We read...

To know we are not alone. ~C.S. Lewis~

Thursday, April 9, 2009


This week's BTT question is an old one revisited which is good because I wasn't doing BTT 2 years ago so it's all new to me!
Some people read one book at a time. Some people have a number of them on the go at any given time, perhaps a reading in bed book, a breakfast table book, a bathroom book, and so on, which leads me to…
Are you currently reading more than one book? If so, how many books are you currently reading? Is this normal for you? Where do you keep your current reads?


I have always been a one-book-at-a-time devotee. My thinking was that I wanted to give my whole heart and soul to each read and I found that diffucult if I had more than one on the go. I say WAS becasue my reading habits were changed perforce by uni. It took me six years to get my degree and the amount of reading required demanded concurrent reading.

Although I'm no longer writing essays and reading primary texts along side secondary criticism I find emersing myself in multiple reads possible. This is good because I do like to have more than one book to show off at the "what I read last month" part of
BookFreaks (my bookclub). Especially as some members (Becca) have little OCD problem and bring anintimidatingly huge pile of recent reads.

I keep my current read with me at all times (Becca's not along in the OCD department), it's usually my bookFreaks book. The others are on my bedside table (BST), I dip into each according to my mood. At the moment my BST reading consists of
The Devil's Brood = I've gone to bed early to escape the world and I'm in the mood for a nice long read (It's HUGE so it'll be on my current read pile for quite a while); Tales of the Unexpected = I'm tired or short story mood; and for those outside the square moods I've started Mrs Dalloway.





7 comments:

Yvonne said...

I'm mainly a one-book-at-a-time reader. I've been known to read a fiction and a non-ficiton at the same time, but I don't read much non-fiction. I, also, listen to an audio book everyday in the car, so maybe that means I have 2 books at the same time. Print book at home and audio in the car.

Anonymous said...

Exactly! People don't watch just one tv series or go to just one class in school, so why do they read just one book?

Tales of the Unexpected has an interesting title... I'll have to look it up :-D

Bonnie said...

I can only read 2 at the most and one is usually a book on CD I listen to. They are usually different genres which helps keep balance in my mind.
My Post is HERE.

Jess said...

Yeah, I am a 2 to 3 book person as well.

Anonymous said...

Short stories are usually my "filler" in between novels. I hardly read short stories.

usually I'll have a few books lined up and which I read a bit and decide which one is most grabbing.

Rebecca Johnson said...

I'm choosing not to respond to this for reasons that are both varied and critical to your continued health.

Robin M said...

I usually only read one book at a time. Sometimes I'll read a non fiction book as well. But I have been forgetting about my school work. I manage to read that will reading another fiction book. Guess I can read two at a time. :)

My post is up now.