I’m a multi-reader.

It feels good to admit it! I don’t read linearly through a stack of books. Instead, I pick a set of books on a topic, and I read them all. At one time. All of them. Multi-reader! I’ve always done it this way, because the connections that I get from having more than one book on the brain at a time are so completely invaluable.

As a multi-reader it’s hard to narrow down what I’m reading when people ask. 

There’ll be what I’m actually currently holding in my hands and reading, the other book in my purse in case I get bored with the first one, and then two or three or more books back at home that are “in progress”. Case in point, right now I’m working through Start Where You Are (by Meera Lee Patel), The Gifts of Imperfection (by Brene Brown), The Places That Scare You (by Pema Chodron), Daring Greatly (by Brene Brown), and Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind (by Shunryu Suzuki). And some fiction, too, because you’ve gotta give the thought machine a break every now and then. I’m a die hard multi-reader even when it comes to fiction works, too.

The insights I’ve picked up so far this week from multi-reader izing my way through a stack of books?

I want to sit down with Brene Brown and have a long conversation about shame and guilt and fear, and the way that maya interacts and influences all of that. I love a lot of different things that all circle around making other beings happy, and yet I don’t make much time for that stuff, on the whole. Fear is useful, but allowing it to dictate your life is counterproductive; if there were a way to do the things I love and still pay the bills I’d jump on it in a heartbeat (know anyone willing to pay good wages for a dog walking cook who loves to paint? low stress, please.)

Are you a multi-reader too? What’s on your ‘to read’ list?