Multiple Books
Nathan Bransford recently asked how many books people read at once, and the comment section is fascinating.
I always go for two books at once — an e-book and a print book. I tend to favour the e-book option over the print one, sometimes because the e-book is a library book and it’s time-sensitive. But other times, it is because I shifted to e-books during the pandemic, and they somehow feel like the better reading experience now.
Sometimes, I end up reading three or more books at once, but then I feel stressed out. Even if I own all of the books (so time isn’t a factor), I find that having so many things started leaves me feeling like I have to read faster and get them finished. The only thing that doesn’t count is a re-read. I take my time with those, and I may have a few books open that I jump in and out of because I know the story well.
How many books do you read at once?
4 comments
I do an eye book and an ear book at once because I use them for different reading times. I spend a lot of time driving and doing physical work lately so I’ve been getting through more ear books.
It’s funny, because I’m inclined to say just one at a time — but if you look at my list of current reads in my monthly “Right now” summary posts, I have SIX books listed (!), and I will often have 2 or 3 on the go at the same time.
I’m involved in several online book clubs. One is focused on the books of L.M. Montgomery, and one on the books of D.E. Stevenson, a mid-century Scottish writer. For those, I usually read (or re-read, as I’ve often read the books before) the books through once myself before we start our group read/discussions, which generally cover a couple of chapters per week. I’ll re-read the book chapter-by-chapter as we go along, and then count it as a re-read when we’re done.
I’m in another book club within a private online childless community that focuses on books with childless heroines or themes, or at least they do not prioritize mothers and parenting themes.
This year, I’m also doing two “slow readalongs” — one doing “War & Peace,” one chapter a day for the whole year (!) and another covering all three books in Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell Trilogy over the space of a year (weekly schedule). I haven’t read those books before, and am just following the reading schedule.
And somewhere in between all those, I manage to squeeze in a few books of my own choice as well. 😉
I will admit that juggling all these book clubs/reads this year has turned out to be a LOT!! — and my own reading has suffered a bit as a result — but I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to do the W&P and Mantel readalongs, and I’m really enjoying them both!
I am constantly juggling them, especially as my e-library books are always reaching their return date and I haven’t finished them – I’m an optimist, and always dramatically overestimate the amount of time I have left to read them. Though I’m generally a serial reader – stick with one book until it is done before starting (or going back to) another book. Right now I am reading one e-book that I’ve renewed several times, a hard copy book I’m drifting in and out of (but it’s designed that way so is okay), and was appalled to find (when I tried to renew it) that a book I’ve been reading for a while has been “removed from my library’s collection!” So, I guess I won’t be finishing it! lol
I’m usually somewhere between 1 and 4 at a time. I have one at home, one at work, a couple on my phone. I am a little irritated today – I forgot to grab a book and I don’t feel like reading the one on my phone. I have no idea how.much linger my car repair will take. But I am catching up on my blog reading!
Speaking of books – I just read that PIERCE BROSNAN IS GOING TO PLAY RON IN THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB! I didn’t know they were making a film (series?), let alone that they had cast it! I can’t wait – adaptations aren’t great but I feel like this will be hard to mess up.