Friday, January 25, 2013

What Julia Is Currently Reading


So in 2013, thus far as it has been, I have been having a problem
That's right folks. I somehow started reading five books at one time. I don't know how it happened. Well, I kind of know how it happened.

A Feast for Crows started to bore me slightly, and I was approved for two awesome ARCs from NetGalley. So I started reading Lord of Darkness. Then I wanted to do View from Page Thirty, but I was already halfway through Lord of Darkness, so I couldn't use that. Plus it's a series. So I started What Alice Knew. Then I received a notice from the library that Shades of Earth was in, the final in the Across the Universe trilogy. I was going to wait to start it, but I was traveling on an airplane this week. What's wrong with that? Lord of Darkness and What Alice Knew are eBooks. There is an at least 20 minute period between take off and 10,000 feet where you cannot use your eReaders. Without anything paper to read, you are reduced to Skymall. Why didn't I then just bring A Feast for Crows? It is in fact a paper book, but carrying that thing AND my eReader is a death sentence for my back (don't forget I have a laptop and an assortment of random work supplies in there too). The fifth may or may not count. I've been reading Grimm's Fairy Tales for at least a year now... so I guess that counts too.

How can I do it? I have no idea. Normally I read one book (plus Grimms) at a time. It's too much work jumping out of one story and into the next. Plus I am attached and invested in the characters. I did try to strategically separate them into reading only one from a certain genre at a time, and thus being able to differentiate in my head from the characters who were settling a new planet and the ones who are saving girls from workhouses. It has worked out pretty well.

So discussion time! Do you all read more than one book at a time or is the practice something that you generally eschew?

PS. I actually finished Shades of Earth on the bazillion hours I was deicing on the runway today, so I guess I am only reading four now. PROGRESS! What didn't progress, however, was my bag to Cleveland...





44 comments:

  1. I'm definitely a one-at-a-time reader. The only time I might break that rule is if one is a re-read of a favorite, which I might choose for the sake of convenience (like in your airplane scenario). It would be easier for me to jump between stories if one of them is something I'm already familiar with, but even that is extremely rare.

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    1. That's true. With my TBR shelf being so high, I haven't reread to many things lately. I didnt even think of trying that instead. I knew Shades of Earth was going to be a quick read though, so I guess it was worth dragging around the hardcover!

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    2. I'm the same way. But I also seem to have the attention span of a gnat sometimes, so it's easier to focus on one book at a time instead of jumping between 2-3 story lines.

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  2. I normally read just one book at a time...but I have also jumped into reading many at a time this week! I started with The Diviners, which is a library book, but its so long and its taking awhile to get through. Then Shades of Earth came in my mailbox, and I still had to read A Million Suns! So I started reading that, too. Then a Goodreads friend of mine wanted me to read Pushing the Limits with him. So then I was reading 3! I've now finished A Million Suns, but now reading Shades of Earth. I'm now halfway through the other 2! Atleast all the stories are vastly different!

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    1. Maybe it's something in the water right?! I think the only thing that saved it is the vastly different stories. If I were reading two romance novels simultaneously, then I would be a little bit more confused.

      Shades of Earth was a great ending to the series I thought. I am still formulating my thoughts! Hope you are liking it so far!!

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  3. I am someone who cannot just read one book at a time. I get to a certain spot in a book, then I put it down and start something else. I don't have a hard time keeping the stories straight, but it can be frustrating to not feel like I'm making any progress. And then--magically, they all are finished around the same time. And the cycle begins again. :)

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  4. The most I can read at once is two, and one novel and then one nonfiction or essay collection. This is totally representative of my personality, though- way too focused on getting the task at hand done before moving on to something else.

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  5. Most of the time I read one book at a time, but sometimes things happen. Right now I am reading 3 books (it was 4, but I just finished one, a novella).

    Book one is 'Eat Pray Love,' which I'm stretching out because its the kind of book that I feel is best savored a little at a time. Book two is 'Siege' by Rhiannon Frater, which is the end of a trilogy I don't want to end. Book three is 'Through the Ever Night,' which I had to start as soon as it came out. I had to put it down halfway through to read the novella 'Roar and Liv,' that way I'd know their backstory before I continued further.

