How many books to do you read?

[Azhev]

So the question is how many books do you read at a time?  For me, I'm usually reading about two or three books at the same time, depending on my interest in the stories or if something brand new comes in.  It drives my wife a little bonkers because I leave my books strewn around the house. 

[charity]

one. I can only read one. But if I get to the point where they are piling up I will read them really fast so I can move on. This causes problems with retention, and enjoyment but you do what you gotta do. the other problem with this is I don't do any studying of religious works cause I'm so caught up in whether Vin is going to get killed by someone. Not good for the eternal salvation stuff. 

[dawncawley]

I read one at a time, simply because I get into the story and don't like to muck it up with an alternate reality For instance, if I am reading Melanie Rawn, I wouldn't want to be hopping in and out of Ancient Rome with Alice Borchardt at the same time. I like to be taken away by my books, and since I read them so quickly I can read several a month without overlapping them.

However, I do know several people who read multiples at a time and enjoy it. For me, it is just a matter of preference.

[Nessa]

I will be reading about 4-5 at a time. Then a few will get set aside as I hit the end of a book and want to finish it. Then I pick up a new one.

[Shi]

Haha... wow, ummm, anywhere from 5 to 10(or more), no joke. I'm not too picky about what I read, but I tend to only read something when I'm in the mood for it, and my mood can change from hour to hour. So reading lots of books at the same time guarantees I'll never get bored!

[Pygmalion]

Wow, 5 or 10? That's amazing... I couldn't remember what in the world was going on in any one given book.

I can read one fictional book at a time, but I can read several non-fiction books at the same time. I sort of have to be able to, or I'd never get any research done. I like getting completely taken in by one story at a time though... and it helps if all the non-fiction books are on the same subject. It's like reading the same story. If that makes any sense at all.
 

[pengwenn]

I can only read one fiction book at a time.  I can trade off with a nonfiction book but I don't really like to.  When I do that I don't feel like I'm making any progress in either one of those books.

If you want to include audiobooks I can listen to fiction book even if I'm reading one already.  It's much easier if their different genres but I was listening to one of the Harry Potter books while I was still reading one of the Wheel of Time books (not at the same time obviously).

If I'm reading a book for the first time I don't like to be reading/listening to anything else.  I want to experience the story pure and whole without getting details or plot points mixed up with something else I'm reading/listening to.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I try to keep it to two. BUt currently i'm doing four.  er... five. Forgot about one.

[Jhaeli]

Depends on what I've got handy and what I'm in the mood for. If I've got no new books handy, I'll go and re-read one from my collection; then when I do find a new one, I'll put the old one down to read the new one, then pick it back up after I'm done.

I can have a few going at once sometimes, but when I get into a book, I don't want to read any others, so I'll put them aside for some time. Tends to depend on how engrossing the main one I'm reading is!

[Sigyn]

I usually read one fiction or non-fiction and one religious book at the same time, but I'll read several mangas through these (but only one manga at a time).

[Lightningfall]

I've usually got at least two, though right now I think I have about five.  I usually have one main one that I read and then some that I can get in a data format to read at work where I can't be seen with an actual book but, most of those I am rereading so it's not hard to keep the stories straight.

[Bryant]

I'm usually only really reading one book at a time, and I'll pile through it fairly fast. I usually go through a full length novel in a week or so, with some exceptions. The Baroque Cycle novels probably took me 2-3 weeks each.... and then Elantris and the two Mistborn books I went through in a day or two each.

I then keep a book that I'm rereading in the restroom, which will last me a while. I don't read the newspaper 

[White]

When it comes to published fiction I read one at a time, if it wasn't interesting enough for me to want to soley read it I porbably wouldn't read it. I'm finnicky a bit, but it only takes me about 2 days to knock off most novels so generally I'm very short on new fiction to read.

The only one that took me much longer to read was Lord of the Rings back in early highscool wich I read over a couple of weeks.

The Name of the Wind I found really good, and if anyone's like me and reads books fast, that one's really nice and long and was a good satisfying read for me.