Grazing

[RJR443]

I've had a Nook for about 20 months now, and I've noticed a change in my reading habits that I wonder if anybody else has experienced.  I now do what I call "Serial Grazing."  I will begin a book, read a few chapters, and set it aside for a time while I read a few chapters of another book, followed often by a few chapters of still another book.  At some point, as the spirit moves me, I'll return to one of the earlier books (I have, for instance, been grazing through "The Complete Sherlock Holmes" for over a year).  My CURRENT shelf usually carries about four books, which I rotate randomly among.  I never did this sort of thing with print books; I normally stuck with a book until I finished it or abandoned it.  I suppose it has a lot to do with portability.  In any case, I was wondering whether anyone else has experienced anything like it since getting the Nook.

[bobstro]

I've had the same experience. I fought it at first, thinking I "should" finish each one, but I'm coming around to the idea that reading what interests me at the moment is more important. I've got a mix of 6-10 fiction and non-fiction titles in progress at any one time. It's only a problem when I mix up which one I'm reading, especially with long, complicated plots like game of thrones.

Interestingly, I am not filling the time in with magazines or shorts anymore. With a hardcopy book, I'd grab a magazine to fill the times when I didn't have the book with me. Now, I have several excellent magazine subscriptions that I rarely get to. The same with short stories. My reading habits have fundamentally changed.

[RHWright]

I've found it's expnaded since the NOOK, but if I wanted to have any fun at all in my school days I had to juggle multiple books; now that I'm older, the habit's stuck.

[keriflur]

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bobstro wrote:

It's only a problem when I mix up which one I'm reading, especially with long, complicated plots like game of thrones.

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Please tell me that you're not reading more than one GoT book at the same time - the idea makes my brain hurt. 

I've found myself reading more short stories as I have a lot of anthologies on my nook, and I can pick up and read one whenever I feel like it.  Before, I would never carry an anthology.  I also find that for books I only have in print, I hardly ever read straight through.  I don't want to carry them, so when I'm out of the house I'll read something else, and then come back to the print book later.  So yes, I guess I've become a grazer too.

[MacMcK1957]

I often graze.  I may have at least two books open at any given time, as well as downloading the morning paper every day, and getting my issues of Analog and Asimov's every month.  Often if I find a book dark or heavy or dense I'll set it aside for a while and read something lighter before going back to it.  Lately I've been trying to work my way through Naked Lunch but it's not easy going, so I read a few chapters and then read something else for a week or two.

[frantastk]

I've actually always read like that. Usually, I'll read straight through a new fiction book or one that I'm really into, but I generally have up to 6 books I'm reading at any one time. I always have a non-fiction that I read a chapter here or there as a get a chance, a classic that I digest slowly (rereading passages as needed), a volume of poetry (or Shakespeare), a new fiction (those tend to get read straight through fairly quickly, since I'm a fast reader and then reread if really good), and then I usually have one of my favorites that's getting reread (currently rereading Harry Potter along with my 10 year old so we can discuss it together). I also like to intersperse magazines and somethimes have a volume of short stories going. My husband thinks I'm batty, but he doesn't really read books. When he does it takes him forever. He prefers magazines since he has a very short attention span when it comes to reading. 

Having an ereader hasn't really changed anything, it's just more convenient to carry all my reading around at once. I also save time looking for my book. Previously I could never remember where I had left a particular book. 

[MacMcK1957]

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frantastk wrote:

Having an ereader hasn't really changed anything, it's just more convenient to carry all my reading around at once. I also save time looking for my book.

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It also results in a lot less grief from a spouse who used to complain about the six or eight books and magazines, all with bookmarks somewhere in the middle, stacked up on the nightstand.

[bobstro]

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MacMcK1957 wrote:

[...] It also results in a lot less grief from a spouse who used to complain about the six or eight books and magazines, all with bookmarkstre somewhere in the middle, stacked up on the nightstand.

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It is probably a good time to mention that one no longer has to hide that copy of "Naughty Nurses On Vacation" in the middle of said stack.

It might be interesting to see this non-contiguous reading trend mapped against the use of ebook readers for "naughty" reading that a recent study focused on. (Naughty included scifi and fantasy books, not just the racy free NOOK titles).

[frantastk]

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MacMcK1957 wrote:

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frantastk wrote:

Having an ereader hasn't really changed anything, it's just more convenient to carry all my reading around at once. I also save time looking for my book.

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It also results in a lot less grief from a spouse who used to complain about the six or eight books and magazines, all with bookmarks somewhere in the middle, stacked up on the nightstand.

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That is true. 

[kamas716]

I've found my reading habits have changed somewhat.  Since I'm a tightwad (I can admit it) I've put a lot of free eBooks on my NST.  With DTBs I would usually read whatever I had purchased straight through (I paid money for it, dagnabit, and I'm going to read it!).  But, with eBooks, I'm more than happy setting one aside, or even abandoning them altogether, and starting something else more interesting.

[RJR443]

If I'm reading something like "NNoV," it usually doesn't stick around long enough to wnd up in the middle of the stack. 

[MacMcK1957]

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RJR443 wrote:

If I'm reading something like "NNoV," it usually doesn't stick around long enough to wnd up in the middle of the stack. 

