Multiple Reading

I have the attention span of a fish.

All right, not always, but in most things, yes.  While this isn’t always the case in writing, it is in reading.

Somewhere along the years I have lost my ability to get sucked into a book to the point where I forget everything around me.  I still enjoy literature and stories, but I can only take so much of them before I’m ready to move along. This is why I am never reading one book.  I’m usually reading many.

At the moment, I have three novels, three short story collections and one magazine on the go.  I’m going to read each and every one of them from cover to cover, and there’s a good chance that I will enjoy most, if not all.  Whatever the case, I will definitely finish them all.

I’m not going to pretend that one piece of literature is enough, though.  Not only do I get too attached to a story when it’s the only one I’m reading, and then get sad when it’s done, but I’m also bored with it.  It’s like only talking to one person every day or only listening to one artist’s music.  I can love the person or the artist, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t enjoy others at the same time.

Sometimes the stories bleed together when I’m recalling them.  My readings feed each other, making me appreciate what one lacks from the other, and primarily making sure that I don’t get bored with any of them.

So, if I seem confused when explaining a book I’m reading don’t worry.  It's a side effect of multiple reading, not the onset of anything more serious.