Readers, Do you read multiple books at the same time or just one?  Which do you think is more efficient? ?

My reading is for pleasure. I don’t race to complete a book. When I was working I would have a book there to read on breaks and have another book I was reading at home. I prefer to get through one book before going on to another. 

I often have two books going. One that's in the car in case I stop at a restaurant and one at home.

I don't read for "efficiency". I read for enjoyment, and what I enjoy is having two or three books on the go at one time.

Those books are all very different, though. I have one novel, which I normally read in bed last thing at night (currently Sinclair Lewis's "Main Street"), a non-fiction for reading in the bathroom (at the moment it's "A Place for Everything" by Judith Flanders, a very readable history of filing systems) and something political or "current affairs" related, for reading in the living room.

I almost always have a book in the car too, but it's generally one that I've read a dozen times so it doesn't matter how long the gaps are between readings: I never lose the thread.

I don’t think it’s about efficiency. Some people read multiple books. I read one at a time. If I could read multiple and keep them straight in my head, I think I might enjoy it. I’m just not capable.

I read two: one for study and one for bedtime and on public transit.  Sometimes one is too engaging to put down, so I  read it exclusively.

Reading one at a time would be more efficient, but reading the one for study when I can't concentrate on it is a wasted effort.

------- To Bluebellbkk: I've asked for the latest Flanders book. I am #60 on the holds list. Thanks for mentioning it. Her books are always interesting.

Just one. At the moment I'm reading a crime fiction one called The Convent by Sarah Sheridan, its actually addictive!

I normally read one, and keep reading it until it is finished.