Dave, I'm pretty much a one-book-at-a-time guy. But I do keep a copy of something like Ellery Queen Mysterty Magazine or Fantasy & Science Fiction in my car so I can stick it in my pocket if I'm going to be waiting somewhere like to doctor's office or the movies. And I don't know if this counts, but I've started listening to books on CD. Right now I have Robert B. Parker's "Appaloosa" in my car. I travel a lot and its a great alternative to. local radio or carrying my music CDs.

I'm a total placehound. And not only is there a book or magazine in each different place, there is a pair of reading glasses, pen, and packet of stickies in each place!!!

Not only don't I practice monogamy, I'm into mnage-a-trois! I'm usually reading 2 books at a time, one fiction and one non-fiction. And since I spend a lot of time in my car, I listen to books on tape. Then of course there are also magazines in every room in the house. I'm just a reading addict!

I'm currently reading Kirael, The Great Shift (metaphysics), Night of Thunder by Stephen Hunter (an incredible writer, the Sun's former Pulitzer-prize-winning movie critic), Friedman & Kuhlken's What Are the Dead Sea Scrolls, plus various magazines & subscriptions (Hitchcock, Civil War Times, Readers Digest, Travel. Books are one of mankind's greatest gifts. Holding a book in one's hands is as foreign to reading on a computer screen as a sweet orange is to a greasy burger. Book lovers rule!

Thanks for your great column!

I am glad that I am not alone. I have at least 2-3 books going at a time. Just for the reasons Nancy mentioned in her article today. I have my "idiot" book for putting me to sleep; a mystery for the elliptical machine; a more thoughtworthy book from my Classical Book Club. I am taking a literature class and find that listening to an audio book while I am doing chores around the house or doing my needlepoint is another efficient way to keep on top of my reading without taking time from my other books. I believe if I did more car traveling, I probably would have a tape or CD going in the car. That makes about 4-5 books. All I need to do is reread the prior page or so and I get right back into the storyline and I'm good to go.

Perhaps this is a woman thing---we have learned to multitask with our home; job; kids; etc. Perhaps we are just continuing that multitasking with our reading.

Thanks for helping me feel that I am not the oddball out there.

Wendy M.

Love you guys’ blog. I’m actually a literary bigamist. Soon after leaving the Sun, I joined a book club at the National Center for Education Statistics. It’s a small group that meets roughly every five weeks at a restaurant on I Street, and when I left the guvmint 14 months ago I stayed in the club. I’m not saying statisticians have dull reading taste (and I have a say in the selections), but their chosen books tend to be a little more substantial than mind candy (and are often international in theme). So I’m always reading two books at the same time, one mind candy for the 20 minutes before sleep, the other the usually more serious NCES book club selection. Right now the two are Grisham’s “The Appeal” and Mohsin Hamid’s “The Reluctant Fundamentalist,” our February selection.

Nice to hear from a Sun alum -- folks in Baltimore likely remember Mike best for his great reporting on education.
His comment suggests another way to describe reading: Do you nosh, nibbling at different books like hors d'oeuvres, but not making a meal of any one? Or do you approach reading like a well-rounded meal, making sure you're always have something meaty on your plate, as well as a book that's light and dessert-ty?

I'm mostly monogamous. But I sleep with a different book than I spend my days! (I use books on CD to help me fall asleep.)

Also, as I wondered on Twitter... what does being a paid professional book reviewer do to this analogy? Heh!

I'm kind of a Placebound polygamist. Though really, there needs to be a new species for format. I have one "real" book, one ebook, and one audiobook going at the same time. It kinda works out as a place thing, though, because the ebook is primarily my at work/not at home reading, the audiobook is for while I'm driving, and the "real" book is for home.

i read 3 books at a time. i usually read 2-4 chapters of one book, then switch and do the 2nd, then the 3rd and then rotate. usually the books are 1) one to read for review, 2) a library book 3) a book for fun. i don't get confused between plots and i find i usually read faster this way than read just one book straight through

I usually read one book at a time. I couldn't keep up with that many plots and characters.

I am a placebound. I usually read three/four books at a time and they are all from different genres.

Polygamy when it comes to books. I currently have four books going.

