Why do I read multiple books at a time?

My childhood has seen those times when, I guess, the craze for English speaking was at its epitome in India. The 08-year-old-me secured admission to the top convent school of the city wherein Hindi speaking was deterred and punishable inside the school premises. I vividly remember the smirks and giggles of my classmates during the self-introduction session in front of the class while I was struggling with the English utterances.

It was my English teacher who suggested I start reading English books. And this opened the door to another world for me. I found a lifetime, anytime and every time friend in the form of books.

With time, I developed an addiction to reading multiple books simultaneously. Take a look at my Goodreads account (Ekta's Goodreads) at any time, and you'll likely find that I'm usually reading more than one book at a time.

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”

― C.S. Lewis

Reading is something I can soothe and rejoice in while still knowing like I did something productive and worthwhile with my time.

This unbroken love for books sees no genera, no length or width of the book. For instance, multiple book reading entitles me to swap from heavy stuff like War and Peace, skimming through easy reads like Midnight Library, and some velvety stuff like A man called Ove while reading some philosophy like Karma.

“Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they’ll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they always love you back.”

― John Green

To put it in simple terms, Reading multiple books at once is the same as binge watching more than one television show. After all, life seems to be short enough to read all the works written and this multiple reading somehow assured me that I shall grasp a few additional books in my limited time on this earth.

So every time I just have to check my mood, degrees of tiredness, and concentration… grab that second (or third, or fourth, or fifth) book and get to reading! 

You too can try and behold the magic of multiple readings...

“Read, read, read. Read everything"

                                                ―William Faulkner