So...I did it again.
Yes, I am reading all of these books. At the same time. Count them. There are fifteen. One-five.
Nearly 16 months ago, I wrote this post, getting my knickers all in a twist over reading *gasp* seven books at a time! Today, my past self would be shocked and probably horrified. Fifteen is a lot of books.
It's also a lot of inches. Maybe I should start measuring my reading that way.
When I'm reading this many books at a time, my progress advances infinitesimally. Some of these titles have been on my bookshelf for a year.
Tsk, tsk. So read fewer books, you say.
But which ones to choose?
For spiritual growth, I've got Philip Yancey's Prayer and Disappointment with God, Sacred Pathways by Gary Thomas, C.S. Lewis's The Problem of Pain, and Me Addiction by Rick Brown &c.
On the topic of relationships, there's His Needs, Her Needs by Willard F. Harley Jr., Sacred Search by Gary Thomas, and an old favorite: Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris.
Halfway there.
Now, for creative inspiration, we have Alan Jacobs's biography The Narnian, about C.S. Lewis. There's The Imagineering Way, by Disney's team of Imagineers. And a particularly fascinating one called Imagine by Jonah Lehrer, about the process of creativity (a great loan from my knit-designing friend Audry).
Some books for discussion with my tutoring students: The Library Card by Jerry Spinelli and Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards (yes, the actress of Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music also wrote a children's book!).
And finally, some just for fun: Foundling by D.M. Cornish and "The Courtship of Miles Standish" in a beautiful 1893 edition of Longfellow's collected works (a find from my latest library sale).
Oho. But wait, there's more.
Now I can read even more books at a time. Being the die-hard fan of paper books that I am, I held out a long time on an e-reader, but finally caved when my family gave me a Kindle for Christmas. Now I realize that, while I may always be partial to the smell and feel of paper, I don't have to choose which method to love.
More methods of reading means more books :)
Kindle reading does come up smaller by the inches method, but I've already got more in-progress titles on here, including Dreamwalker and Mourning Cloak by writer friends Angela Wallace and Rabia Gale.
*Sigh* Maybe I need this on my wall:
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How about you? What are you reading?
Wow Mukers, you've been so prolific with your blog lately. That's great, I do enjoy them. I have been reading a few novels lately, mainly having to do with the Holocaust. The one I am on now is Pictures of the Past, just read The Lost Wife,an Invisible Thread (which I recommend) and will start A Fine Balance!!
ReplyDeleteHugs and Kisses, you favorite tía ;-)
Hahaha. Measuring your reading list by inches, now that's a thought! I'm impressed. I have three books I've been intending to read, but haven't started yet. I don't know what's taking up my time. I need a cuckoo clock that says, "It's reading time!" You know, instead of tea time. ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm a slacker in comparison, as I only have two books going at the moment. One of them is a collection of fantasy stories and the other is Manuscript Makeover, although I think I might have read it before and forgotten I'd done so because it's strangely familiar...
ReplyDeleteThat over a foot of reading! Oh my.
ReplyDeleteAfter my great room purge this past month, I found a whole bunch of half-read books. I'm now reading them, one at a time, so I can get them out of my room. I digest books rather slowly, so it works better for me to read a chapter of a book at lunch time.
Yes, I'm more of a one book at a time person too. Two at the most. Sometimes it's like tasting delicious food, at other times it's like getting stuck with a piece of gristle. Can't seem to do both at once. However, I do have a word of advice for you: Watch out for those twisted knickers!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm tickled to see my name on your Kindle (look, Ma, I'm a REAL writer!).
ReplyDeleteI'm between books at the moment. I have one anthology I'm working through on my Kindle, but I've just come off a reading binge. I need to concentrate on writing for a bit!
I invariably read multiple books at a time, both on and off kindle. I also have a pile of books I haven't picked up in a few years, but they have bookmarks in them and I intend to finish them some day -- do they count? (How frequently does one have to pick them up for them to be considered 'current reading'?) To further complicate my situation, I invariably have at least one audiobook going too. :-)
ReplyDeleteFifteen books at once? Wow! Impressive. Normally, I only have 3-4 going at the same time and try to vary it up on the modality - one on audio in my car, one on audio on my phone (for when I go for walks or am cleaning the house, etc), one on my kindle, and one "real" book. And even with all of that multitasking, it still takes me quite a while to finish a book.
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