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Ahem.  It's NNoH.  Presumably the nurses in question are Canadian or British.

[bobstro]

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MacMcK1957 wrote:

Ahem.  It's NNoH.  Presumably the nurses in question are Canadian or British.

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Well, we've americanized your games shows, your comedy shows, your TV dramas. Why stop there? Hell, if we just added a bit of pizazz, Dr. Who might be a hit. Does he have a pet dog? He needs a pet dog. A talking dog. Think of the merchandizing!

Nurses, you say? Let's make them young, single doctors. Give them shiny sportscars, designer wardrobes. Think Sex in the City meets Scrubs!

Gonna make you a star, kid. Trust me!

[keriflur]

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bobstro wrote:

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MacMcK1957 wrote:

Ahem.  It's NNoH.  Presumably the nurses in question are Canadian or British.

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Well, we've americanized your games shows, your comedy shows, your TV dramas. Why stop there? Hell, if we just added a bit of pizazz, Dr. Who might be a hit. Does he have a pet dog? He needs a pet dog. A talking dog. Think of the merchandizing!

Nurses, you say? Let's make them young, single doctors. Give them shiny sportscars, designer wardrobes. Think Sex in the City meets Scrubs!

Gonna make you a star, kid. Trust me!

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Are you propsing a sequel?   Dirty Doctors on Vacation?

[Sun_Cat]

I have typically grazed on several books simultaneously for most of my life.

Ironically, the horrible shelving system on the NST makes this habit much more difficult to manage compared to keeping a stack of DTBs with bookmarks. If I could just do a 1-click add to my Currently Reading shelf when a book is open, I would be a much happier camper. Of course it would also be necessary to fix the bugs surrounding loss of shelving info, particularly for sideloaded books.

IMO this lack is by far the biggest fail in the NST's firmware. Especially since it represents a step backward from the N1E and since there have been numerous, loud complaints ever since the release of the NST, I'm at a loss to explain why it hasn't been fixed a long, long, very long time ago.

Alex, when will the suggestion boards re-appear, and when will we see better communication (or any communication) about what issues the developers are working on?

[orb9220]

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Sun_Cat wrote:

I have typically grazed on several books simultaneously for most of my life.

Ironically, the horrible shelving system on the NST makes this habit much more difficult to manage compared to keeping a stack of DTBs with bookmarks. If I could just do a 1-click add to my Currently Reading shelf when a book is open, I would be a much happier camper. Of course it would also be necessary to fix the bugs surrounding loss of shelving info, particularly for sideloaded books.

IMO this lack is by far the biggest fail in the NST's firmware. Especially since it represents a step backward from the N1E and since there have been numerous, loud complaints ever since the release of the NST, I'm at a loss to explain why it hasn't been fixed a long, long, very long time ago.

Alex, when will the suggestion boards re-appear, and when will we see better communication (or any communication) about what issues the developers are working on?

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I don't think we will ever see the better communication and what issues the dev's are working on.

Shevles and Organization issues have been complained about for years. That is why I gave up and rolled my own CM7 card which allows me more book choices like kindle app. And a dozen better more feature rich and better organizing e-reader Apps like FBreader,Aldiko,etc..etc...

And yep my reading habits are also change due to e-readers. As now carry a library and internet with me. Instead of a book or magazine or two.

.

[MacMcK1957]

I actually do maintain a "Current" shelf and go to the trouble of adding new books to it when I buy them and removing them when finish them.  It's a pain in the NST shelving system, but I can be a bit compulsive in some areas.

[Sun_Cat]

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orb9220 wrote:

I don't think we will ever see the better communication and what issues the dev's are working on.

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You're probably right, but I figure that if I keep asking I may succeed in embarrassing them into some small improvements. (Either that or I'll get myself banned. ) After all, Alex did promise that he would eventually revive the suggestion boards and that the status codes would be used to mean something. I expect it's out of his hands, but if we let him know there's still some desire, maybe he can get the higher-ups to take notice.

[keriflur]

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Sun_Cat wrote:

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orb9220 wrote:

I don't think we will ever see the better communication and what issues the dev's are working on.

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You're probably right, but I figure that if I keep asking I may succeed in embarrassing them into some small improvements. (Either that or I'll get myself banned. ) After all, Alex did promise that he would eventually revive the suggestion boards and that the status codes would be used to mean something. I expect it's out of his hands, but if we let him know there's still some desire, maybe he can get the higher-ups to take notice.

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I get the impression he's being pulled away from his community work for other things, as he's stated he's working on a number of things for us and it seems like it's taking a long time for them to show up.  I wonder what else he's working on, and if we'll be excited about it.

[frantastk]

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MacMcK1957 wrote:

I actually do maintain a "Current" shelf and go to the trouble of adding new books to it when I buy them and removing them when finish them.  It's a pain in the NST shelving system, but I can be a bit compulsive in some areas.

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I do that, too. I have a shelf that I keep at the top for the books I'm currently reading, then I have a shelf of books right under that for books I might want to read next. Then I have a bunch of other shelves just because I felt like organizing one night while waiting for the little one to finally fall asleep. I do put new books I buy in the shelves I want them on, mostly so I don't forget which books I really wanted to read next or just sometime soon.