Mind the gap

               

    A while ago we had a post called Mind the gap? which was about physical space on the bookshelves, but today's 'mind the gap' is more to do with time and/or mental space - the gaps between books in your reading life.

    As another topic in our reading habits series, my question is how much time do you let pass from finishing one book to starting the next? Do you always go straight on without a pause? Do you allow a few hours/days to elapse while you digest what you've just read? Does it depend entirely on what you've been reading? Do you perhaps switch to some non-fiction after a heavy diet of fiction, or turn to another genre for your next novel - i.e. a gap in terms of style or subject matter? I daresay no-one reads to any set pattern as such, but I wondered whether you could identify trends and leanings like those in your own literary life.

    I often have a biography or other work of non-fiction on the go which I pick up between novels because I find its change of voice, pace and emotional pitch is welcome, rather like switching to a good documentary when you've had enough of television drama. Sometimes I'll take months to finish that book, but it's there on my bedside table whenever I need it as a (usually) restful alternative to the fiction which makes up most of my reading. Catherine Horwood's Gardening Women: Their Stories from 1600 to the Present was my most recent ongoing book, and although I enjoyed it greatly it took me a couple of years simply because it was performing that occasional gap-filling function; you might also call it a thirst-quencher or a refresher for those times when the world of fiction gets a bit too hot or dry.

    So then, do you leave gaps, do you have a change of pace with a gap-filler, or do you forge straight ahead to more of the same?

Comments

[adele geras]

Very little gap at all. I leave an overnight gap if I finish a book at bedtime...I'll start another next day in the early evening usually. I get moods for things. Sometimes a thriller binge; sometimes a historical novels binge.
Reading a proof of the new Curtis Sittenfeld SISTERLAND (out in June) at the moment and it's brilliant...must go now and read a bit more of it!

[Claire]

As one book finishes I will be simultaneously picking up the next. Never a gap to mind! I switch around from non fiction to fiction as the mood takes me. I, too, always have a heftier book on the go. For the past six months or so it has been Hermione Lee's biogaphy of Virgnia Woolfe. When I've finished it I'm going to have a go at VW's novels starting with To The Lighthouse. I have binges on authors rather than genres. And a book club choice to be read as well. That's the bedroom. In the sitting room it's art and poetry. Oh and a short story between books. Not enough time, not enough time!

[Chris]

I don't have a gap between books, even at bedtime I've been known to finish one and move straight onto the next, but I do like to have something shorter and easier after a hefty read.

[Fran H-B]

Sometimes I have a run with one particular genre. One book leads on from another, then suddenly, as if I have over indulged on rich food I need a complete change. Earlier this year several "nature reads"..Richard Mabey, Stephen Moss had a run. Over Easter it was great fiction; To Kill a Mocking Bird, a Persephone and just finishing Rook ( Jane Rusbridge) now. What next? Until I get into another run I shall read from the "on the go" stack which includes Victoria Finlay's Colour and Adam Nicolson's Gentry.

[Erika]

I usually have 2-3 books going and one of them is probably non- fiction. At present I have just finished reading Tony Horwitz's " Midnight Rising" , an incredibly easily read but good in depth account of John Brown of Harper's Ferry fame. I am two thirds through "Life after Life" --- wonderful idea but I am reserving final judgment. I am dreading an obvious ending, based on the first chapter. The writing is patchy--veers from good to quite bad, may be too ambitious a theme for the writer's execution of it. Third and last I am re-reading for the umpteenth time Mrs Molesworth's "Six to Sixteen".

[Erika]

PS

I tend to savor for a few hours before picking a new book but read onwards and onwards , when time permits.

[Erika]

Forgot (how odd) that my husband and I are reading Proust together, chapter by chapter and becoming quite emotionally involved with him an author to ponder endlessly.

[Joan Kyler]

No gaps for me. I'm usually reading at least one non-fiction book and a mystery and something else, on average about five at a time. Some of those books don't get finished for months. I read paperbacks or lightweight (physically light books) in the bathtub and keep a few books of letters or essays on my bedside table. Those often don't get read when I'm deep in a novel or mystery.

[Darlene]

This is so timely, Karen, as just twenty minutes ago I chose Nella Last's diaries as my next read. After reading for pure enjoyment for awhile I feel the need to pull something from my shelves that will teach me something or jar just a bit. It's a great question and I'm really looking forward to reading what others have to say.

[Belle]

I don't know the meaning of 'gap'. I usually have a mystery, a non-fiction, and a fiction book - or more - all going at once. The only pause comes when occasionally all three or four or five get finished at one time. I call that point 'the crossroads'. Where will I go now? Doesn't take too long to pick up something new though. So many books...

[Caroline]

Like almost everyone else here, I usually hop straight into the next book on my 'to read' pile. However, occasionally I find a book I love so much that I can't quite bear to break the spell by starting another one quickly. The first time I read The Handmaid's Tale I remember I just couldn't face picking up another book for about a week, as I knew it would be a long time before I read something that touched me so much.

[MelD]

Various things on the go and rarely time for a gap, though I won't usually finish one and go straight onto the next with novels, I do like a bit of digesting.
Interesting that you should use the Fingerpost and the Sanctuary Line in your illustration, as I've also recently finished those, and my "inbetweens" were a Bond (Goldfinger), an art tome on Albert Anker and some knitting short stories!
But on holiday, I feel as if I have more time and tend to be more monogamous...

[Dark Puss]

I am always reading non-fiction so I'll adress fiction only in my answer. It varies enormously. Sometimes the gap has been months after completing one novel before starting another, sometimes it is as short as 10 seconds. Mostly it is a few days to a week. I am as happy to not change genres as I am to go for something completely different. When I chose a book I have not read before at random (from a library) I will not know the genre anyway.