How many books do you read at a time?

[Razeus]

I'm currently on one book, Don Quixote. I'm thinking about upping it to 3 to cover more ground when I get tired of reading a particular book (btw, Don Quixote is freaking fantastics).

How many books do you guys keep under the thumb at a time?

[Koa]

one, only and ever one.

unless i'm reading a novel and at the same time some essay or history thing for study...but i dont consider that 'reading'. and it happens very rarely anyway.

[mono]

Not including school books, I try to minimize my reading to as few books at a time, such as one, two, or three. The seldom times I do read more than one book, I usually ensure I read different genres, such as fiction combined with poetry (like now), or non-fiction.
Rarely can I focus on reading more than one book in the same genre simultaneously. I once tried reading The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain along with The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer and Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë. Though Schopenhauer seemed a difficult read, I had to set aside Mark Twain until I completed Brontë, which did not take long, feeling twisted in too many plots at once.

[Albertchen]

One at a time of course.
But when l'm tired of any book,l simply throw it away
and turn to another one:P

[Capnplank]

One, but when that one is very lengthy and is taking me a month to read I will sometimes stop and blaze through another very short book as a little intermission, and then get back to the big'n. When I do that though I also try to make the two as different as possible so nothing gets twisted around, like taking a break from MacKinlay Kantor's Andersonville with Robert Graves' bitty little The Siege of Troy.

[Bandini]

I'm a one at a time man, with regard to fiction.

[Erna]

At this moment it are 4, but I think it's too many. But I have to say, it are 4 different genres and 3 of them take a long time to read them completely and aren't the books I read just for fun, but also to learn something from. And they aren't fiction. So 1, maybe 2 fiction at the time.

[Snukes]

Huh. I seem to be the oddball, reading undetermined numbers of books at a time. I can't help it. I *try* to help it, but then there's always a new book begging to be started. Just now... Almost finished with Stranger in a Strange Land, halfway through Notre Dame de Paris (have been for a good year or so...), also midway through Peplum, and then there are the countless books that have gone back to the library overdue and unfinished, or even just gotten forgotten... I won't bother counting the books I read for my studies. I agree with Koa - those don't count.

I think my problem is locality. I have to have a book on hand at any given time, which means I have half-finished books all over the place. I have one that travels in my backpack as bus/train reading (Peplum) which is usually light enough that you can get away with reading just a few pages at a time. I have one I keep by my bed that I usually only read before I go to sleep. I'm usually working on an E-book (good for breaks in the library)...

Etc, etc, etc.

There are disadvantages, of course, and if I find a really good book, it comes with me wherever I go so I can read until I'm finished. But what I really like about this system, is that books seem to speak to each other. Even books you wouldn't suspect of having anything in common. It can be very nice.

[Jay]

Well, I don't think I remember ever reading only one book at a time. The number of books (not related to study materials) varies, between 2 and 10 (wild guess), latelly Im finishing most of the books so right now I'm reading only... wow, 3, two Jeanette Winterson books (Art Objects and Art & Lies) and Brave New World. Though I'm about to borrow Seize the Day and if the someone who's supposed to return the book as in, two days ago, Metaphors We Live By.

[EAP]

betweewn 7 to 1

[faith]

Most of the time I read only one book at a time, but if a book is very boring or hard to read, I might read it beside an other book.

[Koa]

wow, I seem to be almost the only one who reads only one book at the time! :eek: I thought it wasn't so common to read many at once...
Once I tried to read 3 books at the same time, but I said that to someone who told me it was 'very wrong' and I think that scared me off (I was a child). But I never really felt the need to read more than one anyway.

[faintingink]

people generally have a difficult time believing it is at all POSSIBLE to read more than one book at a time. especially when you're in school. it makes me cring when i hear people say the only reading they do what they have to read for school. ERG. however, it's like you say, sometimes certain books get kinda slow, kinda boring etc. you still wanna finish them, but you also wanna stay intrigued and stimulated. i also like to have a book just for by the bed to read before sleep...it gives me something to look forward to. plus one with good portability to throw in my bag with everything else! and then, there is always one kind of staple that is never very far that i will often read sectionally whenever the mood hits me.

Koa, i once had a teacher wail on me for walking and reading. she took my book away. i SO remember it. than, she "made" me go "play" rather than walk around reading all recess. who does that? i say go for it! read the three books at once! spite the inappropriateness of all horrid literacy un-advocates!

it's a funny thing this reading business. :banana:

[mono]

wow, I seem to be almost the only one who reads only one book at the time! :eek: I thought it wasn't so common to read many at once...
Once I tried to read 3 books at the same time, but I said that to someone who told me it was 'very wrong' and I think that scared me off (I was a child). But I never really felt the need to read more than one anyway.
I usually try to stick with one book at a time, also. Even if I read more than one book of different genres, I have difficulty focusing, but with a few exceptions, such as reading textbooks for school, along with leisure reading with novels, poetry, essays, etc. Only with very few books, additionally, have I set aside to read another; when picking up the book again, I realize how much I have forgotten, and how much interest I have lost. :eek:

[IWilKikU]

I've heard that reading multiple books and getting used to it is supposed to help you focus, because you have to think about what you're reading or somthing :rolleyes:. Anyways, I usually am reading 1 fiction, 1 current-social-political type book, and a Short Story book. Right now I'm reading those plus Paradise Lost which is awsome by the way.

[Fango]

Uh, I don't know about the "suppose to help you focus" thing. Doesn't really make sense to me anyway.

The reason I can't read two books at a time is that I rather finish one book than being in the middle of two books. I mean, I'm always eager to know how the story ends.

[Eliza]

I'm usually reading two or three books at any given time but it's really an effort at discipline. I absolutely cannot put a good book down when I start reading, so I tend to stay up too late and have miserable days at work. I'm always thinking "okay, just one more chapter" and oops, now it's 3am. So - I reserve my heavier reading for weeknights and lighter fare for the weekends. My weeknight book is currently The Federalist Papers. It's a great read, but I can definitely put it down. Sometimes it actually puts me to sleep. Last weekend I started The Divine Comedy, and I'm really ready to get back to it this weekend. TGIF.

It's a lucky thing my addiction is a safe activity.

