I read many books at one time. I will have one (or more) as an eBook. I will have one as an audiobook. I will have a few in print format – maybe a graphic novel and a book. So many people I speak with are just in awe and ask me how I can keep all these stories straight and in the past I have always said, I don’t know, I just do.
However, recently I came up with a comparison that I think may help people who read just one book at a time understand better.
Typically, I have a larger family Thanksgiving gathering. (Insert your own family gathering here.) I am able to have different conversations with different family members. I can talk to my aunt about gravy. I can talk to a sibling about horses. I can speak with a cousin about their work. I can speak with my cousin’s child about whatever they are needing to speak about. I can speak with my own child about their partner and all these conversations are kept separate. I would never ask my aunt about my cousin’s work or my child about horses. Each person has their own voice and their own themes. If my aunt mentions her mother and how she met her father during World War II – that is a completely different story than my cousin’s child story about how they got their dog. Sometimes, we may need to go back very briefly when something big happens and dislodges the conversation. Think oh dear the Thanksgiving turkey needs to come out of the roasting pan and everything in the kitchen needs to stop. But then you ask – “Oh where we before we were interrupted and you go back and then move forward” yet it doesn’t take a huge effort.
I tend to have a non-fiction book going, a youth fiction book, a more literary book, a romance and something that has just caught my eye. Every once in a while I go into the children’s room and find a new picture book that I wish was available when my own children were young because it is just that cool!
I am a co-chair for the High School Selection Team of the Nutmeg Book Award so my youth fiction list is a never ending and growing list of novels in verse, graphic novels, horror, romance, and social justice titles. It is fun and exciting and a little daunting.
I think this list that I have is partly because I want options, maybe I don’t feel like reading the book about the Founders of the US and what they were reading, maybe I want a light shape shifter romance or a high school book about a student witnessing a murder. Having different titles available to me helps me get through the different obligations that I have and helps me to meet the goals that I have.