How many books do you read a year? A Pissing Contest

[Kishi the Bad Lampshade]

I started keeping records of the books I'd read (including short stories and poem collections) a few years ago:

2014 - 28
2015 - 28
2016 - 36
2017 - currently on 30

Whether this competition with oneself is any good or not I don't know, but I have noticed a significant uptick in how much I read since I started. Somehow I always end up picking up bastard long books which keep me sidetracked for a month or more though, or else books that turn out to be really boring which I struggle to give up on (the turgid As I Stared at the Night of the City was one I stumbled through half-heartedly for a few weeks recently). Short books magically elude me - the last few I decided to get on my Kindle based on others' recommendations were Nixonland, Legacy of Ashes, The Goldfinch and Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, all of which turn out to be monsters. So on another note, if anyone would like to recommend good books with fewer than 200 pages so I can beat last years' target, that would be appreciated.

How much do you read? Do you keep records and try and beat them? Do you feel guilty reading big books, or giving up on books, because you won't reach your targets, or is that only me?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

15-20, y'know books, but I read a lot of essays, shorter stuff and that allows me to feel sufficiently clever and studious while secretly I am ashamed I don't make more time for reading and finishing books.

[Serge]

I've actually been keeping a record this year. I managed to figure out how many books I read last year - mainly by going back through my posts in the old 'What Are You Reading?' thread in Picture Box - and was disappointed that I'd only read about 62 or 63, which is just over one a week. I felt I should be reading more than that. I did read a lot more quickly when I was younger, but some of the medical treatment I've had has blitzed my brain a bit, and for a year or more after early 2015, I had noticeably slowed down (there is a thing called 'chemo brain', which I'm going to use as an explanation for my sluggishness.) Things have started to improve over the last year, and I'm finding reading a lot easier again.

Anyway, due to the disappointment at the mid-60s score from last year, I determined that I would read at least 100 books this year. I've been keeping a record, both on Facebook and in a notebook, and I'm currently on my 88th book of the year, so hopefully I should make my target. There was a thing going about at the beginning of the year when people were setting themselves a target of reading 50 books with strict rules (one classic, one foreign language title, one this, one that) but that would just frustrate me for the same reason I don't like book clubs or reading groups - I'd feel like I was being forced to read certain titles for what seemed like a spurious reason, so it was a simple '100 books, whatever I feel like reading'.

Having said that, I've also been pushing myself not to go for the easy option of just reading short books, although as I mentioned in the Great American Novels thread, I do like a good thick novel anyway! I kicked off the year by reading 'Walls Come Tumbling Down', the book on RAR/Two-Tone/Red Wedge, which was over 600 pages, and followed that with Simon Reynolds' 'Shock And Awe', which clocks in at over 500. I should add that I'm not deliberately reading hefty books, it's just that I am drawn to them!

I have slightly cheated once - I bought a box set of the first five Edward Marston 'Railway Detective' books, which, if I'm being honest, aren't really very good, but they were such a cinch to read, that I went through all five in under a week. So to really stick to my guns, I should try and read 105 books altogether! I've been lucky in choosing books this year, which helps, I've only read two that I absolutely loathed, and I have given up on three others (I usually give a book 50 pages before giving up, though if a book is really bad - 'Autumn' by Ali Smith, for example - I feel I have to stick with it until the end to see if it's a stinker all the way through.)

Kenneth Williams allegedly read a book a day - I could only dream of those lofty heights! I think it is all about making the time to read - when I lived in London, I usually had at least a couple of hours a day commuting, so that was handy in that sense, but now I don't have that, I just like to sit down and spend 60-90 minutes reading in the evening.

Oh, and I also read three or four music magazines a month.

As for short books: Robert Seethaler's 'The Tobacconist' isn't very long, and all of Richard Brautigan's can easily be read in two hours or less (Brautigan actually wrote a dedication at the start of one of them that referenced this!) Gabriel Garcia Marquez got annoyed that some of his longer short stories were published as books in their own right - 'No-One Writes To The Colonel' and 'Chronicle Of A Death Foretold' spring to mind. But if you want concision, Patrick Suskind's 'The Pigeon' is a mere 57 pages long, but also a work of genius.

