I used to be a one-book man, but of late, I have taken to reading multiple books at once. Here’s a quick peek at what’s checked out on my CLP library card:
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. I have never read this book before, and I find its stirring environmental message to have the same deep impact on me as it did on those first readers in 1962.
Collected Poems: 1955 by Robert Graves. I am still not quite through with this little gem.
Robert Graves: His Life And Work by Martin Seymour-Smith. My fascination with Graves’ poetry has now bubbled over into a desire to learn more about the man’s life, so this biography fills the need nicely.
Backpacking: Essential Skills To Advanced Techniques by Victoria Steele Logue. I’ve been doing a lot of walking and hiking in the local area of late. Once I decide to branch out to a more serious, overnight jaunt, this book will come in very handy.
The Complete Guide To Climbing And Mountaineering by Pete Hill. I’ve been bouldering too (an essential outdoor survival skill), and I confess to not really knowing what I am doing. Mr. Hill’s book provides lots of good advice on bouldering techniques.
Collected Poems by Jack Gilbert. A friend turned me on to this local poet and I snagged our eBook copy. His poems are at once rough and erudite, and sometimes difficult to read because of the raw emotions and memories they conjure in the mind’s eye.
So while perhaps a bit unfocused, I’ve found my new, “poly-libris” approach to the books in my life refreshing.
–Scott
Eleventh Stack 
I have found myself doing the same thing. I started for two reasons: 1) When I hit a slow point in a book, I switched to a different one for awhile to keep my interest going. 2) I started listening to books on my Kindle while bike riding and not all e-books are text-to-speech enabled. So if I was reading one that wasn’t, I would start a new book that was. I like to keep the genres different so I don’t get confused by the plots of two similar books.
It’s just like food. Sometimes I’m in the mood for one thing, and sometimes another. I have been reading like this most of my life.
I used to poly-libris but now I read one at a timeand listen to another while commuting.
I love this term ‘poly-libris’. This definitely reflects my own relationship with library books! I even add a few for no rhyme or reason, except as ‘impulse’ tomes; much like how one does while standing in line at the grocery store. The first three are ‘standards’ for me! peace
I am exactly that way. I would call it literary ADD or LADD.
I’m going in the opposite direction…after years of reading 7 or 8 books at once I’m trying to scale it back to 1 or 2 (OK…3 max…). Balance! Great post here, by the way…
I wish I could do that, and I used to years ago. The problem my end of the world is (i don’t know whether this is a worldwide thing) that there are very few good books to find on the stands. So much for publicity and over the top marketing!