Yet Another Random Poll(tm)

[coraa]

Yet another just for my own curiosity poll! This one is about book reading.

(I realize that 'at one time' is ambiguous, and someone is going to make a smart remark about the number of hands and eyeballs they have. What I mean is: how may books can you comfortably have currently in progress -- can you read two chapters of one, and then the next day two chapters of another, or do you need to read sequentially?)

[Poll #1487732]

Comments

Something else

[triath.livejournal.com]

Two, but only if there's a pressing reason. Reasons include: I'm going on a trip and need to take a book I own with me, or I need a small book to carry in a pocket. Otherwise, I generally stick to one at a time. If I start a second book and enjoy it, that's probably the death of the first book even if I'm in denial.

(Says the woman who currently has one book in her bed and one on her kitchen table because somehow that just happened.)

Re: Something else

[willworker.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly what she said.

Steve

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

I swear by reading Narnia in publication order and Vorkosigan in internal chronological order, so it really does depend on the series.

As for number of books: I tend to read only one new novel at a time. However, I will read that novel in between chapters of literary criticism or other "work" reading, and I will also put aside the new novel and the work reading so I can reread books I've read a dozen times before.

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

I normally have at least three books going: lighter (mentally and physically) fiction which I can carry around easily; heavier fiction which requires more attention; and something non-fiction, also requiring more concentration. Sometimes I also have an anthology or something else which can be broken up into small chunks: right now it's a literary history of the Victorians.

[larryhammer]

Something like this, only not quite so schematic in practice, and the heavy fiction is more often than not poetry.

---L.

[eepmirva.livejournal.com]

For first question, I generally read in publication order when I first read a series (because either I'm reading it as they are coming out, or else I have to read them to figure out the "correct" order) but when I reread the series (and I reread a LOT!) I always do it in chronological order.

Second question - if I'm reading non fiction, then I'm generally switching between it and a fiction book. But I didn't think about that as first because I rarely read non fiction "for fun" while in school! Well, I read one just the other day, but read it in one sitting, so there was no trading off there. (Not that you care, but it was a book on marriage written by a priest (one of Matt's prof's) for priests and I was REALLY curious. It was also all of 160 pages long...)

second question: something else

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

For the longest time, I haven't felt l could allow myself the luxury of truly reading--reading the way I used to, where I would just sit and read. The only way I can slip reading in is to do it in weird small bits of time--while stirring something that's cooking, or while waiting in a waiting room and so on. But I have a huge amount of things I want to read. So, whereas when I was young I'd read through one book and then another, and not have more than one going at a time, now I may have up to three going (though usually one has priority). They can be in the same genre or different. But it's not really a situation I like--for one thing, I don't think it does justice to the book. Few books benefit from that fragmented approach to reading.

I have to find a way to make it okay to just read again, but I'm not sure how. Maybe if I ever become an established published writer, then I'll be able to allow myself to read because, y'know, it's researching the field and all.

Or maybe I can just increase my surreptitious reading...

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

I can read any number of things at one time, but almost all of it is articles or short pieces or reference material. I'm not reading books right now as such.

[donaithnen.livejournal.com]

I can easily, and in fact regularly do, handle two books at one time as long as they're in different formats. ie "real" vs. audiobook. I have occasionally done one real book and two audiobooks at the same time, as long as they audiobooks are in different contexts. (One on mp3 player for car or exercising, one on computer.) Not very good at the two real books at the same time thing though.

[archonsengine.livejournal.com]

I can handle reading a couple of books at once, but I don't prefer to do it, so I generally don't. Sometimes I'll have a book that I bring to work (to read at lunch) and a book at home, but usually at least one of those is a book I've read a billion times.

[canis-ridens.livejournal.com]

I usually go by publication order unless I was introduced to it by grabbing a random book off the shelf at the store. The other exception is when someone has recommended a series to me, and suggested a different order.

If the book is good, I won't be able to put it down until it's done, and thus won't be able to start another book. If it doesn't grab me, however, I can easily read another at the same time, though I usually stop bothering with the crappy one if the replacement is good. Grade school English classes also often involved reading more than one book at a time (i.e., my "fun" book, and the assigned one).

[catbird.livejournal.com]

I generally only read one at a time because I get obsessive with fiction. I have literally been known to stay up all night reading a new novel. Most novels don't last more then one sleep cycle :P

This is the reason I don't read much fiction these days!

[ironed_orchid]

When I was doing post grad I would often be reading several books for study related purposes, and have at least one novel on the go. Sometimes when reading a very dense, thinky sort of novel I will break off for a bit to read or re-read something lighter, and then go back to it.

With reading a series, it really depends on how compplete it is when I pick it up. I'm reading the Vorkosigan books now, and trying to stick to the chronological order, but I'm reading the omnibus editions, and although they are mostly in order, some of the volumes seem to be linked thematically rather than strictly chronologically.

[k-10b.livejournal.com]

upstairs book, downstairs book, audiobook in the car, at lunch at work book, bathtub book. Yes, usually reading several until one becomes obsessive, which then is finished first.

[maggiedacatt.livejournal.com]

I don't know how many I *can* read. In grad school I'm kind of forced to read a lot of nonfiction simultaneously. I prefer to read only one fiction book at a time, but that's really because I'm the OMG-must-plow-through-to-the-end type.

[madduckdes.livejournal.com]

Publication order vs. chronological order often depends on how old the series is and whether I've been given a specific recommendation by friends.

I have no idea how many I can handle at once. I've never tested. If a book is amazing, I tend to be a one-at-a-time girl by nature of not putting the book down. At any given time I'm juggling work reading and news and maybe a novel that I'm reading out loud with Mark. I haven't had as much time to read fun fiction alone lately.