Wolfpac 08 said:
I have some questions about your reading…if I read understood your post, you just finished a book while also being midway through 3 other books.
How does that work? Are you reading all day, a little of each? Do you dedicate a day/week to each book? Do you read a sentence of one and then a sentence of another and just rotate through like that?
Do you ever find it challenging to keep storylines straight? Do you get halfway through a page only to realize you're not reading the book you thought you were reading? Do you find yourself wondering what happened to a character only to realize they exist in a different literary universe?
I love to read, but navigating through multiple, complex stories at once seems….daunting..like it would take away from my ability to really get lost in the each story, which is one of my favorite parts of reading.
Granted, with a two year old running around, I'm lucky to get an hour a day to spend in my book.
Anyway, just fun curiosity more than anything. It's quite impressive to a simpleton like myself.
Thanks for asking!
I'm a huge nerd, always have been. At A&M, I'd study for 3 or 4 hours, then as a "break", read a fiction book for an hour. That was my escape from the thick academic texts I had to crush while studying. It went like that for all my academic years.
I wonder how many books I've read in my lifetime. I met a fellow co-worker years ago who had a spread sheet (Spreadsheet Ag's kind of guy) that documented every book he had read that year, the author, title, category, genre, and pages, and date completed. He'd tally the number of pages he'd read each year.
I was so impressed that I started doing that myself about 8 years ago. I wish I had started younger.
I have a notebook (I'm a pen and paper kind of guy . . . a caveman living in the space age . . . I only recently started doing Audible books while I drive . . . I don't know why I waited) where I have kept my records since I started. I do not count professional texts, work reading, or anything other than what I pick up just because I want to.
It's not uncommon for me to get 10,000 pages of reading for pleasure in fiction, non-fiction, short stories, and poetry in a year. There's some people on here who read a ton more, and I say more power to 'em! The covid year, I only had like 3000 pages read. I had tons of personal stuff happening, as well as the world going insane. It was a very off year for me!
I started reading multiple books at once in my 20s. At first, it was 2-3, but I get so excited about many books at once, I couldn't wait. They don't bleed together. Each book has a "groove" that I sync up with, usually with a few pages, and in no time, I'm back in the swing of that text or story.
You get better as a reader and go faster the more you do it. At least that's true for me.
I go everywhere with a book. I have usually have one at the office, one in the vehicle, and several at home. That way, when the receptionist says, "I'm sorry, Dr. Mephisto, but the physician is running late with his appointments, and it will be another hour," I'm thrilled to get an hour of free reading!
I've been a reader since I was like 7.
And THAT my friends, is what happens when you nerd out!
