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Reading more than one book at the same time

Darren

Darren

Active Member
I know Ell like to do this, but what about everyone else? I've never tried it personally. Would probably forget what was going on in which book!
 
I am currently reading "IT" by Stephen King at bedtime and "Zero Option" by Chris Ryan at lunch time.

No getting these two mixed up is there?

Ian
 
I usually read one book at a time, very quickly I might add. I go through a book every three or four days. If the book I am reading is not keeping my attention I may pick up another one. If I do this, more often than not, I will leave off the 1st book and read the 2nd one 'til I'm done.
 
I've done it before but I don't like to do it for the following reason: one of the books gets my attention more than the other and I stick to it: I end up reading one book and generally forget completely about the other one during a couple of months (during this time I read other books). When I remember to pick it up again, I don't know what it is about anymore and have to start from the beginning...
 
I'm currently reading Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide (should have finished that one ages ago ;)) together with The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Sacred Stones and The Silmarillion. It doesn't bother me none. I tend to pick up the book that's closest to me...
 
Occasionally I'll have more than one book going. If I'm reading something and get to a book store and I find that long sought-after book I might just read it before I finish the other. I used to have a book at work to read during lunch and then read others at home. Something peppy at work usually because we can't all get paid to host fishing shows ;) . Sometimes I'll read one in the morning and something else in the evening, or pick up an old favorite if the world's been kicking me around more than usual. 75% of the time, though, its one at a time.
 
I have four books going at the moment, The Catcher in the Rye, The International Gooseberry - Ben Hatch, The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver, and On Mexican Time - Tony Cohan.
I tend to pick up the closest or the one most suited to my mood.

You'd think it would be confusing but in an odd way I think it actually makes me appreciate each individual book more, what I feel is lacking in some I miraculously find in others.
 
Sometimes I'm guilty of finding another book I just really really want to read... and I end up forgetting about the other one, so that's why I don't normally like to read two at once. Sometimes, I just can't help myself though. =)
 
Once I read 5 books at the same time! One for my Dutch Teacher (Wit Is Altijd Schoon = -translated freely- White is Always Beautiful); One for my French Teacher (Montserrat), and 3 for fun (Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire -in English-; The Hobbit -in Dutch; and The Light Bearer - also in Dutch).
That worked prety good, cause I pasted the tests of the first two books and I never forget what the books were about or what had happened! But I like it more when I can give my full attention to only one book!!
 
I usually read one non-fiction book while I'm reading a novel. Sometimes ideas in the novels inspire my non-fiction choices, and vice versa.
 
Since there are so many books and so little time I always read 2-3 books at a time. One of them is usually nonfiction. I take a book with me wherever I go. There are a lot of opportunities to read...at the theater before the play, waiting rooms, lunch breaks, traffic jams...you name it. I'm now reading: Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis, Letters from Russia by Astolphe De Custine, and Viking Poems on War and Pace by R.G.Poole (2 nonfiction/1fiction).
 
I find it as difficult to read one book at a time as I do to indulge in one hobby at a time. I have an attention span that is, if not short, certainly medium.

At the moment I'm reading Philip Norman's The Stones, Scott Turow's Burden of Proof and Michael Palin's Full Circle.
 
It rather depends on the books in question. At the moment I am reading Dreamcatcher by Stephen King and The Constant Gardener by John Le Carre. These two I can keep apart pretty easily. But once I was reading A Prayer for Owen Meany and I really needed to focus on that one and could not read other books at the same time. Usually I give them their own location (e.g. one on the train to/from work and one at home).

I have also tried more than two but that was no success.
 
Most of the times I usually read 2 books, one is in my bag to take it to work that I read at lunchtime. I read other book at bedtime. I can't do more than 2 books because I will neglect the books which I've read and not finish yet. I like to read the books finish first and then start new books.
 
I have read more than one book at a time, but I stopped doing that... I really don't like it. I like to get lost in a story, and I just don't feel I'm doing that when I read more than one book at a time.
 
I'm strictly a one at a time, girl. I like the thrill of finishing a book and it takes longer if you try to divide your time.
 
ack...im so guilty of being halfway through one book and picking up another....half my collection has been half read, which is horrid...but there are so many books and seemingly so little time!
 
I'm up to three at the moment.....I'm halfway through Tad William's Otherland.....halfway through re-reading The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks.....and just started Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan

I think my brain might explode!
 
Prolixic, great line...book fidelity.

Poolshark, which Otherland book are you reading? The first?
 
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