Every year, I keep track of the books that I read.
This practice, as near I as can find in the archives, dates back in its origins to 2003 when I undertook a whole new series of practices to hopefully "help me get ahead" in terms of an annual planner, writing up notes to myself, saving quotes, etc. One of the things I recall distinctly from a book that I read on the subject was "Make a reading plan by listing out categories of books you need to read and then planning out the books that you will read in them".
Judging by the entries following that initial start (and I have all the planners), I tried the "categorize into topics and read" for a number of years until, as I suspect, two facts interposed themselves. The first was that some categories that I was more interested in got completely done and others did not. The other is that I struggle to read multiple books at the same time. My best success in reading is one book at a time.
And so, in 2014 (so the records tell me), I moved to just recorded every book that I read for the year. Of a curiosity - as it is the New Year - I became curious as to numbers and amounts:
To be clear, this is only a gross view of numbers counting individual books (thus, a 60 page Osprey History military book on "Samurai, 1550-1600" and a 1,000 page novel such as Atlas Shrugged are each one book). Furthermore I know that I read some books twice in a year. I also know that I re-read a fair amount of books that I already own every year. If I assume that each year I read 10% of books again and 50% of the books I read are ones I already have read, the gross numbers look like this:
When I tell people that "reading is my life", it is not offered as joke. It literally is.
Of course, like most things this did not all spontaneously generate. My mother loved to read and encouraged us to do so. When we were growing up, trips to the county library (our main source of materials) was a biweekly treat. Our house was always filled with books - the murder mysteries that mother primarily loved, larger hardbound books of knowledge, and the books that we ourselves owned - I cannot remember a time when I did not have a bookshelf in my room.
Reading was never TB The Elder's thing, but he graciously let me do it without comment about "spending too much time in books". And so growing up - whether at home, on the bus, driving somewhere, or just filling my free time - books were my interests, my outlet and my constant companions.
It is not without cost, of course - both physical (there is a "book budget" in my allowance which, sadly, I regularly overspend) and intellectual - my speed is fantastic, my comprehension less so. Which may explain why I read books more than once. Also, there is a bit of compulsiveness involved. I almost cannot be with a new book by bedside and will willingly go to used bookstores I went to the previous week "on the off chance" they suddenly got something I "need". And inevitably, when a new subject or interest comes up, my first response is always "I need to get a book on that" - in my world, if I can read a book about it, I can do it.
It strikes me as odd, as I look back now to that initial entry in 2003 that says "Develop a reading plan", that I rather obscurely stuck with it all these years. Odd, but I am grateful - not only for the knowledge and the education and the entertainment, but the fact that it is only by reading good writing that one learns to write and think well.
My home was one of readers - both my parents and my brother and I, and it is something that has stayed with me over the years. I sometimes wonder about younger generations, will they still have a reading habit now that we're in the instant era. Taking time to read something like the classics (Dickens, etc) somehow seems at odds with the rise of social media.
ReplyDeleteWill, of our three, two are still avid readers and the other is one that at least reads (though much less intensely), so I feel as if I have done my part to pass it along. I agree it is more worrisome for the younger generations just because we have created a situation where they process information differently and have much different attention spans. Reading - or at least reading that sticks - requires focused attention and quiet, something that seems in short supply these days.
DeleteWhen I was single, I probably spent at least three hours a night reading a book. After I was married, my reading is mainly confined to reading what I have in the restroom, lol. The only place where family situations lets me concentrate on what I read.
ReplyDeleteDad (RIP) and I were the readers in the family. Going to 'The Big City' and finding used books for 10% of what they cost new was a happy past time for the two of us. Even now, a Salvation Army book rack gains my attention. Same words as the new in book store.
It is funny how not being single cuts into our reading time...and yes, I have employed the restroom to good effect as well.
DeleteOne of the most special things growing up was when my father was at work or out and we got to read at the dinner table.
And I will scan every book shelf I see wherever I enter.