Eliza

[Zooey]

I'm one of those people that always have multiple books going at any given time. It's the way my mind works- after a certain amount of time reading one thing I find it actually more restful to switch gears after concentrating for 30 - 45 minutes (for example, I was recently doing this with Paradise Lost and Mrs. Dalloway). I guess I'm just weird like that.

I always have at least three books going at a time though-. A novel and a book of poetry, as well as either a book of short stories or criticism, or both.

[Pensive]

I usually try to read one book at a time. Sometimes I read from one to three books as well.

[Reichenbach]

I try to read one book at a time but look how that turned out :
1) re-reading a study in scarlet
2) The Day of the Triffids
3) Treasure Island
4) Dr Jeckel Mr Hyde
5) The Da Vici Codes
6) Dead gorgeous

And then I'm throwing my school-work in between reading sessions! I seem to stay up untill 2am reading and then fall asleep on the bus on the way to school! :yawnb:

[RococoLocket]

I read one book at a time because I prefer to completely immerce myself into the story and characters.
This was apart from when I was in 6th Form though, when obviously I had several college books and my personal reading book on the go at the same time; Which was a disaster for my college work :p

I have the feeling I've replied in this thread already ... but I'm too lazy to check :(

[A Hard Rain]

my particular way of ambling through literature consists of:

-1 novel at any time.

-A short story collection lying around in case i get tired or exhausted or i need time to think through the novel more, because it takes time to process some of that stuff.

-And usually some poetry lying around.

It works for me. Everything is seperate, and in having influences that are not gigantic or perplexing, but rather, stimulating and short, it may help me work out the novel quicker or gain a greater understanding. It is especially great when the poetry or short story hits on the same notes and concepts of the novel.

if a particulary novel isn't working for my state of mind or i'm not interested at the time or in the style, i just put it back on the shelf for another time. and start another, i don't consider the one i put back part of active reading because for now i'm done with it.

You know how I do. ;)

[subterranean]

I just posted in other thread about how random I could be. I currently reading 4 books at the moment (Song of Solomon, Measure for Measure, War of The Worlds, and Tropic of Cancer). The one I read would really depend on my mood...I read Measure for Measure last nite until I fell asleep and this morning on my way to work, I read Song of Solomon.

[Squeaky]

I'm almost never reading one book at a time. I'm currently reading Idylls of the King by Alfred Lord Tennyson, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Jingo by Terry Pratchett, and up until a few days ago The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. It's no wonder I get them mixed up so often. :)

[bootyqueen]

I have a book to read at work, a book to read in the tub, a book to read in bed....
So usually about 3, maybe 4???

[Shira]

Twelve

~one contemporary literature

~one classic literature

~one or two poetry

~two or three books on some aspect of studying writing

~one "motivational" book for writers

~two or three books on something I'm studying that isn't related to writing

~one book that's spiritual or devotional

[starrwriter]

I can recall reading two books at the same time on rare occasions. But if a book is really fascinating, I stick with it until the end before I start another book.

I'm a very picky reader. If a book doesn't catch my interest in the first few pages, I usually don't finish it. Bad writing pollutes your mind.

[~Maude~]

i usually have a few books going at the same time. I keep some at home scattered in my fave spots and one in my bag for on the go and waitingrooms. Right now I'm reading Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather, The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard, at home and 253 by Geoff Ryman, as my on the go book.

[rachel]

i have no trouble reading a handful of books at the same time. it is easy for me to switch to the other worlds and instantly immerse myself in them.the more restless i feel the more books i read at the same time, i am not sure what i am searching for but definitely something maybe it is only one line i need for my soul. i don't really know. but i enjoy deeply each that i read. i couldn't stand being a librarian!

[jon1jt]

I read up to 10 books at a given time. It sometimes becomes unweildy and if I feel that happening, I usually know which one's gotta be sacrificed until later. Glad to see so many voracious readers - inspiring! Thanks!

[Wendigo_49]

I usually read one book at a time. I tried reading three different books at one time and it seemed that I didn't get as much out of them.

[subterranean]

Yes, I see what you mean. It really takes special effort to really gain something when you read more than 2 books.

I do share Starwriter's opinon about the first pages impression. That's why personally, I love Thomas Hardy as he's known for having this ability in arousing reader's interest in the first 5-10 pages in many of his novels.

And personally, I am trying to change my habbit by lessen the number of books I read at one time. I'm hoping, as you said above, to gain more.


I usually read one book at a time. I tried reading three different books at one time and it seemed that I didn't get as much out of them.

[jtoland]

When I am in school, I usually have to read several books at a time since I am an English major and have to take several English courses. When I'm not in school, I try to keep my reading at one novel and maybe a book of short stories.

[RyanDowdy]

I have found that it is very difficult to read more than one book at a time because my eyes want to look at the same thing. So one eye on one book and one eye on the other doesn't seem to work too well. Actually, I get quite a headache.

The best way for me is to read some of one, put that one down, then read some of another. Rinse - then repeat. True genius, if I must say so myself!

In all seriousness, I usually am reading two books. One tends to be fiction and the other non-fiction. I may also have a book that relates in some way to one of the books I am currently reading; like maybe an encyclopedia, or Cliffnotes or something like that. It's slow going sometimes, but I find it very satisfying.

[Kiwi Shelf]

It depends on what I am doing and where I am going. Sometimes when I have to read a book for school I will read that book and a fun one at the same time. Or, when I buy a book and can't resist reading it sometimes there are two on the go at the same time.

[Schokokeks]

I seldom read only one book at a time. In general, it's three or more depending on where I am. At home, I normally read the rather thick and heavy non-paperback books. For the boring lessons in school and for bus rides, I take a rather thin and light-weighted book with me, for I need to transport it all the way down to the bus stop and through the school corridors :D (wouldn't want to do so with 'War and Peace', for exemple...).
Additionally, I'm the proud owner of two grandma-self-made-knapsacks which I take along with me variantly when I go out. As a kind of precautionary measure, each knapsack holds its own book so that I never happen to be without a book. :)
That would be 3-4 books simultaneously, which sometimes confuses me a bit in case the plot of one other book preoccupies me more than the one of the book I want to restart and I can't really concentrate on the present one...

