Call me a geek or a nerd or whatever, but I'm one of those people who keeps track of the books I read. Nothing fancy - just the title, author, date I finished it, if it was YA, nonfiction, an ARC (advanced reader copy) or something else that sets it apart from what's usually on my bookshelves. (For some odd reason, I don't count books I've read about the writing craft.) I also have a loose "star" rating system, and a list where I make notes of books family and friends might enjoy as gifts. At the end of the year, I like to look back and see what I've read, what I've enjoyed (and didn't) and how many books I've read.
Now, I don't know how many books the average person reads a year. I don't know how many books a "book lover" reads or how many books famous (and not-so-famous) writers read. Over the last couple of years, I read about 80 books per year. (This doesn't count all the books I started but chose not to finish.) Is that a lot? To some, yes; to others, maybe not.
Does it even matter? It does to me, to the extent it shows me what else was going on in my life at the time - day job, family stuff, travel? What else was more time-consuming, considered more important, than reading? Was I watching too much TV or spending too much time online? Or maybe the list is shorter because I read lengthier books or "heavier" ones that took awhile to get through. That's okay.
I continue to challenge myself to read more, to read widely, to read deeply.
How about you?
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