There are two kinds of people in the world —

Those who read multiple books at one time and those who can’t understand how that is even possible.

Nathan Bransford has a post about that. There are currently 54 comments.

I’m with the majority of commenters: I can easily have both a fiction title and a nonfiction title going at the same time. I hate having two fiction titles going at once, but that has started to happen anyway, because all summer I will often be reading something normally, but listening to an audiobook while weeding or driving to shows. Right now I am reading PEACEMAKER but listening to Terry Pratchett’s MORT. I am not very keen on Pratchett’s early work, and MORT is earlier than I thought, but it’s okay. And I expect I will like the later Death titles better — I have that whole set on audio.

How about you? Do you willingly read more than one fiction title at a time?

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6 thoughts on “There are two kinds of people in the world —”

  1. When I’m between books I’ll often pick up a couple novels, reading both (or all 3/4/5..) until one of them grabs me and I prioritize it.

    i can also have one book in reading, one to listen to, and a nonfiction going all at once. THen there’s the Teen who wants me to be alpha reader of her fiction (fan & original), which meant I had to add the manga (so I could understand the fanfiction. And I had to figure out how to READ manga[grumble]), and now her work adds to the rotation.

  2. I often read 2 or 3 fiction titles as the same time. Sometimes more, and I have the books in different places in my flat. I love it! One of them can be a book that I’m re-reading, so I don’t put that much focus on that one, but the others will be new books and I change between them. Most of the time on of them will catch my attention and I will focus on that book, once its finished I move on to the other one.
    Reading on my kindle forces me to focus on one book at the time, I have a love/hate relationship to the kindle, I love that its so easy to take with you, you can have heaps of books with you and it takes so little space. But, its just not the same as opening a new book, the smell of paper, or opening your favourite book to re-read it. For me, the kindle lacks personality. I prefer real books and several at the same time.

  3. I am trying to imagine this reading-multiple-titles-voluntarily thing and . . . no. Just can’t quite wrap my mind around it. This truly is a major division between types of people!

    I agree the kindle lacks personality, but I love how easy it is to hold and carry. But I still buy a lot of titles in paper! The thing I hate about the Kindle is how hard it is to flip back and forth in a book — it’s just hopeless if you didn’t think to bookmark a page.

  4. I think that either you can do it, or you can’t. Maybe its something that can be learned by practice. I often end up doing it when I start on a book that doesn’t capture me at page 10, then I pick up another one and read two at the same time. If I get a book, not to be cheesy or trying to flatter you, but books like the Griffin mage had me hooked on page one. Its now one of my favourite books actually and stands proudly next to the books written by Neil Gaiman.

    Kindle, I wouldn’t have got one if it wasn’t for the fact that I live in Laos at the moment and buying books here is not so easy as I read one or two books per week. Given the choice I would buy normal books, browsing through books at a book store is so much better, and as there is a science fiction and fantasy book store close to where I live in Sweden I tend to end up there.

  5. Thanks, Emma! I’m definitely flattered to share shelf space with Gaiman.

    I agree that there is no substitute for browsing at a real store, so it’s too bad there isn’t a real store within 80 miles of me. :( I got my Kindle for the same reason: I was traveling and needed to take a lot of books with me, so …

  6. I normally only read one book at a time, but I have multiple books (usually different age groups or genres) on my active pile, and a bunch more on my to-read bookshelf. I suppose I suffer from a certain fear of not having a book with me.

    If I am reading more than one book at the same time, it’s usually a sign that I am not very invested in that book and should really put it down and pick up another one.

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