Wow, do I feel substandard. But since about 25% of Americans didn’t read a single book this year, here it goes.
I finished the whole Dark Tower series by the fourth month (April). now, by the Eighth month (august) I have finished six more (including some re-reads). Dark Tower was really good, the others… not quite as good. Assuming 7 books in the nest third of the year that puts me at… 21 books. That sounds about right for me.
Ooooh, tell us more!
I’ve dumped on a couple of authors in groups/boards where I didn’t know the author was hanging around. They don’t always take it well. “Harrumph! You just didn’t get it!”
About 20 a year. I go in spurts, so some months I’ll read 5, some months I’ll read none. I spend a lot of my reading time trying to decipher Chinese books and articles, which take me forever to get through.
Depends on the size, doesn’t it? One year, I read only one book, but it was Marcel Proust’s “Remembrance of Things Past” or “In Search of Lost Time,” whichever title you prefer. It takes a year to read it.
It was Shawn Decker, who actually wrote a very nice response to my negative review: Shoshanapnw's Book Journal — LiveJournal.
That was nice. How did he find your review? He googled himself?
I read a book once, it was green.
About a hundred, more or less.
I’ve only started keeping track since last August, so we’ll see.
I kept a list for a while, but then I got bored and quit, which is bad because I’m always trying to remember titles of books I read. But I think it averaged out to 4-5 a week. That sounds about right. So, maybe 250 per year? Somewhere around that.
Holy shit?! 1 in 4 Americans didn’t read even one book this year? Not that I don’t believe you, but where did you find this tidbit?
I am currently reading about 300-400 pages a week in school, so if we’re counting school reading only (which 99% of what I read for school is regular non-fiction stuff you could find at your local library or bookstore, not textbooks) I’d say about 60 books a year for school alone. I spend so much time reading out of necessity rather than purely pleasure, I don’t have a whole lot of time for leisure reading. But I do reread the HP books a few times a year.
And then there was that one time I bought a book because it looked interesting (Karen Armstrong’s Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today’s World- an excellent book, btw) and then the next semester it was required reading for my Crusades and Jihad class.
So if I include school reading and re-reads, it’s probably close to 75-100 books a year.
That, or he has a service that flags his name and book title. He replied awfully quickly after I posted my review.
Probably about 100. However, as I’ve gotten older, I tend to read longer books.
Even worse is reading halfway through before you realize you’ve read it bef6re.
More than 50, less than 100 I’d say. I mostly read during the summer and in between semesters of school. Otherwise I simply don’t have much time to read.
Before I started college though, I would read every chance I could. In 10 years (1992 - 2002) I read well over 2000 books. More if you count repeats.
I counted everything I read though, excluding comics and the like. I counted everything from the 200 page Clifford D. Simak books to the 800+ page Stephen King books.
Depends on the year and how many movies I’m watching. Last year, was a big movie year, so I only made it to 23. I’ve been averaging 65 the past 3 or 4 years.
GT
I can believe it, and it’s not just we Americans. One of the stupidest people I’ve probably ever known over here was a Brit who wore it as a badge of pride that he’d only ever read one book in his life, (Disclaimer: I am NOT saying Brits are stupid. I’m saying this particular one was. And he WAS, too. No doubt still is.) Maybe he was exaggerating, but I didn’t get the sense that he was. And even if he was exaggerating, I have no doubt that he never cracked a book once during the few years our paths coincided. He really was proud of never reading; none of us could understand this.
There was a recent thread with a link to an article on this, but neither the thread nor my post in it comes up on search. Maybe someone else will have better luck; I’ve searched my posts back to June and it’s just not appearing.
Okay, it was on another board. Here’s the link for the article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayo...g.ap/index.html
Here’s a quote that was pulled out in the other board’s OP:
That’ll teach me to have more than one group of electron friends.
RTA: Link no longer active but I’m sure the article is archived.
That article leaves me with a question: What, exactly, is “popular fiction”? The context seemed to indicate that the category doesn’t encompass all fiction (since it mentioned mystery and romance novels separately). Clancy/Grishom/Koontz-type stuff? The Da Vinci Code?
I have an idea on how to encourage more men to read: stop assigning crap like Wuthering Heights in high school English classes. Fill required reading lists with books that are well-written but more modern and “relevant” to young readers. I’ve loved to read all my life, but books like Wuthering Heights and The Great Gatsby would likely have put me off my feed had I not already discovered Asimov by that time. Basically, I’m suggesting that educators instill a love of books first, with novels accessible by your average teenager, and save the “classic literature” for later. The classics will still be there for people to discover once they’ve gotten into the habit of reading. Unfortunately, I suspect there are still big circles within academia filled with people who look down their noses at science fiction and fantasy. Heck, my grandmother, who retired from teaching around the time I was in high school (so her generation was still a major force in education when I was in school), clucked her tongue at people who read (gasp!) paperback books.
I also think that book reports are a surefire way to kill interest in reading. God I hated those things in school!
Teacher and/or parent: “You’re such a good reader! You love to read! I don’t understand why you won’t do your book reports!”
Me: “Um, because I’m too busy … reading?”