How many books do you read annually?

[cherrera]

I just read a post by Mark Mason at The Telegraph and he says that he feels inadequate that he only reads two books a month. Ok, I'll admit that I read a bit more than that most of the time, but I also know people who are lucky to read one book a year.

I average about 4-5 books per month, not counting reference, ebooks or short stories I run across.

How many do you know/think you read?

[Fran]

I read 7 books in Feb & 7/8 would be my monthly average but a lot depends on the books, some taking a lot longer to read than others (e.g Ulysses!), & what else is going on in my life & work of course. I don't see it in competitive terms & sometimes one really good book can be as absorbing & entertaining as 10. My problem is that there are so many interesting & tempting recommendations on the forums.

I don't see why Mr Mason, or anyone else, should feel inadequate ... IMO it's about enjoying your reading, whether it's one book a year or 100 and not some kind of imaginary competition.

Now to get back to the pile on the floor looking at me accusingly

[DATo]

Hi cherrera, welcome to the forums [:-) It's interesting that you asked this because two years ago I started a new bookshelf upon which I placed the books I have read from my personal library (admittedly not a good organizing system). I just counted them and there are 66 books on the shelf; however, this obviously does not include books from the public library or books that others have lent me. I would estimate that this number would include an additional 10 books for a total of 76, divided by 2 (2 years) = 38.

[StephenKingman]

It really does depend. For instance, last year i spent nearly 2 months reading On The Road, a 300 page classic. And yet i read over 700 pages of 11.22.63 in just four days, then followed that by reading an average of a book a week. It all depends on how tired i am during the week, what humor im in, how much spare time i have, the length of the book etc. At the moment im on fire with books as im getting through them very fast so ill try and hang on to that vibe. It also helps when i read a few decent horror books that catch my interest.

[Gannon]

I have set myself the goal of reading at least fifty this year.

[RuqeeD]

I think my average is something like one book every four days or so, so I average around 7 books a month. But like others have said before me, it really depends on external factors. Right now I'm struggling to finish books I've started and I have no idea why, it's very unlike me. I have three books that I've read halfway before moving on to the next one and now I'm trying to at least finish one book out of those three...

[cherrera]

RuqeeD, I noticed that when I read some books and my interest in the book is not what it usually is (77 Shadow Street) the book takes me longer. It took me a week to read that book and usually I'll breeze through something like that in a couple days.
I'm attempting to step up my reading this year and go for a goal of 75 books by the end of December.

I think the competitive aspect of this is more about promoting literacy. It's a good thing.

[jenni1607]

I plough through around 3-4 books a month. I'm a writer, so I read to learn my craft.

[Bighuey]

I read a lot of short stories, anywhere from 2 to 5 a day. The problem I have in reading a long book is that Im in and out, up and down all day and its hard for me to concentrate on anything very long. Which is odd because before I retired I would read at least two full-length novels a week, even at times working two jobs. I guess Im too busy doing nothing now. And being on this stupid computer every night dosent help, either.

[RuqeeD]

RuqeeD, I noticed that when I read some books and my interest in the book is not what it usually is (77 Shadow Street) the book takes me longer. It took me a week to read that book and usually I'll breeze through something like that in a couple days.
I'm attempting to step up my reading this year and go for a goal of 75 books by the end of December.

I think the competitive aspect of this is more about promoting literacy. It's a good thing.

I know what you mean. It took me ages to get even to mid way of 77 shadow street until I eventually gave it up as a bad job. But that was because I really wasn't enjoying it. But the books I'm reading now are ones I'm enjoying, they have a good story line but I'm still trying to get myself to read it, if I wasn't enjoying it I would chuck it and move to the next one....I think its probably because its a bit dark and morbid storyline and my brain is crying out for something lighter and funny

[Va_treehugger]

My goal is 36 books (some of them are pretty long...) but if you include the books I read to my daughter, it is about 336.

[Maud Fitch]

According to my rough list from last year, I read over 100 books but I think I fudged some figures with unfulfilled
TBR and Wishlist, so I think I'll aim for about 24 books this year, two per month with plenty of room to expand.

[Carla Hurst-Chandler]

I usually read 3-4 books a week. A lot of them shorter nonfiction...usually one novel amidst them. So an average of 150-200 a year.

[Sundance_Kid]

I think I get through maybe 3 or 4 a week, however I'm required to read a couple a week for my literature degree, so for fun it's probably only 1 to 2 a week. But as several people said, sometimes it's less, or more, depending on my mood, concentration levels etc.

[Laura_Timmins]

This year im writing down a list of te books I read, will be interesting at the end to see how many i get through!