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Do you cheat?

edited January 2013 in - Reading
At the moment, I'm cheating on one book with another. Is that wrong?

Reading Fern Britton's 'Hidden Treasures' and occasionally dipping into Sylvia Day's 'Reflected in You' - I get that lovely, huggy, safe, warm feeling from the first and that naughty slammed-against-the-wall feeling from the other.

Am I the only person that does this? Do you ever read two things at the same time - and if so, why?

Comments

  • Lovely topic for a thread. How deliciously wicked you are, OA. I'm totally fickle - usually hopping between something on Kindle and something else in paper. :)
  • I've normally got at least one book on the go, and a magazine or two as well, often left lying around the house so that I can conveniently pick one or other up any time. Except when I'm reading a really good book that I can't put down, and then everything else has to be left until I finish it - including the housework! I can leave a book for a few days if it doesn't absolutely hook me in to it, and will drop it altogether if I don't like the writing style or the story isn't grabbing my attention.
  • I often find I am reading 2 or 3 things at once, mixing chick lit or a womag with something more serious or some non-fiction. That's normal behaviour to me. Funny that you think it's cheating - like having a secret affair with one book behind the other's back??? Ha, ha!
  • Well if those two books were men, one would be good steady genuine husband material and the other would be some debauched filthy (massively sexy) hook-up in a bar! And as soon as I thought of it like that, I felt bad.

    Interesting - one's paper, one's electronic - I wonder if that makes it easier to disassociate stories?
  • I usually have two or three books on the go at any one time - one or two novels and something non-fiction.
  • edited January 2013
    I usually have one book of prose and several books of poetry on the go simultaneously.
  • I usually only read one fiction book at a time, but I often have a non fiction one on the side.
  • I have about 5 on the go at once and usually one which claims me more vigorously than the others.
  • I've got a couple of e-books on the go at the moment, a lot depends on what moood I'm in on whether I read one or the other.
  • I usually have a fiction book (hard copy or e-book); a writing advice book of some description in the background, and my weekly magazines!
  • [quote=OverActress]Do you ever read two things at the same time - and if so, why? [/quote]

    Constantly. I think it's a throwback to the days of academia when we had to read a clutch of novels and text books at the same time. I have more non-fiction on the go than fiction at present, mainly about ancient history, and all are paper books. I do have kindle stuff to read, but haven't really got around to reading many. I do admit to liking the feel of a real and texture of a real book.
  • edited January 2013
    I wish.
    The supply of good books here is pathetic and I haven't got a Kindle.
    Apart from the current novel and a crossword book I am as pure as the driven snow.
    :)
  • I have read two books at once for the last four decades. It's normal to me. At the moment, I am reading "Wherever You Are," by The Military Wives by day; and "Nee Naw" by Suzi Brent at bedtime. I plan to re-read all seven Harry Potter books (night time reading) after I've finished the current books, and The Hobbit (day time reading).
  • Apart from aritcles, newspapers, magazines etc I usually only have one book on the go at a time but I think that this is because I have some very favorite authors and I know when I start one of their books I won't want to put it down. I also read books quite quickly the first time. A good thriller usually takes me between 1 and 3 days (a Mills and Boon type romance can be read in an afternoon if I am not distracted). If I have really enjoyed it I will then go back and read it again (not immediately) later and more leisurely.

    Speed reading has been quite useful at times, especially when the Harry Potter books came out. I didn't get into them until after I had seen the film so I had to go bcak and read the first 3 and from that point on I pre-ordered them. Both my daughters were huge fans by then too so I would set aside the day when I knew it would arrive (I admit to even booking a day off work one time), arrange for us to have take-away delivered and hide away with the book. I started reading the book at 8am when it arrived in the post, read while I made any drinks or I ate and only put it down to use the bathroom. I finished at 3am which meant that the girls could then read it without telling me what had happened.

    This all probably makes me sound really sad. lol. I hasten to say I do read other books too and can become obsessed and bad tempered if I am disturbed.
    So while I am not unfaithful to books I think I could have some issues with them. :0
  • Read several things... I think all readers do (don't they?) Depends on the moment and one's mood
  • If I'm reading a book of short stories I'll usually read two or three then read something else and return to the short stories later. If I'm reading a novel I like to concentrate on just that.
  • I'm very monogamous, thank you very much. If I start another book before I've finished one, that's a bad sign - I've lost interest. Surprised to see how many people are rabid philanderers - I'm shocked, nay, disgusted. You are all tarts of the highest order!
  • Ha ha - me too, Lou. I have one book by my bedside and one book only.
    During the day I may dip into non-fiction stuff for any research I may be doing, and I have been dipping into some of the short story anthologies on my Kindle, but I only read one novel at a time - always have, always will.
  • It's only you and I who have some respect for ourselves, claudia!
  • [quote=Lou Treleaven] Surprised to see how many people are rabid philanderers[/quote]

    It's a real text orgy. Shocking.
  • I'm a 'one-at-a-time' sort of girl.

