Kindle and Scribd have changed my reading habits-I’m now reading ten books at a time (1 Viewer)

[timschochet]

For those who don’t know Scribd is a subscription service- you pay so much a month and you get an unlimited supply of books to read- they don’t have everything but they have an awful lot. I also subscribe to Kindle unlimited, and when I really want a book I buy it from Kindle. 

Anyhow because I can pull up any book on my phone whenever I want to it has completely changed my reading style. I am now reading ten books at the same time- I read a chapter, and move on to the next book, starting over when I get to the end of the list. If a chapter is really short I may read two; if it’s two long I may read only half. If a book starts to bore me off it goes and I just replace it with a new one, always keeping ten. I’m not very patient. 

Here is my current list: 

One Plus One British “road novel” by JoJo Moyes. A bit too much of a romance novel, but she has a strong narrative style which keeps the plot moving. 

Inside, Outside Herman Wouk’s novel about a Jewish attorney who goes to work for Richard Nixon, and his family. Very funny and moving. 

The Believers Novel about a dysfunctional family of radical socialists in New York- very well written. 

The Immigrant’s Daughter Book Five in Howard Fast’s six volume saga of the 20th century- this one takes place in the 70s and 80s. 

A Difficult Woman A biography of Lillian Hellman. I just started this so I’m not sure how it’s going to go. Based on the little I know about her “A Despicable Woman” might be more apt a title, but maybe I’ll change my mind, who knows? Fascinating subject anyhow. 

High Noon Great book that I am deep into about Carl Foreman, the Hollywood Blacklist, and the making of the Gary Cooper classic. 

The Blood Of Emmett Till Explores the story of a pivotal civil rights event. Excellent narrative

The Partner John Grisham. I read this 20 years ago and really enjoyed it. I mean to reread all the early Grisham stuff. 

Horns Horror novel by Stephen King’s son. I’m still early in but very well done so far. The terror is more psychological than supernatural. 

The Will to Live On More Herman Wouk; this one about how American Jews have chosen to deal with the two central issues (for them) of post World War II life: memory of the Holocaust and support for Israel. Wouk is an orthodox conservative Jew and much of this book is from a religious perspective, but still fascinating, thoughtful narrative. 

Of the ten books listed here I only paid to own two: JoJo Moyes and Grisham. The others are all part of the subscription service. 

 

[IC FBGCav]

This explains your posts.

 

[timschochet]

This explains your posts.

That’s interesting. How so? 

 

[BoltBacker]

How big is the screen on your phone, Tim? I guess I'm just getting old but there's no way I could read that much text on my phone for long periods.

Audible books on the other hand have contributed not only to reading more, but exercising more often and longer. I used to be difficult to justify taking the dead time associated with either, but when you can get both done at the same time it really makes it seem more... fun/productive/satisfying/?.... something. Especially when you up the speed of the narrator so..... he...... doesn't..... read... like..... this. That way you can "read" 1.5 books in the time it would have taken to read 1.

Oh, and I do carry about 5-7 books at a time now with me wherever I go although I usually just bounce back and forth between 2-3 of them. Now that I'm reading so many more books I like to have extras so that I can just bail on a book if I don't like where it's going. It's definitely changed the way I read, in that if I were just reading I would do very little of it.

I won't run down a laundry list but the last one I finished that I really liked was "For All The Tea In China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History". Not a tea drinker/enthusiast but definitely a history nerd.

 

[Courtjester]

Wow thanks for the heads up on Horns. Maybe I have been living in a cave, but I didn’t even know about his son writing. 

I will definitely check it out.

 

[timschochet]

How big is the screen on your phone, Tim? I guess I'm just getting old but there's no way I could read that much text on my phone for long periods.

Audible books on the other hand have contributed not only to reading more, but exercising more often and longer. I used to be difficult to justify taking the dead time associated with either, but when you can get both done at the same time it really makes it seem more... fun/productive/satisfying/?.... something. Especially when you up the speed of the narrator so..... he...... doesn't..... read... like..... this. That way you can "read" 1.5 books in the time it would have taken to read 1.