I'm with Dave- I finish one book before I start the next, generally.
Other than that, I'm a newspaper person- we subscribe to the Baltimore Sun because I've got to have my morning paper with breakfast. I frequently read the Star Democrat published in Easton at lunch at work.
I'm not much of a magazine person either.

Truly monogamy. One book (fiction) at a time. My other thing is that I can't watch a movie where I have read the book. I can't read a book where I have seen the movie version.

I'm a monogamous reader in that I only have one chapter book going at a time... however, I do read picture books throughout the day when I have a few minutes to spare.

I'm a monogamist. I take whatever book I'm reading at the time with me wherever I go. I don't understand people who cheat on their books (polygamists). :-)

I have the same movie/book apprehension as R. Curry. I'm usually disappointed in one or the other. A couple of exceptions that stand out: To Kill a Mockingbird and All The President's Men -- they were riveting in both forms. Are there others?

I'm probably more of a Placebound reader. I always have more than one book going at a time - usually at least one book, one audiobook in the car, sometimes a downloaded audiobook on my computer. To get things finished in time for reviews, I sometimes have to set one book aside and read something else. When I got bored with a book, I used to force myself to finish and I usually hated it; now I find it easier to take a break and come back to it, see if my interest picks up again.

I am always unfaithful to the books I pick up. I cheat on each book by reading several others at the same time.

I switch between reading one book and two books at a time. I have never been able to go beyond two at a time.

I am an occasional noncompetitive polygamist, but my problem is that I generally get so caught up in whatever I'm reading at the time that I don't WANT to put it down for something else!

Like David, I am monogamous. I can't read more than 1 thing at a time. With limited brain capacity, it's all I can do to keep the 1 story straight. And I really only read during my Green line metro trip from Greenbelt to Gallery Place. So most of my books are easy reads. Currently I'm reading "R is for Ricochet" by Sue Grafton. I have her other remaining alphabet stories in my queue as well as the latest by Robert Parker. Nothing too taxing. But they let me relax on the train.

I always have at least three books going at one time, and at the moment I've got four. So, er, no! I never get confused about plot or characters, though, and I like to think that I can get as much out of my book-reading as someone who reads one book at a time. (I used to be a one-book reader, too!)

Oh, and I'm a Placebound. One book is in my bathroom, one's in my kitchen, one's in my bedroom, and one's on my iPod for when I'm on the bus/at work. Keeping books in their own places helps with the keeping-track-of-plotlines and things.

I usually have one audiobook and one "real" book going at one. Sometimes I will have two "real" books, but I do find myself getting confused at times. If I do have two books going at once it is because I wasn't in the mood for the book I was reading.

I'm totally a placebound reader - there are books for all the different places in my life. Currently (between audio books and written books) I have 5 books going.

However, before I started book blogging I was a monogamist ... go figure!

I'm seldom reading less than 5 books at a time, sometimes as many as 10. I can't help myself; I'm a bibliophile. Usually only 2 of the stack are narrative, so the others can be picked up whenever. When it's obvious that I'm treading water, I'll pick one of the books to finish. I abandon roughly 1 of 5 books I start also; sometimes I'm just curious about a book - usually nonfiction - and have no intent on reading the whole thing.

Mark, good point. I almost always finish the books that I start. (I also have never walked out on a movie.) With such a strong commitment to one book, there's little room for another. If I had several books going at once, I might not feel so bad about dropping one occasionally. That might keep me from devoting too much time to a book I'm not enjoying.

I used to read one book at a time, buying one other book only when I've finished the previous one. Now I'm a serial Placebound polygamist with a Noncompetitive streak. :-P

At the height of my infidelities I've juggled 8 books at a time - all in different genres. Now I've realised the error of my ways and have limited myself to the enjoyment of 2, maybe 3 books at a time. I can't stick to just one as there are too many really good books out there and I want to read them all. I'm currently reading Moers' City of Dreaming Books at home and cart around Gourmet's compilation of good eats in Paris.

Life is too short. I used to tenaciously stay with a book that I had lost interest in, but no longer. This can be because I've determined that I don't like, and won't like, the book or in the case of much non-fiction, that I've grasped the author's point and don't need to read all the incidental, supporting evidence. Political and sociological books in particular fall into the latter category; you can often read the first and last chapters to get the author's point-of-view and summary and skim the intervening chapters. The last fiction book I punted was Joyce Carol Oates' "Wild Nights!", wasn't enjoying it at all and moved on.