[literaturerocks]

wow Schokokeks thats insane!! :eek: i would get so confused reading that many books..so i usually tend to stick with one book at a time..i am a pretty fast reader but on poetry and more complicated things i tend to slow down a bit to absorb the information more efficiently... but as i said..only one book at a time for me..any more than that and it gets confusing:smash:

[TEND]

I try to keep it at 2, and always of different genres so if I get tired of reading one I can switch over to the other for a while. For instance right now I'm reading 'the Castle' and 'Childhood's End'. Although often I do end up reading just one when I'm really into it (that's semi-happening right now, mostly reading Kafka and ignoring the Clarke). Of course sometimes the system fails and I end up with 3 or 4 books at a time, which bothers me because though it's not so much confusing it's that I just don't feel I'm giving the appropriate attention to certain works that deserve it.

[grace86]

Wow...I was going to create a thread and ask the same question, glad I found out it already exists. I was thinking of pursuing more than one book at a time, but was wondering on your guys' perspectives. I will probably stick to one now. But maybe I will try two: my novel and my non fiction book. I am just in agony because I have got so many books I want to read, and I have yet to finish my current one, Anna Karenina - 250 left guys!!! (no time no time!!) but I am also partly reading an archaeology book called The First Human. Maybe I will finish Anna first. It's an awesome book, but just too big for the time I have I guess.

[ClaesGefvenberg]

I habitually have somewhere between five and ten books going, trying my wifes patience by putting them all over the house :lol:

/Claes

[Idril]

wow Schokokeks thats insane!! :eek: i would get so confused reading that many books..so i usually tend to stick with one book at a time..

I'm the same way, one book at a time for me. I don't feel like I can really immerse myself in a book if I'm trying to keep track of multiple plots and characters. I'm a pretty fast reader though so I manage to get through a fair amount of books just reading a measly one book at a time. ;)

[Erna]

My problem is, that when a book is a hard read or a little boring, I will start in a lighter read in busy times, or just read a new book when a friend puts one of hers in my hands and says I really should read it (what I will do immediately). It ends up with a couple of unfinnished books.... Mostly I then make an appointment with myself that the ammount of books I'm reading should be brought back to 2 again.

[Jean-Baptiste]

The highest number of books I've had going at one time was twelve. then I decided that that was silly. Usually I try to keep it up around 6, but sometimes I have 10. I dread the time that all of my books are coming to the end at the same time, because then I have to start thinking of an entirely new set, as I haven't had time to think of new books while reading the current books. I do this because my brain is deficient, or so the teachers told me, and this is a way to combat ADD. My memory is good, so I can pick up a book and get lost just where I left off when I'm tired of another.

[stlukesguild]

I usually have far too many going at any given time. Right now I'm reading Proust, a bio on Chaucer, Everything is Illuminated, Rilke's journals, a new tranlation of Gilgamesh, and I'll regularly browse a poem or two from this or that writer or perhaps a short story. All of this doesn't even include whatever I'm reading in magazines, the newspapers, on the net, or in required professional reading, etc...

[Schokokeks]

wow Schokokeks thats insane!! :eek: i would get so confused reading that many books..

Hehe, I would never call myself anything else ;) :lol:
I understand that reading many books at a time can be confusing, but indeed it does help me reading them in different places. That way, when I enter the bus and walk down the aisle, I begin to remember what the last chapter I read here was about; same with reading in bed. I found out that my memory works largely photographically (I memorize the fridge and re-visualise it in my mind at the supermarket in order to scan for things missing). Thus, looking at my blue backpack, Jude the Obscure comes to my mind, in bed I'm reading The Divine Comedy, my red handbag is Sophocles' home, and so furth. However, I don't think that I would be able to practise this if the books were all comparatively similar to each other. I always keep an eye on reading books that can be easily kept apart from each other (a Victorian novel, an epic poem, a drama, e.g.)

[Bastet]

I normally read one at a time, maybe two if I'm really eager to start a book while I'm already reading another one. However I was reading 5 books at a time the whole year in my last year in college, because I had 5 lit. classes and all required constant reading. Thankfully all the lit. classes were about different periods and different genres.... otherwise I would have gone really crazy! :) But like I say, I try to keep it at one. That way I give more time to that one and finish faster so I can start something else!

[melancolia]

I don't think reading like say 3 books at once is a difficult thing to juggle... It just depends on you and the books you're reading. Personally, I prefer reading one book at a time, so I can enjoy that and only that, and not get confused with certain characters from another story and whatnot.

[Nightwalk]

I stick to only one book at a time so I can appreciate the work fully. Some books are not worth reading, and I could tell in any part of the book when it's time to stop. Some books are slow reads: I read Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams for nearly half a year and it isn't the longest book in the planet. It's dry, analytic tone begged for juice but the challenge Freud deals with is so fascinating that I persisted in finishing it and was much gladdened and justified in doing so.

Some works are long but they read fast like Shelby Foote's 3-Vol. The Civil War: A Narrative. It took me 2 1/2 months to finish it but I never thought of reading anything else during that time. It is so well-written and engrossing and it was one of the best reading experiences I've had.

[melancolia]

Ah, a long time ago I tried reading The Interpretation of Dreams, I got only halfway through, I'm afraid I didn't have enough determination =( Butttt, I think I am going to read it again and actually finish it, in the near future ...

[danielrsmith]

I vary slightly - currently I'm reading 2 books (ulysses and the Iliad) but I tend to start several books at once (obviously not at the exact same time) then carry on with one or two, but come back to the others.

[Nightwalk]

Ah, a long time ago I tried reading The Interpretation of Dreams, I got only halfway through, I'm afraid I didn't have enough determination

I can relate. :)


Butttt, I think I am going to read it again and actually finish it, in the near future ...

Oh, you should. One can fully appreciate Freud's groundbreaking achievement by doing so.

[holograph]

eek i prefer one at a time, but at this point i am reading, around 5 at once. [finishing pride and prejudice, sartoris, love in the time of cholera, mann's short stories, and the elegant universe]

[Zooey]

I always have multiple books going on at any given time. I'm really picky about reading things that fit any given mood I'm in.

