(Tales of Adventure, image copyright David Palumbo)
Time really does pass rather quickly and old habits are indeed hard to break. Both truisms collided in the month of January as I attempted to get a solid start to my book reading for the year. I am a multi-task individual when it comes to reading. My sidebar tells the tale better than I do, revealing in none-too-subtle ways that I am juggling more than one book at a time. Looking back I realize that this is a habit I began when I moved to Kansas City. Something in the Missouri air rerouted my brain chemistry and a more-than-one-book-at-a-time reader was born. Prior to last year this habit resulted in my reading a tremendous amount of material page-wise yet finishing few books. Last year I doubled my reading output due to sticking to my uberlist goals. For January, just for fun, I decided to turn back the clock.
I decided that I would only read one novel at a time, straight through to the end, before picking up the next novel that I wanted to read. Interspersed with the novels, I poured over artbooks that had newly come into my possession. It was hard, agonizing at times, but I managed to not read one word in any novel before finishing the one I was currently reading. My sidebar told that tale as well, only one book at a time was featured under the Currently Reading heading. I was suprised at how difficult this was, how much I had conditioned myself to giving in to the urge to read whatever I wanted to based on whatever whim stirred my imagination. The result was that I read and enjoyed several novels this month, more than I would normally read in that same time period. It also drove me a bit crazy. For the most part I think the experiment is over. For February I decided to try reading one novel at a time while introducing short stories into the mix. I have several short story collections/anthologies that I would like to read or reread and I am going to make a better effort to read the genre magazines (Realms of Fantasy, Analog, etc) this year. So that’s what I am doing now. It has helped take the edge off! Remember, I am an addict. This cold turkey thing is for the birds!
My January 2007 Reads were:
The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason
R/Evolutions: The Art of Jon Foster
The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi
Spectrum 13
Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
The Stars, Like Dust by Isaac Asimov
Moonraker by Ian Fleming
Mass: The Art of John Harris
Looking back it was a fantastic month of page-turning reads mixed with long, lingering stares at amazing art. Both pictured art books are edited by Cathy and Arnie Fenner and they are top notch in both quality and content. Jon Foster is a past Friday Favorite and that post, with wonderful examples of his work, can be seen here.
_________________________
Buying old movies for my niece Haley caused us to go a bit classic-crazy at our house and January found Netflix fulfilling our old movie urges. We watched:
You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man
Funny Face
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Kiss Me Kate
Houseboat
Love Me Tonight
Anchors Away
The Harvey Girls
Ma and Pa Kettle (four individual movies)
and have On the Town and An American in Paris waiting in the wings.
It was a really enjoyable month.
_________________________
On a side note, the artist featured in the opening picture is David Palumbo. I encourage you to check out Irene Gallo’s interview with him here. From there, link to his site for some incredible illustration. In addition he has a ‘fine art’ section on his site where he has several paintings of individuals reading different works of literature. They are all very interesting and it is a really creative idea.
Happy Tuesday everyone!
Looks like you had a great reading month! I used to read one book at a time years ago but now I don’t know if I could go back to that. I don’t juggle that many books, usually 3-5 but I’m kind of used to that now. So do you have a tentative list of books you plan to get through February?
If I get really involved with a novel, I can’t put it down. I may start 3, but will settle on one, finish it, then go back and pick up the others.
You have had a great month in reading, and I’ve enjoyed all of the art you’ve shared!
I have a list of sorts in that I still have books to read for the Winter Classics Challenge. I also have a number of books coming from various places I have found online and those will be very tempting to dive right in to. I am definitely not giving up my habit of reading more than one book at a time but I am trying to be more focused and not get too many going. The goal is to finish what I start in a reasonable amount of time.
Thanks JenClair, I enjoy sharing the art very much and am glad people seem to like that feature.
I read a lot of non-fiction books as well, so I am usually reading something of that ilk while also reading a novel. I tend to finish a couple novels for every work of non-fiction. Plus my job requires that i read a lot of, well, let us just say materials not up to the standards of publication. That is the only time when i find reading to be a chore.
Good on you for sticking to your month plan! I can’t imagine even managing it for a week, although I am always reading the journals as well. Maybe sticking with a novel at a time plus journals?
Naaaah.
I’m a one novel at a time kind of guy. Unless a book comes out that I’ve been obsessing over, then I’ll read two. But I like to stick with one at a time and live in that books universe before I go on to the next.
Speaking of old movies, have you ever seen Arsenic and Old Lace? It’s a really old one with Cary Grant and it’s hilarious. One of my favorite black and whites.
I like your idea of one book at a time as well as a few short stories. I may do this in March…my plan had been to try and read short stories this year and so far I’ve only read two.
Hmm. Is someone a musical fan at your house? 🙂
You could add some mysteries to the mix. How about The Thin Man? Or D.O.A.?
It’s funny how people vary in reading styles. I really can only read one book at a time, I struggle with 2, 3 is impossible.
