I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend (even if it wasn’t Thanksgiving where you live!). One of the things on my “thankful” list was books, definitely. I’m also thankful for the wonderful participation we’ve had on these weekly reading questions. It has been awesome to find out about your reading habits, passions, and even compulsions!

This week’s reading question:

Do you have multiple books going at once? Or do you prefer to stick to one book at a time?

Again, I find myself having different answers, depending on what kind of reading we’re talking about.

If it’s fiction, I can only do one book at a time. Plots, subplots, plot twists…it’s enough for me to keep one book’s worth of plot issues straight. If I attempt to add in another novel…forget it! I’ll get far too confused!

But nonfiction — that’s a different story altogether. It seems I’m always reading multiple nonfiction books. It doesn’t bother me a bit to book-hop between a book on parenting, a book with theological leanings, and a book about grammar. And I usually have a variety of nonfiction books scattered throughout the house, so my location has a lot to do with which book I’ll pick up next.

I can mix the fiction and nonfiction, too. As long as I’m only reading one fiction, I can toss several nonfiction on my “currently reading” list. At the moment, in fact, I’m in the middle of one fiction book and two nonfiction books.

So there you have it. Fiction: one at a time. Nonfiction: multiple books going at once.

What about you? How many books are you reading right now? A bunch, or just one?

Well, I was partially right. According to the comments on last week’s reading question, many of you are better library-users than I am. But I was surprised to see quite a few who struggle — just like me! — with the library and end up acquiring books through various other means. But no matter how you get your books, the important thing is that you get them somehow. And that you keep reading!

And now, on to the next question:

Once you begin a book, do you feel compelled to finish it? Or have you been known to give up in the middle of a book, to walk away from a book that is just too annoying, boring, etc.?

As for me, well, it depends…

When it comes to fiction, I almost always feel compelled to finish a book once I’ve started it. Very, very rarely, I will put a book down and walk away — but only if the material is too offensive or if the storyline is way too boring for me to continue. And to be honest, if it’s boring, I’ll sometimes keep reading, but just incorporate some, ahem, skimming. Mostly, I just want to know how things end!

With nonfiction, I vary. If I’m reading nonfiction for a challenge (such as Fall Into Reading) or if the nonfiction is fairly narrative in form (memoirs, historical nonfiction, etc.), I feel like I must finish. (However, I’ve even been known to walk away from these if they are boring me out of my mind. See Girl Sleuth for an example.)

If the nonfiction is more along the lines of “self-help” or “advice for living,” I tend to view it more as reference material, and I don’t feel bad reading a chapter or two, then picking up another nonfiction book, then coming back to the first, etc.

Overall, I feel guilty if I start a book and never finish it. But the guilt is greater when it comes to fiction.

How about you? Do you always finish what you start when it comes to reading? Or have you decided that life’s too short to read books you don’t love?

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Bonus Question: We have less than one month left in Fall Into Reading 2010! Can you believe it? If you’d like to share…how are you doing? Are you on track with your goals? Will the upcoming holidays derail your reading plans?

I have three books left to read, and I’ve started two of them. So I’m hoping that I’ll actually finish my entire list this time around!