[Bob Russell]

I'm constantly amazed at the rate at which MobileRead members devour books. I mean, 20 books a year seems almost hard to believe. But some people here reach the impressive rates of something like a book every day or two, and I think that a book a week (>50 per year) is not uncommon.

Surely there are a few readers out there that can't read that fast (like me). Some of us don't have that much time to spend on reading. In fact, I do most of my reading on technical materials, often not done cover to cover anyway.

I'm pretty darn slow when it comes to pleasure reading, like novels, biographies, history, sci-fi, etc. If it's an all-consuming "page-turner" then maybe I'll finish it in as little as a week. Even a weekend in an extreme case. But the average book takes me about a month or so, and that's only if I am reading on most days.

Even when it comes to each page. I think I take a whole minute or more per page on a good book, so I don't exactly burn through pages either. My mind doesn't really work that fast, and I also tend to daydream and think about other stuff when I'm reading for fun. If I find myself skimming a book or having to re-read all the time because my mind wandered, I usually just go find another book that's more fun to read.

As far as I'm concerned, the worst kind of book is one that makes me really want to know what happens next, but hate reading the pages in-between. Especially, if the event's that I care about are sort of subtly hidden amongst hundreds of uninteresting words. Then it becomes like a "where's Waldo" game while I hunt for the plot events while trying to avoid actually reading the text!

So am I a strange creature when it comes to reading? Is there anyone else out there who really loves to read, but who reads for pleasure in a more leisurely fashion, finishing only a handful of books each year? Tell me I'm not alone in the snail's pace!