Are you a one-book-at-a-time-until-finished reader? Or do you usually have two or more you’re into at the same time? How many have you got going now? What’s the hold up?
25 thoughts on “Reader Friday: Reading Habits”
Great question. I’m a one-book-at-a-time-until-finished reader, when it comes to fiction. Right now I’m reading The Killings at Badger’s Drift, the first Inspector Barnaby novel, and the basis for the television show, Midsomer Murders. It’s a terrific read.
Non-fiction is different, for me. I often have several books in progress. At the moment, I’m reading Action: The Art of Excitement for Screen, Page, and Game by Robert McKee and Bassim El-Wakil, as well as Binocular Astronomy by Stephen Tonkin, and am about to start Style/I>a book on sentence crafting. No holdup, I just tend to switch off between non-fiction books.
I have an audiobook going during the commute, while gardening, while doing chores. I have an e-book for backstage and a real book for morning meditation.
Current audiobook – Confess by Colleen Hoover.
Backstage book: Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon
Morning book: Write for Life by Julia Cameron.
Usually for fiction it’s one at a time. Because I can finish a book in less than 2 days. Nonfiction is another thing. Currently reading IF by Mark Batterson and THE EDEN OPTION by Allen Arnold. And usually read a chapter of some obscure guy’s book on craft whose initials are JSB.
One at a time, steady as she goes.
Have a great weekend, Jim!
More than one. I read at bedtime, usually a print book from the library. When I begin to doze, I switch to my iPad mini and read the current read there until I actually fall asleep. (Those books usually take some time to finish).
I read one novel at a time but read non-fiction far more frequently. I have always been a ‘read it from start to finish’ person but I’m finding that I’m loosening up on that as time becomes more and more elusive. I definitely want 2023 to be filled with more reading then I accomplished in 2022.
Don’t have the name of the novel handy (cozy mystery), but in non-fiction, I’m just starting:
“Letter to the American Church” Eric Metaxas
“Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069” by William Strauss and Neil Howe
I usually have a fiction and a nonfiction going at the same time. Currently between nonfiction books. Only holdup is not being able to stay awake long enough to read as much as I would like to.
I usually have several books going.
Fiction:
As I was finishing The All of It by Jeanette Haien, I started Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. I’m also listening to The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey when I’m exercising or doing chores.
I’m slowly making my way through a couple of nonfiction books: About Time: A History of Civilization in Twelve Clocks by David Rooney, and When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome by Richard Rubenstein.
I have a question that coincides with this post . In relation to a daily writing quota should you count your rewrites and edits of your current WIP?
If you’re not supposed that I should have more than one book on the go. That’s okay but tough going when working a full time job.
I always count “new words” in my daily quota.
I have a simple spreadsheet that show how many words I have in the WIP at the end of each day, and does the basic math to show the difference between the current and previous day. That’s it. I don’t differentiate between added words, cut words, etc. It’s all about the bottom line for me.
During the editing process, that number usually turns negative each day, because I write long and too rambly, so I’m trying to tighten.
Thank you. That clears up some questions I’ve had.
That’s a question I’ve wondered about as to how others handle it. I think it ought to be counted too.
I am a multi-reader. Usually, one print and one Kindle. Right now, Koshersoul (NF) and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on paper and getting ready for something new on Kindle.
I like to alternate between fiction and nonfiction. And I don’t binge read series anymore.
One at a time.
Currently reading Brother Gilstrap’s “No Mercy”.
Have a great Friday, all!
Usually two or three at a time-or more. If it sucks I ditch it fast with no guilt feelings.
I like anthologies and collections of short stories, and I look for collections edited by Otto Penzler. I’ve got “Murder at the Racetrack” in the hopper right now, William Gay and John McPhee in the wings and I’m about to dig into Flannery O’Connor. I just finished Jamie Holmes’ Twelve Seconds Of Silence concerning the development of the VT Proximity Fuze and the fight against the German V1 cruise missile.
I’m with you, Robert. I love to snatch reading time with short stories, and have a number of Penzler anthologies (e.g., Black Mask).
And a book by John McPhee literally changed my life. I read A Sense of Where You Are in Jr. Hi and thereafter dedicated myself to basketball. Later, I got to meet Bill Bradley when he was on the Knicks, coming out of the Forum after a Lakers game, and shook his hand and told him about it.
I met Bill Bradley in Winterset when I worked for the county attorney and he was running for Prez.
My folks subscribed to the New Yorker -I still do- and I read a lot of McPhee’s work as a kid.
Sweet!
I prefer one book at a time, but lately, I’m a mood reader. Right now, I have two I’m switching between, depending on my mood that day, and neither are holding my interest for long.
At this stage of my life, I’m a one-book-at-a-time-until-finished guy. I used to read multiple fiction books at the same time when I was younger and I may return to doing that, but right now I taking one book at a time.
I used to be a monogamous reader, but that changed somewhere in my 50’s I think. I’m a mood reader and pick up whatever suits my mood at the time. I usually have a fiction physical book, and one or two ebooks in process. At the beginning of the year I was feeling really ambitious and decided I needed to read more non fiction so have a crafts book in process along with a faith read.
Currently I’m reading 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (Physical, Magical Realism), plus Blue by Nancy Bilyeau (historical fiction ebook) and a reread of Kitty Norville series (Urban fantasy ebook). I dove back into George Saunders A Swim in the Pond in the Rain at the beginning of the year. Enjoying it more so than last year. Also on a Thomas Merton binge so reading his journals and currently in the middle of his first Journal. Mike Rowe’s The Way I Heard It has taken up residence in the bathroom. And in the midst of a read and reread of Julia Cameron’s Write for Life.