    I don't mean to get into so many books, it just happens. But I do feel invested in all of them. It's like being able to watch multiple TV shows.

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    1. That is kind of what happened to me this time. It is definitely not the norm for me though!

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  6. I tend to shuffle between 2 to 3 stories a time. One print book, one ebook, and one audiobook.

    The audiobook I listen to while driving and while at work. I read the ebook until my reader's battery gives out (which is often, yay for crappy cheap no name brand) and then I switch to the paperback.

    ~ Lindie

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    1. If I listened to audiobooks more then that would be something else I would have to add to my to reading! But I can totally see myself doing that.

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  7. I pretty much never read more than one book at a time, I've tried and I just don't feel the same connection to the story. I used to all the time as a kid though, I just read a chapter of one book and then switched to the next, I still don't know how or why I did this.
    Before I had my ereader I would sometimes read two at a time because I was usually reading one on my computer but while travelling brought another with me, which was SO ANNOYING!

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  8. Oh yes.... this happens to me all the time. I try to contain it to two books, but it has been known to blow out to 3 and 4 at once. I wouldn't try more than that, because it's simply too much beyond say 3 for me. I hope you're able to move through some of your reads soon!!

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  9. aww i feel with you! i have always been the kind of person who reads multiple books at once without knowing how it could get to that point :D for example, i always have a classic going on in the background of all my actual reading (a bit like your grimm tale thing) so that makes at least two books already. and then the library books that i try and read as soon as possible to be able to take them back soon :D
    really wish i could somehow narrow my current readings down to two at a time haha or maybe one but with me, that's wishful thinking...xx

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  10. I've normally got more than one book going at once - at the moment I have a paperback for when I'm reading in the bath, but then Sherlock Holmes on my Kindle, which I've been dipping in and out of since Christmas. Plus the book I have been reading for over a year, and which is always sitting on my Goodreads 'currently reading' list (in this case a book about grunge music).

    I found Feast For Crows dragged a little bit, and it took me ages to get through it, but it was worth it in the end!

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    1. Wow. You read in the bath? I have never been brave enough... well there was this one time, but it didnt end too well.

      I am glad you said that about Feast For Crows... I keep looking at it and really want it to get good soon!

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  11. I mostly read one book at a time, but will do two on occasion if I just can't wait to start a certain book.
    I'm reading Shades of Earth right now on my kindle...about 72 percent done and I will be at the hair salon getting foils and a cut today, plus bus time so I will likely be done today. So many surprises in it, just like the previous two. I love this series and will be sad when I'm done. I hope you review it here.

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    1. Omg that ending! I did not predict how it would go at all. I loved all the twists though. Way to keep us saying "what the frex!?" the entire time.

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    2. Yup!! That is how I felt on the airplane!

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    3. Oh and I am probably going to type up my review tonight :D

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  12. I do this all the time! My goal for the beginning of this year has been to shave down how many books I've started. Usually, it's because I read some books at a slower pace and others I devour in days. Right now, I think I'm down to five or six. Hoping to pare it down more, but usually I read two to three at the same time. I like to shuffle between genres.

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    1. Wow! Five or six! That's pretty intense. When you finish one, do you automatically start another or try to finish one of the other one's you are reading?

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  13. I usually have 4 or 5 books going on at any given times- sometimes 3, but 4 seems to be my happy place. I sometimes go for different genres but not always. I usually don't have a problem keeping story lines or characters straight. I've tried to keep it at 2 or 3, but it never seems to work very well...

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  14. I always read more than one at a time. Usually 4-6. One mystery, one auto and/or biography, one bestseller, etc.

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    1. 4-6! Do your genres overlap, or do you try to keep them mostly separate?

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  15. I love my Kindle but those 20 minutes on the plane is a pain in the butt. I read one book at a time, I just can't do more than one. And I can't believe Grimm is not on your DNF list by now, a year, wow.

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    1. Well, Grimm is like my lifetime book right now. It is just a collection of stories, so when I don't have enough time to really sit and get into reading, I read one or two stories from the collection. I'll finish it eventually. :D

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  16. yep, definietly a multiple books at a time type of person. This drives one of my friends crazy, but I have thus far progressed in converting her to reading multiple series at a time, if not multiple books.

