Way back when I started blogging one of the things it helped me do was focus my reading - one book at a time. It worked for years and then it all fell apart, a process accelerated by getting a job in a bookshop where the tempatation and the proofs are constant. Somebody somewhere, probably Twitter, was asking if they were the only person to have an upstairs and a downstairs book.
Obviously, they were not. I live in a one-bedroom flat so I don't even have the excuse of stairs being an effort to justify the state I'm in here. So these are the books I have on the go. There is the bedroom reading - Storms' Edge is currently on the left hand side of the bed, Godkiller, which I started months ago, and was really enjoying but somehow never finished is on the right along with Silver Birch which has been my intended next book for a while but keeps getting pushed down the pile on the right hand side.
I'm not sure these really count, but they probably do - my collection of Slightly Foxed quarterlies live in the bathroom. It's ideal for reading in the bath if you want to avoid turning into a chilled prune whilst the water cools but you need to read one more page.
In the kitchen there's Greekish and Sebze which I'm cooking from extensively at the moment, Sebze is an interesting read as well if like me you don't really know much about Turkish food or culture.
I'm behind on reading Rosie Andrews Puzzle Wood - again, a very promising start, it is currently my bag book, the one that leaves the house with me.
In my sitting room there is the chair book that I didn't mean to start the other day but which was so compelling that a quick glance was all it took to find myself 30 pages in.
There's the floor book for the jumper I'm knitting - it's by the sofa, and got moved because I started reading the sofa book, also very promising. I bought this one based on the comparison to Hilary Mantel and Margaret Atwood - that's an intriguing combination if accurate.
My desk gives as good an indication as any of the amount of books around read as well as unread at any one time.
I could pretend that the other chair didn't have its own book - The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries, the books on the floor here mostly function as a useful place to balance a cup of tea with the added bonus of occasionally throwing out a forgotten gem.
And finally, there's the book I'm truly thinking of myself as reading at the moment - an arc of Jen Hadfield's Storm Pegs which I'm enjoying very much, I only hope I can find the focus to finish it in a timely fashion.
What are you reading at the moment?
Your location and furniture classifications sound far more inventive than my bus and home books (required when I was not working from home) or my paperback, hardback, kindle and Borrow Box books or simply fiction and non fiction definitions. Generally though, at least 3 books at any one time.
ReplyDeleteOh my. I have the ebook(s) I am reading on my tablet, which are the "main" books
ReplyDeleteAfter Annie, by Anna Quindlen
A modern family, by Helga Flatland
and the ebook(s) I am reading on my phone at odd moments,
The road to Little Dribbling, by Bill Bryson
Helmet for my pillow, by Robert Leckie
and the ebook I am reading on my old phone that has been redesignated as a reader for Project Gutenberg ebooks,
Vain Oblations, by Katharine Fullerton Gerould
and the several books I am proofreading at a time for feeder sites to Project Gutenberg,
and then there is the pile of books designated for when I am spending snuggle time with the dogs (my dogs and ereaders don't mix very well).
Before ebooks, I just had my at-home book and my commuting book. It's great that ebooks make it so easy to get books and carry them around, but it has led me into this permanent multi-book-on-the-go situation.
Hmmm Well, I have a pile of library books in the living room that I dip into until I finally choose one to finish. I have several by the bed that I pull out depending on if I want a cozy read, or a mystery I try to solve when I am awake in the middle of the night. I do sometimes read light horror in bed but not if I think it will give me nightmares. I have a small paperback to have at the desk at work, but sometimes bring a bigger (usually a hardback) to read at lunch. I used to be a one book "I will finish this" gal but have been trying to learn to let certain books go (I usually read the last chapter and call it a day). Now it is not unusual to have 3 or more books on the go. I do like paper vs. my Kindle, but it is nice when I am ill. Let's hope we all have a good summer of reading.
ReplyDelete