Reading more than one book at a time: yea or nay?

>>7681601
I do it all the time when I'm reading something long. Sometimes you just need to take a break from one book and come back to it later.

>>7681601
Last year I think I peaked at seven books at once. At least a couple of them didn't get finished but I think it's a decent way to read. Think of that old Pepe pasta, if you get tired of one book rather than stopping completely just pick up another.

It doesn't work too well if one of the books is by Joseph McElroy though, he requires your undivided attention.

>>7681601
3 or 4 books at once.

I never read more than one book of a genre at once though. It's a history book, a pulp scifi book, something that's legitimate literature, and so on so i'm always in the mood to read, even if I'm not always in the mood to finish what I'm in the middle of.

>>7681601
Personally I like to cut myself off at one longer work at a time but keep a few different volumes of short stories (right now it's Barthelme's Sixty Stories, Tales from the 1001 Nights and some Hemingway) along with the bible in a constant rotation.

>>7681609
>>7681673
little bit of this, little bit of this
95 percent of the energy is focused on knocking a single book back though, unless it is of bible length then divisible by 3 or 4 parts

It's best to avoid it, but it happens

Light reading on the go, heavier stuff at home.

>>7683153
why? you can't carry the heavy stuff?

>>7683158
That's a real concern if you don't have an ereader but I don't think anon meant "heavy" in a literal sense

>>7681601
Depends what books. Trying to tackle The Recognitions and The Tunnel at the same time is like slitting your wrists while hanging yourself.

I always read 4-6 books at a time

I only read one book at a time regardless of its length or difficulty.

>>7683581
me 2

Philosophy, poetry, essays and non-fiction at home, novels when I'm commuting or out.

Only when they are two different books dealing with the same subject matter in two different ways.

>>7681609
Qft. Reading fiction and non fiction books atm.

>>7683581
The ONLY acceptable way

I sometimes find it hard to focus on just one book. I usually read two or three at a time.

>>7683158
I don’t know about anon, but I find anything ‘literary’ impossible to concentrate on with the noise of trains and all.

>reading long book
>take break to read a shorter book
>find another interesting book and start that too
>tfw currently reading 28 books

One fiction, one non-fiction. If I didn't do this I would never get any non-fiction read. Pace is usually around 3/1

>>7684388
Same m9