how many and how

Ok i know some of you have been asked this before but here we go again. How many books do you read at one time or while reading a series. For example in high school I could read any where from 2 to 4 books at the same time. Now I can only seem to concentrate on 1 at a time. Also now I'm reading 4 series one after another. Two of the series are rereads though and I have at least one or two other series I want to reread too. How about all of you?

I read 4 to 5 books at one time. Any of them can be from a series, but if so, each would be from a different series. I also try to keep the reading spread out over many genres, because that helps me keep from getting the plots confused with each other... the more wildly different my "currently reading" selections are, the better/easier it is for me to stay on track. My currently reading collection here on LT tends to also be my "next up" collection at the same time... There's about 20 books in my Currently Reading collection at this time, but I promise I haven't even cracked the covers open on most of them...

I have as many as 4 or 5 books at a time. Usually only one is a novel. With a series, I try to read all in a row - however I borrow stuff from a friend so it depends on whether she kept earlier titles. She tends to buy books when they come out so you have to read one at a time. Hard to keep track. Right now I use the old tried and true pieces of paper system. However I can never find the paper when I read the next book in the series so LT is looking mighty good. I haven't added books not owned although I'm seriously thinking of using the read not owned collection for books for which I want to do a review. We'll see.

I can only keep track of one plot at a time! I can focus and I get through them so much faster, thus I can move on to the next one quicker. As for series, I like to break them up otherwise it all starts sounding alike and I start to get bored.

I like to read a non-fiction during the day and listen to an audio while driving. I read fiction at in the evening and a religious book before bed. So 3 or 4 books at a time. As for series I like to read them in order but only three or four in a row otherwise I get bored.

Nowadays I tend have a couple going at the same time but they're never of the same type. I used to read only one book at a time but because I read almost exclusively on my lunch break and my commute to and from work some days I am just not conscious enough in the morning to keep at whatever book I'm in the middle of (esp. if it's nerdy or in another language requiring my brain to be more alert). In those instances I'll bring an easier book along and read that one rather than just stare at the original book in a half-focused daze. I also sometimes have a long book or poem lying around that I will pick at in bits and pieces in between other books. Currently Moby Dick is filling that slot.

But I don't really enjoy this setup. I really would rather read consecutively, because that's how I like to and how my brain works. However, I've found that overall I read less when I do because on my foggy-brained days I'll end up just staring out the bus window or dozing off. Taking a second book with me combats those actions.

I usually have three or four books going at any given time, but when I sit down to read, I only ever read one book per "session" -- I don't pick up and put down books. Whatever I pick up stays in my hands until I have to stop reading and do something else.

I usually have one 'main' book that is the one I focus on, that is the one I am really into. This will take me at the most a week to read. Then a light read for when I am on the bus to work. Finally a third that I could have on stand-by for a good month or more, for when I am just at a loss and don't have the time to concentrate on my main read. So at the minute I am focused on The Weight of Silence as my main read, The Qi Book of The Dead as something to keep in my bag and Alias Grace as my back up read.

I usually have at least 2 books on the go. Right now, Chasing the Sun by Richard Cohen is my upstairs or bedtime book, and Birdman by Mo Hayder is my downstairs book. Whatever the books I'm reading, one is usually fiction, one non-fiction. When I was working outside the home, I had a purse book as well, which was usually picked because of its portability.

I can't keep more than 2 at a time straight...never could whether young or old. I become so absorbed in them I can't change my train of thought easily. I'm currenlty reading Birdsong a novel spanning 3 generations, beginning in Industrial England late 1800's and now we are in the Trenches in WWI. I'm still waiting for it to get "good!" Think I will be going to be TBR pile and making my next selection!

Anywhere between 1 and 8(I believe that had been the maximum)...

As for series.. it depends on the series. In some cases I just breeze through all 4-10 books in a row. Sometimes I will read 2-4 books, stop for a while, get back and so on.

Usually one or two main ones, with an indeterminate number of others simmering in the background.

It depends very much on how interested I am in what I'm reading. I read a lot of YA for various reasons, I often have a book going on the elliptical, and if it's work-related then I'm definitely reading something else on the side! Usually no more than two or three, though - especially if they're fairly involved.

How many? 7

How?

I cover the basics for me. 2 History, then (1)historical novel that corresponds, (1)biography that corresponds, that's four. Included in the above is my 37 in 11 oldies read.

The remaining three are flexibles...a short read of great interest, Wm. Shakespeares complete works, or back to Robert Frost complete works.

no TV service (I remember when it was free and all you needed was rabbit ears or a wire hanger)

I'm with you, pre20cenbooks. A couple of histories about quite different periods / places, a 'serious' fiction, a definitely-unserious fiction, a textbook for a subject having no bearing on what I do for a living, and maybe a flexible or two that I simply couldn't put off starting.

Oh gosh, you guys are smarter and more capable than I! I can only focus on ONE book at a time!

It's a habit I suspect. And what you are reading.

I read a lot of short stories and almost any genre you can think of so my mood flips between titles.

And all the reading I do for work helps - I need to switch gears way too often :)

I am a one book at a time sort of person