How many books have you read?

[The Dark One]

I couldn't begin to say... at least accurately.

I've read obsessively forever, both fiction and non-fiction, not to mention professional works (I'm a lawyer in real life). In my teenage years it was nothing for me to read a book a day and even now I've always got two or three books on the go.

One thing I've noticed about my reading in recent years ... I'm less interested in new novels and more interested in re-reading books I love. There are over 20 books in the Sharpe series but I've read them all about 15 times. I've read LOTR over a hundred times (no exaggeration).

I would have agreed with the proposition that you need to be a reader to be a decent writer - that's definitely how I picked up all the rudiments of story structure, pacing, character motivation etc. But I have a natural horror of absolutes, and reflecting on PMMG's statement, I can see how reading for editorial purposes might achieve something similar.

As for that, I can never quite take off the editor's hat, no matter how deeply immersed I am in a story, so I really love it these days when I find a book that surprises me. I'm sure that goes for most of us - when you're always setting up surprises in your own writing you can usually see twists coming a mile away in the writing of others. I love it when someone tricks me.

 

[pmmg]

I'll take a stab at the numbers this time.

5-6 books a week = 260-312 books a year x 50 years = 13,000-15,600 books up until 2024 (ages 10-60), when I had to scale back due to eye issues.

Lightweight.

 

[The Dark One]

I've probably said this on here before, but if I had to nominate just one book as the most perfectly written novel I've ever read, it would be The Stone Cage by Nicholas Stuart Gray. It's a retelling of the story of Rapunzel through the eyes of the witch's cat. Just wonderful.

Here's my GR review.

 

[Finchbearer]

I'll take a stab at the numbers this time.

5-6 books a week = 260-312 books a year x 50 years = 13,000-15,600 books up until 2024 (ages 10-60), when I had to scale back due to eye issues.

Hecking heck. I’ve read a couple hundred, not into the thousands yet.

 

[Finchbearer]

I've probably said this on here before, but if I had to nominate just one book as the most perfectly written novel I've ever read, it would be The Stone Cage by Nicholas Stuart Gray. It's a retelling of the story of Rapunzel through the eyes of the witch's cat. Just wonderful.

Here's my GR review.

It doesn’t look easily obtainable.

 

[The Dark One]

It doesn’t look easily obtainable.

Out of print for years. I have a copy but I won't let it out of my sight.

Where have you been Finchy?

 

[Finchbearer]

Out of print for years. I have a copy but I won't let it out of my sight.

Where have you been Finchy?

Unless I have £2000 to spare. Some kind Samaritan could have made it into an e-book, but no.

I’d like to say I went away and wrote a book, but no, still working on that.

 

[The Dark One]

There's one for US$172 on Abe Books. I had no idea it was so valuable.

I had a copy many years ago but lost it, so bought another direct from the publisher (in Scotland) when they were still in print. That must have been 20 years ago. So glad I did.

 

[PhilyG123]

I'll take a stab at the numbers this time.

5-6 books a week = 260-312 books a year x 50 years = 13,000-15,600 books up until 2024 (ages 10-60), when I had to scale back due to eye issues.

How did you manage to read a max of 6 books a week? Was then when you were younger or because you don't do anything else?

 

[PhilyG123]

I turned 30 last year. All my book tracking apps say I have read around 300 books but I'm sure there are some books I haven't logged because it was too lomg ago to remember. Must be around 400 or 500.

 

[Super Fantasy]

Only a few, not all that many although I enjoy collecting them.

 

[ThinkerX]

How did you manage to read a max of 6 books a week? Was then when you were younger or because you don't do anything else?

I trained myself to read very fast. Back in Junior high, I had two classes that were in the same room with a ten-minute break between them. In that room was a rolling bookshelf cart stuffed with Scholastic novels of about 80-100 pages each. I set out to try to read one of those books during that period, and eventually succeeded. From that point on, a 300-page book would take me maybe an hour. I mostly read at night.

 

[Fant@syaspiringauthor14]

I ask, because I think you need to read a lot in order to write well.

I'm older than many here. I've been reading for over 50 years. At least a book a week. So something like 2 or 3 thousand books.

I don't actually know, but I'm pretty sure its a lot. Even though I'm a teenager, I have been reading since I was really young and started reading fantasy around the age of 6 and other books when I was younger than that and considering I read almost every day and night, it would be a lot of books.