I’m going to start joining in with the Book Blogger Hop, hosted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer. I’ve made my own image from a stock photo (credit: Anna Shvets) to avoid adding images created via generative AI to my blog. Feel free to use it too if you would like!
This week’s prompt is about dual-wielding books:
Do you read one book at a time, or juggle a few at once?
I am quite possibly incapable of reading just one book at once! I have a tendency to get fidgety, though this happens mostly with fiction: I get too antsy about how the story is going to turn out, and then instead of finding out, I get hung up on it. Sometimes the best thing to do in that case is just to switch to something else for a bit. I’d say three to five books at once is the sweet spot for me; each of them gets attention, but there’s plenty of variety.
Overall, I think it works best when I jump between quite different books — like, one historical non-fiction, one popular science, one fantasy, and one mystery, or something like that. Then the moods are very different, and there’s no risk of details blurring into each other.
That said, at the moment I’ve got myself into a bit of a hole with it! I have six books marked as “currently reading” on StoryGraph, which is okay… and thirty-two marked as “paused” because I got stalled on them. I’m working on it; I’ve got a bit of a system at the moment where I alternate starting new books and inducting paused books back into the pile — but it has got a bit overwhelming!
I love that you know what works for you! I can definitely see how reading books from different genres would help keep the stories separate. Thirty-two paused books made me smile—I think we’ve all had a few that we meant to get back to. I hope your system helps you work through them! Happy Reading!
Kat ~ Forever Book Lover recently posted…Coffee Bar Styling for Readers: Create a Cozy Bookish Coffee Corner at Home
Thirty-two is a bit too many, I think! I don’t usually “pause” books like this, but I had to be realistic…
Oh wow! Reading different genres definitely helps matters. I mostly read fantasy with some paranormal and thriller titles in there as well. But largely the books tend to be in the same genre kind of thing. I find variety within them so it works for me. So reading more than one would definitely blur details and cause a mess with my brain! Lol. I have seen others saying they handle the multi-reading by reading different formats which I can see how it would work as well. I’m happy with reading it one at a time. Now if I could just give up the need for sleep and still be healthy and functional then I would be set! Lol.
Thanks for visiting my BBH!
Ahaha the state I’m in with books I’m currently reading at the moment is ridiculous and way too much, even for me. There’s no way I can pay attention to so many! Trying to whittle it back down.
I don’t think I could read like that (I’ve tried and it feels like I never finish anything, lol) but I’m glad it works for you!
I must admit I’m feeling a bit like that at the moment, but I’m trying not to focus too much on finishing books!
You read a lot like I do – but you’re much faster at it!
Olivia recently posted…Weekly Reading Update 7-18-2026
Haha, yeah, I’ve always been a fairly speedy reader, somehow.
I tend to be reading at least 3 at once. I love that you won’t use AI on your blog!
Yeah, I’d say three is my minimum!
I try not to use AI/AI generated things at all, though I’m not always good at spotting it.
Wow some big numbers there when I was younger I would start books and then just not get back to them. I finished The Hobbit last year after trying to read it for 20 odd years
Have a great weekend!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog recently posted…Stacking The Shelves
Yeah, I used to do the same a lot, and just start over if I ended up wanting to try again. I should probably go back to being more like that!
Well, at the moment I have 70+ books on my ‘Currently Reading’ shelf on Goodreads, lol. I’m not activiely reading all of them right now though, just trying to shame myself into finishing older NetGalley ARCs. Typically I have a lot of non-fiction going at once about various topics. Fiction I read so quickly, usually in just a couple of hours, that I don’t have time for more than one because I am on to the next so quickly.
I end up stalled with fiction if I get too emotionally involved, ahaha. It only takes me a couple hours to read each one, but if I stop at a critical moment… it feels weirdly a big barrier to get back into it.