How many books do you read in a year?

[KarenH]

So far this year (the first time I've actually tracked it) I'm on a pace to read about 60-70 books, and listen to the audio versions of slightly less than that - maybe 50-60.

[TallMomof2]

I easily read a couple hundred ebooks a year.

[tyche]

I'm trying for the 50 book in a year goal. I started January 1st and I'm at 24 books. Pages are hard to compare due to different formats but nothing i've read has been under 100,000 words. Several have been over 200,000 words.

A book a week is pretty aggressive for me but I seem to be doing it without making it a chore.

[crc]

Originally Posted by StanByk

Just out of curiosity, those people here who read 200 to 300 books a year, how do you manage this? Does your job require that you read the books? Do you read very fast? What is your definition of a book, e.g. how many pages would it have on average as a typical paper back? Are you pensioners? Also, do you have families? Do you have other hobbies?

I read 300-400 books a year.

1) I spend a good portion of my spare time reading.
2) No.
3) Yes. I finish a typical book in 2-3 hours of total reading time.
4) 350 - 500
5) No
6) Yes
7) Yes

[ptatters]

I read somewhere between 200 and 300 books a year. If I managed it, I would be able to read more... ;-D .

While I worked, the count was over and above any work-related reading. I suppose I read obsessively - I read while walking down the street, travelling public transit, wherever and whenever time permits. It used to be that there was always at least one book in my pocket, but these days I carry a whole library of ebooks wherever I go. As for size, most books I read these days are monsters with page counts over 4 or 5 hundred. I've found that over time the length of books has been increasing, with books from the fifties and sixties coming in at page counts of only 2 or 3 hundred.

I'm a pensioner now, but my reading didn't markedly increase when I retired, I just spent more time on other hobbies (and added still more!). Finally, I have a family, and we all read....

[musicworld1]

i read 20 books a year. i think its a small read collection. but i want to increase
my speed.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

WOW! I always thought I was a prolific reader but now... I'm guessing I read maybe 30 a year (and I'm retired!). I've never actually tracked it. Most of the books I read tend to be larger ones. I'm currently reading Amy Tan's The Opposite of Fate which, at 400 pages, isn't too bad and is fairly light reading most of the time unlike her earlier books, especially if one takes time to analyze her characters, their motivations, etc.; I was a Psyc major in college. She refers frequently to previous books she's written but, fortunately, I've read them so her comments regarding them are easy to digest. Most of the Stephen Donaldson and Robert Jordan novels are huge. Atlas Shrugged, War & Peace, etc., are stinkers both because of size and because they require more thinking than the average novel. I never go anywhere without a book in tow.

Last year I read Morgan LLywelyn's Irish Century series and that took quite a bit of time to go through because I was constantly referring back to previous passages or diving online to dig up more detail or different perspectives on certain events in the books (I'm a huge fan of Irish history, especially from the 16th century) or pausing to take notes (I'll probably reread the series in a couple of years).

Books aren't the only thing I read. I participate in a few forums on the internet and do a lot of research online (I'm a data junkie and have done some historical writing; nothing to write home about, though). I frequently download (or copy and paste into Word) articles I find online, especially technical ones (mostly computer related). I also get most of my news online. I will sometimes get local news on TV but, most of the time, TV news is a waste of time because of all the mindless chatter by equally mindless news personalties that goes on between news items. The TV news programs also spend as much time telling you what is coming up next as they do telling what the news is.

I'll be glad when I finish scanning my book collection, photos, etc. and a couple other major projects that will eat up a large chunk of my time so I'll have more time for reading.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by ptatters

I read somewhere between 200 and 300 books a year. If I managed it, I would be able to read more... ;-D .

While I worked, the count was over and above any work-related reading. I suppose I read obsessively - I read while walking down the street, travelling public transit, wherever and whenever time permits. It used to be that there was always at least one book in my pocket, but these days I carry a whole library of ebooks wherever I go. As for size, most books I read these days are monsters with page counts over 4 or 5 hundred. I've found that over time the length of books has been increasing, with books from the fifties and sixties coming in at page counts of only 2 or 3 hundred.

I'm a pensioner now, but my reading didn't markedly increase when I retired, I just spent more time on other hobbies (and added still more!). Finally, I have a family, and we all read....

Four or five hundred pages is close to the average size of most books I read. There were a few of what I would call monsters written back in the fifties, such as Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, or the sixties.

[Wordcrasher]

In last years I read about 100 books per year.
I keep track of them here

[BenLee]

Originally Posted by crc

I read 300-400 books a year.

1) I spend a good portion of my spare time reading.
2) No.
3) Yes. I finish a typical book in 2-3 hours of total reading time.
4) 350 - 500
5) No
6) Yes
7) Yes

Woah, puts my 50-100 or so books per year to shame....to darn shame. You have my respect.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Sorry if this has been asked before. Couldnt find anything recent.

I'm expecting to see a few triple digit numbers

2008: 97
2009: 298
2010 to date: 244

I got my nook in Jan. 2010 and it appears to have facilitated an increase in speed and volume.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by StanByk

Just out of curiosity, those people here who read 200 to 300 books a year, how do you manage this? Does your job require that you read the books? Do you read very fast? What is your definition of a book, e.g. how many pages would it have on average as a typical paper back? Are you pensioners? Also, do you have families? Do you have other hobbies?

I read very fast. I can complete up to 3 easy-reading (non-demanding fiction, romance, that sort of thing) novels a day. I read on the bus on the way to work, at lunch time, on the way home from work (I have a long, 1 hour+ commute), and the evening after my kids go to bed. Most of the books are novel length (200+ pages) although some are novellas and others are bookstop-sized fantasy novels. I don't count picture books or short stories outside of a complete anthology. I have a family. I have other hobbies, but they get shorter shrift in years when I am on a reading tear (and I have years where I don't read nearly as many books as 200-300; I tend to indulge in other hobbies in those years). I also read some heavy nonfiction from time to time and my pace is much slower on that and on classics than it is on the easy-reading fiction.

[Latinandgreek]

I read about 150 books a year. I had thought that I read much less than that, but after I started counting I was surprised at the amount of books I read.

[BenLee]

The problem for me is...

Although I'm probably capable technically of reading 300-400 books per year, I won't be able to properly "digest" all that information and let it sink in burning through books at that speed.

Those of you who read that many, do you find you can much recall most of what you read?

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by BenLee

The problem for me is...

Although I'm probably capable technically of reading 300-400 books per year, I won't be able to properly "digest" all that information and let it sink in burning through books at that speed.

Those of you who read that many, do you find you can much recall most of what you read?

I remember nonfiction (facts and ideas) better than I remember fiction. My brain does that automatically, as if it's decided that fiction is for fun, so no need to remember it that well. I can reread a mystery in a few months and find it somewhat fresh, but can do that less so with nonfiction, because I've retained more of it. I also have bad recall of movies, unless I've seen 'em repeatedly.

I find no need to "digest" fiction, because I read it just for fun nowadays. I used to read some fiction for school, so took more time, because I'd be looking for themes, foreshadowing, symbolism, etc.

Since leaving school, I've alternated between fiction and nonfiction, because I give my brain a break with fiction, and because the nonfiction I like generally costs more (sometimes a lot more) than fiction.

I don't see the need to read by number. Who else cares how many you read a year? Read at a speed you enjoy.