No Longer a Monogamous Reader

I used to tell a lame joke that I was a monogamous reader, in that I only read one book at a time. There are advantages to doing this. Mainly, a reader might read more books that way, rather than starting many without finishing them. Recently, I changed my reading plan to read two books at a time. Two at a time is the best way to approach my reading goals.

Recently, I reread The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami. I remember bits and pieces of this novel I read decades ago. But I forgot a lot of the storyline. So, I enjoyed it, but it is long. Online, the reviewers state this is Murakami’s masterwork. He has a lot of novels, and I rank 1Q84 and Killing Commendatore as my favorites. Some of my favorite novels are longer works. This week, I started The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk because I remember how much I liked Winds of War and War and Remembrance.

I was amazed by Magic Mountain, Almanac of the Dead, Underworld, Crime and Punishment, The Tin Drum, and more. The problem is, I’ve read a lot of good, long classics, but I retain very little of them. I may reread some of my favorites or pick long ones I haven’t read. I get an immediate joy from reading fiction, even if I don’t remember the plots afterwards. Reading long novels takes some time.

When I learned that Charlie Sheen had written an autobiography called The Book of Sheen, I knew I had to read it. It’s an entertaining read, and his childhood was crazy. His father brought his kids to movie sets, and ‘Apocalypse Now’ was one of them when Charlie Sheen was young. I checked out the DVD of ‘Apocalypse Now’ but returned it without watching it. I heard it’s an intense and disturbing movie.

Another neat tidbit from the Charlie Sheen book is that he was a baseball prospect as a pitcher. He received a college baseball scholarship but did not graduate from high school. The summer after his senior year, he started his acting career. He admits he got his agent through his mom’s network.

I was a little disappointed that Sheen barely mentions ‘Major League,’ which is one of my favorite movies. Other than that, I recommend it. Sheen has had a wild life. Reading this, I realized I probably will remember little factoids about Sheen’s life. I remember tidbits from Keith Richards’ book, Life, which I read several years ago. Not everything, but perhaps my reading retention for non-fiction is better than fiction. Most memoir books I remember tidbits from, I’m not sure why.

So instead of always only reading long novels, I’ll get into memoir-type books. I’ll read two books at once, a fiction and a non-fiction. I did this for The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and The Book of Sheen. Overall, I may have read more frequently this way. After reading a few chapters, I would take a break and read a little bit from the other book.

Now I’m reading The Caine Mutiny and the Letters of Van Gogh. I might not finish the letters of Van Gogh, though. That’s a good thing about checking out books from the library. If you don’t like something, return it and get another one.

I remember a busy person told me to try to read at least an hour a day, before bed or at some other time. I mentioned that to another friend, who added, “Read at least an hour a day, and sometimes more.” With my novel writing on hold, I can read for an hour or more at night. I can write a little bit on this blog, but focusing on reading is the best thing I can do. That will help me write better over time. So, my plan is to read long literary fiction and memoirs at the same time