How many books are you reading at once?

[Robin]

I usually pick 3 books at the beginning of a month and as others come up for various reasons I end up having 5 - 6 simultaneously.

[Stephanie]

Becky wrote: ""1984" is a great book, Stephanie. Hope you like it once you trudge your way through AOH! ;)"

Thanks Becky! I am anxious to get through AOH so I can dig in. :) It's one of those books I can't believe I made it this far without reading.

[Jeane]

As i have like more than half of the time less to read since i started my new job I read two books at the same time. One I take with me to work and the other one is for home reading.

[Catamorandi]

I do it one at a time. I tried doing more than that it one time and didn't get very far. It just goes more smoothly with just one.

[[deleted user]]

I don't mind to be reading one fiction and one non-fiction, but I can't start a fiction without finishing the one I started.

[Becky]

I know how you feel, Stephanie. I actually read 1984 when I was still a teenager, but there are lots of others (Chaucer springs immediately to mind) that I haven't read yet and should have.

I homeschooled myself in highschool, so I could read for pleasure, rather than being force-fed classics that everyone ends up hating because they were made to read them. I'm glad, because now when I read the classics, I don't have to remember all of the tediousness and boredom of mandatory highschool reading assignments and can just enjoy the book.

[Paula]

I wish I could read more than one book at a time. Boy would my "to read" pile decrease substantially. Unfortunately I can't. My mind likes to dedicate itself to one storyline at a time.

[Sara ♥]

I'm reading 5 books right now. One, I carry around in my purse and read whenever I'm waiting (and at the gym), one I'm reading on my Blackberry, one I'm listening to in my car, one I'm listening to at home, and then the Bible.

[Alisha Marie]

I can only read one book at a time because that's all my brain can comprehend. I tried to do the whole read one fiction and one non-fiction at the same time about five months ago until I realized it was taking me twice as much time to finish one book. I also noticed that I was reaching more for my fiction book as opposed to the non-fiction one. So, only one book at a time for me.

I'm thinking since I walk to work, I should try two books again, but have one be an audiobook. Maybe that'll help.

[A.M.]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who reads loads of books simultaneously! Generally I have one or two 'main' books, and a few others that I can pick up and put down easily. If I love a book, I'll read it without interruptions, but if not I end up switching between books depending on my mood.

And I also read ridiculous amounts of fanfiction, too, and am probably reading nearly 100 simultaneously (damn authors, so slow in updating! I get frustrated waiting and start a new one...).

I don't find I have any difficulty in keeping the stories apart, either.

Of course, I would finish that books much faster if I concentrated my efforts on one at a time, but I'm not particularly concerned with finishing books quickly, so it doesn't matter!

[Helen]

Sara wrote: "I'm reading 5 books right now. One, I carry around in my purse and read whenever I'm waiting (and at the gym), one I'm reading on my Blackberry, one I'm listening to in my car, one I'm listening t..."

Hey Sara,
Nice to know I am not the only odd bird. I probably have about 5 + 1/2 professional/young adult books as well (I am a middle school language teacher).

I have an amazing public library in my city and sometimes I get a lot of requested books all at once. As well, I belong to BookMooch and get free books for my home library. I also do the CD in the car and audio book on my MP3 phone.

I start out with a few and see which one grabs me the most, and so on, and so on.....

[Alisha Marie]

Oh, my God, Anna, I am right there with you in the whole fanfiction department. I'm always reading 4 or five fanfics at one time and I also get annoyed when they don't get updated quickly enough, so I tend to read all the ones that are completed first and then go to the ones that are still ongoing. But, yeah, I don't have trouble keeping those stories apart from each other and apart from the actual books that I read. It's the fiction books together that confuses me.

[Karen]

well I can only manage 2 at once for readong I have a bedtime book and I have book will travel novel in my purse to have while I am out.

[A.M.]

Haha, Alisha--too true!

Although, you'd think it'd be easier to mix up fanfiction, seeing as it's all the same people in the same place!

That's the reason why I find reading different fiction novels simultaneously so easy. After all, the characters are all different, the places are all different...

Karen: I also tend to travel with a book in my purse. Excellent for all the public transport I need to take here in London!

[Jessica]

Alisha wrote: "Oh, my God, Anna, I am right there with you in the whole fanfiction department. I'm always reading 4 or five fanfics at one time and I also get annoyed when they don't get updated quickly enough, ..."

I too am a fanfiction addict. It's like my guilty pleasure. I won't start reading them until maybe 11 at night and the next thing I know, it is almost 3 in the morning! I get sucked into those things so quickly.

[[deleted user]]

Three, Macbeth, Breaking Dawn, and Les Mesirables. I'm about to read Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare if I ever get a ride to the library.

