Anyone keep several books on the go at once? Which ones are you reading at the moment?

[PadDad]

I'm currently reading
Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII, by David Starkey
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier by Alan Moore
The Western Canon by Harold Bloom
and
Escape by James Clavell

Looking at the list I realise most of them are connected, and I was led to the non-fiction by references in the fiction.

The non-fiction is also more sporadic (staying for ages on the bookshelf in the toilet, or the bookshelf by the bath), while the fiction gets burned through quicker.

Strikes me that juggling several books according to mood is actually a different way of reading to lots of people. My wife, for example, is strictly linear (and drives herself mad when she's stuck in a book she hates, because she HAS to complete them = definition of madness?)

Anyone else? And are your partners similar?

I'm a multiple reader - currently
several law books (work)
Anthony Price, The Memory Trap
Martin Millar, Dreams of Sex and Stage Diving
McCall Smith, Miracle at Speedy Motors
Jill Liddington, The Road to Greenham
Kinky Friedman, Mile High Club

Which of those are fiction and which non-fic?

Non-fiction
Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII, by David Starkey
The Western Canon by Harold Bloom

Fiction
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier by Alan Moore
and
Escape by James Clavell

I vary - sometimes have more than one thing on the go, sometimes strictly linear...
I used to be 'A started so I'll finish' reader but have decided there are too many books and too little time! (I still find it galling to 'give up' but sometimes it just has to be done - was it Dorothy Parker who said 'this book should not be lightly put aside - it should be thrown with great force' - if I feel like that I give in....)
Dp is mulitple when at home - books on music, computers, sailing, sci fi, etc, but stricitly linear on holiday (and reads the most awful tosh then).
At the mo I'm linear - but reading Neal Stephenson's Anathem which is a tome and dipping in and out of NLP and Confidence books...

Am multiple at mo, because can't seem to find anything I like:

The Edge of Reason - Helen Fielding (or, Bridget Jones 3)
The Long Firm - Jake Arnott
The Island - Victoria Hislop

I'm sure I will like the last one, just wish I was reading it on the beach, in the sun.

2666 - Roberto Bolano
It's Beginning To Hurt - James Lasdun
Waterlog - Roger Deakin

Never more than one novel at a time but often have a novel plus a couple of non-fictions on the go.

Currently:
Novel = 'Ursula Under'
Non-fiction =
'Danse Macabre' by Stephen King - a re-read;

What d'you think to Ursula Under? I couldn't get into it....

I've got non-fiction 'Blink' Malcolm Gladwell and fictional 'Flame Trees of Thika' on the go.

Dh tends to stick to one, more likely non-fiction.

(rummage)

I have on my bedside table:

Oxford Take off in German
Toy catalogue
German kids book on stargazing
Violent Volcanoes from the Horrible Geography range
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (not started yet)
Space Stars and Slimy Aliens from Horrible Science range (yes, stealing my son's books)
How to Talk so Kids will Listen etc.
German from the word Go

BarcodeZebra - only read a couple of pages so far. A fellow Mumsnetter sent it me and loves it, so I'm hoping I will like it but at the moment the present tense format is bugging me.

Yeah. That was my problem with it too.

Don't listen to me though..... Hope I haven't ruined it.

Paddad - the wives of henry VIII sounds good.

I am reading a Dalziel and Pascoe one ( I swapped it on Read It Swap It)
Horse boy (non fiction)
Farewell to teh East End (non fiction) The last one is by the author of Call The Midwife, about the young midwives in teh east end in the 1950s. This one is the last one in her trilogy