People Who Read Multiple Books At Once Aren T Serious Readers

Bonisiwe Shabane
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people who read multiple books at once aren t serious readers

So you’re wondering about reading multiple books at once and may be asking yourself questions like: can you read more than one book at a time? Should you read more than one book at a time? Reading multiple books at the same time can be a little controversial in the book world, so if you’re wondering whether it’s a good idea then it’s important to look at the pros and... And that’s exactly what we’re going to do! Plus, after learning about the advantages and disadvantages of reading several books at once, stick around for a few tips for how to read multiple books at one time if you decide to give... First, your most burning question probably is: can you read multiple books at once?

And the answer is yes, you can! It’s not difficult to open up another book and start to read a second or third book without finishing the first one. But the deeper question here is not just if it’s something you can do, but if you can read multiple books at once well. Hey there, book mates! It’s casmith76, your book-obsessed dad, scribbling away while my toddler naps (a fleeting truce) and my preteen’s off raiding the fridge like it’s her sacred duty. With another little one on the way, my reading’s turned into a juggling act—The Night Circus one day, The Martian the next, maybe a sneaky chapter of Good Omens in between.

Simultaneous reading—tackling multiple books at once—sounds bonkers, but I’ve been at it, and it’s got its highs and lows. Wondering if you should dive into the multi-book life? Let’s break down the pros and cons—and see if it’s your cuppa! Switching books is like flipping channels—no boredom here! I’ll dip into The Shadow of the Wind for mystery, then bounce to The Hobbit for cozy vibes. My preteen loves it too—Six of Crows for thrills, Heartstopper for feels.

It’s a buffet of moods—when I’m knackered, I grab the light stuff; when I’m sharp, I tackle the deep. Keeps the reading spark alive, no matter the day! Too many stories, and your head’s a jumble. I once mixed up Circe’s gods with The Name of the Wind’s Kvothe—thought he was hexing pigs! My preteen forgot Wonder’s Auggie mid-Percy Jackson—oops. It’s a mental tangle if you overstack—three’s my max, or I’m lost in a plot soup.

Life’s a whirlwind—simultaneous reading bends to it. Mornings, I snag The Martian’s quick wit with my coffee; nights, The Book Thief gets my slow unwind. My preteen reads Wings of Fire on the bus, Amari at bedtime—matches her day’s rhythm. Got five minutes or fifty? There’s a book for that—no forcing a single tome through every spare second. Spreading yourself thin means books take longer.

The Dry dragged for weeks while I flitted to Good Omens—felt like a marathon, not a sprint. My preteen’s Wonder sat half-read as Six of Crows stole the show. If you love that “done!” rush, this might grate—progress creeps, not leaps. “Books are the training weights of the mind.” Have you ever found yourself eyeing a new book before finishing the one in your hands? Maybe you’re in the middle of a gripping thriller, but that charming rom-com on your shelf is calling your name.

For many readers, the temptation of juggling multiple books at once is all too familiar. Some swear by it, enjoying the variety and flexibility, whereas others worry it dilutes the reading experience. Today at What We Reading, we’ll explore the pros and cons of reading multiple books at once. From the joys of matching your reads to your moods to the potential for overwhelm, we’ll unlock what makes this habit work – or not – for different readers. Plus, we’ll be sharing with you our practical tips to help you balance your literary multitasking like a pro! Reading multiple books at once allows you to explore different genres and topics simultaneously, keeping your reading experience fresh and engaging.

You could be unravelling a mystery in one book while immersing yourself in the poetic beauty of a memoir in another. This approach widens your perspective, exposes you to more ideas, and helps stop the monotony that can sometimes come with sticking to just one story. We don’t always feel the same way every day, and reading multiple books at the same time gives you the flexibility to pick a story that goes with your current mood. Perhaps you’re craving the comfort of a cosy romance after a stressful day, or perhaps an action-packed fantasy feels more appealing. With a variety of books on hand, you can avoid forcing yourself through a book that doesn’t suit your mood at that moment. Reader’s block often strikes when a book feels slow or uninspiring.

Having more than one book on the go allows you to shift gears instead of abandoning reading altogether. If one story isn’t captivating you, you can switch to another that reignites your enthusiasm. This can help maintain your reading momentum and ensure you never feel in a rut. I’ve moved about five times in the past decade, and though my possessions have been slowly pared down and diversified over the years, there’s one constant feature that’s never left my bedroom — a... They’re stacked on my desk, piled under my bed and precariously leaning against one another on my shelves that sag under the collective weight of novels I haven’t touched in ages. To the untrained eye, it might look like I’ve haphazardly thrown my books around without much thought.