[Karen]

Macbeth was good never got to read Julius caesar

[Sara ♥]

Jessica wrote: "I too am a fanfiction addict. It's like my guilty pleasure. I won't start reading them until maybe 11 at night and the next thing I know, it is almost 3 in the morning! I get sucked into those things so quickly."

Fanfiction? What's that? *snorts* I don't read as much of it as I used to... I used to be TERRIBLE! I've even written one...... (or possibly four...) I've been too busy lately, but I love that stuff! It's REALLY addictive! I've DEFINITELY experienced the, "Holy CRAP! It's WHAT time??" thing.

[Cindy]

Ha Ha on your library fine chat! I try, usually successfully, not to get fines at the library. Sometimes I will check them in and then check them right back out (as long as they're not on hold for someone else).
I'm a one book at a time reader! Although I also have an audio going in the car for my long commute.

[Sara ♥]

Cindy wrote: "Ha Ha on your library fine chat! I try, usually successfully, not to get fines at the library. Sometimes I will check them in and then check them right back out (as long as they're not on hold for someone else)."

I do that a lot, too. A lot, a lot...

[Robin]

There are some books I've had to check out from the library 3 times before I got them read because I couldn't renew them because others were waiting - Probably a good reason to checkout one of those "Netflix" type sites for books.

[Sara ♥]

In situations like that, you really have to weigh your options. Read the book in 3 days, incur a 30 cent fine, and make everyone else wait a little while longer, or just turn it back in and wait until later....

[Andrew]

I tend to try to read just one at a time, but what always seems to happen to me is every once in a while, though I might be enjoying a book, I will find myself unable to locate my copy, or I will be out somewhere and have forgotten it and will start a new book. When that happens, the book tends to stay on my "currently reading" shelf for a long long looooong time. One of the ones on there I think I started about 9 months ago, and just never got back around to it.

My next project after my actual Current Read is to go back and catch up those books that are in stasis, come hell or high water.

[Megan]

For me it depends how into the book I am. If it is good, I read one, but if I am not really enjoying it or am not really in a reading mood I will read 3 or so and alternate between the to try to keep myself inspired.

[Sara ♥]

Megan wrote: "For me it depends how into the book I am. If it is good, I read one, but if I am not really enjoying it or am not really in a reading mood I will read 3 or so and alternate between the to try to keep myself inspired."

That's a really good point. I might be "reading" 5 books at a time, but generally only one of those is one I'm diligently working on. The others might be audiobooks or a book on my blackberry--ones I'm working through very slowly.

[Lori]

I'm an English major, so I have a ton of reading for class, most of which I don't particularly enjoy. I absolutely have to be reading something outside of class to keep my sanity. But I feel like I've spread myself too thin, reading wise. I'm reading Old School, which isn't very long. And I've also started The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath (amazing!) and The Golden Notebook. But I'm wanting to start War and Peace, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle A Novel, and Jane Eyre, which are all book club picks. I should know by now that attempting to read 6 books at once is not a good idea, but I can't help it.

Anyway, I guess I operate best when I'm just reading 1 or 2 books at once.

[Megan]

Lori wrote: "I'm an English major, so I have a ton of reading for class, most of which I don't particularly enjoy. I absolutely have to be reading something outside of class to keep my sanity. But I feel like..."

I did my BA in English, and reading a novel of my choice for even 15 minutes before bed kept me sane. What kind of English classes are you taking? After my obligatory well rounded courses, I took almost exclusively post WWII novel classes and enjoyed most of the books I read. Of course, I am not the most well rounded of scholars, but I enjoyed my degree and am filling in the gaps on my own at a much slower pace now that I am done school.

[Lori]

Right now I'm taking a Theory and Criticism class, which is required for a BA and Survey of American Lit I because I need to pick that up as well. I've taken mostly American late 19th, early 20th century. There's a 20th century class next semester, but it would mean going to class 4 hours in a row, which I don't think I could handle. So I don't know what I'll end up taking (maybe an independent study on Emerson, Whitman, and Thoreau) next semester. After that, I'll be taking 2 more English classes and I'm done. I recently decided to get a degree in history as well, so I'm having to take a bunch of history classes next year and can't fit in any extra English.

[Gretchen]

one at a time! with a toddler that would be the only way to keep my sanity. i hang out with my child and family then nap time comes and i dive into my book. its like another world!it would be hard to dive into more then one world...

[Claire]

Well at the moment I think i have 5 actively in progress (as opposed to the ones passively in progress, meaning they are sitting on the bookshelf and have been put down for some reason or another, very rarely because I'm not enjoying it). And then there's also many readings from my finance textbooks for my masters. I'm a very moody reader, so I won't necessarily pick up the same book every night.

