Out came a thought and then another...

Interesting post. I am a one-book person myself. And I don't remember a book that I started and did not finish. Depending on how much I like the book, I usually finish it in a week, a month or few months.

"how can you possibly be addicted to games?"

I am a gamer myself - although what I choose to play will not be acknowledged by the hardcore gamers as "Games". I don't have an answer - I have spent hours playing a particular game, I have had dreams about them and have elaborately deviced strategies on winning a level and sat and fought it out with my brother in a multiplayer game. Inspite of crinkling my nose when I first came to know what gaming was.

As for reading, I am a one-book reader too. I cannot focus on several books at once. Several books, I've read them for well over a month. Tolkien's books mostly - I love being in his world for a change, and love to live longer there :) Umberto Eco was another author whose books I savour reading - all that medieval history combined with detective fiction, alongside Eco's erudition seen in the way he references poetry, his natural, unobstructed flow of the language - I have spent over a month with his "The Name of the Rose". Several others have taken less than a day in one go - mostly the whodunnits and the Series-I-Shall-Not-Name (But I re-read the series again later several times). A few books I've never completed, inspite of making several honest attempts. Books of Robert Ludlum's, Life of Pi, The Godfather, Tom Clancy's books, Atlas Shrugged, Ulysses, to name a few.

Some I read, leave it in the middle, and then get back after a while. Recently it happened with Kazuo Ishiguro - bought his "Never Let Me Go" read a few chapters and thought I could return to them later.

Some books I've bought, it was with the intent of reading them much later. Two Lives, Patrick O Brian's books, Georgette Heyer's books, several adaptations that were made into movies - so to speak I've seen the movie first, you get it I hope - Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, Forrest Gump to name a few. The movies were fascinating and I hope to read their book versions.

Currently reading: The Razor's Edge. Just started it yesterday.

Desperately want to read but not able to find them category: Hunter S Thompson's books, essays, newspaper articles, magazine columns, whatever; Graphic novels - Alan Moore's to be specific.

Hmm...long and boring - couldn't help it. Was gushing at this post while reading.

How do I read my books?
Why, lying flat on my stomach (bed or not doesn't matter)

As for how many books at a time,
depends really, on the kind of books.
A library visit will yeild four-five books - returnable in a week's time.
Perry Mason and Agatha Christies will be done with, overnight. (That's right. In about 8 hours of forfeited sleep)
The slightly longer ones (Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged) took me about 3 days

I once tried to read Vanity Fair and We the Living, in the same week. Never could finish either. But came back to we the living next month and finished it off.

So, all that means, yes, I sometimes read more than one book at a time.

What am I reading now? Contact, by Carl Sagan (second time reading. Does it count?)

Hmm, I am a multiple book reader. The trick I have perfected is to visit Easwari Lending Library and The British Council on the same day, so that I have a varied collection to read from.

There have been no "not able to finish reading" book. If it is printed I will read it, including a recent Forsyth novel that had profound sentences like "He sat and puzzled".

Preferred place - the bed or the bean bag. Have been looking out for a recliner for long, but space constraints in the apartment is holding me back.

Six hours of reading at a stretch is normal for me, preferred time of reading is to start a book at 10.00 PM and read through the night :-)

Aha, another 'read through the night' soul.

How do we do it?

First we get to the book and not judging by the covers seduce or get seduced. Then bare open all as we lie together and do the needful. Since it gets monotonous and boring , we usually do with many alternating at one time. Strictly one each of philosophy, Fiction and movie based. Sometimes a strange cutie disarms you at one go. Different tongues vet and sustain a healthy appetite. Also dictation machine/ scribbler/ pen scanner come In handy.
That , madam is how we do it.
Trite associations may be implied but remember it takes two to tango.

@kvman: You finish all your books? Wow Manjunath

@Krithiga: Does playing Scrabble online qualify as gaming? In that case count me in too. As for racing games and the like, I am a backseat driver (much to the irritation and sometimes amusement of the husband). I am slowly learning that watching other people play is addictive too!

For a Rand unhater (ugh, horrible word. But I did not want to call you a Rand lover and you don't hate Rand), I am surprised you did not finish Atlas Shrugged. I somehow liked it better than The Fountain Head. And Life of Pi :D [I shall get past the second chapter someday!]

@Ravages: Vanity Fair and We the Living in the same week? Oh boy! Btw, did you try Vanity Fair later? And yes, re-reading also counts.

@Chenthil: I go to both my libraries on the same day too (mostly) and agree with you that it is the best way to pick up a varied collection.
For someone who reads as much as you do, I am surprised that you have not come across a book that you did not want to finish. Has a book (the way it is written or the approach) never bored you? For instance, The Big Idea is one book that I could never finish despite trying so many times.

@Uber: :) a gamely tackle to my silly bait. Was tres amused. And it is so easy to imagine you reading with a pen scanner :D

I read them when it's heavily raining. Or, is it the other way round?
Ah, this is rather "when do I do it?" Or, not even that.

Bad jokes decimated wide apart (I am really sorry), I read them lying on my bed, until I sleep. I mostly do, but sometimes get so engrossed that I just about manage to read through half the night.

Hey, I've been thinking to ask my fellow bloggers about multi-reading until blogstipation struck me down. I read one book at a time. I strongly suspect that those who read more than one at a time are missing a lot from all of them books. Now please tell me how you folks do it one at a time?!

@Zero - thanks. There seem to be a lot of all-nighters around this place.

@Lizzie Bennett -
>>I strongly suspect that those who read more than one at a time are missing a lot from all of them books.

Ah no, it sounds almost as if we read a line here and jump to a sentence there and get back to the next para here and so on! One thing I've noticed is that multiple book readers seem to go one of two ways: a) all books related to a single area of interest. So one book spins off a question and one looks up and reads another related book and so on.
b) books that are very different from each other - meaning one could be a collection of essays on the therapeutic experience of gardening while a second one may be a short story anthology, a third may be a book of poems, a fourth may be a comfort read and so on.
Basically what I am trying to say in all that rambling is that the books would not clash and create noise for the other books being read. So it is really somewhat like doing six or seven subjects in school at the same time.

read multiple books at a time.
whenever, wherever i can.
but evernight, in my bed, on my back. and i have a funky book reading light that i can clip on the the book too.

currently reading
michel faber: the apple
alan furst: foreign correspondent
colm toibin: mothers and sons
kalpana swaminathan: ambrosia for afters (re-reading)

(no longer anonymous, i remembered my password finally)

@heartless poet: thank you for stopping by and for taking the time to comment on many posts. Mothers and Sons is on my I-want-to-read-it list. I would be delighted if you can let me know if you'd recommend it.

And multiple books? Yay!