E. I know I own more than 700 books.
E, definitely E. Well, way above E, into the many thousands, really.
I started reading at a very early age, I read quickly, and I read constantly. As a kid, I chafed under the limit of 10 books that children were limited to at my local library because having to wait a whole week to get more meant I’d sometimes have a few days with nothing to read unless I re-read something. They eventually bent the rules to let me get the adult limit of 21 books at once. The number one thing I miss most about the US is not being able to go to the library. The internet is just no substitute and I simply can’t afford to buy all the books I would like to read. Non-fiction books are particularly expensive and my interests are pretty varied.
I’m, unfortunately, still not up to reading proper non-fiction in Japanese, at least not book-length stuff, though I have read a couple of short novels and some manga. It’s frustrating to spend weeks reading something in Japanese when I could finish a similar book in English in a day or two.
As to ownership, when I had to move my books into storage before coming here, I culled my personal library and still ended up with 6 large Rubbermaid tubs full of books. I got the tubs because they would protect the books better than boxes. I hated leaving my collection behind. In my apartment here I have enough books to fill about 3 average sized bookcases. Of course, I’ve only got one bookcase, so even with triple stacking I’ve got lots on the floor. This is despite the relative expense of English language books here and the ardent patronage of a used book store I found in Ebisu. If I could afford it, and had the right place for it, I would have a huge personal library. Something like one of those old Victorian manor houses with the two-story bookcases with ladders and landings to access things would do nicely, I think.
E+, certainly. I’ve been doing the “50 book challenge” thing for a couple of years, now; going by that, it seems I’m reading somewhere between 80 and 100 books a year (not counting re-reads).
At one point, when I was a kid, I kept a five-year diary with all my reading listed in it; I think the total was somewhere over 800. So, my book reading has actually declined with advancing years … probably, I think, because I’m reading longer and more complicated books than I did as a kid, there’s a lot of other informational media (Internet, videos, DVDs) around that wasn’t there when I was a kid, oh, and there’s this thing called “real life” that keeps intruding on my reading time.
Like Askia or others, I probably wouldn’t consider being in a relationship with someone who wasn’t an avid reader … just because, well, we wouldn’t have anything in common, would we? (For the same reason, I’d expect women who were seriously into, say, sport, not to be interested in me. It’s not a value judgment, it’s just a compatibility issue.)
I am the proud owner of a collection of books that exceeded 800 about two, maybe three years ago.
If you count re-reads, I have probably read many thousands of books in my lifetime.
If you don’t, still at least a few, I’d think.
So no matter how you count it, definitely an E.
I love books! 
Reading a book a day depends very much on the book. I can swallow some murder mysteries whole–and start on a second one that evening.
I have no idea how fast my reading is, but I do know that I was the fastest reader in my honors US History class in HS. (we took some damned standardized test and I was the only one who finished this one section in the time allotted–whatever that may mean. The teacher asked who was done after a certain amount of time and I was it.) If I am reading research articles or difficult (for me) material-I am slower. But fiction? Unless it’s Toni Morrison or James Joyce (neither of which I truly read for pleasure)–I gobble them up.
I work PT, have 3 kids and a busy life. I visit the library every week and check out from 5-8 books. Say I average 5 a week. Have done since I was in college–I am 43. So, 5 books/week x 22 years–it’s over 1000. I am not going to bother doing the math.
And that does’t count the rereads, really. Books can be friends–I have read and reread JkR Rowling, Agatha Christie, Josephine Tey, Georgette Heyer, Mary Stewart, Ruth Rendell and Jane Austen etc many many times.
I like to try new books and am in 2 book clubs. One has devolved into coffee clatching and gossip and “reading best sellers”–ugh. The other, at the library, has me reading new (for me) stuff–I don’t like everything I read there, but it is good for me to do it.
Maybe those who don’t read voraciously can’t understand–but I puzzle over why someone would track batting averages or models of cars. I read while stirring dinner on the stove; I take a book everywhere-even to work, where I never get to crack the spine–but it’s there, just in case I do.
Lately, I have gotten into poetry (thanks to some threads here). Every now and again, I read a biography (and not Posh’s, thankyouverymuch).