[Bookworm Cris]

I´m reading just one book now (House of Sand and Fog), but I can read more than one at a time; I see no problem in it, because I can immerse myself in the story, and when I pick up another book, I can do the same with it; usually I read a book in the computer and another in paper (or more than one, it can be a non-fiction book); and it may be stubborn from me, but I read a book until the end, even if it´s boring or a bad one (let´s see how it ends, or, the author deserves a second chance, maybe the book gets better in the end, who knows...) ;)

[mtpspur]

At this stage of my life I'm finding myself increasingly bored with just about everything except the study of human behavior when AAA members' car breaks down and they don't like the wait time. Just off the top of my head: Rereading hand of Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer--bogged down in it. Two pages into the first TV Monk book--Mr. Monk and the Firehouse. About 40 pages into Reteif's Peace by Willaim Keith; The Road to Damascus by John Ringo and Linda Evans (a Keith Laumer Bolos novel), almost 90 pages to go in Tales of the Shadowmen, Volume 1 edited by J Lofficer. I think I'm battling the tyranny of the collection--why DO I have to read EVERY thing I think I NEED to own?!!?

The ONLY thing I've been consistent is a comitment to reading Charles Haddon Spurgeon's Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit one sermon a day. As of today I'm in Volume 49 (of 63)-published 1902--Sermon #2800 of 3561. Started 1 Jan 99 the day after my 17 year old decided to try the prodigal son life and haven't missed a day yet (by the grace of God). Yes he came back but the story Wife #1 would make a great Dr Phil//Maury Povich show.

Now you know where my sign in name comes from and anyone who reads Spurgeon may understand my frequent confusion with the religious forums.

[Shakira]

Presently I am reading 4 books:
1. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie.
2. 100 years of Solitude - Gabriel Marquez.
3. Beloved - Toni Morrison.
4. One Thousand Faces of the Night - Githa Hariharan.

I guess thats lots of reading for now.

[mono]

As posted before, I can seldom read two books of the same genre simultaneously, and even when I do read two books of different genres, I still have trouble on occasion. Right now, I read Ulysses by James Joyce and the complete poetry of William Wordsworth; both, individually, seem a bit of a challenge, and from day-to-day, I will usually stick to one, yet often when I switch back-and-forth from each, my mind and attention usually float along with one of them, feeling not to understand the other. :p

[Matilda]

I have a bit of a problem, when I go to the library, I will grab all the books that seem interesting, and then I'll have a hard time dragging them home ;)
And when I eventually get home, I want to read them all, so during the day I'll start reading at least five. A lot of you seem to be planning your reading really carefully, but mine is more... ehm...let's say spontaneous.

Luckily, reading several books at once works well for me. It's great to be able to switch book depending on what mood you're in.

[soulsistachick]

[QUOTE=Snukes;63983]Huh. I seem to be the oddball, reading undetermined numbers of books at a time. I can't help it. I *try* to help it, but then there's always a new book begging to be started.

I agree with you there is always another book begging to be read

[Reepicheep]

For me at the most three. I have two at work and one in the bathroom.

[ktd222]

I haven't read a book in so long I can't even remember.

[Joreads]

I try to only read one at a time but more often then not i end up reading two or more.

[Etienne]

I haven't read a book in so long I can't even remember.

So what are you doing on these forums?

[ktd222]

sharing my thoughts and opinions, and reading other's opinions on writing and poetry. Not reading a book is not the same as not reading short stories, poems, and other stuff.:p

[stlukesguild]

Far too many. I will often have one or two novels I am reading along with several books of non-fiction/essay/criticism along with browsing several collections of poetry... or short stories, etc...:sick:

[ballb]

Usually a couple on the go at any one time. I like to mix an easy read up with something a little more demanding. So I am currently reading an historical bodice ripper by Phillipa Gregory during my coffee break at work whilst struggling manfully with Chaucer`s Canterbury Tales in the Middle English in the smallest room in the house at home.

[thelastmelon]

It's usually like this:
- One book that I want to read
- One book for school

[Oniw17]

Only one at a time. When I used to read more than one at once, I'd get halfway through a book and start reading something else. By the time I got back to a book, I had to re-read the part I had already finished. I never finished reading anything.

[Aiculík]

Far too many. I will often have one or two novels I am reading along with several books of non-fiction/essay/criticism along with browsing several collections of poetry... or short stories, etc...:sick:

I used to do that, too, but I had a problem with it - if I read about some critical theory, while reading some novel or short story, I always tried to apply the theory on it. That wouldn't be so bad, but the novel and short story was like forever connected with the theory and it was difficult to look at it from another point of view, to apply other theory. It always felt somehow "wrong". Weird, I know. :D

Right now, I'm re-reading Kesey's Sometimes A Great Notion for my diploma paper, Swift's Waterland and Pynchon's Vineland. :)

[bazarov]

One only, can't stay focused on 3 or 4 plots.

[Persivalis]

I read at this time about 10 books. I must read them. So, you can imagine, what I get from reading yet.

[thegreenthing]

I don't even know... far too many though, it gets a little messy when you pick up a book you've read a hundred pages of, but since you read another book in between, you don't really remember clearly what those 100 pages where about... So you have to read them again.

[browneyedbailey]

at the most, hmmmmm, 5?

[ivette]

When I was young (and stupid :p) I did not understand people who read more books at a time. I thought that you can't be fully devoted (I hope that's a right word) to one book if you're reading more books at the same time. And then I saw that my mother reads at least four books at a time. :)

Now I'm the same. It started when I had to read a lot of books for school but at the same time I wanted to read some books that I would choose. Now I read several books at a time. But that just means that I need more time to read them because I don't have a lot time for reading. :)

[schau982]

3 or 4 books at a time

[grittylit]

i try to read one... and then if it is too stagnant but i still feel the need to read it.. i bookmark it and read a second.. if the same happens to the second.. i book mark it and start a third... and there i stop and either hopefully returning to the first book... or realising im not going to finish it anytime soon.. drop all three and pick up a magazine... haha

[Etienne]

One or two when I read a non-fiction or a non-pocket size book. Of course, I don't count university in there...

[jlb4tlb]

greetings

I tend to have about five on my NR list. It must be noticed that two tor

three of the books are short Stories'

Go in peace.

Jeff

[Alexei]

It depends on my time, sometimes I have round 15 books on the way, but usually they are round 5.

[Aiculík]

15??? :eek: How do you manage that? And you can remember all plots, names, relationships, plots? Wow.

[Alexei]

15??? :eek: How do you manage that? And you can remember all plots, names, relationships, plots? Wow.

It isn't so hard, sometimes I read a chapter per day, sometimes I read one book for a few days and after that change it before finishing it and I go to it later. It's not so hard especially if the books are really different in themes, plots and etc.