    My little brain would get confuddled if I had too many characters and plots wavering around in it.
  • edited January 2013
    [quote=Tiny Nell]I'm a 'one-at-a-time' sort of girl.[/quote]

    How dignified of you, Miss Nell..
  • Oh I feel downright dirty now...!
  • *adjusts halo*
  • The following is usually applied to sports but it might work for writers: if you're not cheating you're not trying.
    Centurion
  • :)

    E-readers make it easier to go from one book to another.
  • I have just finished "I shall wear midnight" by Terry Pratchett, and must find another novel to read.
    I have a WM on the coffee table but only read one article at a time - there's so much to take in,
    and two crossword book by the bed and the OWC Anthology which I dip into when I wake in the small hours.
  • Because I study, work and play I usually have several books on the go at one time

    Right now it's a book on altarpieces, Neverwhere by Neil Gaimen, Book 3 of AA315 OU course and How to Write Art History

    So three are closely related whilst one is to relax
  • I'm very monogamous, thank you very much. If I start another book before I've finished one, that's a bad sign - I've lost interest. Surprised to see how many people are rabid philanderers - I'm shocked, nay, disgusted. You are all tarts of the highest order!
    yeah, but we're literary tarts

  • And there's no denying, there's something very moreish about a tart.
  • Is the word 'moreish' literary enough for this thread?
  • The tarts have resurfaced!
  • Currently trying to be a serial monogamist with my reading.
  • I went through a period of 'serious reading', lasting a few years, during which I read fiction, non-fiction alternately without deviation. At the time I had a list of classics I should have read: Dostoievsky, Twain, Shaw. I did the whole of Austen, a few Dickens and the Brontes. Then along came JK Rowling, and once I'd read Chamber of Secrets, I was onto comtemporary lit.
    I'm a one-at-a-time reader, but very slow, cos there's so much more in life than reading. I rarely finish a trilogy, except Lord of the Rings and The Hunger Games.
  • My reading matter at the moment is several different kinds of light stuff. Brain won't take any more just now. so I have Ricky Tomlinson's autobiography, a second scroll through the OWC Anthology, a "Human Chain" by Seamus Heaney, and a pile of CHAT magazines passed on by a friend.
  • Definitely a one-at-a-timer...and I absolutely have to finish a book if I've started it, even if I hate it! I sometimes read books I dislike even quicker than ones I quite like, because I'm trying to get them over and done with so I can move onto the delicious looking one that's next in the pile...
  • Abster, you've reminded me that it was only recently that I realised you don't have to read every word. Someone happened to say it: it had never occured to me that a reader could be so independent. The book no longer belongs to the author, it belongs to me, and I can read it the way that it suits me to.
  • I have only recently realised I can stop reading a book if it's boring, or too . . . oh, all sorts of things. One I discarded last month was so full of obvious research it was embarrassing, in another the contents of a house were detailed exhaustively . . . life's too short to read bad books.
  • I couldn't agree more, Lizy.

    I used to feel obliged to finish every book, however dull. I think it was a result of having been encouraged to finish all the food on my plate as a child. Now I do neither.
  • So much to read, so little time. I'm carrying Dr Zhivago, Muriel Spark, a book about mythical structure plus kindle around with me at the moment. Recently gave up on Auto da fe - depressing.
  • How to Write Art History
    Could you recommend a good book, that explains in detail
    the use of objects, colour, and various components of nature, Artists use
    in their paintings. An eclectic mix would be fine.
    The array of strange goings on in some of the art of Pieter Bruegel seems akin to madness but I'm sure there's a story to it all, it would be nice to read it.






  • How to Write Art History
    Could you recommend a good book, that explains in detail
    the use of objects, colour, and various components of nature, Artists use
    in their paintings. An eclectic mix would be fine.
    The array of strange goings on in some of the art of Pieter Bruegel seems akin to madness but I'm sure there's a story to it all, it would be nice to read it.
    This is really difficult as a lot of understanding of art history is scaffolded :) and Bruegel (the senior?) was quite typical of the Northern expression of painting at his time though his subjects, especially peasants were often deemed crude

    Symbolism in Christian Art is a good one for general symbolism of that period

    Bruegel, The Complete Paintings Taschen, is a good basic book to help explain his works

    Bruegel (World of Art) is more in-depth though

    and a good overall work that explains the history of art (though from a decidedly western perspective is:

    The Story of Art by E.H. Gombrich
  • Thank you, Wicked Words, Bruegle - ( World of Art) seems a good
    book to start with.


    Many Thanks.
  • I don't cheat on other people's books, but I do cheat on my own writing, sometimes abandoning the novel I've been working on for far too long to have a fling with a short story or play.
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