(no subject)

[zanzjan]

According to a CNN story, with the subheader of "Where You Fall In Poll Of US Reading Habits":

one in four Americans read no books at all last year.

the typical American read four.

excluding those who read none, the average was seven.

"I just get sleepy when I read," said Richard Bustos of Dallas, Texas, a habit with which millions of Americans can doubtless identify. Bustos, a 34-year-old project manager for a telecommunications company, said he had not read any books in the last year and would rather spend time in his backyard pool.

(Well, okay, I always thought waterproof books would be a great thing. Dropped a paperback in a hot tub once and it instantly puffed up to the size of my house. Somehow, though, I don't think that's quite what that guy was getting at.)

As of the day before yesterday I finished reading my 40th book this year (Frost & Fire, a Roger Zelazny collection). I'm about a third through number 41, Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff, and enjoying it immensely. I expect I'll have hit around 60 by the end of the year. I used to read a lot more, but then I became a parent and took up writing as a hobby.

So, how many books have you read so far this year? Whatcha reading now? Who the heck did they talk to for this poll, anyway?

Comments

[infinitehotel.livejournal.com]

My reading habits have gotten a lot harder to quantify, mostly because so much stuff passes through. If I read half a book of short stories and never finish the rest, did I read the book? Same with a lot of novels where I get ways in, decide I don't care about the style or where the author is going, and then stop. What about non-fiction targeted on the sections I need? Graphic novels? Am I reading Keith Tyson's Head to Hand or am I just grooving on the pictures?

From a purchasing point of view, I'm probably on the far end of the curve; in terms of reality, it's much more a study in bits and pieces. Sort of like magazine reading, which is the part of American reading culture these studies always seem to ignore.

As a writer though, it does make me think that it's time to pay attention to other ways of getting stories out. We're never going to be able to reach the idiot in his pool. (Unless we encode our stories onto toasters, plug them in and toss them over the fence...) but people still have a hunger for fiction. It's the channels for feeding that urge that are changing.

[dendrophilous.livejournal.com]

I've only read 26 so far.

I think they talked to my boyfriend. I think all he's read is the last Harry Potter.

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

I've read 10, am working on two more: Hot Plastic by Peter Craig and The Last Assassin by Barry Eisler. That's an average year for me since I got heavily into blogging on top of writing.

[llcoolvad.livejournal.com]

Well, they sure didn't chat with me. I've read and reviewed 48 books so far this year (I'm counting two that I'm about to post), am about halfway through four more, and have skimmed about seven nonfiction that I can't decide if I've finished with or not. Right now I'm 2 chapters away from the end of Watchmen, a re-read that I'm enjoying a lot. After I finish that I'm going to read Moore's Lost Girls.

I have a couple of stacks of shame next to my bed that are a bit smaller than they were at the beginning of the year. There's about 25 books there, and I am hoping to finish all of them before the end of the year. They're almost all good, but something's dragging me down on each of them. I will overcome! I'm with John, though; there are so many other things I read partway or start and abandon, that I don't think I could get an accurate count.

I will never understand non-readers. When I was younger I would read 2 or 3 books per DAY some days!

[varianor.livejournal.com]

I haven't exactly counted, but it's somewhere between 15-20. Given that I was down around 1-4 for a couple years, this is major improvement!

Remember that average doesn't include you nor is it representative. It's just the division of the sum of a lot of numbers. ;) If you are capable of writing coherently, you are heads and shoulders above....

[stale-hermit.livejournal.com]

I was just talking about with with the 6 yr old the other day. We both agreed we had no idea why people didn't want to read. I wonder if a lot of it is that people have no idea of the variety of stuff available. Good grief, there're even books on NASCAR (Go figure.) The guy with the pool probably just hasn't got the imagination to know how to pick a book he might actually like, and has never been in a "real" book store long enough to find a bookseller good at recommendations.

My reading stats are skewed high by the 3-4 bks/wk for PW. The two big new Einstein bios (Isaacson, Neffe) are definitely worth a read. I was fortunate enough to get a galley of Jo Walton's forthcoming Ha'penny (sequel to Farthing), which was Great. There were a couple of good books on pirates whose titles I can't remember right now... I have The Mirador by Sarah Monette, Joe Haldeman's The Accidental Time Machine, and Emma Bull's Territory sitting on in a priority spot on my TBR shelf, and I'm having a blast with Spook Country right now, though I'll have to re-read it again when the urchin is back in school; that one does't taste as good read in short, short bits.

Oh, and stepping across to mysteries, I have the new Janet Evanovich/"Stephanie Plum" book on loan from the library, and I ate nearly all the Martha Grimes "Inspector Jury" books this summer, and can't wait to reread them, too.

How do people live without reading--and interlibrary loan) ???

[jenniferechols.livejournal.com]

I'm about to start #22, The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen. I read MUCH less than I used to. And I understand how people get in the habit of not reading at all. I'm balancing child-rearing, writing, and working another job. I have to make time for reading, and I think this is something you do only if you have always been a reader, so you do it automatically. TV is probably easier for most people. I pity them but I understand.

[jostajam.livejournal.com]

I can't fall asleep unless I have read something for at least 10 minutes at night. I have no clue how many books I have read this year. I think I have read 9 in the past two months.