    Rarely will I read two of the same type of book (and this can range from actual categories to ones that I make up in my head) and thus just want something different to spice things up. I find it helps me appreciate the differences in the book a lot more, though it most certainly makes my progress in actually finishing a book pretty slow. *sigh* you win some you lose some!

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  17. I can't believe how many people have the multiple books as a norm! Those of you reading 5+ are definitely out of my league :)

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  18. I used to be a very strict one-book-at-a-time type. I read fast, so it wasn't that difficult to wait until one book was done to start another. (I don't count the nonfiction books for which I create indexes; that's reading for my job, not for fun, even if the books are often interesting.) Then I started listening to audiobooks in the car or while knitting or doing housework, and realized I could actually keep track of two different books at the same time... and it's gone on from there. Now I usually have from between 2 and 5 books going at once, not counting the current indexing project. Right now it's four -- a paper book, an e-ARC, and two audiobooks (one on my own and one with my daughter.)

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  19. Yeah AFFC is kind of lags. Don't worry though - it only goes up from there! HONEST.

    I love reading multiple books at a time. I feel like that way I can read whatever genre I'm feeling AT THAT MOMENT which is amazing.

    Also, when you finish like 3 books in 2 days you feel like a total balla.

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    1. Also, when you finish like 3 books in 2 days you feel like a total balla.

      I love that! It's totally true!

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  20. I try to focus on one book at a time (meaning that I won't be reading parts of four different books in one day), but I always have a few that I'm reading. Usually, it's one or two non-fiction, one fiction in English and one in French. It depends on my mood, too; sometimes I get bored easily, other times I'll stick with a single book until I'm done with it.

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  21. I used to be a one-book-at-a-time sort of reader, until I started blogging. Then things got out of control, to the point where I was reading seven books at once. I'm reading five now, most of them chunksters, and truth be told, I'm itching to get back to the one-book-at-a-time approach. It's far less messy.

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  22. I hadn't realized that the 3rd book in the Across the Universe series was out...just had to reserve it at the library!

    My regular reading incorporates 5 books, plus 2 audio books. I read one book each of: spiritual growth books, biography or memoir, other non-fiction, classic fiction, and modern fiction. I listen to one audiobook around the house, the other in the car. I don't struggle with mixing them us as they're mostly in different genres. I like the variety and it helps me not to get stuck in more academic works.

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    1. Yes!! It's the conclusion too. I think it's been out for a week or so. My review should be up tomorrow :)

      I don't think I could do it if it was all one genre. We'll see if this mixing keeps up.

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  23. I read multiple books at a time for one reason: different formats. I have to have an audiobook going for all the driving I do, an ebook for at the gym and waiting in line etc, and a physical book because they make me happy. I also sometimes end up with multiple physical books going because I need to take a break from a review book to read something happy or such, but I try to keep it down to one main physical book at a time ;-).

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    1. Do you find it easier to workout with an eReader? I cant read in a car because I get motion sickness and usually I cant do it on the elliptical for the same reason. But I found that with my eReader it was less... nauseating? It made the time go by quicker too!

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  24. Somehow I have ended up reading 5 books at once recently as well and I hate it! I've just decided to focus on two of the them and whittle it down to 3. 5 is just way too much for my little brain to handle, but there is so much I want to read and I just don't want to wait!

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    1. but there is so much I want to read and I just don't want to wait!

      Yup. My thoughts exactly!

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  25. I read a RIDICULOUS number of books at a time. At the moment it's 22. HOWEVER, eleven are reading for University. 11 is still a lot though! Am I mad!?

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  26. I read multiple books all the time. I figure that I'm capable of being friends with more than one person/group at a time and I can keep their lives straight. What would keep me from doing so with fictional people?

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  27. Haha, I just wrote a post about this one, but I only manage two at a time. I can't believe you're reading FIVE - that's incredible!

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  28. I have pretty bad ADHD so I'm pretty much a one at a time girl but it's happened but never more than three.

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