The final countdown: How many books did you read in 2010

[Divia]

I counted and the ones I really read(and didnt skim large parts on) was 35 books. That's not bad. I think its more than I read the year before.

I'm sure the rest of you guys blew me outta the water.

[Susan]

I counted and the ones I really read(and didnt skim large parts on) was 35 books. That's not bad. I think its more than I read the year before.

I'm sure the rest of you guys blew me outta the water.

I read 31 which is the most I've ever read, but like Divia, I know that lots of you read a lot more. The Kindle really does let me read faster though.

[Misfit]

I just did that on my blog. Over 140 and that's not counting the DNF's. Productive year.

[Ash]

Gosh, I used to read 70-90 books a year. I now am lucky to read 50. This year I managed to read 56, not counting DNF.

[Divia]

I read 31 which is the most I've ever read, but like Divia, I know that lots of you read a lot more. The Kindle really does let me read faster though.

I'm curious. Why do you think the kindle helps you read faster?


Me I'm just a slow reader and ain't nothing going to change that.

[Misfit]

Me I'm just a slow reader and ain't nothing going to change that.

Your floors are probably cleaner than mine are also ;)

[Susan]

I'm curious. Why do you think the kindle helps you read faster?

The font is always the same on the Kindle and I think my eyes are used to it. Although the size can be adjusted larger or smaller, I just leave it where it was when it came. The e-ink the Kindle uses in known for its easy readability. There is no backlight glare like on computers. My eyes just don't get as tired as when I read a book.

[MLE]

I don't keep track. It's hard enough to figure out where I put the ones I'm reading down, without trying to remember whether I've finished or not. Sometimes it will take me years to read a NF research book, in bits and pieces as I need it.

I'm not reading so much fun-fiction this year as in the past, because I am doing some research in Spanish, so to keep my skills for the written word up, my bedtime reading is familiar novels in Spanish.
So here's my count on that: I've gotten about half-way through the Spanish versions of the Lord of the Rings, the first three Harry Potters, all the Little House series, and three books in the Chronicles of Narnia series; and all the way through Don Quixote, original 16th-century version.

Reading in Spanish is a slog for me. There is always some odd phrasing I have to think about -- like 'lying face down' in English is 'lying mouth down' in Spanish. And even though most of these are children's books, I have to look up about one word per page, which gets tedious.

And now that I think about it, that may be the tally for more than just this year.

[SonjaMarie]

Grand Total: 141 - Pages: 46061 - 326pgs average
(69 Books Free, 68 Own, 4 Loan)

My best year yet so far.

SM

[Divia]

Yikes. That is a ton of books!

[Michy]

I have an overall sense of when I'm reading "a lot" and when I'm not, but other than that I prefer not to keep a tally of how many books I've read. Otherwise, I'll start feeling "pressure" to read more, and that will take the enjoyment right out of it. But that's just me. :)

[Nefret]

I'm not sure exactly. My guess would be 50 or so. Most of those were classics.

[annis]

Absolutely no idea- I never bother to count :)

[Margaret]

I have no idea, but the "extreme bookoholic category" for the 2011 Historical Fiction Challenge (hosted by Historical Tapestry this year) is 20 books. That's how many were on my "Best of" list for 2010, and I feel sure I must have read at least twice that many. I guess just about all of us here count as extreme bookoholics!

[Kasthu]

My total in 2010 was 146, five more than I read in 2009! Nobody can believe me when I tell them i read that much in a year.

[javagirl]

61 during 2010 which is the most in a year for me and is 3 more than last year.
About 60% were historical fiction. In addition, I had two DNFs.

I wish I could read more, but I have a feeling that's around the max I'll be able to fit in my life if my current situation remains about as is.

[annis]

Yikes! Just out of curiosity I did a rough estimate. Given that I read a minimum of 4 books a week and often more (not all HF), the lowest number I would read in a year is 208.

[emr]

118 books, all of them fiction. That's 7 more books than in 2009 but when counted in pages (goodreads can do that) I have actually read almost the same number of pages than last year. I don't know how many more books I didn't finish, 6? 8? I may still go back to them some day...
And my TBR is around 40 books taller...

[Vanessa]

I read 84.5!

[Elysium]

total 145 but 3 was re-read and 1 DNF. Last year I read 104.

[Madeleine]

I read 22, and if you count the one I finished last night - most of which I read in December - then that makes 23. About the norm for me, I'm not a fast reader and it would have been an even lower total, probably around 15, if I hadn't started commuting again and read some very easy-to-read books to pass the journey.

Actually I think 20 is a very low estimate to classify someone as a bookaholic!

[Carla]

I never remember to keep a formal log, so I don't know the exact total. I reviewed 23, and I'd guess the total would be about 40 - 50 (not counting work).

[Divia]

Whats DNF?

[Misfit]

Whats DNF?

Did not finish.

[Margaret]

They're definitely going to need to revisit that "extreme bookoholic" definition!

[LoveHistory]

Based on books I finished, going from my Reading Log and adding a few I know I read, I have about 20.

