My mother is a voracious reader. She’d probably read more books by the time she was 10 than I have in my entire life (nearly 26 years), and I’m not exactly a light reader myself.

The other day, she informed me that she was reading three books at once. Three.

I can only read one book at a time. If I’m reading multiple books, no reading really gets done. For example, I’ve been reading both The Complete Works of HP Lovecraft and The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King, and I’m barely getting any reading done at all, because I spend most of my time trying to decide which I should read, and feeling guilty that I’m not reading the other.

That’s right: I feel like I’m cheating on one book with another. And I feel guilty about it. AND I really do need to finish this Stephen King book, as I’ve been in the middle of it for months now.

But it seems that many people read more than one book at once. Is it even important to be faithful to the book you’re reading and give it your undivided attention? It doesn’t have feelings, but as anyone knows, you can have a sort of love affair with a book that the book doesn’t actively participate in except that it is the object of your affection.

Maybe that’s why I suck at reading more than one book at once. I have a deep, involved relationship with whatever I’m reading, and it’s hard to have more than one meaningful relationship at once.

Am I a weirdo? I’m a weirdo. I’ll still probably be faithful to my book.

Tagged: authors: h.p. lovecraft, authors: stephen king, relationships with books