Taking sides: One book at a time vs. multiple books on the go

I can't read two books at once because I always end up having a minor nervous breakdown about how to pack my bag before leaving the house.

If I'm reading something really hard, I used to pack magazines or comics as backup, but now I just read something off my biliously long Instapaper queue instead.

Usually one book at a time. When much younger would read multiple books at once, until at one point i was reading a book and its sequel simultaneously, which made me change my ways

I am definitely a one fiction book and one non-fiction book (or one graphic novel) at the same time kind of reader. I tend to keep a novel in my bag, and the non-fic for home reading (for some reason I have never been able to read in bed very happily).

Ha, thought I was reading ebook sample of book about Alfred Hitchcock and gradually got an uneasy feeling. "He was born into a world of darkness, obscurity and magic; led a strangely pure and obsessive life, lacking parents, lovers and friends; quarreled bitterly with great men who crossed his path; veered at least once to the brink of madness; cloaked his work in secrecy; and yet discovered more of the essential core of human knowledge than anyone before or since." It turned out I had accidentally clicked on Isaac Newton bio by James Gleick. Took me quite a while to get my balance.