My catalog spans decades and genres in a way that suggests a lack of taste rather than the “well-read” aura I would much prefer to give off. But amid all the randomness, one organizational criteria divides my entire mini library: Half of the books I’ve read, and the other half I have not. Of course, it’s not necessarily something that I bemoan. Having a bunch of books I’ve yet to crack open is exciting, and it makes me very happy. But I do wish I could read faster. My solution: reading multiple books at once.

Now, before you wave me off as a reading heathen — I get it. Being in the middle of five different books feels irreverent and uncomfortable, like you’re insulting the authors by reading them in random, interweaving chunks. In a perfect world, I would love to finish a whole book every two days like I did in middle school. I could go cover to cover in a single afternoon, with my only signs of life being the consistent flipping of pages and occasional roll over onto my back, side, belly and back again. But we aren’t in middle school anymore, and if I’m being honest, the books are nowhere near as fun as they used to be. They’re good, of course — meaningful, thought-provoking, nuanced — but not the rapid-fire page-turners I used to devour in three hours flat.

(Honestly, these days I feel guilty reading books that are too fun, but that’s an article for another day.) Reading multiple books at a time is my awkward alternative to a far worse reading crime: not finishing at all. I would argue that taking a break from a book is much better than breaking up with one, don’t you think? Breakups are devastating affairs filled with snot, misery and all sorts of emotional chaos, but a temporary period of distance always makes the heart grow fonder — exactly the sort of tender kindness a... I am a serial multi-reader. There’s hardly ever a period when I’m not reading more than one book.

Throughout the years I have heard different opinions on the phenomenon: some say it’s great fun and a freeing experience, some that it’s an unhealthy habit that hinders one’s literary perception and reading comprehension. You can agree with either point — it’s totally up to you. In this essay I want to research my own reasons for reading multiple books at a time and try to decide whether it’s good for me. I think it started for me in school when national education and I didn’t always see eye to eye on what should constitute my reading list. Having learnt my first (out of 5) alphabet at 3 and having started reading at 4 I was instantly turned into a religiously avid reader and refused to let go of books forever. My grandmother fuelled my reading passion by bringing fresh supplies from the library every day after work.

She would come back with a pile no longer surprised that I had gone through the previous one in a day and could tell about everything I had read in great detail. I was five at the time. As you can imagine when I stepped over my school threshold at 6 I was somewhat experienced in at least children literature (although I managed to lay my hands on some adult books lying... Being a fast reader I also went through my reading lists pretty fast and needed more. So once my homework was done my mother tried to satisfy my urge by taking me to a small bookshop. Having realised though that her ever-book-hungry child chews through pages like a mighty caterpillar she switched to the library, not being able to healthily afford a new book every day.

As the books grew thicker and more difficult I slowed down and it started taking me a couple of days to go through one. Since I also needed to read for school I started reading 2-3 books at a time. As the years passed, my schedule thickened as well the plots of the books I was reading for myself and my daily reading list would expand to as many as 3-4 or sometimes even... Because one more chapter is never enough I have seven bookmarks scattered across my flat right now. One’s wedged in a thriller I’m racing through during lunch breaks, another marks my place in a dense historical biography I tackle before bed, and a third sits in the poetry collection I dip...

My coffee table looks like a small library explosion, and my Goodreads “currently reading” shelf is frankly embarrassing. If you’re a fellow multi-book reader, you know the look. That slightly judgmental squint people give you when they spot your literary juggling act. “How can you possibly keep track of all those stories?” they ask, as if reading multiple books simultaneously is some sort of cognitive impossibility rather than a perfectly reasonable approach to consuming literature. But here’s the thing: I’m not alone in this habit, and there might be more method to this apparent madness than the skeptics realize. Let’s be honest, reading multiple books at once can absolutely be chaotic.

I’ve definitely had moments where I’ve picked up a book and spent the first five minutes trying to remember who the protagonist is or where the plot left off. There’s the awkward experience of mixing up character names from different novels, or worse, discussing the wrong book entirely in a conversation because your brain has them all tangled up. Exactly! With books on creative subjects, so much overlaps. composition, color combination, and perspective are only a few of them. Having more than one interest gives the opportunity to make more discoveries, and helps avoid burn-out.

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