I've always been a one-book kinda person. Even with long series, I'd binge the entire series before choosing something else. But now I'm considering shaking it up. My plan is to pick 7 books and read one chapter a day from each.
Have you tried something like this? Do you have any opinions for or against it?
by justkeepbreathing94
29 Comments
I’m constantly doing it because I get bored.
There’s absolutely no way I could do it, But I have only just started getting into books last year. I am juggling stories in TV Shows, Video games, and now Books. if I add more than one book at a time, my brain will explode lol so Props to the people that can manage such feats!
Seems like you’re setting yourself up to fail here, going from 1 at a time to 7. Why 7 and not like 2?
I’m a one-book person too. I’d like to try reading more at once, but 7 seems like quite a jump. Though i’d like hearing what others have to say.
I have troubles keeping the characters straight even if I’m only reading one book at a time. Maybe this is something some people can do and some people cannot. I suspect I’m in the latter camp.
I have a problem I change my mood a lot so sometimes I want to read more intellectual things and sometimes simpler things depending on my level of fatigue. I would like to read more often, but when I start a book and leave it for 2-3 days I no longer want to continue reading it 😆🤣 so I often want to read something else. I don’t know how to do it
I read multiple but they have to be very different and usually they are different formats too. I have one audiobook for when im working on hobbies, and one book on my ereader for my morning commute, and a physical book for home.
I typically have a commute audiobook, a print book, a graphic novel, and an ebook going.
I would stay at one book. I tried that previously but never finished books
Good idea. I do something like that.
They’re difficult to hold
7? no
2 or 3, sure.
Usually one fiction and one non-fiction on the go.
Honestly, you might become overwhelmed reading that many books at once … trying to keep all the info properly categorized into seven buckets. But you know you better than anyone.
I do, on occasion read more than one book at a time. Usually, this only works for me if they’re a) different genres, b) protagonists are not similar in anyway, c) reading of different books is separated by a reasonable amount of time. Those things help me from conflating stories.
One thing I do to “read” more than one book at a time, is listen to an audio book to/from work and read my other book at home as normal. Helps my mind categorize each book and keep them separate.
My experience is that it’s much easier to read more books simultaneously if you’re introducing non-fiction to the mix.
Three has been my max.
I’ve never tried it and i don’t see a reason why someone would do it
I almost always read one book at a time – however, if the book is especially long like the Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive books, I might take a break between parts and read something shorter and lighter. As much as like the series, it discourages me when I look at the book and see how much I have left to read.
I usually read 2-3 books simultaneously for these reasons:
– I almost never read in my native language, only in my target languages so I combine my reading hobby with language learning.
– I don’t read only fiction. I want to read educational books too. I’m currently into history but history books are very hard to read (at least for me), so I’m not always in the mood to relax with a history book after a tiring day.
– Reading 2-3 books of different genres it’s just much more fun because you can choose which one to read according to your mood.
Do you watch multiple TV shows at once?
I am doing this and it has been a pleasant experience. Different genres, formats, and authors. What is surprising to me every time is that i remember the events where I left off.
I did that recently and I liked it a lot! But every book was a different kind of book. Two were fiction (Rogue by Mona Awad and Severange by Ling Ma), the other was creative/artistic self-help (The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron), another was family-trauma type self-help (Mother Hunger by Kelly McDaneil).
Each book has such a different tone that I was able to go from one to the next and it all stayed interesting and fresh and I was excited to read every night.
It used to bug my mom that I would read multiple books at a time, she thought people couldn’t keep track of them like that 😂 the habit has only expanded as an adult, I have anywhere from 2 to 10 books I’m reading at a time, because I tend to read whatever I’m in the mood for at the moment. It served me well in grad school.
But I agree, don’t go 0 to 100, it’ll feel overwhelming and you may just stop immediately! I used to think I couldn’t do audiobooks, but I started small – and now, years later, I read so many while I’m puttering around the house.
I think going from 1 to 7 will just make you hate it.
I used to only read one book at a time but now I can read several. It helps me read more, because if I’m too stressed to read a serious, heavy book, I can read something light for a bit, while still not giving up on the harder book.
I’m always reading at least two books at a time. Part of it is I like to read a non-fiction and a fiction at the same time (especially if the fiction is like Star Wars or something).
I’m usually always reading a physical book and an e book as well. Physical book because I’m really trying to model reading for my toddler, and I realized they don’t understand kindle/ebook reader/ipad so when I’m reading on kindle they just think I’m consuming media on an iPad.
At night or in bed though I love reading on an ebook
I’m usually reading 3, maybe 4 max. But like others have said, they’re usually pretty different and in different formats.
Currently I’m resding:
Kindle – The Swarm (Horror Science Fiction)
Physical – The Starless Night (Fantasy)
Audiobook – Daydream (Romance)
Audiobook – Narcissus in Chains (Paranormal Romance)
Hope you find what fits you best! Happy reading!
7 books at the same time seems excessive, why such a large number?
I regularly read 2 books at time, one kindle and one physical.
One Audio Book , One book on the Kindle that’s more than enough for my brain to deal with .
I listen to audiobooks during the day when I’m working. I have a couple non fiction that I listen a few chapters at a time. This allows me time to reflect on little chunks rather that the whole book. Then I have one fiction that I will listen to the whole thing before I listen to another.
It also depends on what I pick up. While I always have at least one going and it’s more often than not, fiction, I’m not always listening to a non at the same time. Or sometimes I’m just listing to a non while figuring out what I want to listen to next.
As for reading books, it’s very similar. I currently have a non fiction that I am ready which is very history heavy. So I read a bit each week. I’ve got a biography I’m working my way through, and then fiction. When I get and ARC to review, then that’s put in rotation, too.
If a book sucks me in and it’s taking over my brain, all else falls to the wayside.
I’m also very neurodivergent and this is just what works for me.
I honestly just go with it. Sometimes I’ve got one book, sometimes it’s multiple. But I get them read/listened and don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything at all.
I couldn’t do it with similar books, e.g. I can’t imagine reading multiple fantasy/sci-fi books at once, I’d get them mixed up. But I do have my main read, my audiobook (usually a classic or a non-fiction book) and a graphic novel/manga. I need the variety of genre and medium to be able to juggle several titles.
I agree only if it’s a fiction + non fiction combo