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

But usually it's between 3-5.

I, too, basically want to read everything ever written, but I'm afraid that I already have enough books at my house alone to last me past my natural life span. I keep hoping there is an afterlife with a fantastic library system.

i'm not sure i count as having the vast majority of the books i read as 'going'.

Have been a dedicated one-book-at-a-time guy for many years -- attempts to make it "two at a time, one fiction and one non-fiction" have always proven unsatisfying -- but has anybody made the transition from one-up to several-going? I'm debating giving it a try in the New Year.

For me at least, there's an advantage to one-book-at-a-time which is that books have a certain momentum curve. However much I like a book, there always comes a point where I'm looking beyond it to something else, and it's better if I can finish it while I'm still excited about it. If I pick up a second book, chances are higher that the first one won't get finished.

One for the bus, one for the couch/breakfast table, one for the nightstand

There is a discussion of this in an Eric Rohmer film, L'amour, l'après-midi, iirc.

He reads many books, but can only take one on the train.

What would he have done with an ebook reader?

I suffer from the same problem as Joan and jmm. lately I've been able to pull it off with one book + one ebook. shouldn't work but somehow it does.

i need to have fallback books because i have a tendency to go for stuff that is, for me, pretty heavy reading. like i was reading caro's lbj bio for probably years, and i just couldn't make that the only book i read during that period. if i'm not up for reading something like that, what am i going to do, not read?

but i'm ok with not finishing books. one day i'll finish "the master and margarita".

I will usually read one book of poetry alongside one book of prose and then non-fiction articles..

always 2-3 at a time

i am reading all of the books, rn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKlJVB5rhUA

What are you reading now?
What've you got?

Two at once is my preferred method, but only one can be fiction.

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.