Sunday, December 11, 2011

The Sunday Salon

This week, I’ve been reading quite a bit, because I am so close to one hundred books read this year that I want to make sure I hit that number. Why? Honestly, I have no idea. I didn’t have a goal of reading 100 books, but when I realized that it was doable, I decided to go for it.

One of the books I’m determined to finish (and soon) is David Grossman’s To the End of the Land. I have been working on this book since SEPTEMBER. At first, I just couldn’t get into it. I’d read ten or so pages at a time, and then put it down. Now that I’m finally absorbed in it, I have to take breaks because it is just so intense I can’t read too much at a time.

This got me thinking about my general reading habits. I used to be the type of reader who very rarely had more than one book going at a time. If I was reading more than one book, they would be vastly different, maybe one fiction and one non-fiction.  Now, it seems that I’ve always got three books started at any time. I may be focusing more attention on one, one may have been abandoned for a while and staring at me from my nightstand, wondering when I’ll ever pick it up again, and another will be one from which I read a chapter or so a night.

I guess I used to think that I would get confused going back between multiple stories, but that hasn’t happened. I think that by juggling multiple books at a time I’m actually reading more. If my mood isn’t compatible with one book, I can just pick up another.

What kind of reader are you? A one book at a time focuser, or a multi-book juggler?

9 comments:

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

I am also one of those ridiculous readers who has fifteen bookmarks in fifteen books at one time. Crazy!

Here's my Sunday Salon!

Vasilly said...

I'm usually juggling several books at one time. Right now I'm reading three books and will probably start a fourth one today.

Allie said...

I only read one book at a time until I began book blogging. I usually try and cap it at 3. Any more than that and I don't finish anything!

Good luck on hitting 100! This is the first year in...years that I'm not even going to come close. I'm at 73 right now, and I highly doubt I'll finish that many books before the end of the year! My new goal is 80!

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

I usually read one book at a time, except when one of them is a chunkster. Then that one is for night-time reading. I also occasionally have one going on my Kindle, which I grab to take when I go out somewhere.

Here's MY SUNDAY SALON POST and
MY WEBSITE

Wendy said...

I find it very, very hard to read more than one book at a time and I rarely attempt it. Mostly it would be a fiction and a nonfiction book - books so different from each other that I don't get confused (it must be my advance age LOL). Have a great week!

Rob said...

At the very most I'll have one fiction book, one poetry or short story collection, one audio book, and a comic going at once. I try not to double-up beyond that, or I'd just never finish anything.

LBC said...

I definitely read more than one book at a time, even though they are usually pretty different. Right now I have a book of short stories, a nonfiction book, and a novel. I usually have something going on my Ipad to read at the gym as well. Congrats on reaching 100 books. It still seems pretty out of reach for me.

Melissa Wiebe said...

I am usually juggling several different books at one time.

MJ said...

Wow! I'm surprised that most people seem to be jugglers. Maybe it's because we tend to be be bloggers? I wonder if non-blogging readers have different habits.