Reading to me is one way to understand and process the world. If I couldn’t read-I would rather be dead (unless I could do books on tape-but even that…there is something about being able to run my finger over the printed word–to see my thoughts in print…even online doesn’t have that feel, that handedness that a book gives a person. The weight of the book, the feel of the paper, even the typeface used–it all matters[to me].
Oops-forgot to mention that I can’t afford to buy books, really. So I don’t own as many as I ahve bought. Also, space is a problem. I will not buy a book until I have read it and know that I want to read it more than once.
Another point, not meant to be snarky. Some here and in the Pit thread have asked where does one find the time to read? Turn off the TV. Get off line–I have noticed my reading is down ever since I discoverd the marvelous timewaster that is the internet. And read what you love–even if that is the Hardy Boys or Sidney Sheldon. It’s a start. It’s all grist to the mill–practicing the skill will improve it and soon you will want something a bit more meaty, so to speak.
I’d estimate C. I’ve read some probably not too large number over 253 since October 99, when I started keeping a list.
E
We made an inventory of books at Mom’s (mine were not counted, since their presence there is considered as “storage”) and the list includes over 3500 lines. Multi-volume items are listed in a single line. I’ve read most of them. Nowadays when I’m at Mom’s I’m going through my great-great-grandfather’s Universal History in 25 volumes.
Nerd? Where?
I’m in the E++ range as well. I’m doing a minor in English, soley because I like to read - 200+ books per year * many, many years = many, many books.
I also own a tonne - too many, I don’t have space. I even have a stack of 50 or so in my office at work to lend out to people. I have too many books.
Oh, yeah. E++ it is. My mother was a librarian, fer Og’s sake! I generally have 3 or 4 books going at the same time: one at home, one in the truck, one at work, one in my pack, etc. I can’t spend a day without reading a book without feeling like I missed something.
G on both. In fact I am looking at 4,000 or more books in this very room. I probably haven’t read 1,000 of them, but I have read countless more from the library. I used to have a card index of my sf books, but kids and work screwed that up, and I’m just redoing it in a database - up to 2,000 without having finished the paperbacks, and not touched the magazines and hardcovers.
My wife was just saying how compatible we are about reading - when we travel, we bring extra books just in case we get snowed in or something.
I have absolutely no idea how many I’ve read. I couldn’t even tell you how many I own. I could guess, but likely be well out.
People who don’t read, and are proud of it, worry me. People who keep a strict count of how much they’ve read, and are proud of it, worry me just as much, but in a different way.
I am trying to do this, not for the numbers, but for the reference. I can’t be considered a “great reader” because I forget books. I’m trying to keep a list, now, and it’s hard for me.
On 1/1/01, Mr. m and I started keeping a track of every book we read. I found out that I average 20 books per year (I read slowly–I like to savor–and tend to pick long books). So, assuming that’s been my pace consistently and that I’ve been reading chapter books since I was about 10, I’d have to say 500 so far.
I certainly don’t judge people based on whether they read or not. I know not everyone enjoys it, just like I don’t enjoy sports. But I can’t imagine going through life without a stack of books on my nightstand. I start feeling a little stressed when I’m down to just one or two books that I’m anxious to read. That’s a sure sign that it’s time for a trip to the library or book store.
I just looked at my Book Collector database. It says I have have input 270 so far. I doubt that is 20% of the books I own in this trailer right now, (I have more in storage at my sisters.) and doesn’t include the thousands of comics I own. There are less than 2 dozen I haven’t read yet, and most I have read at least twice. Add in the huge number I used to take out of the library before I could afford to buy most of what I wanted. I am pretty much an E.
I don’t know many people around here that read as much as I do, but I am single and addicted to books. And I pay for that since I am very, very bad at making small talk or even normal conversation. But I can talk about books! 
And every time someone comes into my place the first time, they look around and go “Have you read all these?”
Harlan Ellison struggled with this question until he hit on the perfect reply: “Hell no! Who wants a library full of books you’ve already read?”
As far as reading goes, I’m in the 1000 plus, easily.
However, as far as owning goes, I’m probably at 200 or so. I’ve had far too many cross country moves and have lost/donated/sold way too many books. Still, books are heavy and bulky.
Interesting, as a person who is paid to read, I wonder about the amount of words I have read over the past 5 years reading standardized test essays.