[amalia1985]

It depends. Usually, I have three in the waiting, but there are times when a single book has-for different reasons- to get all of my attention.

[grace86]

Including university books among my recreational reading and Bible study: about six...but the recreational reading suffers more considering I get grades on the other reading.

Without university or Bible study: about two

Right now King Lear is for Shakespeare class (kill two birds with one stone I say) and then I am reading Don Quixote and then She and Allan for recreation...goes a bit slow but I manage.

P.S....when reading one book does anyone else here get that anxiety to finish it and go on to another book? Like you just can't wait to finish the book so you can start something new...even if the one you're reading is good?? Or is that just me?

[Alexei]

P.S....when reading one book does anyone else here get that anxiety to finish it and go on to another book? Like you just can't wait to finish the book so you can start something new...even if the one you're reading is good?? Or is that just me?

It's like that with me too, Grace, that's why sometimes I am reading so many books at the same time, i just can't wait :lol: It doesn't matter if the book is good or not I still want to finish it so I can start with something else. It's like I am trying to follow some graphic :lol:

[Ana Lovejoy]

Usually only two, if I don't "have to" read something (but before university, it was only one).

[Sir Bartholomew]

one at a time please

[African_Love]

Do you think it's strange to read two or more books at the same time? For a long time, I've been reading one fiction and one non-fiction simultaneously but never two fiction or two non-fiction at the same time. I don't know why, really. At first it was because I didn't want to 'use up' all the books I had but if the time I spend on one book is lessened because I'm spending some of time I would spend on that book on another one instead, I'm spending the same amount of time reading both of them. Another part of me thinks I should finish what I start but sometimes I'm impatient to start something new. I wonder if I should start letting myself read two fiction (or two non-fiction) at the same time but I think I'd draw the line at 2 (4 in total) if I do. Rarely, I just put books on 'hold' and come back to them later but I don't like to do this with too many.

[mortalterror]

I check about 30 books out of the library at a time, not because I'm going to read all of them, but because I like to keep my options open. Sometimes, it takes me years to finish books. I'm within a couple pages of finishing perhaps a dozen of them at the moment, but I put everything down to start Boswell's Life of Johnson. Why? Sheer perversity, I guess. Maybe an inability to commit or finish what I start? Perhaps, I'm just capricious and willful. I'm rather fond of that King of the Hill quote, "That boy's got a lot of quit in him."

[Pollopicu]

I only read one novel at a time.


I will combine a novel and an art book.

[mayneverhave]

Generally I'm the exact opposite of mortalterror on this one. I'll finish one book if I'm nearly done it because I need that sense of completion.

For the most part I only read one author at a time, and in my recent poetry reading craze its a poet's complete works + important criticism.

[grotto]

Right now I have six going, it all depends on the mood I'm in but if one of them really takes me, I read it through.

[Homers_child]

I'm currently reading four. I do that all the time though. Usually read one chapter of each a day, so I finish them all in good time. :cool:

[sixsmith]

. I'm rather fond of that King of the Hill quote, "That boy's got a lot of quit in him.":lol:

Just found my epitaph.

[Drkshadow03]

To OP:

I try to read only one or two books at a time. Sometimes like Mortalterror I end up starting a bunch of books (4-5 or more), usually at times when I'm not sure what I feel like reading. I eventually settle on something and focus on that one book. I tried a process where I would read one book of poetry and one novel at a time--the novel would take precedence, but I would make sure to read a couple of poems each day--but that didn't work for me. I tried doing the same with a novel and a short story collection. Now I'm trying to do this with novel/literary work and a non-fiction work.

Novel = Crime and Punishment
Non-fiction = Handbook of Ancient Greek Art

I read a couple of chapters of C&P and one section of a chapter in the Handbook today, but let's see what happens when I actually have to work and don't get to sit around all day and read.


I check about 30 books out of the library at a time, not because I'm going to read all of them, but because I like to keep my options open. Sometimes, it takes me years to finish books. I'm within a couple pages of finishing perhaps a dozen of them at the moment, but I put everything down to start Boswell's Life of Johnson. Why? Sheer perversity, I guess. Maybe an inability to commit or finish what I start? Perhaps, I'm just capricious and willful. I'm rather fond of that King of the Hill quote, "That boy's got a lot of quit in him."

Wow, really? 30 books at a time?!

[sixsmith]

Generally I'm the exact opposite of mortalterror on this one. I'll finish one book if I'm nearly done it because I need that sense of completion.


I tend to be the same. I've stopped in the middle of a couple of larger novels to read something else. For example, i put 'Moby Dick' aside for a while and read 'The Good Soldier' ( though by the end of the latter i was about ready to board the Pequod myself just to be rid of Ford Madox Ford).

Is there a limit on the amount of time one can leave before returning to an unfinished novel?

[JBI]

20 or so, but that includes coursework, which is alone 10 - but then again, most books I read I finish within the day I start, so it is a little bit troublesome to come up with a real number.

[Dark Muse]

Ever since high school I have always been in the habbit of reading several books at one time. A lot of people think I am crazy for doing it, and don't know how I keep all my stories straight, but it has always worked for me, and I like the varity.

Currently I am reading 22 books.

10 that I acutally read on a day to day basis.

And 10 that I rotate

and a couple that I have started but read irregularly

[bluosean]

I try to read only one book at a time. But sometimes I take short breaks from a book to read a bit of poetry or essays for a day or so. With school though it is different. I read at least 15 books for classes. That does not count books for research papers are excerps from books that are requried for classes. There isn't a set period of time that has to go by before a book must be started over. It dosent really matter. Most books cant be read anyway. We find enough of what we like.

[mal4mac]

I tend to have several books on the go at the same time. I'll read, say, a chapter or a scene in one then decide if I want to 'have a change'. I usually do - not because I'm bored, but I've had some fruit and now I want some ice cream. I find mixing genres is best - having a play, novel, essays, poetry... all up in the air at once is great...

I find having two really heavy books going at the same time is a real strain. From experience, I wouldn't recommend reading the Iliad and the Old Testament at the same time. Fortunately, the very greatest aren't heavy. Reading Shakespeare, Montaigne, and Tolstoy at the same time is superb! A scene, an essay, a chapter - the best way to start or end the day...