Arsenic and Old Lace is one of our favs, have that one on DVD. I also have the entire Thin Man collection on DVD. Its a very nice set with all manner of extras that I highly recommend owning if you’re a Thin Man fan.
All 3 of us really enjoy musicals as well as the old classic movies. I was very lucky/blessed to marry a woman who had the same wide range of likes and interests that I do. We have discovered alot of fun things together as well, like our love of Britcoms.
i’m definitely a one-novel-at-a-time girl. nonfiction i tend to read in short sprints, so leaving a partially finished book laying around while i get to other things is quite possible there, but i just can’t do it with fiction. the one novel + some short stories thing works out pretty well for me, though…i keep a book of short stories on the bedside table, and it really helps prevent “just one more chapter”-itis at 2am on a work night.
I can’t keep things straight in my head well enough to have several different stories going on at once! That’s just too much to keep track of!
I can’t read just one novel at a time. Heck I can barely make it through one page at a time before I have to switch to another page in another book. Is that weird? I don’t how you guys stay so focused. In fact I can’t just type on just one blog at a time. I’m losing focus … I’m try to resist … starting to shake … can’t stop …………………. end transmission.
I, like a few others who have commented, am a one-novel-at-a-time reader. I can read more–and have–but I have a tendency to lose myself in one book and stick to it until the end.
I like your idea of reading a novel and short stories. I think I’ll give that a try too.
If I’m down to one book at a time it means my supply of fresh reading material is critically depleted and it’s time for a quick visit to Amazon with arrangements for express shipping. The book I choose to read in bed may not be the book I choose for reading in a waiting room, either for the theme or portability. I usually have three or four going at the same time.
You did quite well–I would not have made it! And you read quite a few books, too! I can’t limit myself to one book. I might concentrate on one while I am really into it or trying to finish it, but I have to have others sitting there waiting for me ready in case I need something different!
The last few years I’ve had numerous books going at the same time. When I put all the unreads in the same place I couldn’t believe how many books had bookmarks sticking out. So far this year I’ve been doing one at a time and found I got a lot more read. Your list is incredible. How do you manage to read that many books, see that many DVDs, plus movies and actually hold down a job? I loved the Fine Art pictures of people reading…but I wanted to know what they were reading.
Pat, the titles of each piece listed under the picture is the title of the book they are reading. It doesn’t list the author but you can look them up on Amazon. I recognized some sci fi/fantasy titles.
I do alot of reading in snippets whenever I can grab time. And we watch movies several nights a week as a family while we watch tv. That’s the benefit of only watching a few network television shows, we get alot of DVD’s watched.
Several books at a time?! The mind boggles… 😉
Actually, I could probably do that if I didn’t work from home (soon…!), but even then, I’d probably stick to one at home, one on the tube or whatever’s involved.
Thanks, I’ll check that out. I always want to know what someone is reading if I see them with a book, even in the waiting room at work. I guess that would be the advantage to not getting hooked on tv series. And then getting upset when they drop the better ones.
I love all those great classic musicals. I’ve watched them all a million times!
I’m impressed that so many one-at-a-time readers are finally speaking up here. I’m one myself, and I boggle that so many book bloggers have so many on the go at the same time. I may sample a couple pages of a few books before settling on one, but then I see it through.
I’m actually surprised as well. Being a multiple book at a time reader I was initially surprised at just how many of us there were and was beginning to think that my wife was one of the lone hold-outs of the ‘old’ way of reading. 🙂
oh dear, i’m very much like you in that i have many books on the go at the same time! i can really relate! i’m just tooooo curious and impatient! like you i don’t always feel in the mood for a particular book. i may be in a science fiction mood one day and then a lilting contemporary novel the next.
while i don’t think i’ll be going solo like you did i have cut down on the amount of books i was reading at one time. at one stage i had 13 (!!!!) going at the same time – (some i’d started two years earlier and was moving through like trudging through snow) it was starting to mess with my mind – i couldn’t keep all the plotlines together in my mind. it felt like my mind was fracturing or something!! like the crystal thingie in legion quest that led to the age of apololypse in the x-men!
when that happened i had a brief rule that i wouldn’t start a single book until i’d read all the ones i’d had going.
since then, knowing the possible perils, i’m reading less at a time. nowadays i read about 3 at a time and at the most 5 or 6.
i like the system you have going. it makes sense going solo sometimes and experimenting with different reading habits. i sometimes feel extremely geeky making up lists and rules for my reading habits – but then i love books so much and i really love spending time with them, playing around with what i read, how i read etc…
i’m glad to see someone else also making up lists and rules!
(i’ve added my lt link for a website. not that i post there, of course – but i haven’t udated my livejournal in ages and lt has a little intro about me)
Thanks for the visit and the great comments, jean pierre. Generally when I’m doing my multiple book reading I have 3-5 going at the same time. Technically that is exactly what I’m doing now since I am reading 2 short story books and From Russia with Love. However, if I counted all the books that I have started in the last 2 years that have bookmarks in them waiting for me to pick them back up then I have many, many books going right now! 🙂