How Many Books have you read?

[Big Don]

My son asked me that question a few years ago, and I wimped out and answered:"A lot."
A few nights later I sat down and started adding.
The number surprised me.

Of the books and authors I can remember, and I know I am forgetting a bunch, I am at 3258.
Holy CRAP! that is a lot of books.
So, fellow bookworms, lovers of lit, how many have you read?

 

[theletch1]

Yeah, I'll have to take the easy way out and say "A lot" as well. Man, there is no way I could remember all the books I've read. I'd rather read than watch tv and always have. The scenes I create in my head are always better than what they have on the screen anyway.

 

[MBuzzy]

Whoa....you remembered them all???

There's no way I could even START remembering them all!

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I currently own somewhere in the area of 2,000 books. For years I was a regular at the local library taking out the maximum books allowed (50), so I'd have to estimate that my lifetime total is somewhere in the area of 15-20 thousand books. Probably read 3-5 a week now.

 

[elder999]

We just moved, and I counted the books-it's a little over 10,000-that's with periodic culling over the years. (That's not counting about 100 cookbooks...)

I can't even begin to estimate how many I've read-I've been reading since I was very small.....

 

[terryl965]

Well we just moved as well and we had over 7,000 books over 1500 in the martial art catagory. It is amazing how much we read.

 

[arnisador]

My number would be quite high, but I would hate to try to estimate it! I often read 1-2 books per day in school.

 

[Sukerkin]

I'd hazzard a guess at about 10-12,000. The variance comes from the fact that I've obviously read some more than once e.g. LOTR every year, Honor Harrington series likewise and so forth.

Oddly, with the advent of an on-line existence I've actually begun to read much less. I used to be a book-a-day man but in the past five years or so that has decelerated to about a book a week.

I still remember the first book I ever bought with my own money - "Five Run Away Together" by Enid Blyton. With one of those odd quirks of human memory, I could take you to the shop I got it from and point to exactly the place where it was :lol:.

 

[harlan]

Don't know. Used to speed read about 4 a day in high school. When I was a kid, I took it into my head to read all the books in the city library. I did.

Lesson learned: not everything is worth reading. Wasted a lot of time, and read a lot of nonsense.

 

[MA-Caver]

Not counting re-reads I'd say about 10-12K and that's not counting how many I've read partially and got to disliking it so much that I didn't want to finish it... if I counted those then the number would probably be around 15K.
Like Sukerkin, I've re-read the LOTR about once a year as well as several others. My recent add on to the annual list has been the entire Potter series.
My average book size is around 200-400 pages but there are a number that are less than 200 pages that are outstanding. Not exactly short stories and not even exactly novellas... but great reads none-the-less.

Please, oh please don't ask for the all time favorite. There isn't just ONE.

 

[Big Don]

Please, oh please don't ask for the all time favorite. There isn't just ONE.

I hear you on that.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I have no idea how many books but it would be substantial.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

My number would be quite high, but I would hate to try to estimate it! I often read 1-2 books per day in school.

Dude, text books don't count.

Now that I think about it....do picture books count? That'll increase some folks numbers alot, LOL!

 

[MA-Caver]

Dude, text books don't count.

Now that I think about it....do picture books count? That'll increase some folks numbers alot, LOL!

Apparently it does for Dubya!

 

[Kacey]

I couldn't guess... by the time I was 11, I was reading 4-6 books per week, and maintained that through high school (so, 10 years). Since college and full-time work, it's now closer to 3-5 per week, for the last 20 years. I do reread favorite books, so it's probably an average of 2 new books per week overall - so at least 1000/year for 30 years, that's 30,000 books, and it's probably an underestimate.

 

[arnisador]

Please, oh please don't ask for the all time favorite. There isn't just ONE.

Yeah, this question drives me crazy! It's not just that there's more than one, it's that different ones affected me in different ways. What I loved about Of Mice and Men is very different from what impressed me about Dante's The (Divine) Comedy. At least let me break it into fiction vs. non-fiction!

Dude, text books don't count.

Nah, this was before that! But now that's a lot of what I read, and it really sloooooooooooooooows me down.

 

[DavidCC]

You guys are claiming to have read multiple entire novels in one day?

2 questions:

1) really?
2) was it even enjoyable, and did you retain anything from it? I hate spaghetti so I eat it as fast as I can when I have to. I love sushi and will linger at the table for 2-3 hours...

 

[bluekey88]

All I can answer is I've read LOTS and LOTS of books. Yes, sometimes a coupel in a day if they are "light" fare. and yes, I enjoyed them What can I say, I read fast.

I sometimes have two or three books going at once. Aread them in different areas(My bathroom book, bedtime book, out and about in the car on appointments book, etc.)

Peace,
Erik

 

[arnisador]

I'm talking about sci-fi/fantasy stuff--that's the kind of thing I'd read in a day. Yes, you can get through The Destoyer #79,80 in a single evening!

 

[teekin]

I don't read fiction any more so my multiple a day books have dropped. Now I read 1 a day, or keep several at a time going. I have no idea of how many I have read but upwards of 12K, not including rereads. I have to include text books because I buy them to read for recreation.
Lori