[LitNetIsGreat]

Yes mixing genres works best I find, I tend to do that, though it just depends on what I am reading. I also tend to do a lot of "dipping" into works I have already read. This had two advantages, firstly, for pure pleasure of reading bits of the stuff I enjoy, and secondly, as an aid for memory retention of the work. I am always dipping into Shakespeare and Milton for example, there's probably not a fortnight that goes by that I don't dip into Shakespeare or Milton, but it works just as well for anything. Pulling a novel off the shelf and reading the first chapter for the sheer hell of it is cool too. I often like to read these aloud too, especially the very best stuff - Milton in particular seems to demand to be spoken out loud, as does most poetry, but especially Milton.

[mortalterror]

Wow, really? 30 books at a time?!
I know. It's weird. It's like I'm afraid I'll miss something if I don't try them all. When I watch television I'll change the channel, even when I like what I'm viewing, just to see what else is on. Let me look at the stacks I've got out now:

The Storm and other Russian Plays, Tacitus Annals and Histories, Livy's Early History of Rome, Herodotus The Histories, The Good Soldier Svejk, The Origin of Species, Utopia, The Praise of Folly, Germinal, Sentimental Education, Works of Sallust, Notes From Underground, The Sorrows of Young Werther, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Bacon's Essays and New Atlantis, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Our Town, The Golden Bough, Nicomachean Ethics, St. Augustine's Confessions. Then I've got books on my computer. I have an edition of Cicero's De Oratore bookmarked where I left off. I have downloaded copies of Death's Jest Book, The Confessions of an English Opium Eater, text versions of Middlemarch and Nostromo, Virgil's Georgics, Juvenal's Satires. The Shahnameh is one of my ongoing projects. I just had to return copies of Oblomov, Varieties of Religious Experience, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Salammbo.

Keep in mind that I don't finish some books for years at a time. Most of this stuff is going back to the library unread and not for the first time. I don't read as fast as you, so if I stick with Boswell's Life of Johnson, like I'm doing now, it'll take me at least the rest of the month and I won't get anything else done.

[Jozanny]

I usually stick to 2 or 3 titles at a time, sometimes rereads, 2 or 3 at a time, often surprised at what I don't remember, like with Wilkie Collins. I at least believe I read The Woman In White in the 80's, but I remember the editor's introduction with more clarity than the actual text. Why I don't know, since the fellow is at least a master builder, if not the equal to Dickens or James.

Sometimes, as mortal suggests, if I get bogged down in dense premises, I stop for awhile and try later, and I have two Foucault texts, one anthropology study, and Jared Diamond's 90's sentiments on evolution which are in the *bog* slot, though I am going to return to The Foucault Reader momentarily. I remember Drk had that on his read list.

[alicepalace]

Depends. During school time often three. One for my personal pleasure and one each for my literature teachers. Sometimes I'll start two or three books and see which one grabs me at the time.

[PeterL]

I still haven't figured out how to read a different book with each eye.

[Helga]

about 3 books and maybe some books of poetry too.

[kiki1982]

wow, I seem to be almost the only one who reads only one book at the time! :eek: I thought it wasn't so common to read many at once...
Once I tried to read 3 books at the same time, but I said that to someone who told me it was 'very wrong' and I think that scared me off (I was a child). But I never really felt the need to read more than one anyway.

I don't feel so alone anymore...

1, always one. Can't keep my head with two or more plots at the same time, although sometimes enthusiasm does get the upper hand and I start to read another one. But that one gets finished before I start the first one again.

This does not include information-reading for essays and stuff, but that I usually do in a day or a few hours...

Although I should say I am reading two at the moment. Mrs Mortimer's 19th century views on the rest of the world is still in progress, but that is an inbetweeny for when my hubby is gone to the toilet and I am waitng to go out... :D I don't consider it serious, a little like the newspaper...

[dfloyd]

I have got in the habit of having multiple books going at the same time. I wonder how many of you have two, three, or more books being read at the same time? I've gotten into this habit, and the benefit is that if a book has some boring parts, you know you can put it down and go on to another book, then return to the first book a little later. I find that over a period of time, I read more than if I just force myself to stay on one book. Curently, I am reading the following:

The French Revolution by Carlyle
Fathers and Sons by Turgenev
Politics by Aristotle
The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov
The Torrents of Spring by Hemingway

I try to read some of each book on a daily basis, but I am never more than two days from reading some part of each. What about you?

[Lokasenna]

Usually about three or four at once. Let's see, right now we have:

Heimskringla by Snorri
Paradise Lost by Milton
From Asgard to Valhalla by O'Donoghue (non-fiction)

All good stuff!

[Eryk]

I really like the experience of reading a whole novel in one day (but I've never read more than 600 pages in a day) so I read books one at a time, even non-fiction. But I do keep up with blogs while I read.

[African_Love]

I'm reading Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchel and The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama (I may or may not put this on hold or at least fast forward through certain parts). Online, I'm going to start The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and I've already started What Is Anarchism by Alexander Berkman.

I think it's a good idea to have no more than 2 fiction and 2 non-fiction books going at the same time. You have the diversity of 2 different subjects or stories without having an excessive load that makes it a long time to finish any of them, I don't know if that made sense. 4 seems a little excessive to me but I have to be reading fiction, I can go a long time without non-fiction.

[Pryderi Agni]

I can go with 2 or 3 books at a time, though I absolutely can't read them one after the other. I need at least 4-6 hours to process the data in my head and repackage them into info I can use.

[My name is red]

2 or 3.but it's horrible because it's very hard to focus on and instead of reading at once and done with them,actually it slows you down.

[Jazz_]

I usually read 2 or 3 at the same time. Which one I choose to read depends on my mood ;)

Right Now:
T.S. Eliot - Selected Poems
Tim Winton - Breath
Brain Caswell - Double Exposure (re-reading)

[mal4mac]

I might have ten going at the same time. This seems reasonable to me - you do ten subjects at school, why not read ten books when you are out of school? These books all tend to be different in subject matter and/or form. It wouldn't seem right to read Dickens and Hardy at the same time, but it seems fine to read Dickens and Homer.

[Barbarous]

I usually I read three or four. Right now I have going

Faust, part one by Goethe (reread)
Gravity's Rainbow by Pynchon (reread)
The Recognitions by Gaddis
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by Joyce (reread)
Finnegans Wake by Joyce (reread, have been rereading for the past 6 months, taking a break as of now though)

I like to read more than one book not only to keep me occupied, but to see if there is any connections between the works or how works contrast. The Faust rereading and the reading of The Recognitions is showing slight correlation and the Recognitions is a harsh contrast to Gravity's Rainbow.

