Reading multiple books at the same time

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Do you do it? I'm currently reading five books at the moment. My reasoning is that my mood often changes. If I find I'm not in the form for a certain book, forcing myself to read it at that time will cause me to not experience it the way it was meant by the author. I may miss certain things while reading it.

Right now I'm reading Nostos by John Moriarty, Moby Dick by Herman Meville, Facing Unpleasant Facts by George Orwell, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, and finally Hitch-22 by Christopher Hitchens.

Am I mad, or is this common? Vote!

Denerick

No

I don't think I'd be able to manage five books on the go like that. Often I'd read two though, one fiction one non fiction.

No

I'd never manage five simultaneously, but I'm usually reading a couple of books at any given instance. One book is usually dense, heavy going, and requires a lot of concentration and cognitive effort — a real slog, in other words. The other is typically something light that can be read without much hassle or prolonged contemplation. It's nice to be able to break up a "hard" book with (several) lighter books; if I don't do this I often find that I end up ditching the tougher book, which is why I have about two dozen books on my bookshelves with bookmarks sprinkled through at various stages, all abandoned over the last few years.

coffee_cake

I'd only have more than one on the go anymore if it's a tougher book. I read too quickly and want to know what happens if I'm interested too much to put a good book down again

emeraldstar

Sometimes

No, not anymore. As I child I would always have several books on the go at once, but now it's only ever a single book at a time. And once I've started a book I feel compelled to finish it, so I often find myself forcing myself to get through a book. It's good in a way though as it forces me to continue with a difficult book that I might otherwise give up on, because the sooner I finish, the sooner I can pick up another, nicer book at the end of it.

Mr.Nice Guy

I try to avoid reading more than one fictional story. I think doing so dilutes to some extent the impression one would get from just reading one author as you have all these different writing styles to absorb.

I would read a fictional book and a non-fictional one as I don't see a conflict there.

ride-the-spiral

No

I tend to, but sometimes it'd due to logistical reasons, like having only my kindle or book on me at one time.

Usually it's because of different genes and styles though, I tend to be reading a science book, and maybe another non-fiction book, and then I'd usually be reading a sci-fi book at the same time as some other fiction book.

quickbeam

Sometimes

Tend to only have one going at a time. If I'm not really enjoying it I can get in to a rut because I don't want to pick up anything else until the first is finished.

Toby Take a Bow

I used to have 3 or 4 on the go, but I find it much better to read one at any one time. I find it helps the story flow. I may have a non-fiction one on the go as well.

Arlecchina

No

I'm usually reading two books for much the same reasons as others have mentioned: one tends to be a weighty book and the other something a bit lighter — sometimes literally if I'm reading a brick of a novel and don't want to carry it around (I'm looking at you, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell)! I also read a fair few short stories while I'm in the middle of novel-length reads.

...and this is a bit of a confession, but I find it hard to read disturbing novels before I go to sleep; if I'm in the middle of something dark, I'll usually put it aside for something more tranquil. I'm such a wuss.

Nody

No

At least 3, usually 4 to 5 at a time. Two different audio books (one in the car, one on the MP3 player when walking around) and then one to multiple at home (I tend to start new once when I go travel to not run out of things to read which I don't finish by the end of the trip etc.).

slow.loris

No

I always read couple of books at the same time. I usually have one or two at nightstand to read in bed, one on Kindle, one on mobile for when I don't have anything else to read with me and one in the bathroom for reading in bath. At the moment I'm reading a Dance with Dragons by GRRM (nightstand), Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan (Kindle), Stephen King's Cell in the bathroom and one of Harlan Coben's on mobile. They are completely different genres and subjects so I don't feel like anything's diluted and I like the fact that I can pick up whichever I want depending on my mood, tiredness etc.

livinginkorea

No

I usually have three books on the go at one time. One would be on my phone as a pdf when I travel to work, one would be in paperback and the other would be in the bathroom Highly complex system I tell you!

In the beginning it was hard to do but I soon got used to it because of work and travel. Had a load of books to bring to work (I'm a teacher) so being a giant paperback was not really practical.

GrizzlyMan

No

yeah im currently reading 3, An autobiography, a true crime one and an adventure one, so depends what mood im in.

eviltwin

No

I have about 8 books on the go at the moment, I can never read just one. I try to read a bit of them all every few days.

Evan93

I'm a self-proclaimed book whore in that I'll start a book, find it interesting for however so long and then at some point my interest is piqued by another book. It's a perpetual cycle wherein I endlessly just stop and start books at sporadic intervals finishing only the books that somehow fight off the temptation of starting another book. Therefore I kinda operate a survival of the fittest tactic if you will.

confusticated

No

Pretty much always in the middle of two, but rarely more. At the moment I'm reading two in English and one in French, all fiction but different types, the French one is probably the lightest but it's slow going.

slow.loris

No

Evan93 wrote: »

I'm a self-proclaimed book whore in that I'll start a book, find it interesting for however so long and then at some point my interest is piqued by another book. It's a perpetual cycle wherein I endlessly just stop and start books at sporadic intervals finishing only the books that somehow fight off the temptation of starting another book. Therefore I kinda operate a survival of the fittest tactic if you will.

I like this tactic!
Once I start reading a book I feel "obliged" to finish it. It is very rarely that I drop a book in the middle of reading and though I try to choose my books carefully sometimes I feel I waste too much time for bad or mediocre books. I think I might try to adopt your way of reading.