I'm a love-the-one-you're-with reader. I'm listening to Shakespeare plays on CD in the car, have a romance by my bed, technical books in my pack for lunchtime reading, etc. I haunt Borders and Barnes&Noble for kids books; as the kids age I move into a different age group. I also pick up whatever I see when visiting so I can find new authors. I'm going on a cruise fully armed with finished books that I will leave in the ship's library, which I will visit for new authors on the trip. Is there any help for us?

I usually have at least two books going at a time and generally have no problems going between the two. If I'm cutting it close on a book club deadline, like I am now, I usually limit myself to that selection until it's complete. I also have a large stack of "to be read books" just watching and tempting me with their pretty covers and I can't wait to read some of them. But I am forcing myself to finish at least one of the current selections before I start another. Hopefully I'll have enough strength to hold out.

I am pretty monogamous if I'm reading fiction. I like to finish up a story before starting another one. I do have a few non-fiction books that I'll read a few chapters now and then before reading a fiction book. Non-fictions just don't hold my attention long enough to finish them before starting another book.

I am a Noncompetetive. I usually have several books going at once, but not of the same type -- usually a non-fiction, a general fiction, and some other genre (like sci fi) at the same time. As long as there's no way the subject / characters could cross over into each other's books, I don't have trouble juggling the different stories.

I have at least 3 books going at a time. There is my traveling book that lives in my purse to be read on the bus and in waiting rooms. At home, there is the bed-bathtub book and I always try to keep a virtuous, serious book that I read slowly. Of course, I sometimes fall of the wagon when my niece gives my a Bridget Jones type book which I devourer like chocolate mousse

I'm usually a monogamous, but I've had times when I read 3 books at a time. I suppose you can say I'm Placebound. Depending on where I am, I read a different book.

There ought to be a species called: Functionalist, a reader who would take up a book according to necessity--so someone with no real need for a particular sort of material will read something for leisure, like a fiction novel, then a movie based on a book is about to come out, so he must now read the book upon which the movie was based, then he suddenly becomes single so he must read a book about dating, and so on and so forth. This is different from whimsical because it's not mood but need that drives the reading habit.

I typically only READ one book at a time, but I also have an audiobook going in the car and another one on the mp3 player. So, I'm involved in as many as 3 book relationships at any one time.

I'm definitely a Whimsical - and I won't keep reading a book if it doesn't captivate me, so there's something to the commitment thing, definitely!

this is interesting. I'm not sure what I am. I usually have one book in my bag to read when I'm on the subway, during lunch/dinner out, and before I go to bed at night. Then before I go to sleep I listen to a audiobook that helps me get to sleep. Do you have to create a new profile for me?

Jennifer, based on what you and others have said, we need a new category: Digi-readers, maybe? They're the folks who have one book on a Kindle or iPod for the gym, another in CD format for the car, a downloaded version on the laptop, and maybe even a dead-wood book at home.

I'm with Nancy, because sometimes my mood changes. I read more nonfiction than fiction, but sometimes I'm too tired to read a science or history book that's heavy on the facts, or I want something that whips right along, or I'm in the mood for fiction. Right now, I'm reading "Driftless" by David Rhodes (fiction); "Looking for Anne of Green Gables," by Irene Goddard (nonfiction but not too terribly much thinking); and "Looking for Hamlet," by Marvin W. Hunt (nonfiction, lots of thinking and occasionally arguing back with the author). They're all within reach of my chair at the moment, but Anne somehow keeps migrating to the bathroom. P.D. James' newest is next to the chair in my bedroom, although I haven't opened it yet. And of course there is "Emma" in my purse, because it's a little paperback and I never need an introduction to her--she's always waiting, right where I left off. It's official--I'm a book slut.

We subscribe to way too many magazines, so I always have a stack of New Yorkers waiting to be read, along with at least one current book selection (sometimes more than one, according to my mood).

As for books that were made into good movies, "The Devil Wears Prada" qualifies, if you don't mind that the book was a bit of fluff. And "The Secret Life of Bees" was satisfying both as a book and as film. The worse film adaptation, IMHO, was "Corelli's Mandolin," which totally upended the book's plot and moral. What a travesty,

When I was younger and I had the luxury of lots of guilt free time to read I would stick with one book, often reading 5 a week, one after the other. Now I read when I have the time and I usually am reading 2 or 3 books at a once. Typically one will be for knowledge, something that I read when I know I won't be interupted and can really digest the information. One will be for pleasure , to read before bed or while curled up on the couch with my dog. Usually there is an old favorite I take along for waiting or eating alone, something I can easily get back into if distracted. I also listen to a chapter a day on Wisconsin Public Radio while driving home from work.

I am a Placebound polygamist. I am usualluy reading a doorstopper of a book and a normal sized book. Right now I am reading La Morte D'Arthur which is too heavy to carry around. The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf is my carry around book.

Pure monogamy! I could never cheat on my books. I read 'em one at time. I make them patiently wait their turn and eventually I get around to each and every one of them. Once I do they don't have to share me with another. They have my undivided attention.

I can only do one at a time. I don't know how people can do more than one.

I almost always stick to one book at a time, but I do sometimes listen to an audiobook simultaneously. I'll listen in the car and when I'm in the kitchen cooking or eating - often a middle-grade or YA book for review.

I'm a polygamist--I have been since I was a kid.

One at a time here for sure

I'm a little of both. Most of the time, I'm monogamous. Sometimes though, like when reading a serialized novel online or an intricate book, I'll work on those some at the end of the day, while still reading my main book most of the time. Not sure what that would be classified as...bi-polar? lol

I'm pretty much a monogamous reader who tries to be polygamous....does that make sense? I have a stack of work-related books on my nightstand. They're the books I should read, intend to read, even want to read....until I start actually reading them. They're interesting, meaningful, helpful, all sorts of good things. Just not what I want to read when I snuggle in to read before bedtime. That's when I want something pretty mindless, like a great thriller. As for what species that makes me, I think I'm a wannabe polygamous. Wait, maybe that's a sub-species of polygamous.

Definitely a whimsical polygamist. Some of the books belong to the noncompetitive kind, but I also read 2 or three books of the same genre at the same time as well.

yes...I know the feeling. Guess my mind thinks pretty much along the sames. At one point ( mid 2008) I was reading 4 books at a go. Wouldn't recommend that to anyone. When you switch books, it takes a good while to absorb self into the story line. Took a bit of joy out of some books for me at least. ( But they were all chic lit)

I've never heard it stated this way. I guess I'm a polygamist and usually fall into the Placebound subcategory. I used to be monogamus, but my TBR pile started to topple. Now I have one at work for lunch time, one by my favorite seat in the TV room and one by the bathtub. Sometimes when a book gets too interesting I take it from its bound place and carry it with me everywhere until I finish it.

That depends...if it's fiction, I only read one at a time, but if it's non-fiction, (how to build a web-server, for example) I'll usually be reading two or three books at the same time to get different perspectives on how to do things.

I'm all over the place with my reading. I can't help but want to read a hundred books at once. I usually keep to one book, but sometimes with school I have to read 2 or 3 at a time. I haven't had much diffliculty with it I would just rather have one book to get lost in. Instead of being in 3 worldsat once I like to get lost in one world and submerge myself in it so I can fully understand.

I used to read multiple books at at time. I guess I would fall under the category of whimsical. But now I'm working on a blogging project where I'm trying to read one book every day for a year, so I've had to stop reading multiple books, and I'm finding it to be a very hard adjustment. When the year is up I think I'll be going to back to reading several books at a time.

It's funny. I suppose I used to be a Davidite, falling hard and fast for a book. I'd hardly put it down until it was finished, let alone start another book. Now though, my reading habits are definitely more playboy-style. I've usually got about three I'm seriously committed to and half a dozen others that I'm dabbling in. I think part of my switch has to do with the fact that I used to read almost exclusively novels, and found those easier to completely lose myself in. Now I'm attracted to a lot of other genres, and like Nancy I like different genres for different moods.

I am a cheater. I read more than one @ a time. Oh, the shame. I will branded w/ a letter. lol.

I'd say I'm rather monogamous, although I do cheat with the occasional short story of comic book. With that said, I am not afraid to dump a book for the slightest annoyance (there is just too much I want to read to force the relationship to go past the point when I know it isn't going to last).

I tend to read one print and one e-book at the a same time since I do reviews as well. When I save up enough to buy an e-reader that will probably stop, though.

I dip into several books at a time if I happen to have more than one around to read. I always finish whichever books I read unless it is too badly written or the story itself sucks which doesn't happen too often.

I typically read one book at a time because I'll get caught up in it and don't want to interrupt a good thing. Most of my reading is done in the evening because that's "me" time and I want something I can enjoy. There has been occasion when I've had two books going at the same time. That's usually with one that I've had difficulty getting into. When that happens I won't put it away completely, but usually stick it in my bag to take with me to the office. When I have down time or at lunch I'll pick it back up and read some. You never know if it's just one of those that starts off slow, but then draws you in as you read a little farther. I always try and give every book a chance.

I have books in my bedroom upstairs, downstairs by the TV, books in the car, and books in a bookbag in the dining room. I read the books nearest to me whereever I am, but honestly, if I really like a book, I carry it with me from place to place. I am definitely NOT monogamous when it comes to reading books!

Oh my I am definitely a polygamist when it comes to books. I never have less than 3 going at once. Actually, my sister just asked me last night how I read them all at once. Didn't I get the stories confused? Not at all. The secret is to choose books that are varied enough that you won't have a chance of confusing them. I usually read no more than 2 fiction books at a time, and at least 2 nonfiction books at a time. It is hard to confuse Life of Pi with The Woman in White or Uncle Tom's Cabin. Now if you were to read 3 romance novels or 3 mysteries at the same time, I could see that being impossible.

I tend to be monogamous. Most of the books I read these days are nonfiction, and they require my full attention. I read magazines and other things polygamously, but not books. I just can't keep track of the information in any meaningful way.

I can't read just one.

Hello, Dave! I used to be a Monogamous Reader. Right now, I'm more of the Noncompetitive kind. I've been trying to read more non-fiction books lately, but I've always been partial to novels.

OMG. There's a term for me? I am a placebound. But only because my kids always 'borrow' my books and I don't want to have to wait to find it before reading. It takes longer to finish a book, but at least I'm contantly reading.

I'm always picking up and putting down various books. However, I might be a different form of polybibliophile. Sometimes, when one book really gets the juices following, I read that until I am done, and then, I go back to reading a little bit of this one and a little bit of that one.

I'm basically a monogamous reader, but that darn Kindle 2 corrupted me today- I was going to an appointment and didn't feel like bringing my big fat World Without End so I started another book on my ebook. I will go back and finish the 'real' book first. I like to enjoy the continuity of one book at a time.

Monogamous reader unless I am doing research for a project. Then, I can keep multiple books spinning, but only one true love of my reading life.

I usually have 3 going at the same time. Usually a fiction, non-fiction and maybe a biography. Or if I am reading two fiction they are of two completely different geners.

I just do one at a time. If it doesn't grab me, I stop reading that one and move on to something else.

If a book is really good then I will read it from start to finish in one go.Sometimes I come across a book which is not that interesting but is readable just to get my mind to slow down.Those books I keep next to my bed so I read a chapter every evening before going to sleep as it puts me to sleep all relaxed.So I usually read two books at a time.The bedtime books just takes a whole lot longer to finish.

I am monogamous.

Depending on the type of book I am reading, I will either read one or more at the same time. A few years ago I read a lot of the classics and could only read one at a time....but now I am kind of reading fluffy stuff and can handle two to three at a time. If I am reading more than one, each book is in a different location in my house..bedroom, livingroom, etc...I just want something to read wherever I am....but I don't read at work...no time!

I'm definitely the Whimsical polygamist. I read to around three books, mostly novels, at the same time.

I tried to be. Now I'm back to my old ways, and have about 4 books going at once.

I tend to stay with one book at a time though I have been known to read another while at work if I'm bored.

I am definitely monogamous. I have a hard time disassociating myself from one book to another even after I've read the first and moved on to the next! I'd have a really hard time if I was reading more than one at the same time!

I used to be the type to read more than one book at one time. Max I would read at any given time would be three. However, I am so busy lately that all I can read is one book. If I read more than one, which I get the urge to do now and then, it takes me twice as long to finish each.

most of the time i have my current "i have got to read this..everyone says it is so good" book
then i have a nonfiction book (just finished columbine..awesome)
then i have the book my book club picked which i keep trying to get into and end up doing a marathon with to finish
so...usually 3!