# Reading multiple books at the same time **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 11, 2000, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988 "2000-08-11T17:05:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988/21 "2000-08-11T21:00:35Z")
I typically have one on my nightstand, one in the upstairs bathroom, either a book or magazine on the kitchen table, and something in the car to read at lunch or in the event I end up eating dinner alone. Right now, it’s Robert Wright’s _The Moral Animal : Why We Are the Way We Are : The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology_ on the nightstand, Judith Rich Harris’ _The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do_ in the bathroom, Gore Vidal’s _United States: Essays: 1952-1992_ on the table, and Daniel Dennett’s _Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life_ (my second pass through it) in the car. Until yesterday, the car/lunch slot was occupied by Alfred Lansing’s _Endurance : Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage_ about Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated 1914-1916 Antarctic expedition. _The Nurture Assumption_ is a bit more weighty than my usual bathroom reading – I tend more toward one of Cecil’s collections, or something like one of Dean King’s reference works for Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988/22 "2000-08-11T21:13:01Z")
AerynSun . . . when I run out of bookmarks, I use pennies. Just slip one in before you close the book. ---
**Author:** ![Geobabe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/geobabe/32/3908_2.png) [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988/23 "2000-08-11T21:16:09Z")
I am also a multi-book type. I frequently check out several books from the library and can’t decide which one to read first, so I end up reading them all at once–one for an hour or so, then another, and so on. Sometimes I prefer one over another based on my mood at the moment. Then there are magazines. My bed is always covered with reading material of one sort or another. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988/24 "2000-08-11T21:27:15Z")
I have a few going. I always do. I’m reading: [ul] [li]_Red Dragon_ by Thomas Harris (for the second time now)[/li][li]_Year’s Best Science Fiction (17th Annual)_ ed. by Gardner Dozois[/li][li]_Our Dumb Century_ by _The Onion_, a very good satirical news book. For example, one of the headlines reads: ‘Bleeping Two-Foot Tin Ball Threatens Free World’, dated October 4, 1957. Another reads ‘Kennedy Slain By CIA, Mafia, Castro, LBJ, Teamsters, Freemasons. President shot 129 times from 43 different angles.’ dated November 22, 1963. Of course, they were all written in 1999, but they and the other stories on the front page are hilarious.[/li][/ul] That’s an oddly short list for me. I’m usually reading many more at once. As for _The Sound and The Fury_, how did that stinker make the 100 Best Books of the Century? It is a worthless plot told in an annoying way from a very sterile, bland perspective. What is he trying to prove? I think it ranks with _Finnegan’s Wake_ (that piece of nonsensical junk) and the sappier parts of _The Grapes of Wrath_ (you know, the parts when Steinbeck forgets he’s trying to lynch capitalism and attempts humor). Anyway, I’d suggest anyone thinking of reading _The Sound and The Fury_ read it for a while at your local library. Ask yourself: Do you really want to read a whole novel written in that semi-literate style? I sure didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Lux\_Fiat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lux\_Fiat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Fiat)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988/25 "2000-08-11T21:30:13Z")
I started doing this only about a year ago. At points, I’d be in the middle of five at a time, but I don’t like to divide my attention like that, so I’ve been trying to focus. I _was_ just recently attempting to give _Cryptonomicon_, by Neal Stephenson, my undivided attention, but then I got my order from Amazon yesterday, and I couldn’t help myself. So now I’m reading Boswell’s _Life of Johnson_ as well. This is in addition to all the damned magazines and comic books I read every month, of course. The floor of my bedroom is awesome in its clutter. ---
**Author:** ![Lux\_Fiat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lux\_Fiat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Fiat)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988/26 "2000-08-11T21:34:36Z")
Oh, and I have to stick up for _The Sound and the Fury_ here. I liked it, dammit. So 😛 to you all. ---
**Author:** ![silent\_rob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@silent\_rob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silent_rob)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988/27 "2000-08-11T21:43:01Z")
I do read more than one book at a time, but I don’t mean to. I start reading one, then I see another good one or hear about one and start reading it too, and so on. I’m currently rereading _The Illuminatus!_ trilogy, _The Tao Te Ching_, and reading _Fletch Won_. I’m also looking at starting another couple, as soon as I can find someplace that has them. I might also read _Night_, as I just found the copy that I had purchased and then misplaced before I could read it. ---
**Author:** ![Dragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragon)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988/28 "2000-08-11T21:43:38Z")
I also do it all the time currently I am reading ``` -Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson -The Lord of Chaos (book 6 of the Wheel of Time) -Dune: house Atreides (prelude to the dune series which means that I am going to pick up that series again. -Macbeth -The reality disfunction series -and I just finished off the Lord of the Rings ``` My family can’t understand how I juggle all those stories and I don’t mix them all up I guess it’s just a skill I have ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988/29 "2000-08-11T22:36:09Z")