[Mr Brightside]

I've pissed on six books this year so far.

[manticore]

Kenneth Williams allegedly read a book a day

I can believe that - he always came across as very erudite and knowledgable on 'Just a Minute'.

I'm an extremely slow/inefficient reader. I tried the techniques recommended in 'Use Your Head' by Tony Buzan many years ago, and although they made perfect sense, they didn't help much unfortunately.

[BritishHobo]

I started counting in 2012, using the Goodreads reading challenge, and each year I add one to the total of what I read in the previous year, to make that my new challenge.

2012: 65
2013: 68
2014: 75
2015: 76
2016: 79

Currently on 98 books this year. I should specify however that I do count anything that Goodreads will let you mark as Read, so some of these numbers also contain stuff like a baby book I bought for my niece, single issues of comics, or some of them shite Ladybird parody books, things with about twelve words in overall. I'd knock maybe fifteen off each total just to play it safe.

[holyzombiejesus]

I think reading a book a day is a fucking atrocious idea! Although I'd dearly love more opportunities to sit and read, I don't really get the idea about reading as many books as possible. There have been occasions where I've deliberately slowed down on certain books (Cynan Jones' for example) rather than speed through and added another tick to the list. I want to be able to read 'better' if that makes sense; I find myself skim reading more and more frequently and sometimes jettison books rather than put effort in and properly get to grips with them.

[Wet Blanket]

I read about one a week I reckon, but if it's been a really good one I like to leave it a while before picking up another, you know, to let it linger.

[Serge]

I think reading a book a day is a fucking atrocious idea!

To be fair, I think it may have been slightly overstated - how did he fit in the rest of his life? - but yeah, it is a bit much.

There have been occasions where I've deliberately slowed down on certain books (Cynan Jones' for example) rather than speed through and added another tick to the list.

I have done this before, but you do have the weird thing where part of you wants to slow down and savour the writing, but another part wants to plough ahead to see what comes next!

[dekko]

How much do you read? Do you keep records and try and beat them? Do you feel guilty reading big books, or giving up on books, because you won't reach your targets, or is that only me?

Kishi, I do exactly the same thing and started in 2010 with the aim of reading 100 books I'd never read before (this lofty aim was because I had just started a job with a four-hour daily commute). I concluded that more than 100 is absolute folly so I try and hit that target each year rather than beat the previous year's score. I'm no less likely to read a big book (I am currently about a quarter into The Luminaries) but when I polish that off I'll get some short novels out of the library. (You can power through Virginia Woolf's "Monday or Tuesday" in two and a half seconds.)
The results to date:
2010 - 100 'new' books, 12 re-reads of old favourites = 112
2011 - 71 new, 29 re-reads = 100
2012 - 77 new, 22 re-reads = 99
2013 - 57 new, 36 re-reads = 93
2014 - 100 new, 21 re-reads = 121
2015 - 100 new, 10 re-reads = 110
2016 - 100 new, 38 re-reads = 138
2017 - 76 new, 11 re-reads = 87 so far.

The sobering thing here is, in nearly eight years I've only gone back to a book 179 times, which makes my heaving shelves seem more than ever just vanity rather than what I thought they were, i.e. favourites I would revisit through my life. Evidence suggests I won't get through much more than a thousand old favourites before I die, and I must have nearly twice that on my shelves. Chuck them all and rely on the library?

[Nice Relaxing Poo]

About 1 every 10 days give or take. So maybe 40 at best.

[selectivememory]

If I could maintain a consistent reading habit, I'd probably be in the 40-50 ballpark, but given that I go through spells where I struggle to focus on books and read nothing, or just struggle with whatever I happen to be reading at the time, I've been averaging about 15 books a year. Have been keeping track in the last few years of what I read and when, and I tend to go through three or four months of constantly having something on the go, and then months with nothing.

Up to 15 for this year so far, and it'd be nice to make 20 by the end of the year. I've started and abandoned a few books along the way as well, and I do have a couple of short story collections that I have been working through over the year which might bump my total up if I can finish them.