Oh yes, almost forgot. My son and I are listening to the audio book Ready Player One. *grin*
I usually have four going. A devotional, a general knowledge book, a writing book, and a mystery.
Great question. I’m a one-book-at-a-time-until-finished reader, when it comes to fiction. Right now I’m reading The Killings at Badger’s Drift, the first Inspector Barnaby novel, and the basis for the television show, Midsomer Murders. It’s a terrific read.
Non-fiction is different, for me. I often have several books in progress. At the moment, I’m reading Action: The Art of Excitement for Screen, Page, and Game by Robert McKee and Bassim El-Wakil, as well as Binocular Astronomy by Stephen Tonkin, and am about to start Style/I>a book on sentence crafting. No holdup, I just tend to switch off between non-fiction books.
I have an audiobook going during the commute, while gardening, while doing chores. I have an e-book for backstage and a real book for morning meditation.
Current audiobook – Confess by Colleen Hoover.
Backstage book: Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon
Morning book: Write for Life by Julia Cameron.
Usually for fiction it’s one at a time. Because I can finish a book in less than 2 days. Nonfiction is another thing. Currently reading IF by Mark Batterson and THE EDEN OPTION by Allen Arnold. And usually read a chapter of some obscure guy’s book on craft whose initials are JSB.
One at a time, steady as she goes.
Have a great weekend, Jim!
More than one. I read at bedtime, usually a print book from the library. When I begin to doze, I switch to my iPad mini and read the current read there until I actually fall asleep. (Those books usually take some time to finish).
I read one novel at a time but read non-fiction far more frequently. I have always been a ‘read it from start to finish’ person but I’m finding that I’m loosening up on that as time becomes more and more elusive. I definitely want 2023 to be filled with more reading then I accomplished in 2022.
Don’t have the name of the novel handy (cozy mystery), but in non-fiction, I’m just starting:
“Letter to the American Church” Eric Metaxas
“Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069” by William Strauss and Neil Howe
I usually have a fiction and a nonfiction going at the same time. Currently between nonfiction books. Only holdup is not being able to stay awake long enough to read as much as I would like to.
I usually have several books going.
Fiction:
As I was finishing The All of It by Jeanette Haien, I started Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. I’m also listening to The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey when I’m exercising or doing chores.
I’m slowly making my way through a couple of nonfiction books:
About Time: A History of Civilization in Twelve Clocks by David Rooney, and When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome by Richard Rubenstein.
I have a question that coincides with this post . In relation to a daily writing quota should you count your rewrites and edits of your current WIP?
If you’re not supposed that I should have more than one book on the go. That’s okay but tough going when working a full time job.
I always count “new words” in my daily quota.
I have a simple spreadsheet that show how many words I have in the WIP at the end of each day, and does the basic math to show the difference between the current and previous day. That’s it. I don’t differentiate between added words, cut words, etc. It’s all about the bottom line for me.
During the editing process, that number usually turns negative each day, because I write long and too rambly, so I’m trying to tighten.
Thank you. That clears up some questions I’ve had.
That’s a question I’ve wondered about as to how others handle it. I think it ought to be counted too.
I am a multi-reader. Usually, one print and one Kindle. Right now, Koshersoul (NF) and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on paper and getting ready for something new on Kindle.
I like to alternate between fiction and nonfiction. And I don’t binge read series anymore.
One at a time.
Currently reading Brother Gilstrap’s “No Mercy”.
Have a great Friday, all!
Usually two or three at a time-or more. If it sucks I ditch it fast with no guilt feelings.
I like anthologies and collections of short stories, and I look for collections edited by Otto Penzler. I’ve got “Murder at the Racetrack” in the hopper right now, William Gay and John McPhee in the wings and I’m about to dig into Flannery O’Connor. I just finished Jamie Holmes’ Twelve Seconds Of Silence concerning the development of the VT Proximity Fuze and the fight against the German V1 cruise missile.
I’m with you, Robert. I love to snatch reading time with short stories, and have a number of Penzler anthologies (e.g., Black Mask).
And a book by John McPhee literally changed my life. I read A Sense of Where You Are in Jr. Hi and thereafter dedicated myself to basketball. Later, I got to meet Bill Bradley when he was on the Knicks, coming out of the Forum after a Lakers game, and shook his hand and told him about it.
I met Bill Bradley in Winterset when I worked for the county attorney and he was running for Prez.
My folks subscribed to the New Yorker -I still do- and I read a lot of McPhee’s work as a kid.
Sweet!
I prefer one book at a time, but lately, I’m a mood reader. Right now, I have two I’m switching between, depending on my mood that day, and neither are holding my interest for long.
At this stage of my life, I’m a one-book-at-a-time-until-finished guy. I used to read multiple fiction books at the same time when I was younger and I may return to doing that, but right now I taking one book at a time.
I used to be a monogamous reader, but that changed somewhere in my 50’s I think. I’m a mood reader and pick up whatever suits my mood at the time. I usually have a fiction physical book, and one or two ebooks in process. At the beginning of the year I was feeling really ambitious and decided I needed to read more non fiction so have a crafts book in process along with a faith read.
Currently I’m reading 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (Physical, Magical Realism), plus Blue by Nancy Bilyeau (historical fiction ebook) and a reread of Kitty Norville series (Urban fantasy ebook). I dove back into George Saunders A Swim in the Pond in the Rain at the beginning of the year. Enjoying it more so than last year. Also on a Thomas Merton binge so reading his journals and currently in the middle of his first Journal. Mike Rowe’s The Way I Heard It has taken up residence in the bathroom. And in the midst of a read and reread of Julia Cameron’s Write for Life.
Oh yes, almost forgot. My son and I are listening to the audio book Ready Player One. *grin*
I usually have four going. A devotional, a general knowledge book, a writing book, and a mystery.