What Is Behind Your Wish to Read Many Books?

Reading books in parallel

Ever since I became aware of my passion for reading during my university years in Moldova, I wanted to read more and more books. At some point, I thought, “I want to read many, many books.”

And for some time I thought that I should read one book at a time. First, finish one and then start another. That was what we all were taught, right? First, do and finish one thing, then start another. How would we become accomplished beings otherwise?

In truth, even then, I was already reading books in parallel. Some books for studies, a novel, and sometimes an occasional read in books with poems in Romanian and Russian. And then there came books in English.

But even until quite recently (a year or a little more back), I had this idea of having to read only one book for pleasure or out of curiosity at a time. So, the books I bought piled up on my shelves as I looked longingly at many of them.

More than that, I sometimes resented the book I’ve been reading and thinking, I’d rather read another book than this one, even if I enjoyed reading it previously. Now I see that I was forcing myself to finish that book first before reading any of the others.

After practicing learning several languages in parallel for some time — most of which I learned out of pure curiosity — and thus reading in many language textbooks in parallel, I found myself reading various books in the same language in parallel too.

Seeing myself and my choices anthropologically, and thus, non-judgmentally helped me realize what my wish to read many books really meant.

It didn’t mean to read many books until I die, or let’s say, within a year or so, as those reading contests go, but it meant to read books in parallel. It didn’t mean to try to finish reading one book before starting another, but it meant to read it as long as I enjoyed its taste and switch to another as soon as the excitement passed and appetite for another appeared.

Having this realization was enlightening and relieving.

But a short moment later, my brain jerked into an automatic self-judgment mode and claimed that I was not good at finishing things, and it showed with reading. It further argued that reading books in parallel to learn languages was not the same as reading books in parallel for fun. Fun was a serious matter!

When that thought occurred, I pressed my lips to stop a giggle but finally surrendered and burst out laughing.

Studying myself non-judgmentally and playing an anthropologist’s role-playing game helped me to observe my thought processes without taking them personally or judging them for their content or how they made me feel. That helped me find the humor and even enlightenment in them, as well as, in my feelings and reactions toward the world outside and inside myself.

The anthropologist’s role-playing game is only one of the many games I play while turning my life into fun games.

This practice is not only about making whatever I am up to into fun and even entertaining, for me, activity, regardless of how much drama I might have put initially into it. It also became a practice of finding analogies between games and my life outside of them.

So here is an analogy between reading books and games — especially video games. And among them, an endless game like Tetris, where you never win. Even the most hardcore players of a specific game leave it and play another once in a while. Sometimes out of curiosity, sometimes because others invite them, other times for both of these reasons or some other.

And nowadays, when games and game design are applied more and more in real-life contexts, a gamer might turn to a game that will teach her or him something outside of the games’ realm, or in other words, something for their work or studies, or other purposes.

If you see a book like a game, you will quickly see that at some point, you will want to play another game, the story of which takes place in another “setting.”

Here is another analogy that often springs to mind when people ask me how I can read many books in parallel. I answered this question both in writing and in conversations with friends, and when I talked about it, many could relate.

Reading each of the books is like meeting a good friend after not having seen each other for some time, which could have been short, long, or anything in-between. Reading one of these many books for five, ten, more or fewer minutes, feels like meeting that old friend, asking him or her how they’ve been, and listening to their stories they’ve had since we met last time.

Then, when the time comes to switch to another activity, which might be indicated by the fact that I’ve stopped listening (reading) because I started to think of something else, I apologize and say that I need to go and do something else. That something else might be meeting another friend (reading another book). Then we say our goodbyes and promise to meet again. Or you could say, I promise to visit (read) again.

I don’t mean that you have to stop reading a book if you have an urge to read it for hours and finish it, and you have time for it. Or, if you can’t wait to continue reading it as soon as you have some quiet time. You don’t need to force yourself into reading books in parallel.

Just like putting off some chores to stay in the conversation with a dear friend you haven’t seen for a long time and missed, you can put off reading other books for the sake of the one you are eager to read.

But if while reading a book you will feel a figurative tap on your shoulder and your brain wanders away from the content of the book you are reading, however fun you might have found it an hour or even a minute ago, then take a break and see what else you could do.

Don’t exclude other books from the equation. You wouldn’t exclude the possibility of meeting other friends before finishing a conversation with a friend if you have been interrupted.

