Do you cheat on the books you're reading?
You know what I mean, but just to make SURE you know what I know that you know what I mean, let me explain: there are two types of readers. One reads a single book at a time, finishes it, then moves on to the next one. The other type reads multiple books at the same time and is constantly switching them out.
Me, I'm the former. I read one book at a time. And if I decide to put that book down in favor of another book, well... it's pretty much over.
Basically, books are like mini-marriages. If I'm in, I am fully committed to reading this sucker and making the relationship work. But sometimes you just have to break it off for you own sanity. Also, if I'm reading two books at once, it's hard not to compare one to the other and be impatient with the not-as-good one, which is why I try to avoid the situation altogether. This happens to me even when I'm listening to audiobooks and reading another book. Sometimes I'm like, "Why aren't you that other book??"
For example, I'm trying to read two (well, three, but I don't usually count audiobooks) novels at the same right now, and it's not going well at all. I'm reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens; and while it's good and even really funny, whenever I pick the book up I feel like I'm taking my medicine. Also, finishing it is taking FOREVER. But I don't want to stop reading GE because 1. it is really good; and 2. I want to write a review about it. So I decided to just read a little every day and also read a romance novel at night. But whenever I pick up the romance novel I'm just like, "Uhg, what," and can't concentrate on it because I don't feel fully committed to reading it. Clearly one of these books has got to go. But which one?
What about you--do you view books like a marriage or like an open relationship?