I guess you could say I'm a good multi-tasker!

[Nadia]

I can only read one book at a time. I like to lose myself in one book and the idea of reading another one simultaneously I fear would disrupt me.

[Mike]

If I am reading a long, dense work, I'll take a break and read something shorter and easier before continuing again. It sounds wrong, but it helps me pace myself and sort of catch up.

[Andrew]

I do that too. Or if something I'm reading is enjoyable, but somewhat dry. I'll read something more fast paced, or in a totally different vein altogether (like throwing a good fantasy novel in the middle of a huge work of fiction). Helps to refocus me on what I'm reading.

[Tera (TheBookishAbyss)]

I typically have 3 or 4 going at a time. Usually from different genres, but that way when I misplace one, I can just grab the closest one and pick up where I left off. I never seem to have a problem remembering the details of what I have read. I usually have a book in my purse, one in the bathroom, one on my nightstand and another couple that float around the house.

[Tera (TheBookishAbyss)]

Our library system is online, so when I have not finished a book before the due date, I can renew it online, but my problem is usually I am in the library every few days and forget what books are due when. I always start out organized, but lose it by mid-month and then I end up owing $30 in fees. I haven't been to the library since the summer, I just keep buying, which is why I love Half Price Books.

[˚•—S—•˚]

Right now, I am reading at least 6-7 books, most of them I have lost interest in and are now just collecting dust on my shelves, but I am always looking for a new book to read. I am mood-directed reader, and I can suddenly feel like reading a love declearation in Twilight and then an hour later want to read about a "Alice" in Go Ask Alice.

[Avory]

I'm so anal about this! Even if I've read a few pages of a book, I have to finish it, and I can't start another before I do. This of course leads to some speed reading or not getting other stuff done in favor of reading when I have a book club deadline or something similar coming up.

[[deleted user]]

I have a book I read at work on my breaks, a different book I read while I am in the car and my husband is driving, and another I read at home. I finished one recently so I am down to 2, but getting ready to start another. :)

[Fran]

One audio book, one book in print.

[Becky]

Right now, I'm reading 3 at once...

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (primary novel)
100 Great Fantasy Short, Short Stories (at work book)
Labyrinth (audiobook in the car)

I don't normally read more than one at a time, but this seems to be working out well for me so far!

[Susan]

I am the proverbial flibbertygibbit... I have a hard time doing any one thing at a time. Soooooo, I usually have several books going at a time (usually 2 but up to 5). HOWEVER, if I'm totally into a book, I can read straight through it and get back to the others. Certain books are read one chapter at a time until I plod my way through.

[Jeane]

I have a weird feeling...only have one book that I am reading now and my mind constantly goes thinking about other books to read. I feel naked reading one book only at this moment!

[Liz]

In my car, one on CD (usually fiction); at home, one in the home/organization genre, one non-fiction, one of a spiritual nature, and a host of magazines ... ;o)

[Kayleen]

One of my reading goals for this year was to get my currently-reading stack down to two at a time. It started at 9, got down to 6 and now I have 11. But as Claire mentioned, a few of those are "passively" reading...I put them down and forgot to pick them up right away. I can't go without reading something, so I have one by the bed, one in my tote bag, one near the sofa. And if I wander too far away from the already started books, I pick up another and start it.
I really need to go finish some of those!!!

For those who say they can't keep up: how many tv programs do you watch in a week? And yet you keep the characters/plots straight. I don't see a difference.

[Lori]

I'm going to try reading a few books at once--Lolita, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle A Novel and Journals. We shall see how that goes. It's going to be difficult because I'll want to carry all three of them with me all of the time, I'm afraid.

[Carol]

It depends... When I´m really in love with the book I just read them in one night :D

If it isn´t the case, I usully read two books at once... but now, only one cause I have classes and uni books to read >.<

[Jennifer]

I like to read two books at the same time, I always like to keep a series going and then any other book i stumble upon ;o)

[James]

I read one book at a time. I find it more immersive that way. Impossible for me to give up a book once I've started as well, so I end up slaving over one book for months on end if need be. Don't have enough space on the shelf for more than one in any case.

[Liz]

Lori wrote: "I'm going to try reading a few books at once--Lolita, [b:The Story of Edgar ..."

Lori, two of your picks are HUGE in page number! Good luck. I must add that your comment about "Journal" prompted me to look up that topic on my local library website - didn't realize there are so many published journals out there - I love reading them, but am no good at keeping one for myself ...

[Lori]

Liz,

Schlesinger's journal reads really quickly, so the page number isn't much of an obstacle. There are some really good journals out there. I own Sylvia Plath's and Susan Sontag's but they're both pretty dense so they take longer to read.