@Zeusandhera Sounds about right. I started off early, reading kids books, cereal boxes, anything I could get my hands on. Then I discovered science fiction at 7, soon followed by novels, classics, technical books, science books, car repair manuals, even an occasional encyclopedia volume. College ruined me, as digesting so many physics and math textbooks really screwed up my natural flow of reading. Then after college on to endless scientific papers, government reports, technical manuals, regulations and administrivia. Most reading for enjoyment happened on long flights or vacations. (I’m fortunate to have a few friends who are writers; their books tend to be my first choices for enjoyment reading.)
Now I’m back to being read or reading children’s books to an enraptured audience (i.e. grandchildren) and usually in a silly voice or accent.
The circle of life.
@mehcuda67@Zeusandhera Before I moved I was reading to a class of second graders once a week through a Read Aloud program. Really got me back in the swing of reading for myself for pleasure. Moving to a new state during a pandemic helped as opportunities for meeting people were slim to none so one of the first things I did after getting my utilities turned on was to get a library card at the public library. I also belong to a used book subscription service through a great gentleman’s Patreon (very modest cost too!) where three books a month are hand picked for me and mailed directly to my home. I’ve enjoyed that immensely as his picks are not necessarily books I would choose for myself yet all have been good reads. Homeward Bound Books if anyone is interested. He also does a children’s book subscription service which makes a nice year round gift for your favorite child.
I used to get 150+, but since I started working with books professionally, it dropped like a stone. I usually read ~50 books for work and another 25ish for pleasure over a year, though I don’t track it as accurately as I used to because not all of the books I read for work make it to publication.
I love to read, it’s what I need, I read up, I read down and sometimes I read upside down! Sorry, couldn’t help myself, retired elementary school teacher and counselor! This year I will only average one book a week, but disciplined myself to average about one nonfiction book a month.
I used to read two or three books at a time (one at work, home and boyfriends) but since surgeries my neck doesn’t like to bend down at that angle so it’s hard for me to read. I do miss it. I’ve tried everything and nothing really seems get me into that position where I can comfortably read.
@Star2236 My wife is an avid reader and usually has two or three books going at a time. (She’s a librarian.) She keeps records - titles, page counts, etc. In 2020, she read 164 books, >54K pages. Looks like she is on track to exceed that for 2021.
@macromeh
Everybody always used to ask me how I did bc they couldn’t understand how I could read so many different books at once and not get confused. I liked it though, I always couldn’t wait to get my nose back into my book.
The best book I read this year was “A Memory Called Empire”. It came out in 2019, and the sequel was released this year. The sequel was very, very good, but the first one was outstanding. SciFi/ Fantasy.
I never know how to answer questions like this one. It presumes that we pick up a book/open it on an e-reader/listen to an audiobook straight through (with maybe a few breaks) to the end, then say: "Finished that one!", then go on to the next. Maybe that’s how normal people read books. IS that how normal people read books?
I sometimes read novels like that. More often, I’m somewhere in the middle of several books that are either paused on the e-reader or bookmarked and stacked somewhere. I finish them whenever or don’t finish them if they don’t hold my interest. Then there are non-fiction books that I read parts of, but not necessarily the entire book. (How much of a book do you have to read to have it count as “read”?) Or I go back and reread older books in part while skipping other parts. The latest on this list are the first books in the Wheel of Time saga because the TV series keeps making me pause and say: “Wait! Was it like that in the book? …”
@rockblossom
Many years ago, I summarized the first book of WoT down to “There goes the neighborhood.” When it became apparent, along about the fifth book, that Jordan was never actually going to Get On With It, and had achieved the in-print equivalent of French Cinema, I completely stopped paying attention.
@werehatrack I think I made it through book 7 or 8, but there was a long delay and I lost track of the plot. Plots, really. I think there are a couple more hardbacks somewhere in my shelves/haphazard stacks of books that I never got back to. At this point, I’m inclined to be lazy and just let the on-screen series play out. Same with The Song of Ice and Fire, which doesn’t appear to be finding a finish any time soon, and I’m finding it hard to remember where everyone was at the end of the last book. The “G.R.R. Martin Syndrome” seems to be contagious. The third book of The Kingkiller Chronicles (P. Rothfuss) is due out any year now. Or not. And I’m not sure where everyone was at the end of book 2. Sigh.
I don’t have time to read “books” with all the zero-day attacks and vulnerabilities being reported constantly. I do get to read a technical paper on a new cybersecurity tool periodically. Does that count?
Since high school I have purchased two books with the intention of reading them. That never happened. I just don’t get how people can read book after book.
Are we counting posts made by @f00l?
@Ignorant
Why wouldn’t everyone read - and count as being “books” - book posts made by a @f00l?
/giphy “text”
Do audiobooks and kids books count? If so, dozens and hundreds. Otherwise physically sitting and reading a full book book, maybe like 2 a year.
@Zeusandhera Sounds about right. I started off early, reading kids books, cereal boxes, anything I could get my hands on. Then I discovered science fiction at 7, soon followed by novels, classics, technical books, science books, car repair manuals, even an occasional encyclopedia volume. College ruined me, as digesting so many physics and math textbooks really screwed up my natural flow of reading. Then after college on to endless scientific papers, government reports, technical manuals, regulations and administrivia. Most reading for enjoyment happened on long flights or vacations. (I’m fortunate to have a few friends who are writers; their books tend to be my first choices for enjoyment reading.)
