How many books do you read at the same time?

Lunatique · Dec 8, 2011

The title probably seems a bit misleading, since we can only read one book at a time. What I meant was, do you concentrate on reading just one book until you finish it, before starting another book, or do you treat books more like TV shows, where you are following multiple shows at once, watching an episode of this, then an episode of that? How many books do you juggle at once usually?

I find that if a book isn't totally engrossing, my attention will wander and I might start another book, and then go back and forth between them. The more engrossing one will get finished first, and then I'll likely make myself finish the less engrossing one before starting any more. I never allow myself to read three books at once--that's just too distracting (though I might peak in a bunch of different books to get a feel for their beginnings, just to satisfy my curiosity).

I try to finish all the books I start, even if I'm not enjoying it that much, just for the sake of gathering experience as a reader. But if the writing is technically atrocious, then it gets dropped like a hot potato.

How about you?

seun · Dec 8, 2011

I tend to read two at the same time. Lately, that's been one novel and one non-fiction or a collection of short stories, but as long as the two books are sufficently different, I'm happy to have two on the go at the same time.

Devil Ledbetter · Dec 8, 2011

I tend toward reading two, a novel and a non-fic as well. I've found if I read two somewhat similar books I will confuse the details.

Years ago I read the biographies of Orson Welles and the architect Louis Sullivan at the same time. The details of their lives are forever entangled in my mind.

FictionQuest · Dec 8, 2011

Generally I only read one at a time but if I do read a second then it will be non-fiction if I am on fiction, and vice versa.

scarletpeaches · Dec 8, 2011

One ebook at a time, but with print...usually around four or five.

AutumnWrite · Dec 8, 2011

One fiction, one non-fiction, flipping between the two depending upon my mood at the moment.

My husband usually has 6-7 going at the same time, which boggles my mind.

Alpha Echo · Dec 8, 2011

I have to finish one before moving on to the next. I've tried reading two at a time, but I just can't do it. If I try, I end up not finishing either one.

EthanJones · Dec 8, 2011

Just one.

E.

Bookchew · Dec 8, 2011

Books at multiple locations are read at different times. There's the bathroom book, bedside novel, etc.

writerterri · Dec 8, 2011

My problem is how many books am I writing at the same time.

I usually read just one but have a few in line behind it I constantly eyeball.

Caitlin Black · Dec 8, 2011

I try to do 1 at a time - now.

Last year I wound up with about 8 or 9 going at the same time. It didn't work out so well... I've now finished most of them, but there's still 3 or so that are just part-way done.

PorterStarrByrd · Dec 8, 2011

always got at least a half dozen going, one of which is a proof read of one of my own.

no two are of the same genre.

KellyAssauer · Dec 8, 2011

There was one particularly harsh winter where I went a tad goofy and had 14 books piled up on the coffee table with pages marked... there was one piece of non-fiction, three or four poetry collections and the rest was fiction. I knew right where I was in each of them and had darn little else to do... anymore, three feels challenging.

Alessandra Kelley · Dec 8, 2011

Oh lord, I do stack them up. At the moment I'm reading ... uhhmm:

One work of steampunk science fiction
One fantasy which I'm reading aloud to the kids
A 1952 pulp sci fi magazine
A 1952 Good Housekeeping
Three or four clothing histories
A DIY manual of crafts projects
A heap of old Mad Magazine paperbacks
A documentary history of World War II
Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi
Pride and Prejudice

... and quite possibly a few others which I'll remember when I see them in my reading stack.

Only the first is listed on my Goodreads page as "currently-reading."

Wind Ann Wise · Jan 17, 2015

Only one at a time, unless I have to read one for school, then it's 2. That's the only exception.

Ken · Jan 17, 2015

Just one. But I do read other stuff, too, besides novels. E.g. poems. Essays. Etc.

Scribesage · Jan 17, 2015

I try to stick to one, but most of the time I find myself with two on my currently reading list. A non-fiction and fiction, or at least two very different fiction books. Once I had two very similar fiction books I was reading and someone asked what one of the books I was reading was about. I nearly told them the summary for the other book, so I've learned to be a bit more careful. :tongue

Sometimes I end up with four books I'm reading and that's when it really starts to get difficult... I try to do that only when I'm researching and the books are all about the same topic.

WriteMinded · Jan 18, 2015

Bryan Methods · Jan 18, 2015

One, except when I'm reading a huge old classic, in which case I'll often put it on hold to read something shorter.

Rotes · Jan 18, 2015

I will not buy myself a new book until I have finished the previous one.
That's the rule.
I finish them quickly though. :/
I need to start reading cheaper authors. I've been spending 20 bucks a pop on whatever just hit the shelves. Not a good strategy for a college student who can easily put a book away in two days.

Ladyxkaa · Jan 18, 2015

I do one at a time, but I get several in the same series because I read fast and will need the next one as soon as possible.

Amy Writes · Jan 22, 2015

Usually I'll read one at a time. Sometimes I'll take a break in the middle of a book to read a different one, but it usually means that I wasn't super-engaged in Book #1. I'm less and less willing to waste time on something I'm not loving, so these days I often I don't go back to stuff I've interrupted.

Brightdreamer · Jan 22, 2015

Bookchew said:
Books at multiple locations are read at different times. There's the bathroom book, bedside novel, etc.

That's pretty much me, too. I have my Kindle, my Nook, and a stack of paperbacks and hardcovers. Upper limit of total titles being juggled at once is around four books*. Right now, though, it's just two and a half; one hardcover, one Kindle I'm committed to finishing, and one I'm kinda poking at now and again.

* - Sometimes I can squeeze in a picture book at work, making it five.

K. Q. Watson · Jan 23, 2015

For years I would read 1-3 books at a time.
I used to have a casual or bed-time book, then a 'travel book' shoved in my backpack for waiting for the bus.

Then a few years ago I got my Kindle as a gift now I'm reading something like 5 books at a time. I've said it before, my Kindle is the best and worst gift anyone has ever given me.

Isobel Lindley · Jan 23, 2015

Sometimes I will read a book in one big gulp in a day or evening. But usually I have at least five on the go, a mixture of fiction in different genres and non fiction, and switch between them according to how I feel at a particular moment.

How many books do you read at the same time?

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