Sunday, November 16, 2008

Am I The Only One?

Can I really be the only person I know who reads more than one book at a time? My husband thinks I'm slightly insane for doing this (and somehow thinks that slightly mitigates the insane part).

Actually, reading can be a conundrum for me when I'm writing a book; there is such a fine line between feeding my work and pulling me off course. It can be nearly impossible to find books that keep me connected to the joy of reading a good book, yet aren't too similar to what I write, thereby infecting it with their voice, or conversely, are too different from what I write. In the latter case, if it's a great book, it makes me want to chuck my current project and start something new.

So for the last throes of Theodosia and the Knights of Horus I've been reading Sophie Kinsella's Remember Me (for the British accent, don't you know?) and re-reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and re-reading D. M. Cornish's Monster Blood Tattoo: Foundling. (Which, btw, if you haven't read and you enjoy fantasy, you simply MUST read.)

And I alternate. Last night I read about 50 pages in one, and that was enough of that, then read 25 pages of Kinsella, and put that aside, then finished out the evening with MBT.

I'm really hoping someone out there does this too...

8 comments:

Jen Robinson said...

I'm pretty much always reading one book and listening to another. And I sometimes will start a second book while reading a first, especially if the first is long, and I get a whim for something else. For instance this weekend I decided that I had to re-read Then There Were Five, even though I was enjoying my primary book.

Robin L said...

Well, phew! I can't think of better reading company to be in than yours, Jen!

Jen Robinson said...

Thanks, Robin!

The other reason I end up reading multiple books is that I won't usually take hardcovers with me when I travel, so I have to start something else. And when I come home, I might or might not want to finish the trip book right away (right now I have a dense adult thriller languishing on my bedside, though I would surely have finished it if the flight was longer).

Ruth King said...

I almost always have more than one book going at a time. Right now I'm reading four, earlier this month I was in the middle of six books.

My third grade teacher once told me that I would scramble my brain if I read more than one book at a time. I went straight home that day and started two books in defiance.

Robin L said...

Ha, Bookish Ruth! That's the spirit. I would have done exactly the same thing.

I'm trying to remember if I've ever juggled six books before. You might have given me a new goal to shoot for...

Erica said...

i'm usually reading 2 or 3 books at once, listening to one book in the car, another in the kitchen, and maybe another a bit at a time on the iPod. so....i understand :)

Icarus said...

i have a huge stack of books on my nightstand that i have 'started' and 'intend' to finish, but I don't think that is what you mean.

When I am on vacation (I'm a teacher) I frequently have some heavy reading (usually non-fiction or Literature with a captial L) and something lighter for bedtime. Of course, that doesn't count the ever-present LaFevers books that I am always reading to my son. :)

I can't wait to tell him that you are wrapping up a third Theodosia book. We have the Staff of Osiris waiting on the table for as soon as we finish Brisingr

Robin L said...

Oh good, Erica. It makes sense that a librarian would understand.

Icarus said: i have a huge stack of books on my nightstand that i have 'started' and 'intend' to finish

Don't EVEN get me started on that stack of books! I can no longer even see my nightstand, the books are stacked so high! (I really wish that were an exaggeration.)

And I'm so glad your son is enjoying the books!