[CollegeGal09]

I only read one novel at a time. I enjoy being immersed in the story.

[Onikeflava]

I only read one novel at a time. I enjoy being immersed in the story.

I'm with you on this one. I like to take one book at a time, if nothing else to keep from meshing styles.

[African_Love]

I might have ten going at the same time. This seems reasonable to me - you do ten subjects at school, why not read ten books when you are out of school? These books all tend to be different in subject matter and/or form. It wouldn't seem right to read Dickens and Hardy at the same time, but it seems fine to read Dickens and Homer.

I remember doing 4 subjects in high school and university. What school did you go to, lol.

[CARRIERI ANNA]

I have got in the habit of having multiple books going at the same time. I wonder how many of you have two, three, or more books being read at the same time? I've gotten into this habit, and the benefit is that if a book has some boring parts, you know you can put it down and go on to another book, then return to the first book a little later. I find that over a period of time, I read more than if I just force myself to stay on one book. Curently, I am reading the following:

The French Revolution by Carlyle
Fathers and Sons by Turgenev
Politics by Aristotle
The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov
The Torrents of Spring by Hemingway

I try to read some of each book on a daily basis, but I am never more than two days from reading some part of each. What about you?

I think it's quite boring to read only one book for time and not only because there are parts we don't like or like less in a book! I think the mind needs to receive multiple stimulus and of different nature. For this reason I use to reading three or four books at least and all of them of different subject. At the moment, since I'm deepening some aspects of the English and North-American life-style and culture with my students I'm reading a critical essay by Harold Bloom, "Genius", two novels by the English writer, EM Forster, "Howards End and "A room with a view", and the some selected poems by Emily Dickinson.
I

[Lacra]

Well, I think it depends on book. If it is boring you need other one but, sometimes when you read an interestring bookyou won't need to alternate.

[Veho]

One or two. If it's two, one is usually a novel and the other a play.

[aamir]

I usually read one book at a time, because when I read I usually engross myself in that particular book it would be like betrayal to read another during the process.

[DanielBenoit]

Depends. Usually more then one, but rarely do I read more then one novel at the same time, if ever. Currently I am reading The Idiot which is very powerful but lags at times, and so I have a backup plan whenever I'm feeling that it's getting tedious. Also, whenever reading Dostoyevsky, I always make sure I have a happy book at hand so that I can drag myself out whenever it gets, well, unbearable.

Maybe I might read a short story here or there while I'm in the middle of a novel, I certainly don't hesitate to read poetry, since most poetry doesn't have any sort of narrative, thus I won't be distracted too often. Often I'll read a philosophy book as well.

[mal4mac]

Depends. Usually more then one, but rarely do I read more then one novel at the same time, if ever. Currently I am reading The Idiot which is very powerful but lags at times, and so I have a backup plan whenever I'm feeling that it's getting tedious. Also, whenever reading Dostoyevsky, I always make sure I have a happy book at hand so that I can drag myself out whenever it gets, well, unbearable.


I agree with that plan! I recently read "Devils" with "Confederacy of Dunces" as backup. That kind of worked, though "Confederacy" is also a bit black, though much lighter. Maybe Dostoevsky & Dickens would work...

[breathtest]

I'm currently on two, which is probably the norm for me. I'm reading What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver and Absalom Absalom by William Faulkner. I usually try not to go higher than three at one time, but that limit is more an attempt at trying not to open the floodgates, because then i will end up reading like twenty at the same time.

[Buh4Bee]

I usually read two or three at a time-two novels and one non-fiction. I get bored with one book and jump to the next until I realize I need to finish a book that I have been in too long.

[sadparadise]

I read 2 to 3 books at a time. Presently I am reading Frankenstein, The Naked and the dead, and Farley Mowats memoir Otherwise.

[blazeofglory]

This is the peculiarity of me to read several books at the same time and few books are completed. This is really a queer habit that I just get started and no sooner than I get to the middle than I give up and take a different book to start with.

Oftentimes reading a few pages of the book I can know in advance what the rest of pages will have in store for me. And they bore me and for the sake for finishing I read them but when it comes to reading short stories I indeed complete them for they can be finished at one sitting or at one go.

[blazeofglory]

I read at least three to four books at a time.

[horizonrusted]

I typically read more than one thing at a time. By thing, of course, I'm talking about multiple books, articles, essays, etc. They usually are pretty different from one another. Right now, War and Peace, text books, various articles on everything from benzodiazepines to physics.

[FrankMarcopolos]

78. Just kidding. Usually 1 fiction and maybe 1 or 2 non

[Hidden Leaves]

I generally read many books at a time. Right now I'm reading Dostoevsky's 'The Devils', Cary's 'The Horse's Mouth', Hesse's 'Steppenwolf', Le Guin's 'A Wizard of Earthsea', Lautreamont's 'Maldoror', E. H. Carr's 'The Bolshevik Revolution' and Kandinsky's 'Concerning the Spiritual in Art'.

[MarkC]

I prefer to read only one book at a time because I like to concentrate fully on what I am reading...:-)

[Mrig]

Mostly one at a time...but two books when they are totally different like fiction and non-fiction.

[Dirtbag]

1 online fiction
1 online non-fiction

A few physical fiction (I usually have one that I read more frequently than the others.)
A few physical non-fiction

I read a fair amount of wikipedia articles if that counts as a book. When I'm manic, I like to fill my head with random trivial information. It's more like having ideas run through me. Most of them don't stick but it keeps me occupied.

I think it's more enjoyable to read a few books at a time than it is to read those same books one after another. If you're spending a large portion of your day reading, some variety offers relief. I read a book until I've had enough of it for the time being and then I grab something else. Like cereal, I wouldn't want to eat Alpha-Bits for 12 hours a week. I'd want some of my cereal time to be spent with something sweeter and marshmallowier sometimes like Chocolate Lucky Charms. The J.K. Rowling of cereals.

[Dinkleberry2010]

Since I'm now retired, I read twice as much as before. I read on one novel in the morning and one in the afternoon, as well as read short stories and articles--every day.