Phew! I’m so glad I’m not the only one that feels that way about The Sound and The Fury! Thanks people! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Althea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@Althea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Althea)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988/30 "2000-08-11T22:48:33Z")
I’m right there with you all, currently in the middle of: Art and Lies by Jeanette Winterson Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger (again) The Acid House by Irvine Welsh The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (again) That’s the other thing. I fall in love with some books and when parts of a new book remind me of one of my favorites, I have to pick it up again. Thus I’m always rereading at least one book at any given time. Am I the only one who does this? ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988/31 "2000-08-11T22:50:21Z")
I also usually read at least 2 books at a time. I also read and watch TV, which drives my husband crazy. I will watch the show and read during commercials. He doesn’t understand how I can keep them straight. Right now I am reading: _The Indwelling_, by Tim LeHaye & Jerry Jenkins _The Lion’s Game_, by Nelson DeMille, and _The Poisonwood Bible_, by Barbara Kingsolver ---
**Author:** ![AETBOND417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@AETBOND417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AETBOND417)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988/32 "2000-08-11T23:11:59Z")
I usually don’t exceed two books at a time. But this helps me finish them in time for the hectic pace of High School. English is the worst (of course), with two good sized books in the summer, and then about one a month during the year. History throws one out during summer, and then a book or two in the year. The rest of my classes are bookless. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2000, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988/33 "2000-08-12T00:07:55Z")
Huh. Weird. I’m one of the most voracious readers I know - I just read an entire book yesterday, cover to cover - but I usually keep it to one at a time. I kind of like to let my mind wander back into the story at times, like when I’m falling asleep. I find it’s harder to do that with mulitiple stories floating around. BTW, a bit off topic here, if you’re a sci-fi/fantasy fan that has a hard time wading through the garbage to get the good stuff, look for the Robert Silverburg anthologies. His sci-fi one is called “Far Horizons” and the fantasy one is a three-book series called “Legends.” (Legends vol 2 is the one I read yesterday) The books consist of the leading writers in the field writing short stories set in their most famous universes. After reading those, I have a list 5 pages long in my Palm Pilot of books to read. Good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Sakura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@Sakura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sakura)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2000, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988/34 "2000-08-12T00:42:57Z")
Add another name to the list of thosde who read multiple books at the same time. In the past two months, I’ve read: _Lost Horizon_ James Hilton _Arms and the Man_ George Bernard Shaw _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ Shakespeare _The Goblet of Fire_ J.K. Rowling a script called _The Haunting of Hathaway House Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays_ Laurent Bouzerau _Green Rider_ Kristen Britain the libretto of _La Boheme_ Giacomo Puccini and about five or six other library books that I can’t remember the titles of. I didn’t read _all_ of them at the same time, but at least two were being read at one point or another. But this is the summer, and once school starts, I’ll be lucky if I can read one pleasure book. ::Sigh:: ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2000, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988/35 "2000-08-12T00:51:12Z")
Books are like perfume. What I pick depends on my mood. I’m in the middle of a half dozen books. And tonight, I’m eyeing one of my Calvin & Hobbes books cause I don’t want to concentrate too hard and I want to laugh. Where’s my beer? ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2000, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988/36 "2000-08-12T00:55:45Z")
I prefer to read one at a time, but due to school, I get to read however many books they assign me plus a pleasure book of my own. Goody. At least I don’t mix plots. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2000, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988/37 "2000-08-12T02:00:47Z")
Victoria, an Intimate Biography by Stanley Weintraub (Yes, QUEEN Victoria) Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery Remembrance by Jude Deveraux Melody by V. C. Andrews ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2000, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988/38 "2000-08-12T04:25:19Z")
I haven’t read just one book at a time for…oh, longer than I can remember. Right now I’m working on: _I Rant, Therefore I Am_, Dennis Miller _The Ecolitan Enigma_, L.E. Modesitt, Jr. _Kim_, Rudyard Kipling _The Diplomacy of Wolves_, Holly Lisle and I just finished rereading _Jhereg_ by Steven Brust, which was my take-to-work book and I have to pick out a replacement by Monday. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-multiple-books-at-the-same-time/28988.md?page=1)