I heard someone interviewed on NPR a few days ago who said she read 50-60 books per year. The host expressed surprise, indicating that was really a lot.
I read at least one book per week, so that puts me easily in the 50-60 camp. I read myself to sleep, and read when I wake up in the middle of the night.
How many books do you read, not counting for scholastic or business requirements? Bonus points for what generation you hail from (I’m boomer) and what format you prefer (traditional paper, personally.)
I’m 37. I feel like I read more than 1-2 books per month, but I’m not really sure because I don’t track everything I read. And I go through phases. I read six fiction books in the last two weeks because I went on a Stephen King/Joe Hill binge. Then sometimes I’ll go a month without really reading for pleasure (thanks, Internet). So, it varies.
When I was a teenager/young adult I easily would have maxed out your range. But, again, that was pre-Internet.
I think 50-60 is probably a lot for the average person.
I’m ashamed of my vote. I used to read voraciously and would have been able to answer 50-60.
Lately, even with the goal of reading more, reading at bedtime puts me to sleep faster than it used to so I’m reading 6 pages a night rather than 2 or 3 chapters.
I used to read voraciously. Then I got married, had kids, and went to grad school. I’m now lucky to get through a couple of pages a day at breakfast. If you include audio books, though, which I listen to in the lab as I work, the number goes way up.
Kindle makes this really easy to track. I got my Kindle for Christmas at the end of 2011. When I’m done with an ebook, I keep it but put it in my “finished” folder. My finished folder has 231 books in it. I’ll estimate I’ve also read about 20 paperbacks since then as well, so that’s about 250 books.
In roughly 30 months (2.5 years), that works out to approximately 100 books per year.
Wow. I didn’t even realize I could have a “finished” folder on my kindle. And keeping stats is way beyond what I could imagine doing. For the record I’m 56, forgot to mention it previously.
I am 37. I read at least one book a week and have since I could read. I do a mix of ebooks and paper books. I am currently trying to read through the books I have bought over the years, but not read. Lots of classics and a few, “why did I buy this?”. I also have a book club and we do a book every six weeks.
The number of books is less constant for me than the amount of time - I spend at least an hour a day reading because I always read before bed and during certain other lull times of the day (lunch break and bathroom).
I’m working my way through the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, which is not only dense reading (if you know Stephen R Donaldson, you know that a dictionary is a must), but about 2500 pages (hardcover-edition measurement) between the four books. These might last me the rest of the summer, I’d say I average about 20-25 over the course of a year for average books of average size.
Nowadays I read everything on my iPhone. My absolute favorite app is iSilo, if I can find a .txt version of the book, or convert a PDF into TXT. (Don’t worry - I always pay for the book in some form even if I have to “pirate” a text copy for easy reading.) I also have some books through Nook and iBooks. With so much reading on the job and my eyes being such a challenge, reading a paper book is just not pleasurable anymore.
Read: 93
Unread: 12 ( I rarely buy a book unless I’m actually going to read it, so those are either freebies or books I coudn’t finish for some reason. OTOH, if I’m interested in a book, I will download the sample, which brings me to…)
Samples: 117
That’s over about 3 years, but I do read paper books as well, so I think I average about 40 books per year. I’m a late Boomer, and I much prefer reading books on the Kindle, but will read paper if it’s not available electronically.
It varies, but the last few years I’ve probably averaged a book a week. I used to read even more but I have less free/reading time than I used to.
I’m just shy of 50. I owe a couple thousand tree books, but these last few years I’ve come to love my Kindle. I wish there was a way I could convert about half my treebooks into e-books so they’d take up a lot less space. Not that I don’t like treebooks, it’s just that I’m trying to downsize the clutter in my life and Kindle takes up a heck of a lot less space.
A few of my tree books - like the lavishly illustrated and gold leaf family heirloom from 1856 - I don’t want to part with because they’re wonderful objects in their own right.
I’m in my 60s. I probably still manage at least one a week because I listen to audiobooks while commuting. I also read kindle, kobo and paper books. I used to estimate that I read between 50 and 100 per year when I was in my 20s and 30s but I didn’t have a full time job then.