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Post by erebus on Mar 13, 2013 12:05:44 GMT
How many books do you read on the go at the same time ? And do you follow any regime or order on how you read ? For example, I'm currently on 5 books at the moment. But two of those are books with stories and tales within. So really I am sort of going through three books. Two of those are new books to me. The other is an old favorite I return to ( ie SPIDERS ) I would never usually go over 5 five at a time. And if I am reading a big 700 page book like a KING novel for example I will probably have that and perhaps two more on the go ( not including one I read at work ) I'm due to begin DARK TOWER book 7 which is a great big fat thing. So I will whittle down what I need to get through and try and make this the main read. With perhaps a short story collection at my bedside. And a thin paperback that I carry around the house just to breeze through a chapter. Any other members do this ? Or read a number at the same time ? Or are you strictly a one book reader who never commits book adultery
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Post by Dr Strange on Mar 13, 2013 12:59:19 GMT
I can have any number of short story anthologies on the go at the same time, but only one novel. I might have a novel and a non-fiction work on the go at the same time, though. Don't know why exactly, it's just the way I am - any danger of you ever confusing the stories when you're reading lots of different books at the same time?
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Post by mattofthespurs on Mar 13, 2013 13:58:35 GMT
Many. Off the top of my head (they are in the other room)
Pan Book of Horror Stories 5 Connoisseur's Guide to Horror Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural Jaws by Bloomsbury Books Creepy Archives volume 5 The Complete HP Lovecraft The short stories of Ray Bradbury volume 1 The 20th Centuries best Horror Stories volumes 1 & 2 The Big Book of Urban Legends The House of Fear anthology Weird anthology Zombie anthology (from Weird) A Year in Fear (366 horror films, one for each day of the year) The best Horror stories from Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine
There are probably one or two more but I have forgotten them.
I'm a serial flitter depending on what mood I'm in.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Mar 13, 2013 14:22:10 GMT
I'm fairly rigid in my reading habits. I generally read one book at a time, from cover to cover. With anthologies and collections, I may skip around some within the book based on story length and my schedule. On rare occasions I'll switch back and forth between two books (but never between two novels). For long collections--say, The Collected Ghost Stories of E. F. Benson--I may take a break partway through, read another book, and then come back to finish it. Nonfiction works are exempt from all of this.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Mar 13, 2013 14:32:20 GMT
How many books do you read on the go at the same time ? And do you follow any regime or order on how you read ? For example, I'm currently on 5 books at the moment. But two of those are books with stories and tales within. So really I am sort of going through three books. Two of those are new books to me. The other is an old favorite I return to ( ie SPIDERS ) I would never usually go over 5 five at a time. And if I am reading a big 700 page book like a KING novel for example I will probably have that and perhaps two more on the go ( not including one I read at work ) I'm due to begin DARK TOWER book 7 which is a great big fat thing. So I will whittle down what I need to get through and try and make this the main read. With perhaps a short story collection at my bedside. And a thin paperback that I carry around the house just to breeze through a chapter. Any other members do this ? Or read a number at the same time ? Or are you strictly a one book reader who never commits book adultery I'm about the same as you. Very rarely I find a book that utterly absorbs me or is short and easy to read in one go. Mostly I read a stack of books, losing some around the house and refinding them (sometimes ages later)
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Post by Dr Strange on Mar 13, 2013 15:48:55 GMT
I think with non-fiction (and I'm generalizing here) it's because the structure is often more like what you get in anthologies - you can often read chapters as stand-alone pieces, and so I might read a few chapters and then set the book aside, knowing I can easily come back to it later without worrying about having lost the thread. I just can't do that with novels - I sometimes struggle to remember who all the characters are and their relationships if I set a novel aside for just a few days. Maybe it's old age. I'm the same with TV - I generally don't watch serials where I need to remember stuff from week to week, only those where the episodes are more-or-less stand alone pieces.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 14, 2013 8:50:26 GMT
Definitely in the Craig camp on this one. My reading is all over the map, all of the time, which is why i've a genuine admiration with those who have the self-discipline to take it one book at a time, see a novel through to the bitter end, read an anthology in the order presented by the editor.
Novels are a big stumbling block. Will get completely absorbed in the story - "this is seriously good!" - only to be distracted, and the next day will have forgotten book in question even existed, at least, for a couple of days/ weeks/ months. Feel bad about that, the author deserves more, and I can't provide it. The Damned United is the only novel i've stuck with cover to cover in months, think the last time I managed that was with Let The Right One In or Flicker.
