I sat today and looked at the books that I am currently reading.  For most of my life I have only read one book at a time.  It appears this is not currently the case of me.  My pile of ‘currently reading is currently 

• The Hobbit
• Skulduggery Pleasant Playing with Fire
• The Elephant Thief 
• The Name of the Wind 
• Small Gods

Since I am reading so many different books at once I thought I could share some tips on how I have been doing this without getting the stories muddled up. 

Different Genres

Reading different genres is helpful when you are reading a lot of books at once. Most of mine have fantasy elements but they all have very different settings. Playing with Fire is based in Ireland in a fairly modern time, whereas the Hobbit is in an entirely fictional world.  The Elephant Theif is a romance which is very different from all the other genres.  Having different genres helps you to keep the storylines separate in your head.  In different genres the ‘basic’ characters tend to be very different and it is rare that the stereotypical characters will cross over.  

Different Places

This is more difficult than usual at the moment but reading different books in different places will help you to keep the different books separate in your mind.  These different places can all be in your house,  I have been reading the Hobbit in bed, and Playing with Fire in our hammock. These separate places allow your brain to associate the story that you are reading with that place.  

Different Formats 

This is where books in different formats really come to the fore.  I have been listening to Small Gods on Audiobook (while doing the ironing) and reading the Elephant Thief on my kindle.  Having book in different formats allow you to zone in on that particular format meaning that you associate that format with a specific book. This allows you like all of the others to relate the format of your book to that particular book.  

Time

Be aware that each book will take more time for you to finish as you are probably still reading the same amount of pages per day but this will be spread across all the books that you are reading.

There are massive advantages to reading multiple books at once you will make your way through more books in your TBR pile.  If you are a mood reader you are more likely to sit and read as you will probably have something that you are currently reading that you are really in the mood for.  

Do you ever read lots of books at once?  Do you have any tips that you think I have missed? Let me know below.