I enjoy reading. I am always endeavoring to read more-deeply and broadly. Because of this constant desire, I have been working on a system to keep myself focused in many books.
When I am trying to read more I find that I usually get stuck on a book that is not that interesting. I have 7 books after that I am excited about but this one is in my way and there are still 150 pages left and I don't really care to finish. So I have recently put together, what I call, my Categories. I usually have between 10-12 categories and they can be added or dropped as needed.
Here are my current categories:
Church Ministry, Reading Society, History/Israel book, Theology book, Parenting/Baby book, Cooking/Drink book, Culture Study, Fiction, Comic book, Leslie and I travel book, Audio book
The rules I use for scheduling reading are as follows.
1) Always have a book in each category: Once I finish a book in, say, the Culture Study category I immediately add a new one to my reading list.
2) Different books at different speeds: Naturally, like I mentioned above, I enjoy some books more than others. Because of this there may be categories that are refreshed quicker than others. Also, some books are massive tomes that just take a while to get through. If I am reading Les Miserables in my Fiction category that is going to take a while and I may go through three Culture Study books before I finish my Fiction category book.
3) Different books in different places: I have specific books for different areas of life. For instance, my History category is by my bed so I usually read a bit of that as my evening routine before I go to sleep. The Church Ministry book is for the Church office. The Parenting book is generally on my Kindle app so it is read during breaks in the typical work day.
4) If I'm playing a game or mindlessly checking Twitter, I could be reading: Kindle has been a huge factor in my recent reading. I usually have 3-5 books on my Kindle app that I am currently reading so if I ever revert to a mindless task, or want to, I can instead read a couple pages of a book.
5) If you want read a new book and it doesn't fit a category, make a new category: If you have the bandwidth, why not? Just don't pile so many on that you just have a stack of books that overwhelms you.
I hope this is helpful. If you want to try it out just think of 2-3 categories and start reading. And if this sounds like the ravings of a crazy wannabe scholar...it probably is.
Here are my currently filled categories. 4 of them are physical copies, 5 are digital, and 2 are audio. Let me know if you have categories or what you are reading!
Church Ministry book: Center Church
Reading Society book: The Hero with a Thousand Faces
History/Israel book: A History of the Jewish People
Theology book: Apostolic Fathers
Baby book: Baby Wise
Cooking/drink book: Complete Beer Course
Culture Study book: Fractured Republic
Fiction book: Les Miserables
Comic book: Batman or Marvel 60s
Leslie and I travel book: Redwall
Audio book: Hamilton