Oh, and I do carry about 5-7 books at a time now with me wherever I go although I usually just bounce back and forth between 2-3 of them. Now that I'm reading so many more books I like to have extras so that I can just bail on a book if I don't like where it's going. It's definitely changed the way I read, in that if I were just reading I would do very little of it.

I won't run down a laundry list but the last one I finished that I really liked was "For All The Tea In China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History". Not a tea drinker/enthusiast but definitely a history nerd.

 I purchased a pretty big iPhone (large screen) just for this purpose. You can adjust the letters. I also use it for reading and posting here. 

The tea book sounds great. Taipan by James Clavell is one of my all time favorite novels and I imagine some of the same territory is covered.

 

[timschochet]

As far as audible goes, I absolutely love it, but I don’t listen to new books because my mind tends to wander at times. So Inonly listen to old favorites I have already read. I am currently listening to Mila 18 by Leon Uris. 

 

[BoltBacker]

As far as audible goes, I absolutely love it, but I don’t listen to new books because my mind tends to wander at times. 

Yeah, throughout the day I'll often listen to shorter media like podcasts because of the days interruptions. But for repetitive things like working out or going on long hikes it helps me to completely get lost in a book and the time exercising just flys by.

 

[Eephus]

I don't know how you can do this.  I switched over from hardcopy to Kindle several years ago but I still stick to a single book at a time, alternating between fiction and non-fiction. 

I multi-task all day but when I sit down to read, I want to focus on one thing.

 

[skol asylum]

I can watch multiple.TV series at a time. Multiple.books? More then two would be tough.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Wow thanks for the heads up on Horns. Maybe I have been living in a cave, but I didn’t even know about his son writing. 

I will definitely check it out.

He's really good.

I usually have 3 books going at any one time, but not evenly. I'll have my "main", new (to me), usually fiction that takes 75% of my reading time (almost always on a Kindle Voyage device. Then I'll have a non-fiction that I read at a slower pace - usually about music, history, or sports - maybe another 20% of my reading time. The other 5% is rereading favorites don't I don't have to plow through because I know them so well; I may only do a chapter or three a month. The last two categories I almost always have physical copies of the books.

 

[Moe.]

Do you lose track of what's going in each book when you come back to it, or get plot-lines crossed? The last time I tried to read two books at once I was a child (they were those Matt Christopher books) and I kept getting the two confused - never again. 

 

[timschochet]

Do you lose track of what's going in each book when you come back to it, or get plot-lines crossed? The last time I tried to read two books at once I was a child (they were those Matt Christopher books) and I kept getting the two confused - never again. 

It's no different than watching a lot of different TV series. I don't know, I'm able to keep track.

 

[timschochet]

I guess it all depends on what you're used to. Stephen King in On Writing claimed that sometimes he reads up to 25 books at once. That seems like a lot to me. But ten is a manageable number.

 

[Moe.]

Interesting, never thought of it that way. I don't watch more than one tv show at a time anymore, but I don't think that's because I'd get confused, I just binge everything now. 

 

[rockaction]

Yeah, I don't think I'd want to skip from book to book, actually, but to each his own. 

I think they'd start to blend together. Then again, if you picked ten thematic books at a time, you might edify yourself and your thoughts doing that. For instance, a philosophy of book alongside of a history of book alongside a work of fiction. 

 

[Don Quixote]

I usually have two books at once: one fiction and one nonfiction.  I primarily the read the nonfiction one in print, and the fiction one on my Kindle.  I like having the Kindle option when I'm in pick up and go mode (was just reading my fiction book while eating lunch at work), or if I want to read in bed at night without disturbing my wife.

I'm not sure I really see the utility in having more than that going at once though.  One of my motivators is often looking forward to what's next after I finish whatever I'm reading.