It's different with anthologies/ single author collections. Will have loads of them on the go at any given time, and most get finished eventually. A very few i've no intention of completing, either because I've attempted enough of this or that writers work to doubt they'll ever click with me, or, in extreme cases (So hang me for it: I never claimed to be a critic), because, put simply, I don't like this or that writer, full stop, and can no longer trust myself to be objective. I realise this is very wrong, but, no, have never lost any sleep over it.
Non-fiction, i'm with Dr. Strange.
* cauldronbrewer, if you get to read this, please check your pm's!*
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Post by Shrink Proof on Mar 14, 2013 10:30:44 GMT
Definitely in the Craig camp on this one. My reading is all over the map, all of the time, which is why I've a genuine admiration with those who have the self-discipline to take it one book at a time, see a novel through to the bitter end, read an anthology in the order presented by the editor. I will read one thing right through before starting on a second. I used to have a few things on the go but found that I got so diverted that I never returned to the first one. Dem, I've a genuine admiration with those who have the self-discipline to take several books at a time and get them all finished. The only exceptions are when I find a book to be too turgid to finish, at which point it's abandoned, never to be opened again - life's too short to read heavy, boring books ( D. H. Lawrence, please note...).
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Post by David A. Riley on Mar 14, 2013 10:48:11 GMT
Anthologies and short story collections are definitely books I dip into and out of randomly, especially the latter. Novels, though, I do try and read from start to finish in one go, unless they begin to bore me, then I do tend to take a look at something else - which is fatal, as I find it very hard to stir up enough interest to start reading it again. If a novel grabs me, though, it won't take me long to finish it. This happened recently with Get Carter ( aka Jack Returns Home), which I could not put down.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Mar 14, 2013 12:22:14 GMT
Dem, I've a genuine admiration with those who have the self-discipline to take several books at a time and get them all finished. I'm with SP on this. For me, it's less about self-discipline and more about self-preservation. If I had more than one book or maybe occasionally two going at the same time, I'd have a difficult time keeping straight what I'd read and what I hadn't.
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Post by pulphack on Mar 15, 2013 7:51:46 GMT
Novels I can only read one at a time: partly because I lose track, but mostly because of the same kind of weird OCD that makes me sit through a film even if it's boring - there MIGHT be some saving grace that makes it worthwhile. The same with novels - even a dull one I have to read end to end and can't actually read another novel until it's done (though with the one exception of KIngsley Amis' A Girl Like You - wonder why that one in particular bucks the trend?). Short stories - single writer or anthology - I can dip into, but even then I usually end up feeling compelled to read the whole thing. Non-fiction, on the other hand, I read completely differently depending on what I want from it. I envy those less anal in their reading habits. I'd love to know what Shink Proof makes of that (never being one to turn down a consultation if it's free!)...
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Post by Shrink Proof on Mar 15, 2013 12:49:13 GMT
I envy those less anal in their reading habits. I'd love to know what Shink Proof makes of that (never being one to turn down a consultation if it's free!)... A (retired) psychiatrist writes:- There's actually nothing wrong with having anal reading habits. Just so long as you don't spend so long in there reading that others can't use the toilet...
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Post by ripper on Mar 16, 2013 15:33:53 GMT
I used to be quite disciplined and read a book--novel, non-fiction or anthology--from cover to cover, but over the past several years I have tended to have more than one book on the go at the same time. I almost always read to the end of a chapter or story, which helps me to keep track of what is happening in individual books. Currently, I am dipping in and out of an anthology, finishing off a short novel (with another lengthier one on the back burner) and am part-way through two non-fiction works. There can be a considerable time for a book to remain "dormant" and picking it up again--it has been several weeks since I last read one of the non-fictions.
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Post by DemonSpawn on Mar 17, 2013 12:00:03 GMT
Novels I will read one at a time, however if after about halfway through the book I am still really struggling to find any redeeming features at all, I do tend to give it to charity without finishing it. Anthologies I dip in and out of as the mood takes. Non-fiction, though I don't read much of that these days, is the same as for fiction.
Sometimes if I really hate a book. "The Hiss" comes to mind, I won't get very far in at all.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 18, 2013 10:59:07 GMT
A kind of related question. Novels. What's your preferred page count, and when (if ever) are they too big for you to even considering giving them a go?
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