Okay, so after I finished writing the first draft of the next book in my Animal Guild Series (Seven Secrets), I had a pile of books waiting for me to read.
Now that I was back in reading mode, I started the first one, a mystery set in Venice. But it was too cynical and depressing, so I started the next book in the pile, a mystery set in Glasgow. But this one was too gritty with its liberal use of the f-bomb (I think I counted four or five just on one page), so I started the next book, also a mystery (gee, do you think I read too many mysteries?), this one set in Thailand. But I couldn’t get my head into the plot . . .
I realized that since I had just written a young-adult fantasy adventure with a somewhat zany, magical plot, I just couldn’t switch to more “adult” serious murder mysteries. Now normally I enjoy murder mysteries since I consider them “light” reading—you read them, and a day later you’ve forgotten who killed who but you enjoyed the characters and the action and, of course, the mystery. To me, these books are light reading because they aren’t fantasies; there is no alternate world with magical rules and oddly named creatures that you have to memorize and for which you need to suspend your disbelief. Fantasies often require large investments of time and brain power immersion to really understand the plots and characters.
I figured I wouldn’t be able to dive into a fantasy after just writing one, but heh, maybe I was wrong—so I started another book: the next Discworld novel (I’m reading them in order), and I found myself back in delightful, clever, imaginative Terry Pratchett’s fantasy world. I was finally happy.
Naturally I couldn’t just stop reading all the other books I’d started since they are all actually very good books, so I have read a little of each at a time, and have finished all but Pratchett’s novel (I like to savor Discworld adventures). So that’s my record: four books at the same time. How about you?
But wait!
During all this, I was proof-reading the paperback version of Monsters in the Territory, Book 2 in The Animal Guild Series, which is now
available through Amazon’s CreateSpace POD—so I guess that means five books for
me! Beat that if you can (and check out Monsters
here). Whew. I have another seven or eight books lined up for
reading after I finish Making Money, but
I think I’ll just tackle one at a time . . . Keep reading (but how many?) . . . :-)
Very interesting blog this time. I'm usually reading multiple books at one time, but with a caveat: I have a very hard time reading more than one work of fiction at a time. Multiple non-fiction books, no problem. One novel and multiple non-fiction works, again no problem. Multiple novels at once--madness! Everything gets mixed-up, plots and characters intertwine in my brain, and things end up like a painting by Dali or a film by Bunuel (those damned Spaniards!). ;-)
ReplyDeleteHa! Re-reading usually helps me if I've forgotten who is in which novel. Here's to madness!
ReplyDeleteI can read everything from science magazines, science books, science fiction, prehistory, history politics, but I tend to look for the areas in which they overlap, which is becoming more common now, and if at one point they remind me of another book I have read, I tend to re-read the part where they intersect. More and more scientist are becoming science fiction writers as well.
ReplyDeleteFascinating! (As Mr. Spock would say.) Thanks for the insights, :)
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