I’ve always been a monogamous reader. I read one book at a time while giving it all my attention. I know it sounds pretty boring, right? But I thought it helped with my focus and speed of the book at hand. However just this week while I was slowed in the middle of a nonfiction book, I picked up both a novel and an audiobook. And voila, I became a multi-book reader. Not only was I breezing through a couple newspapers a day, but I was also dabbling in three books at once. Ohh it was nice! How did I not do this before?! My focus seemed undeterred, and even felt heightened, and my speed had me moving through three books at a good pace instead of languishing in one. I was able to finish the nonfiction that had dropped off for me, which was a relief. I plan to continue on with reading one nonfiction book, one novel, and listening to one audiobook at a time. I think it might be the right mix to keep things moving. How about you — are you a monogamous or polygamous reader? And how has it worked for you?
This week I finished Kathleen Winter’s 2014 nonfiction book “Boundless: Tracing Land and Dream in a New Northwest Passage.” I had liked Winter’s last book, a 2010 novel called “Annabel,” about an intersex child that is raised in a remote coastal town in Labrador, which was shortlisted for the Giller Prize. She’s an English-Canadian author who signed a copy of “Boundless” for me at our city’s book festival last fall.
The book is about a two-week summer journey Kathleen Winter took in 2010 through the storied Northwest Passage. She went aboard a ship with many others including marine scientists, historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists. With them, she visits Greenland, Baffin Island, and all along the passage, noting what it’s like in the far North and the changes going on there. It’s a travelogue of what she sees and what she learns from other passengers, a couple of whom she bonds with have Inuit backgrounds. Her book also delves a bit into her personal life and journey: emigrating from England to Canada as a child, becoming a widow with a child from her first marriage, and having another daughter in her second marriage.
“Boundless” had all the ingredients I thought I would love: part travelogue of an intriguing place, and part memoir of a successful author. Are you kidding? How many Arctic and Antarctic explorers’ books had I read over the years? A handful on Shackleton alone and a number of others as well. Gosh I was envious of Kathleen Winter going on a voyage like that. Darn her, I don’t think it even cost her much because she was the writer-in-residence onboard, but normally it’d have cost a sizable chunk of money to go. I’d need to win the lottery.
Till then it’d be Kathleen Winter’s book. And while I liked “Boundless,” it wasn’t as great as I thought or hoped it would be. It seemed uneven, some parts were quite interesting and other parts not so much. I got the gist of her outlook of trying to view things not in terms of the White Male Explorers and their northern conquests, but more in terms of the land and the Inuits or Natives. She does talk about Sir John Franklin’s lost 1845 expedition to find the Northwest Passage, especially since their ship follows his route, but her focus seems to be more on the land and Natives along the way and their cultural ways and words, which was interesting but also seemed in glimpses.
In general the book came off more as her impressions or reflections while in the North. I guess I was looking for it to be a little more substantial. It felt a bit flimsy in parts, or dreamy, as she tries to describe throughout how it feels being at one with the environment, how the land affected her, or what conversations she was having with other passengers. The book was okay but I wanted or expected more. Still many on Goodreads rated it high, and I think it would appeal to nature readers among others.
How about you — have you read any great travelogues, or natural history kinds of books? If so what were they and what did you think?
I have tried polygamous reading and it just doesn’t work for me even with a fiction and nonfiction. I keep focus better with just one book, I think, even if sometimes I only read one book a week. To me, it’s still better than trying to keep track of several themes or stories within more than one book.
Yeah Bryan, I have always been a one-at-time book reader too. But I’m trying this multi-reading out for awhile. See what happens. thx for stopping by
I have tried to read only one book at a time, but it became impossible, so now I read several at once, and try to keep them separate. Different genres, usually, so no problem so far.
Thanks Harvee. Yeah I’m going to try multi-book reading out. Keep things flowing!
Hi Susan – Thanks for stopping by my blog.
This book looks like it could have been very interesting. However, I too would be looking for a lot of detail. I would be disappointed if a book did not contain it.
I switched from being a one book reader to a two book reader a few years ago. My original intent was to read one fiction and one non – fiction book simultaneously, but it has turned out to be usually a random combination. The two book pattern has however, worked out well for me.
Hi Brian, I liked your blog — will be back to visit. Yeah the two book pattern seems like a good idea. thanks for the input.
I generally read one book at a time, but lately, I have also enjoyed picking up a second book. Usually it works best if the books are very different, like a contemporary fiction and a mystery.
Enjoy your polygamy! LOL
Thanks for visiting my blog.
Thanks Laurel. I’m enjoying polygamy, LOL! Two different genre of books seems it would work. I’ll try it out!
I’ve always been able to have several books going at once. I always have an audiobook in the car ready to cue up at the start of the engine. I often read two books at the same time but don’t want to get the plots tangled up so I try for different genres. Earlier this summer I have five books going at once. That was TOO many!
http://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/07/sunday-salon-on-monday-reunion-edition.html
Thanks Anne. Yeah 5 at once whoa! I’ll stick to different genres of two books and maybe an audio too … for all my dog walks!
I’m strictly monogamous. Periodically I try to stray, but it just doesn’t stick. I’m a one book kind of gal. Sometimes I’ll double up with an audio non-fiction but not often.
Good to hear Tanya. You plow through your books pretty quickly that way.
I’m usually a monogamous reader but will pick up a second book if the book I’m reading is slow.
Yeah Kathy, that’s what I found: if something is slow, it helps to pick up another book and it keeps both going somehow.
I go back and forth between reading multiple books at the same time and just focusing on one. I think my perfect balance is one audiobook and one visual book, whether that is in print or electronic copy. For years, I would read one print, one electronic and listen to one audio, but I found it would take me longer to read them. Plus, I would struggle to remember them when it came time to writing a review. Now, I may read more slowly, but I think I am much more careful and considerate reader than I was. Who knows though? I might change my habits yet again in another year or two!
Yeah Michelle, one audio and one book might be the right mix. Though if I can do another book, maybe I would.
I usually have at least one audio book and one print book going at a time. I will also sometimes have two print books — one fiction and one nonfiction — although it seems I end up drifting more towards one than the other, making me effectively monogamous even though I sometimes wish to be otherwise. Ha, that’s a funny sentence to write!
Ha Kim, LOL. I know what you mean, funny! I’m mixing it up too. 🙂