I have no idea how the likes of Serge, BritishHobo and dekko manage that many. I don't know if it's admirable or if you're all mad (well, I'm actually very impressed, but it still seems crazy to me). I'd be really pleased with myself if I could read 30 every year.

[BritishHobo]

My main trick has been unemployment/doing an arts degree with 90% free time. I've just started full-time work and I bet my reading pace is gonna drop at a crazy rate.

[Serge]

Well, as I say, I'm lucky that I can give myself time to read every day. Single man, any distractions I come up with are my own, so it's easier for me to just sit on my own reading for an hour or two than someone in a relationship, with kids, etc. Commuting is definitely a good time to read. And I get 90 minutes of breaks a day on work days, so that's 90 minutes reading time right there.

[purlieu]

I was on around 40 a year for a while, but this year since starting my Doctor Who novels & novelisations marathon, I've been lurching forward (a mixture of the Target books being short, and my enjoyment of the series), with 85 read so far. I reckon I'll comfortably hit my Goodreads target of 100 this year.

[Danger Man]

3

Which beats 2016's and 2015's score of 0.

I'm strangely proud of this.

[bgmnts]

My inability to read fills me with almost as much self loathing as my abysmal physical health.

My goal this year was to read 10 books; I read 1.

[Black Ship]

I've read over 1000 books since I was 17.  That's on average 52 books per year, or 1 per week for, 19 years. But I'm sure I've read more than that. I've slowed down a bit over the last year as I have more things to do, and losing my library in the fire kind of put me off reading for a while.

[Neville Chamberlain]

My reading list for this year:

The Woman in Black - Susan Hill
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - John le Carré
The Crow Road - Iain Banks
I Think You'll Find It's a Bit More Complicated Than That - Ben Goldacre
The Bridge - Iain Banks
The Day of Creation - J.G. Ballard
Happy City - Charles Montgomery
The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen
Submission - Michel Houellebecq
The North Water - Ian McGuire
Gottlos glücklich: Warum wir ohne Religion besser dran wären - Philipp Möller

Currently reading: Ghost Story - Peter Straub

I would have had a few more books under my belt this year if I hadn't stalled on Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, which completely put me out of the habit of reading for a couple of months. Plus, I only really have time to read on my morning commute, which is just four stations long, and at night, before sleep.

Not much compared with some of you lot, I know!

[Serge]

Anyway, due to the disappointment at the mid-60s score from last year, I determined that I would read at least 100 books this year.

I have just finished my 100th book of the year, so managed to hit my target with room to spare! Hopefully I can maintain this level, as there are just so many damn books I want to read before I kick the bucket.

[Twit 2]

Don't all the books just bleed into one? Can you remember any of them?

[purlieu]

With just over a week to go, I'm currently on 104.

[Serge]

You're one ahead of me!

[Bhazor]

In terms of novels probably about 3 a month.

For big text books about 1 a month.

[Kishi the Bad Lampshade]

I'm on track for 40! Wahey!

[Serge]

I should end up at 105 unless I zip through two books really quickly in the next four days, which almost certainly isn't going to happen. I took a break for a week in the run up to Christmas, mainly because I was so tired that I wouldn't have been able to concentrate. I'm still fairly tired, but I have made a start on my Christmas pile by reading Fenella Fielding's memoirs (a quick and easy read), and will probably round off the year with Ruth And Martin's Album Club.

[tookish]

I read about four books a week on average - some for university and some for pleasure. I also reread a lot though. I think I'll keep track of new books read in 2018.

[Bhazor]

Nerrrrrd

[Serge]

unless I zip through two books really quickly in the next four days

Heh, given the rate I'm ploughing through the Album Club book, this may actually happen. I'm also finding it an intensely irritating book, so I will be annoyed if it is the last thing I read in 2017.

[Serge]

Finished the year on 106 books, as I zipped through Paul Hanley's excellent Leave The Capital in the last day or so.

Already have a massive pile to start 2018 off. As well as the load I got for Christmas, I was given £60 for my birthday, which at work is worth £120, so another dozen books to add to the masses......