And you wouldn’t forbid yourself to play other games even if you didn’t finish the level of the game you usually play before you were invited to play another. You might choose to complete the level, but if you had the appetite for another game, you wouldn’t sit for hours and judge yourself for not playing that level to the end. That would spoil all the pleasure of playing.

Thus, don’t spoil the pleasure of playing your reading game. See how you can adjust its design so that you, as its player, can enjoy it most.

Here’s how I am currently doing it. I read both fiction and non-fiction in parallel. Right now, I read eight books in parallel; one of them is a novel. Only one fiction book, for now, among seven other non-fiction books. I read some of these out of pure interest, some of them are for research purposes for my work, as well as health and well-being.

But still, I read all of these books because they are interesting to me. If any of them won’t resonate and instead disturb me in any way for a longer time, then I will put it away without judging the author or the book. The book and I are simply not a perfect match.

I did try reading several fiction books in parallel, and it was fun. They were of different genres so far if they were in the same language. I am curious to discover how reading fiction books in the same style and language in parallel would feel like.

I’ve just recalled that I once read two books by my favorite fiction author, Nora Roberts, in parallel, but in two different languages, in English and Danish. It wasn’t the same book, though. The English one I finished but the one in Danish (which I already read in English several times previously) still needs to see the finish line.

I read both books on my Kindle and paper. My Kindle is a great tool to allow reading books in parallel also when I am away from home and have only my purse with me. But at home, I have a shelf with selected paperbacks and few hardcovers to be read in parallel, which adds to the list on my Kindle.

Recently, I started recording which of the eight books I am reading in parallel nowadays I read on any particular day. I record this in my so-called “Points, Stars, and Badges Gamebook.” It is a weekly calendar where I document my rewards in the form of points, stars, self-drawn donuts, and other types of badges (like cupcakes) for the progress in my project and activity games embracing my whole life, even sleep.

So for the books I read, I record the number of the book from my list and circle it. With that, I know which of the book-games I played that day.

In the back of this weekly calendar, I have two lists.

One is with the books I finished reading since the end of April 2020. Recording each book I finished reading feels like reaching a level in my reading games.

And the second list is the list of the books I am reading in parallel right now. As soon as, for example, book number three is finished, then I choose another one to take that spot.

All that is by no means carved in stone. I once read as many as over forty books in parallel. Shortly after that, I found myself reading less than a handful, having one dominating free time of my days until I finished reading it. Number eight has to do with the list appearing on the screen of my Kindle when I open my library. It lists the latest eight books I read.

Reading is my passion, my pleasure, and I am the designer of this reading game of mine. If a rule or another element of its design doesn’t work for my player, who is myself, I will adjust it.

And just like in the most successful games, there will never be an end to the development of its design. Because I — as its player, who simultaneously is its designer — want it to stay engaging and fun, so I will make sure to keep it that way.

Thus don’t judge yourself if you find that you put a book aside and start reading another. It doesn’t mean you give it up. At some point, you might observe yourself coming back to it.

We don’t need to finish something to enjoy it. The enjoyment goes only in the process. You might say after a tasty meal, “Mmhh, that was superb!” But the feeling on your taste buds would be the strongest when you have that bit in your mouth and not after.

And here is another analogy.

We’ve all heard of terminally ill people go for their dreams and make sure to tick off all the items on their bucket lists to savor their last days to the most. Nobody would judge them if they put a pile of books beside their beds and read interchangeably in some or all of them while being bedridden.

But why should you be ill to be permitted to read what you want in your free time? Be kind to yourself now, not only when you feel unwell or off-balance. Thus choose what you want to read and do it. And don’t judge yourself if you want to put the book you are reading now aside for some time. Be it fiction or non-fiction.

Reading books in parallel will help you practice to give up trying to manipulate or mold yourself into some idea you might have of your ideal self.

You will learn to listen to your heart, gut, fun-detecting antenna (=awareness about what is fun for you), intuition, inspiration, or all of them together, and choose the book to read you want to read right now and not because you think you must be reading or finishing.

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About the author:

Victoria is a writer, instructor, and consultant with a background in semiconductor physics, electronic engineering (with a Ph.D.), information technology, and business development. While being a non-gamer, Victoria came up with the term Self-Gamification, a gameful and playful self-help approach bringing anthropology, kaizen, and gamification-based methods together to increase the quality of life. She approaches all areas of her life this way. Due to the fun she has, while turning everything in her life into games, she intends never to stop designing and playing them.