Now I’m back to being read or reading children’s books to an enraptured audience (i.e. grandchildren) and usually in a silly voice or accent.
The circle of life.
@mehcuda67 @Zeusandhera Before I moved I was reading to a class of second graders once a week through a Read Aloud program. Really got me back in the swing of reading for myself for pleasure. Moving to a new state during a pandemic helped as opportunities for meeting people were slim to none so one of the first things I did after getting my utilities turned on was to get a library card at the public library. I also belong to a used book subscription service through a great gentleman’s Patreon (very modest cost too!) where three books a month are hand picked for me and mailed directly to my home. I’ve enjoyed that immensely as his picks are not necessarily books I would choose for myself yet all have been good reads. Homeward Bound Books if anyone is interested. He also does a children’s book subscription service which makes a nice year round gift for your favorite child.
@mehcuda67 @steeltoesenator @Zeusandhera
Re book Patreon.
Thx will take a look. Need more!
@f00l @mehcuda67 @Zeusandhera https://www.patreon.com/homewardboundbooks
@f00l Looks like a paper MRI.
Would you be so kind as to grab the beige book with the blue pages on the lower left for me?
Lately only about 10 to15 because I don’t have a reading chair. It used to be about 30 to 40.
@yakkoTDI I didn’t even know chairs could read.
@mehcuda67 @yakkoTDI Modern technology is pretty amazing.
I used to get 150+, but since I started working with books professionally, it dropped like a stone. I usually read ~50 books for work and another 25ish for pleasure over a year, though I don’t track it as accurately as I used to because not all of the books I read for work make it to publication.
@Jamileigh17 Thats interesting. Out of curiosity, about what fraction of books you read would you consider “good” but dont make it to publication?
I love to read, it’s what I need, I read up, I read down and sometimes I read upside down! Sorry, couldn’t help myself, retired elementary school teacher and counselor! This year I will only average one book a week, but disciplined myself to average about one nonfiction book a month.
Not enough. Some rough events the last decade have really impacted my ability to step into a book.
I used to read two or three books at a time (one at work, home and boyfriends) but since surgeries my neck doesn’t like to bend down at that angle so it’s hard for me to read. I do miss it. I’ve tried everything and nothing really seems get me into that position where I can comfortably read.
@Star2236 My wife is an avid reader and usually has two or three books going at a time. (She’s a librarian.) She keeps records - titles, page counts, etc. In 2020, she read 164 books, >54K pages. Looks like she is on track to exceed that for 2021.
@macromeh
Everybody always used to ask me how I did bc they couldn’t understand how I could read so many different books at once and not get confused. I liked it though, I always couldn’t wait to get my nose back into my book.
The best book I read this year was “A Memory Called Empire”. It came out in 2019, and the sequel was released this year. The sequel was very, very good, but the first one was outstanding. SciFi/ Fantasy.
I never know how to answer questions like this one. It presumes that we pick up a book/open it on an e-reader/listen to an audiobook straight through (with maybe a few breaks) to the end, then say: "Finished that one!", then go on to the next. Maybe that’s how normal people read books. IS that how normal people read books?
I sometimes read novels like that. More often, I’m somewhere in the middle of several books that are either paused on the e-reader or bookmarked and stacked somewhere. I finish them whenever or don’t finish them if they don’t hold my interest. Then there are non-fiction books that I read parts of, but not necessarily the entire book. (How much of a book do you have to read to have it count as “read”?) Or I go back and reread older books in part while skipping other parts. The latest on this list are the first books in the Wheel of Time saga because the TV series keeps making me pause and say: “Wait! Was it like that in the book? …”
So. How many a year? HellifIknow.
@rockblossom
Many years ago, I summarized the first book of WoT down to “There goes the neighborhood.” When it became apparent, along about the fifth book, that Jordan was never actually going to Get On With It, and had achieved the in-print equivalent of French Cinema, I completely stopped paying attention.
@werehatrack I think I made it through book 7 or 8, but there was a long delay and I lost track of the plot. Plots, really. I think there are a couple more hardbacks somewhere in my shelves/haphazard stacks of books that I never got back to. At this point, I’m inclined to be lazy and just let the on-screen series play out. Same with The Song of Ice and Fire, which doesn’t appear to be finding a finish any time soon, and I’m finding it hard to remember where everyone was at the end of the last book. The “G.R.R. Martin Syndrome” seems to be contagious. The third book of The Kingkiller Chronicles (P. Rothfuss) is due out any year now. Or not. And I’m not sure where everyone was at the end of book 2. Sigh.
I don’t have time to read “books” with all the zero-day attacks and vulnerabilities being reported constantly. I do get to read a technical paper on a new cybersecurity tool periodically. Does that count?
Since high school I have purchased two books with the intention of reading them. That never happened. I just don’t get how people can read book after book.
Do comic books count?
@zachdecker graphic novels
This year has become a record year for me. 65 books have been read.
“I NEVER LEARNED TO READ!”
I don’t read often, but I buy a bunch. When I read tons of books I couldn’t afford to buy them.
Who even reads books anymore lol