[cranberry]

thats an interesting question :) like it :) since its about reading books...
well usually when i get books that are new i would be too excited with , i read a half and hour of each and place a book marker in each ...and would carry on everyday .
I dont like sticking to one book as i am greedy when it comes to know.

:) love this question :)

[meinabox]

It's one at a time for me! I find I can't focus properly if I've got too many on the go at once.

[inbetween]

I got a "schoolbook" that's always a play for you can read plays better while walking than novels and it is easier to interrupt and later on continue the reading, right now I'm also reading a book for school (the kite runner), a thriller and paradise lost (that'll take a while since I can't have more than 5 pages of it a day - I love it but it's like dark red wine, too much of it is fatal)
and of course some short stories, such as those from Poe and Ronald Dahl...
so that would be 4 real books and the short stories at a time .. and I never had any problems with mixing up stories (didn't even have problems with reading Pynchon and King at a time ... )
but I always do lot's of things parallel... so I guess that's part of my nature:D

[Lumiere]

I tend to feel guilty if I read more than one book at a time. It seems like infidelity if I can't devote myself entirely to one book. Besides, while reading a novel, I tend to take on similar behaviors and thought pattern to that of the protagonist, and I have no intention of developing multiple personalities. :lol: But of course, short stories and poetry are fair game any day of the week.

[kiki1982]

ok, I might start adjusting my one at a time attitude, because as I am an incredibly slow reader and one who does not like non-fiction as a main, I should start doing things differently...

I already have! I read an edited version of Mrs Favell Lee Mortimer's guides to foreign countries. Incredibly Victorian! :lol: The woman never went anywhere apart from Edingburgh and Paris in her teens, yet wrote about about all countries in the world... No wonder her views were a little clouded, certainly in combination with a religious-based hatred of Catholics! :lol: It was a good laugh, though. When waiting for my hubby, it did the trick, because tere was no plot!

I read two short stories in between The Mill on the Floss. One of Joyce because I wanted to see what the fuss is about (wasn't very impressed) and then one of Woolf which was much better.

And now, for the first time in years I have started on something non-fiction (if we don't count Mrs Mortimer), because I find that one should still learn. No learning without non-fiction :(. So I decided to try it like that.

I'll have to read Milton and Chaucer also as an in betweeny, because you can't just have oo much...

[[Juliet]]

It all depends on the book I'm reading and on how much spare time I have.
For example, when I decided to start reading Dostoevskij's Crime & Punishment I focused on that single novel till I finished it. Some novels just can't be neglected.

But there are times when I easily manage to read two or three books at the same time (like now, for example :D )

[Three Sparrows]

Definitely one at a time; I can't imagine tearing myself from one book to be sucked into another. Patience. :)

[keilj]

just one. I even think it is beneficial to let a few days pass before reading the next one - to let the last one sink in and rattle around your head a little

[DanielBenoit]

Oh I feel like such an awful person in admitting that I sometimes read more than five books at a time, including short story and poetry anthologies :( It was a hard time to get myself to that point, for I couldn't help but inexplicitly feel that I committing literary infidelity when I would read multiple works at once.

[de Renal]

Since I am by nature very curious person, who usually have long readlists of mustreads, I too do read more than one book at a time. But I'm trying not to read more than two books at the same time, because the day has only twenty four hours (unfortunately!), and my mind is not that big to absorb a large quantity of information all at once :hand:
So I often write diaries about what I read, short notes about the plot, characters and their characteristics. It keeps me from forgetting what I read in longer period of time, and also helps me to excercise my expression.
We used to do that kind of thing back in elementary school, a good habit I adopted from my early youth :willy_nilly:

[minstrelbard]

Usually anywhere from one to four. Right now I have three books on my bed: Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell; a book of essays on writing; and a humor book by Dave Barry, because I was feeling down yesterday and I needed to laugh before I could sleep.

In addition to the books I'm reading at any given time, I read magazines almost obsessively. I subscribe to nine magazines (I think ... I haven't counted recently and I'm terrible at letting subscriptions lapse).

[Themistocles18]

It depends a lot on length and interest level. For instance, last week I blazed through Moby Dick in 4 days. I'm not sure why exactly- the middle bits were every bit as dragging as I'd heard- but I simply wanted to be done with it quickly. I wasn't reading anything else simultaneously. But this week I started For Whom the Bell Tolls. I was hooked- for about 200 pages. Since then the conceit has worn off and its seemed to drag enormously. So I picked up Wuthering Heights and The Tempest. So I was reading three things at a time. Now I've finished The Tempest so I'm reading two. I don't seem to have much trouble keeping plot-lines separate. I pay a lot of attention to style and when I remember a story I'm remembering it almost with the style intact. Confusing Shakespeare with Hemmingway is unthinkable stylistically. Now, if I'd been reading Moby Dick and The Tempest at the same time...that might have been odd. I probably wouldn't have attempted it.

As a rule of thumb, for fiction, I'd say that if a book is very long (500 plus pages) and very interesting I focus exclusively on that book for a time (Middlemarch, Tess of D'urbervilles, Anna Karenina), mainly because I really do start to lose track of plot-lines if I'm spending more than a week with a book without coming to a conclusion (somehow endings always "firm up" things for me). If it's short (175-300 pages) and interesting I'll probably read it along with a few other books (Silas Marner, The Mayor of Casterbridge). Everything else I sort of decide as I go along.

None of this applies to non-fiction. I'm almost always reading something non-fiction and don't really worry about how many other books I'm juggling unless the subjects are too similar.

[damondarkwalker]

Usually two, or three. I find it enjoyable to read totally contrasting books. A war novel against a love story. For some reason this works for me.

[IceM]

I read about three books on a time if I go for depth, 5 or 6 if I go for aesthetic value.

[Dodo25]

At the moment I'm reading six books. The problem is whenever I buy a new one, I must start reading it on the way home, and then I'm already hooked so I'll keep reading it until I find I must continue one of the others, and so on.

Six is an extreme for me though, normally it is 3-4. And in the last year I haven't even read that many books, I don't have much time anymore :( About 1-2 a month I would say..

[MaineTim]

I usually read one "main" book at a time, but mix in reading content from other sources along the way (articles, essays, readings from books on subjects I'm "studying"). This is frequently accompanied by a couple of audiobooks, normally of contrasting genres. It's the only way I can keep things straight. :smile5: