Believe it or not, Emily, The Queen of Procrastination, has priorities. I make lists — lots of them. On my mirror, on paper, on sticky notes, in my head (and they all come to me at night, EVERY ONE OF ‘EM, geez!) The point is: I am always thinking about the books I need to read, the ones I need to buy, hold, look for, send, pre-order, get signed, take with me, get rid of, borrow, lend – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

It’s crazy overwhelming, but a ton of fun. The day I die, my last thought shall be “But I didn’t finish my book…”

Because there are a LOT of books to read. I even wrote a post about it on TBR piles a few weeks ago. But this post is a bit different, because today I am tackling the tricky topic (say that ten times fast!) of: reading priorities.

More often lately, I’ve found myself reading three or four books at once. Currently, I am reading three and listening to one on audio. Just a few months ago, I would have said I strictly oppose that habit, because a few years ago I was always toting around two or three or four or five books at once and it drove me nutty!

But here’s the thing: one of my biggest pet peeves it wasting time. Wasting time on anything, really, not just on books, but because it’s just a general annoyance of mine I don’t like wasting any time on a book I will dislike. I do try to push through, however, because an even bigger pet peeve is not finishing books. Yet it’s frustrating because when I dislike a book, it can take me f o r e v e r  to get through – when I’m just DYING inside to read another! (I feel like I’m cheating on my book! “I need to like you so I’m trying, but I just… don’t…”) So recently when I started reading several books at one time again, I remembered why it can sometimes be useful.

I end up reading one book 99% of the time. Yes, I’ve got three on my nightstand, but I’m really involved in only one. It can help me find the book I want to read at that time while still pushing through the others I don’t want to DNF. Breeze through 100 pages of the book you’re really into and read a chapter in the other. Easy peasy.

That said, I’m a nice person. I try to be considerate. I know from experience how hard it can be to write a book, and how much time and effort it takes to bring that story alive. I won’t want my readers to give my book only a portion of their time when I have a book published. So I do feel a tad guilty at times.

I want to give a book my full attention. Reading more than one book at once divides my time. It’s easy to get the characters confused (me, I never forget anything – it’s a curse and a gift, think of me as Ella Enchanted – so this isn’t such a big problem of mine.) But I think this can result in thinking less of a book because your mind is on the other better book of the time. If I had read The Winner’s Trilogy next to another (older) favorite, The Selections series, would I have liked The Selection less? Which one would I have picked? I’m more into The Winner’s Trilogy at the moment because it’s newer to me, but what if I read both at once? I guess I’ll never know.

I’m about to say something that may sound a little silly but I think you’ll get where I’m coming from: sometimes you just have a duty to read a book, but it’s not because I want to. (I have a feeling if I said that to my family they might think I’m being funny, but this is a serious matter!) Listen: when my sister or cousin, who aren’t big readers at all, find a book they’re passionate about, I want to read it because they want me to. I want to be excited for and with them. If my friend lends me a book, I try to read it even if it’s not my style. My mom and I have made deals where I will read a book she likes if she’ll read a book I like, and it’s a fun trade. We both get to talk to each other about books we love, even if we wouldn’t have picked up those books otherwise.

Another scenario is if the book is a “big-hype” book. At the moment I’m listening to Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch. To be frank, I’m not really enjoying it so much; but it’s a popular book and I simply wanted to see what made it such a big deal. Now whether or not that should be the reason I read a book? That’s a different topic entirely!

For another day, how ’bout it?

so i guess i don’t really have a right or wrong answer for any of these questions, but i want to hear what you think!

do you read multiple books at one time? what do you think of it? and do you prioritize your books, and the order you read them, or which ones need to be read first? how long does it take you to read a book you dislike?