I almost asked where you find the time to read, but I reckon that's related to all the traveling you do every month. That works out very well for a reader.
ReplyDeleteI tend to say I'm a slow reader, but which I mean that I'm slow to get through books. This has more to do with limited time than reading speed. Plus, I tend to read when it's very late, which means I don't last long after a busy day. My daytime reading for the past number of years is always a study and learning project, which involves online reading and videos.
I do like the idea of reading goals and keeping track, although I know better than to impose these on myself.
Leigh, travel is a lot of it. I spend essentially 6 to 10 hours in transit two days a month, and I do not really watch movies on planes. Add to that at least once a month I do not have my normal series of activities and that adds more time.
DeleteStill, time is an issue. I try to at least make sure I read something before I go to bed, even if it is 1-2 pages. And reading on the weekends. I am now adding more videos to my "things I need to do" list as well, so not sure where those will fit in.
I suppose keeping a numbers list is a bit of a vanity at this point, but there still is a sense of satisfaction every time I add something to the list. It continues to motivate me.
One of the little known facts about myself is that I grew up without a television and so reading was a necessity. It still is though I do admit, I watch a fair amount of television these days but mostly shows like Nova, Secrets of the Dead, Nature, etc., shows that teach me something I didn't know. Just last night I was watching a show about Pegasus, a secret bug infecting tens of thousands of phone around the world collecting untold amounts of information on us.
ReplyDeleteI don't do well with lists of books to read as I tend to grow bored of a subject and want to move on. I have 90% of National Geographic's 100 Greatest Adventure books list completed but haven't finished those last 10. I started reading biographies on every president in order and washed out after Andrew Jackson. I haven't given up on either but for now they aren't priorities. What has been my priority for the last handful of years is to reduce the number of books in my still-to-be-read pile. It is down to three or four hundred books which is still an immense amount of literature at the rate I'm going these days. If I had to guess, I'm probably in the 50 a year range but I rarely end up with a book under 300 pages.
Ed, we had very limited television growing up (but not 'no television'). My passion, if I am watching anything, is actually sci fi (usually bad; no-one does good sci fi anymore) or foreign films.
DeleteI think if I tracked my course over the years it would reflect what I was interested in at the time. Some thing come up for reading every year, others as the interest/need grab me.
That sounds like a huge pile "to read" - until I think of the books I saved at my parent's house. That may constitute an entire separate library...
Growing up the parents drove me to the downtown library every couple of weeks to "get books". It was a Carnegie library built in 1902, wonderful memories of roaming among those shelves of books. Never lost the love of reading.
ReplyDeleteMy hometown library was originally a Carnegie library as well, Nylon12! I have the same memories of wandering the shelved, being mesmerized.
DeleteUncle taught me to read the comics and I've rarely not had a book in front of my face since. Goodreads and Kindle ask at first of year how many books you think you'll read so you can track your progress. Last year I exceeded 250 books not counting library books. As I've downsized and do have a budget I read a lot of free books. Traveled for 19 years and use to pack 13 books for every 12 days. Both children are big reader, grandchild loves books on tape but also reads. Daughter is a alpha reader for education. Don't watch much TV and YouTube bores me except when I want to know how to. But entertainment, for me, has always been found in books. Wish they wrote Sci-Fi like the old days of Asimov, Heinlien and Ellison.
ReplyDeleteGL - I had no idea that such platforms tracked such things.
DeleteYou sound a lot like me when I travel - I actually worry I have not brought enough books to last a trip and of course, books are usually the bulk of my weight.
It is great that you were able to pass that on.
I miss old science fiction as well - pretty much my interest peters out in the mid-late 80's. I have picked up some more recent items, but never get into them. I want escape in my fiction, not today's world writ large on tomorrow (or in fantasy worlds).
Commendable! I have books I bought six years ago that are gathering dust.
ReplyDeleteI have that occasional book where it took me a long time - sometimes years - to get through, but that was largely due to the fact that book was not really set up to "read", but more as a reference. That made it a great deal more difficult.
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