I’m a bad reader. Not a bad reader, as in slow or illiterate, but bad as in I read 10-12 books at a time and as a result often find myself returning to a book, months after I started it, wondering what happened previously. I think this has something to do with my short attention span…hey! Look, a pretty butterfly…
What was I saying? Oh, right, books. One of the books I recently returned to after a four month absence was Justin Cronin’s The Twelve, sequel to The Passage and the middle book of his super-cool post-apocalyptic vampire trilogy. If you haven’t read this yet I urge you to stop doing what you are doing RIGHT NOW, jump on a bus/train/plane/teleporter, get to your local bookshop, find they don’t stock it, argue with the shop assistant about why they don’t have the quality literary works you want in their store with them saying “look I just work here”, go back home in a bad mood, order it on the internet, wait two weeks for it to arrive waterlogged after the postal worker drops it off in a rainstorm and it’s too big for the mailbox, dry it out in front of your old heater which sparks and nearly burns your house down, peel the pages apart, ring up the internet book seller and explain why you want another copy, they tell you they can’t as it was the postal service’s fault, you tell them huffily “that’s the last time I buy anything from you” (as you make another online purchase on their site), then read it. It’s freaking awesome and worth the hassle.
It’s a bit easier trying to remember what you read months ago with fiction then with non-fiction. With non-fiction I may as well start the book again as I can’t remember what it was about after being away from it for a week, let alone a month (aaah, A History of the Renaissance. That was something to do with…the three musketeers? Stealing art. Lasagne. Wormholes. Or something).
I know what you’re thinking. ”Steve, why don’t you just read one book at a time?” Oh come on! That’s like saying only eat one colour m&m (and as obsessive compulsive as I am, I like all the colours. Wait a minute–maybe if I only eat all of the same colour at a time, the packet will last longer…). I like variety in my reading. And despite my claims that I do nothing all the time*, I actually have a lot going on** with my uni courses, music, gaming, TV watching, workouts, eating…okay now that I read that back, it sounds like I’m a bit of a layabout with time on my hands.
New leaf! Even though I have a lot of books on the boil, I will endeavour to finish this one before going back to another! Wow. Who would have thought reading a book from start to finish would require so much work…
Cheers
Steve 🙂
*This claim is completely unsubstantiated. Or would be, if I had the time to substantiate it. Or unsubstantiate it. One of the two.
**The term, ‘lot going on’ is completely unsubstantiated.
Laidback DM: SteveStillStanding.com 
How do you manage to read more than one book at a time? When I try doing this, I merge all the stories into one in my head, so it’s like this:
*reading a history of the squirrel revolution*
Wasn’t there something about a post-apocalyptic microscope takeover or something or something?
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Badly, my friend. I read multiple books badly. Actually, despite my claims to the contrary, I’ve got a pretty good memory. Just a short attention span. What was I talking about again? 😉
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you crack me up !
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Donna, that’s why I’m here! Actually, I’m here to be excessively morbid (as my poetry will attest). I have good days, though. Uh oh, I can feel a depressive trough coming on… 🙂
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😀😎😁
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You are a good writer of long sentences. Not everyone can pull it off.
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Thanks! My long sentences are a product of my misspent youth. While other kids roamed the streets, getting up to no good, I stayed home and wrote really long, poorly punctuated and convoluted diary entries about how I’d rather be roaming the streets, getting up to no good. 😉
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I sympathise with this, though not to such extremes. I usually have three or four on the go. What I do find difficult, as a reader of crime fiction, is having two of the same series on the go at the same time. That makes my head pulsate. Apart from that, how is it possible just to read one book at a time? Do these people only own one book?
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Agreed! One book at a time is for wimps! And people with common sense 😉
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🙂
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I can relate this. I actually can read multiple books a time too. But only on wattpad I guess. There are a lot of books in there that somehow drags the story for too long and I’ll switch to read another one. Then when I get bored with that one, I’ll go back to the first one 😅
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I’m trying to change my habits as I always have too many books unfinished lol. I finished ‘The Twelve’ and am currently reading a Tim Winton book. Still have another seven half read though lol 🙂
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Well you and me both lol. Just take your time I guess. Like you’ve said in your blog post, you have a lot going on, and somehow, unknowingly, made you develop that habit? Because you feel like you’re in rush? Maybe? Lol now I’m the one rambling now 😅
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It’s a habit I’ve had for a long time, but you’re right, it developed because of a lack of time. And probably a lack of commitment to finishing the books I started lol 😉
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Well then, I guess you just have to find a way to marry your books to solve that commitment issue then. Lol just kidding 😂😂 But the way I see it, you can try to slowly deviate yourself from this habit by losing a couple of hours sleep time just to finish those books. Maybe?
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Doing that now! Great minds think alike lol 🙂
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Hahaha oh yeah! Best of luck! 😉
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