I've always know that I am often reading multiple books at once. If you asked me what I'm reading right now I'd tell you "The Open Secret" by Lesslie Newbigin, "The Liberated Imagination" by Ryken, "According to Plan" by Graeme Goldsworthy, and "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. However, that's not the entire list. I glanced around my room this afternoon and found 21 other books I've "started" reading. By started I mean read at least the first two chapters, with an intention to finish reading the book.
This is a problem. With many of these books I'll have to re-read the parts I've already read because I read those portions a while ago. However, when I get an interesting new book, it takes far more will-power than I have to not start reading it, which usually means if I don't have time to read the entire book it will get set aside before finishing it, with my bookmark in place.
The list of the books I found this afternoon is in the extended entry below. Keep in mind this isn't my list of books I want to read (that pile could probably reach high into the atmosphere), its only the list of those I want to read and have actually started at one time or another.
"Of the making of many books there is no end..." - the Preacher in Ecclesiastes.
----- the books I've "started" -----
Science & Faith (Jack Collins)
Intelligent Design (William Dembski)
Beowulf (a bard a long long time ago)
Gödel, Esher & Bach
Visual Faith
Political Order & the Plural Structure of Society
Gulag Archipelago (Solzhenitsen)
With Love, Edith (Edith Schaffer)
Analog VLSI & Neural Systems (Carver Mead)
More Than Conquerors (William Hendriksen)
Biblical Theology (Vos)
The Coming of the Kingdom (Ridderbos)
The Holy Spirit & The Sermon on the Mount (Sinclair Ferguson)
Missionary Conspiracy (Vishal Mangalwadi)
He Shall Have Dominion (Gentry)
Crime & Punishment (Dostoyevski)
The TeXBook (Knuth)
The Justification Reader