Far fewer than I wish it had been. But it was a difficult year. This year will be better...I hope. I certainly plan on visiting the library more often (for the classics, at least they have some of them).

[fljustice]

44 this year (about a third HF), which is down. I read 55 in each of the two years prior to that. Hope to read more and watch less TV in 2011!

[Tanzanite]

53 - not quite as many as I would have liked, but, oh well...

[LoobyG]

32, not including two DNF since April 2010 when I started counting - hopefully I'll beat that this year!

[Ludmilla]

I think I logged almost 150, but I didn't log all of my junk food reads, so it was at least 30 books over that. This is a lot for me... I'm not a particularly fast reader, but I indulged myself in quite a few popcorn reads with my eReader this year. Roughly 60 of the total were print books and the rest were eBooks.

[MLE]

I just checked my Kindle--which I didn't get until mid-September--and found that I read 18 non-research fiction books on it. I had no idea!
It is true that people who buy an e-reader read more as a result. Here's some of the reasons why: (at least for me)
1. I can't misplace the book unless I misplace the kindle. Oddly enough. along with my cell phone, wallet and car keys, I seem to be able to keep track of the thing because it is important enough to me.
2. Ease of reading. I can adjust the page to any size type, portrait or landscape, withthe push of a button. And the surface is non-glare, non-backlit (although I have a light built into the cover for night reading) and weighs only 8 ounces.
3. ease of impulse buys. One click and you're reading.
4. Audiobooks from audible. And text-to-speech for when I'm driving (it's robot-voiced, but if you are really into a book, you quickly learn to subsitute your own voice in your head.)
5. Cheap books. Classics free. Need I say more?

[CrimsonPetal]

88 books that I counted. There were a few shorter books that I didn't even count because they weren't long enough.

[Kveto from Prague]

I think I read about 20 this year. pretty low compared to most on this site. some of them were short books for young adults but others were thousand pagers so it probably balances out. I figure its more than one a month. mostly read on the journey to and from the office. If I read more, Id probably feel guilty about it.;)

[Telynor]

I was hoping to make it to 10 books a month last year, but came up to about 118, or so, counting the DNF's -- there were three. Total number of reviews came to around 162, but that includes things like miniseries, tea, and what have you.

[Vanessa]

It's not how many books you have read - it's if you've enjoyed them which counts! Some people are faster readers than others, too. I have to say I don't see the point in skim reading - if you don't like it, don't bother reading it. Says me who is the queen of perseverance! I hate abandoning books but do not skim read either.

[robinbird79]

I think my count was 46 this year. A bit less than last year but I went through about three months of absolutely no motivation (besides laying on the couch!) to do anything. Hoping 2011 will bring more books my way!

[tsjmom]

60. My goal was 52.

[Michy]

It's not how many books you have read - it's if you've enjoyed them which counts! That's how I feel: it's not quantity that counts, but quality. As some others have said, this year I'm going for more quality. :) Life's too short (and there are too many books waiting to be read) to waste my time on duds!

[chuck]

That's how I feel: it's not quantity that counts, but quality. As some others have said, this year I'm going for more quality. :) Life's too short (and there are too many books waiting to be read) to waste my time on duds!

Like Michy.....Not interested in keeping track...I find if I really like a book I slow down to almost a snail's pace....because of the sheer enjoyment of experiencing the story....sometimes I will even re read a riveting chapter....In College I got into a very bad habit of skimming and it took me years to slow down....Book a week is about my speed....Once in a while I will have a couple of them going......Plus I have a life outside of reading books....

[gyrehead]

Thanks to an even more excessive travel schedule the last year I might have actually read more books than days in the year. That's with helping start up a side business with a couple of friends, get within top 300 ranking in cross country skiing and having a nice little life (I manage to read and still get in twenty new Michelin starred restaurants in Germany and France). So while I live to read, I still have a life outside of it. Though after reading some of the dystopian novels this last year the notion of being a post-apocalyptic hermit in a book store or library is starting to have its appeal.

Plus no skim reading for me. I even waded through the hot messes that were The Invisible Bridge and Anthropology of an American Girl. I rarely don't finish a book. I think bad books have a quality of their own and still have something to impart to me. Even if it is do not ever read this author again. I know there were a couple of books I stopped reading but I have no idea off the top of my head what they were. When a book is bad enough for me to quit it I pretty much purge myself of the work entirely. But it takes me past the point of no return (for me) to decide whether a book is truly bad. I have plenty of great reads and fantastic authors I'd have tossed aside with less patience.

About twenty were easy reads (short novels of 200 pages or so) from Subterranean Press and PS Publishing. Only about ten percent of my overall reading was probably non-fiction. And I think I logged less than 50 books of historical fiction though it was close. Most were genre books (speculative fiction). Barring maybe a dozen, all were 2010 releases.

With three months in Dubai coming up I could double last year's count in those three months alone! No chance of skiiing to distract and I already have shipped fifty arcs I just got and hope by the time I get there to have twice that come in to send on ahead as well.