How many books can you read at a time and the ereader/tablet curse

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Adebisi

Clump of Cells
<Silver Donator>
27,661
32,677
I'm reading three books right now. I switch from one to another depending on my mood. The issue is I almost bought another book tonight...

When does it end? Am I the only one with reading ADD?

I blame this entirely on my ability to instantly download a book to my Nexus 7 from amazon/kindle/google/torrent
 

T-rex_sl

shitlord
28
0
I can only keep up with one book at a time, unless it is Short Story September, then I like to have collections by a couple different authors going.

Also, I never got into ebooks. I have enough regular books to read for the next couple years, and I'm never so excited about a book that I need it right now. I mostly buy used books for $2-$3, and there is no used ebook store (that I know of). There is something I like about holding a normal book.
 

Kinkle_sl

shitlord
163
1
I used to only be able to do 1-2 max. I would lose interest in books too easily if I tried to split my time/attention. That said, since this semester started, I've been reading 3-5 books concurrently along with 4 classic short stories (2 American Literature and 2 SciFi) per day. It's hard for me, and not just in terms of time investment. It's difficult to be able to finish one emotionally-investing story and immediately begin another entirely different one. Particularly when they are powerful literature. In the last few weeks, I've been reading and/or finished Adventures of Huck Finn (Mark Twain), All Clear (Connie Willis), Do Robots Dream of Electric Sheep (Phillip K. Dick), White Fang (Jack London), and just started The Sun Also Rises (Ernest Hemingway).
 

Friday

Lord Nagafen Raider
870
104
Let's see:

I have a book I leave in the bathroom that I only read while dropping a deuce. I have read many books in this manner.

I have a book on my nightstand that I read from before going to sleep. The majority of my recreational reading takes place here or in periods of lull.

I've got two books on loan from the University library.
"Bully!: The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt" (Marschall)

And literature for school. Which is most of my efforts.

In the past week I've started the Horus Heresy and currently I'm on The Flight of the Einstein (Swallow) and The Grey Knights Omnibus (Counter). I read two 40k books while I was serving and recently came back to them. I decided to start with the Horus Heresy because I always avoided it in the bookstore for some reason.

I used to stick with one book at a time but I'd have pangs of regret for reading the book/finishing it so fast. Like Kinkle said it's hard for me to pick up another great book after finishing a great book so I started stringing several books together.

So yea, 5-10 books and literature at any given time. Two newspapers + school and local news and several news phone-apps (cnn/bbc/pulse/npr) and some scientific research lit.

[edit]

I do not use e-readers / tablets. I tried but I don't enjoy it. I'm open to persuasion but I don't see how I can justify spending so much on e-books at their current price. I'm all about supporting the writers but $10+ for an e-book that would cost me almost the same thing in paper is crazy. You're cutting out all the manufacturing, shipping, and overhead.
 
1,347
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bah if a book doesnt hook me by the beginning of the second act I drop it and take another off the pile. when I am hooked I tend to plow through them with a day break in the middle somewhere, get lost to where I was drop back a bit re-read and head toward the end. life is too short to trudge through shit just know 'how it ends'. rarely do I revisit something I tossed, but once in a while people talk me into it, 75% of the time I shouldn't have listened to them.
 

Szlia

Member
6,547
1,310
I have been reading two at the same time these last few months: a pocket-sized book I carry around in a bag / coat pocket to read on the go (currently John Varley's The Golden Globe) and a regular sized book I read at home (currently a compilation of short stories by french sf/fantasy author Alain Damasio - brilliant, but his constant use of neologisms and word-play makes him basically untranslatable).
 

Azrayne

Irenicus did nothing wrong
2,161
786
I usually have 2 - 4 going at any one time. A novel or two (Lord Foul's Bane and a Dresden Files re-read), something non-fiction about a subject I'm interested in (Celtic Mythology), and whatever I'm studying at the moment (currently on break). Not really a side effect of e-readers, although I'd recommend giving them another shot if you don't feel bad about piracy, just how I've always read.
 

Quineloe

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
6,978
4,463
Let's see:

I have a book I leave in the bathroom that I only read while dropping a deuce. I have read many books in this manner.
Here's what I don't get about this. How long do you spend on the toilet doing that? I sit down, push it out and get back up. One minute, tops. How do you get any reading done? When did it start to take 20 minutes?
 
1,347
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Here's what I don't get about this. How long do you spend on the toilet doing that? I sit down, push it out and get back up. One minute, tops. How do you get any reading done? When did it start to take 20 minutes?
^ camping on a toilet with a book will give you hemorrhoids, fact. drop the deuce and move to a comfortable chair.
 

Friday

Lord Nagafen Raider
870
104
I'm not there for a huge period of time. I might get 2 or 3 pages of a chapter read before I get up. There have been a few times where my junk fell asleep because I was making an extended stay.

I don't know about hemorrhoids. There no straining.
 

a_skeleton_03

<Banned>
29,948
29,762
I can keep a few series going on but not multiple individual books usually. Sometimes I run into a book that is sort of a chore to read and I pick up a fluff book in the middle of it to give my mind a break but it's rare.
 

Kovaks

Mr. Poopybutthole
2,354
3,142
Not counting comic books/ manga I read one book at a time, my issue is which of tue 3000 or so books on my kindle to read next. I have found I switch to new books without finishing the one I am on more now that I have so many options.
 

Grimmlokk

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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I have found I switch to new books without finishing the one I am on more now that I have so many options.
I just can't do this. I can't think of a book off the top of my head that I didn't finish. Gerald's Game I put down like halfway through, but went back and finished a couple years later. Even the awful slogfest of Lord Foul's Bane(Thomas Covenant book 1) I finished even though I was just rolling my eyes and hating every page for the last 200 or so.

Instead of moving on like I should I tend to just read really slow, if nothing else it means I can shit all over it with full confidence later when it's getting discussed. Without being that asshole that always chimes in with "I couldn't even finish it", which generally means their opinion is worthless to everyone who has. I fill the time I'd normally be reading(shitting, before bed) with something else. Play something on my phone or tablet, throw some darts. So the shitty book ends up taking 2-3 weeks to read sometimes.
 

Kinkle_sl

shitlord
163
1
If I don't finish a book, I usually stop reading it within the first 50 pages. Like Eddings' Elder Gods. That shit was terrible straight off the bat.
 

Smocca_sl

shitlord
26
0
I'm usually reading three or maybe four books at a time. One personal book that I can always look forward to reading. One or two books recommended by others or from book groups etc. One audio book (usually I bounce back and forth between audio and text).

At least one of these has to be an ebook so that I can read on my phone in a pinch.

If I find myself avoiding a book I've started I just forget about it and sometimes start it again later.
 

Lenardo

Vyemm Raider
3,543
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one typically, of course i finish a 300 page book in ~2-3hrs, so most books go fast. i also go on binges where nothing comes out i want, then 5ish books come out i want so i'll plow through all 5 books in 3-4 days.
 

Agraza

Registered Hutt
6,890
521
Only one. And I like to finish a series if its part of one before diverting my attention to other books.

If I'm avoiding a book, I tend to forget about it and never read it again later. Wheel of Time died to me in this manner.
 

Vlett

Lord Nagafen Raider
817
69
If I buy a book I'll finish it, just to bitch about it on the author's blog if it pisses me off. I read pretty fast and rarely juggle more than 2 at a time. I admit to getting more and more free books(yes, some pirated) on my kindle app (galaxy 3) because it's 15 miles to the nearest bookstore.