Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Mood reading

I used to read one book at a time, and only one book.

I liked the system and it worked for me for ages.  Then it sort of changed.  I still read to my kids every night and we all love it, so that's two books there, then I usually have one in Catalan underway, and a Spanish book - theoretically being read (though it is at the very bottom of the pile) but sometimes I just don't feel like any of the books I'm reading. So I pick a book based on mood.

I think this is also because I am sometimes not reading any book that I LOVE.

Right now I'm reading The Book with No Name as recommended by Eldest, though I am finding it a wee bit to complicated for a light read and way too gory.  Whether I finish is yet to be seen and the sheer violence is kinda slowing me down.  I am also reading Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, and it is also annoying me, as half the book is written in the kind of bad English I have to mark all year, and it is spoiling the joy, to say the least.

I am reading an Isabelle Allende, whose books are fine, but I really want to read it in Spanish not English so I am hesitating.  I am reading El cel és blau, la terra blanca by Hiromi Kawakami in Catalan, and that is good, but not cheery, and finally Kon Tiki in Spanish (remember that bottom of the pile?)

I think it is a sign of not having a book going that is really grabbing me, that I simply cannot put down.  Though the Catalan maybe would be doing so if it were slightly easier to read Catalan...though I am getting pretty good at it now anyway.

So, do you read one at a time?  As the mood takes you?

Does it vary?

8 comments:

Helen said...

I almost always have 2 or 3 on the go in different places. One in the bedroom, one in the loo, one downstairs, one on the iPod. The sign of a really good book is if I carry it round with me all the time.

Helen said...

Just thought - that doesn't include the information type books eg how to use my ipod, how to crochet, etc which are also on the go

kate said...

I don't have a lot of time for reading these days, but when I do it's one at a time-- usually something really engrossing that I can't put down, much less share my reading time with other books.

The Bodhi Chicklet said...

I started to keep myself to one fiction and one non-fiction at a time. If I find that my fiction, at the very least, isn't transfixing me as much as I would like (after giving it a really good chance) I will bail on it and start another fiction. The non-fiction I usually choose carefully as I know it will take me longer to get through than the fiction. And I usually stick with that until I've ploughed through, finding time and reasons to just get it done with. I like the feeling of completion when a book is read which is why I have a harder time reading more than 2 at a time.

Hula Girl at Heart said...

I can only read one at a time. However, I keep magazines handy for a quick break. Sigh. I just want the time to read one book right now.

oreneta said...

Helen, I don't normally count information books either, though the driving manual was so long and horrible that I counted it.....

Kate, I've been in a bit of a dry spell for engrossing. I wonder if that has more to do with us or with the books.

Kim...that's a fascinating approach and so logical!
I am never so well thought out.

Hula, You'll get a moment to breathe...and read...one of these days...hang in there.

thecatalanway said...

I would have answered this anyway without the question mark as it is such an interesting subject!
I know exactly what you mean and yes if I am not really grabbed by one I tend to bring in another, and another, and another until I am over whelmed. Something in me needs to have one that is really good - but if it is too tempting then I don't get round to the others.
Now, I am reading
Laura a la Ciutat Dels Sant(Catalan and a slow process)
Les Veus del Pamano by Jaume Cabre(Catalan and complicated thought interesting about Civil War)
Suite Française by Irene Neminovsky (English translation and good but not gripping yet)
The ALmond Blossom Appreciation Society by Chris Stewart which is so lovely I don't let myself read more than a few pages each day so I can savour it longer)
Well, I am amazed to find I am reading 4 books at the same time and that doesn't include the one I just finished which I bought in the airport and I can't remember the name but I hardly put it down till I'd finished it and even tried to read it while eating lunch!
K x

oreneta said...

K, I could use the name of that last one, and the Almond Blossom sounds good too! Kudos for reading Spanish civil war in Catalan...good grief, that one must be heavy going. I have just about finished my current Catalan one, and I think my goal is going to be to try and finish all the books I have underway before I leave!