac Mccarthy looks promising.@logan- one book in each room. how many rooms do u have in the house? :) kidding.. looks a good strategy.
Yes, Ann, do keep reading with him until he kicks you out. I loved reading with my kids. My son and I shared the Harry Potter books, starting out with me reading to him, then we would alternate reading, then we each had our own copies and read on the couch together, and, finally, with the last book and my son being 21, he read in one part of the house and I read in another part. Of course, we couldn't help asking each other where the other one was. We sequestered ourselves in the house the weekend the book came out.
I have only tried one so far, but I am going to tackle two this time around: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski and A Night of the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. I hope I can handle two at once. It will be a good experiment for me.
I usually have at least two - a history and a fiction. Possibly more if another non-fiction attracts me, or if another novel VERY different from the main one catches my eye.Right now it's just the one novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. The history is The Ghost Map, which is about London's great cholera epidemic of 1853.
I'm reading 6 right now but really feel like I should only read 1-2 at a time. I have tried reading more but just start to feel like I'll never get the books finished. I just get so excited to start other books.
Here's my problem...I pay more library fines than I ever should because I CAN'T PART WITH THE BOOKS once I have them. It's like giving up a child. I'm actually blocked right now from the library where I work because I'm a such a bibliophile hoarder. Any one share my pain?Holly
Wonders and Marvels
Haha Holly... I love my library. I get a bunch of my books from them. But if there is a book I want and can't get from there, (like BLINDNESS and CHOKE for ex.) I will buy them. I try to read my library books first, but I always owe them at least .20cents or so...lol
Holly, I have the same problem. Once I have a book in my hands I never want to let it go. I've definitely found that it's a lot cheaper for me to just buy the book in the first place than to deal with fines. I love libraries. I think there should be more of them and far better funded. They're just not good for me personally.
Holly, you and I must be cosmically connected or something, because my husband jokes that all the local libraries have my picture on their walls behind the checkout desk !LOL
I have a short attention span, so 2 books tops. Usually a long(ish) book and a short story/essay/letters compilation.I read the long(ish) book at home before going to bed or early before getting up, and read the compilation in bus rides.
The reason for this is that I have a hard time remembering things if I read them halfways, so short pieces that can be read at one sitting (or one bus ride :p) are ideal because I start and finish them during the ride. This way, I keep the longish books for home-reading, when I can properly concentrate and make sure I read whole chapters.
Greetings :)
I'm not kidding, guys. Every January, our library has "fine amnesty". $1 off fines for every canned good you bring in. Last year, I fill a rolling suitcase full of cans. It's a sickness, I tell you. A sickness.Laura, want to start a support group? :)
Holly
Wonders and Marvels
Oh, and Logan...I agree. It's totally cheaper to buy the book than to pay the fines. I'm sure that my UPS guy can tell when I'm blocked by the library wizards. Holly
Wonders and Marvels
I'm usually reading at least a few books. If I read one at a time it's because I sat down to start a novel and never got up again.Right now I'm reading 2 fiction, 1 philosophy, 1 history, and one audio fiction.
Holly, I can't live with only one book at a time and the ones I am not reading while I am reading the other 4-5 are calling out to me. Okay, folks, so I don't hear voices in my head all the time, just as I walk by the cabinet where I keep my TBR books. SHHH you guys, I am trying to talk to Holly right now. Sorry, gotta go, I hear a book calling my name.
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I'm something of a serial dater when it comes to books. My nightstand is littered with suitors. How to pick just one?!
Good thing for my husband of 17 years that I only have this problem with books! :)
Holly
Wonders and Marvels