Unconquerable Imagined Difficulties

Starting my MLIS this week I was totally thrown by the question "what are you currently reading or what was the last book you read?".  I get asked this a lot when I attend friends' parties and don't know a lot of the other guests, they find out I'm an English lit major and they breath a huge sign of relief because surly they can engage an English lit major in a conversation about books.  It seems an innocent enough query; but, it is always one of my least favorite questions because I'm never quite sure how to answer it.  Do I tell the truth, that I am reading a stupidly long list of books, and yes I can keep all the stories straight in the my head; or do I try and pick just one (or two or three) that I feel that particular audience might be interested in (or not if I no longer really care to be speaking to the asker of the question)?  Usually the look of panic and the stuttered "uhhh….what I am reading?" causes the asking to back away slowly.

I'm down to one book I am deliberately reading at the moment, but a mere three days ago I was still in the middle of reading two others (or was it three?).  I started a book on the airplane flying to Tasmania in November but it's still buried somewhere in the exploded piles of holiday (and Holiday) debris, does that count as currently reading?  What about the copy of Jane Eyre that mysteriously disappeared between Portland and St Andrews third year of university, I don't think I finished that, am I "currently" reading it?

Then there is the problem of emergency books.  I've got the Kindle app on my phone so (as long as it's charged) I've always got a selection of books in my pocket for times when I don't have my on-purpose book.  Usually I read non-fiction tomes as an emergency book, but I'm working my way though Les Miserables again and I'm always happy to re-read about Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses.  I've also got a few random hard copy books stashed in unusual places for emergency situations (cars, cupboards, sock drawers) that I may or may not be in the middle of reading.

The fact that I am usually reading about 8 books at any given time (though the list can change almost daily) means I have similar problems figuring out what I should say when people ask me the last book I read.  I mean, I finished a book between when I first read the question online and when I actually got around to answering it in the discussion forum.

Maybe I'm over thinking the whole thing, but I always feel like I'm going to seem rather pompous if I list all the books I'm "currently" reading or have recently read and then people will stop talking to me and I'll be the one standing in a corner by myself at the party trying to figure out if there is anyway I can use all my letters in one go on Words With Friends.