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Topic: Can you eat just one potato chip?

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tsatske avatar
Subject: Can you eat just one potato chip?
Date Posted: 12/6/2008 1:15 PM ET
Member Since: 8/14/2008
Posts: 3,574
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I was reading a post about someone very strongly recomending a book that they really, REALLY like, which deeply moved them, in which they warned that it was 'not a cheery pick-me-upper'. Many times people talk about books that moved them deeply that were disturbing or 'hard to read' or 'painful'. I totally get it - there are many books that way, for me. I am just wondering if I am the only person who can not read such a book while it is the only book I am reading at the time. I have to be reading a lighter, softer book at the same time, so I can take a breather. I know some people will ONLY read one book at a time - finish one, then move on. If you are one of those people, how do you deal with the deep, 'hard to read' books?
BethC avatar
Date Posted: 12/6/2008 6:00 PM ET
Member Since: 6/26/2008
Posts: 115
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I agree with you Latricia, I usually have to read something light when I 'm reading something really intense.  Also I do that with non-fiction.  Also, I like your "coexist" sign, very cool.

CozSnShine avatar
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Date Posted: 12/6/2008 9:17 PM ET
Member Since: 2/5/2007
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There have been a few books that I've read that were so disturbing that I could only read a chapter at a time.   I had to digest that chapter before going on.   I seldom read two books at a time, but in this situation I have. 

Generic Profile avatar
Date Posted: 12/6/2008 10:50 PM ET
Member Since: 7/19/2008
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If I'm reading a book for my own enjoyment, I usually read that one entirely through before moving on. School works, not so much, as professors typically like you to have read certain sections at certain times... and it would really stink not to read my books all semester long. If I find that I can't bring myself to read more than a chapter at a time from a book, which has happened a few times, I tend to just put it up for adoption... I usually think it means that it isn't my cup of tea. As for dealing with deep books- I say just take the plunge. I think the point of the deeper books is that you have to spend time taking it in, and if you intersperse it with other readings, lightening your mood purposefully, I think you may be taking away from the meaning of the book. (WOO run-on sentence ftw) If the author intended a book to not be full of warm-fuzzies, maybe it's supposed to make you feel a little melancholy, reflective, disturbed, or whatever other unpleasant sensation the text produces?

Last Edited on: 12/6/08 10:55 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
Generic Profile avatar
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Date Posted: 12/6/2008 10:52 PM ET
Member Since: 9/10/2008
Posts: 111
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Everytime I try to read two books at a time I always end up picking one and finishing it, leaving the other one partly done. I have one book right now that I'm only able to pick up when I'm really in the mood for it and so i'm only half way through yet I've finished about 4 other books in the meantime.

MaGee avatar
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Date Posted: 12/7/2008 10:00 AM ET
Member Since: 4/18/2008
Posts: 10,406
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I'm a one book at a time reader.

If I find the book  interesting , even if the topic isn't enjoyable, I finish it before reading another. Then it is something light and fluffy before going on to something heavier.

 

Kim1264 avatar
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Date Posted: 12/9/2008 12:16 AM ET
Member Since: 8/11/2007
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I am a one book at a time person too.  I have tried many times to read more than one at a go, and I just can't do it.  One always gets put aside for the more enjoyable one.  I used to try to have a non fiction going at the same time as a novel, that didn't go over well at all.  And if it's a very disturbing or depressing book that I am reading, I wouldn't want to ruin an otherwise "happy" book by reading it alongside a distrubing one anyway.