Are you a monogamous reader?
I know a ton of people who read more than one book at a time and I always marveled at that. How do you decide which book to read? Doesn't one book hold your attention? What is this madness?! I have since evolved my thinking and came to realize I kind of like this reading more than one book at a time thing. I have one main book I read when I'm off or after work. I'll keep a few fun and sassy kindle books in case I have a slow day at work (let me tell you how much I love those now!) and I've actually started keeping a non-fiction book on hand to read on my lunch break. Well, at least that's what I'm doing right now. If I'm in the middle of an amazing book I'll bring it to work but right now I look forward to my lunch breaks because I get to read a book I'm devouring slowly. Why non-fiction? Well as a rule the pace of those are a little slower and I find I enjoy the book more reading it slowly and over an extended period of time.
So now I'm curious because I have changed my reading habits, what do you guys do?
Do you read one book at a time?
Do you have multiple going at once?
Do you have a system to the madness like me?
Usually, I am one book kind of girl. But I have to admit that it happened in the past that I was reading two books at once. But it is not a habit of mine, it happens only when my long awaited book is released and I just cannot wait any longer to start it even though I am reading something else at the moment :)
ReplyDeleteWell see I read in two places - at night in my bed on my kindle and during my lunch break at the gym on the bike where I read library books. So yes I'm always reading two books at a time.
ReplyDeleteI'm still pretty monogamous when it comes to books. I tried doing the multi-books thing, but it didn't work. I kept going back to one of them. I did, however, manage to achieve that with audiobooks. I always have one audiobook and one book which I'm reading at a time, so in that aspect I'm always in the middle of two books. But the fact that I appreciate them through different outlets helps me differentiate them enough to keep my interest in both stories.
ReplyDeleteYes, I always have more than one book going (usually 3-4). I have my work book, which duh, stays at work and only read on breaks. (Occasionally, I'll also have a book going on my Kindle Cloud to read during down time lol.) At home, I usually have 2-3 that I rotate thru depending on my mood. I try to make them different genres so it's not super confusing to flip back and forth, but it's not too bad usually. A lot of the time, it's a graphic novel, maybe something lighter like a Baby-Sitters Club book, and then a bigger novel. I've never really had any issues with it.
ReplyDeleteI always have more than one book going - usually just one audiobook and one regular book. Sometimes I may have a third in case I want one on my Kindle in addition to a physical book (kind of for the reasons you listed!). I always keep the genres different; if I'm listening to a fantasy book via audio, my regular book will be contemporary.
ReplyDeleteIt was only in the past few years (basically when I began blogging) that I forced myself to slow down and focus on one book at a time. I was always a multiple-books-at-one-time kind of girl, but felt I couldn't devote enough attention to review copies if I had seven others going as well.
ReplyDeleteFor the past few years it worked out great, but this year I'm slowly getting back into my old ways - and I gotta say, it feels GOOD. At first it was a book and an audiobook for those times I was out running, doing dishes, or driving - those moments when I can't physically read a book. Two worked out well for me, but right now I'm reading three: two print copies and an audio. There was a slower part in book #1 so even though I was still enjoying it, I wanted something else I could easily get through (I had a day off and wanted to make the most of my free time). Now I'm flip-flopping between both and finding excuses to squeeze in the audio as well.
It's interesting that you mentioned non-fic tends to move slower. I agree and that's not a bad thing! I love sinking into a good non-fiction book and my current one is great: Erik Larson's latest. & you've gotten me all curious: what's your non-fic read??
Oh this is interestign as recently I staretd reading two books at a time although I would still consider myself a monogamous reader even though I now read two books at the same time. I used to play free ipad games in the morngin durign my breakfast as I like to relax during my breakfats before I start workign and then recently I thought, hey what if I start readign those netgalley books I got during breakfast.
ReplyDeleteSo now I read books on the kindle app during breakfast. But I hate reading on my ipad when it's dark, so I read on my Kobo in the evenings. It works out pretty well, but I still read only one book on each device. So I sort of have a system for reading two books at a time and it works, but I don't like being in the middle of more than two books. I like finishing one books first before starting a new one. Great post!
I used to read only one book at a time and couldn't understand how people read several. It blew my mind, because I thought I needed to give my full attention to the book I was reading or DNF it. Now, though, I usually juggle two or three. I don't know exactly what changed, but I like being able to switch between books when I need to. Sometimes I'll read a book straight through, but lately I've been finishing two around the same time. For me it's not really about genre, but Kindle vs. Paperback/Hardback. I like having two different visuals.
ReplyDeleteGreat discussion!
Oh! What a great discussion post idea, Kel! Before I became a blogger, I definitely only read one book at a time. It was just because I usually only had one book at any given moment to read, and I would immerse myself fully in it. But when I started blogging, that slowly shifted until I would be reading two books at any given time - one via an electronic device and one physical novel. However, in the middle of last year and until now, and maybe because my mindset is slowly changing yet again, I've shifted back to being monogamous. There's just something so nice about being able to focus on one story at any given time that appeals to me these days :)
ReplyDelete