who’s counting

by | Feb 24, 2012 | accumulation, reading | 11 comments

I count how many books I read in a year, but I think I forgot to do that for 2010. So I just did: 50 books. About average for me.

Then I counted the number for 2011—34 books. Way down. I was afraid of this. Since starting to work for The Writing Life section of Hunger Mountain, I have tremendously less time to read.

As they say on the news, let me break it down for you:

Of those 34, 6 were rereads and 4 were debuts.

Of those 34,

    • 20 novels
    • 3 books on the craft of writing
    • 3 books of stories
    • 3 books of essays
    • 2 books of poetry
    • 2 books of nonfiction
    • 1 memoir

Anybody else count?

11 Comments

  1. Sophfronia Scott
    Sophfronia Scott on February 24, 2012 at 9:29 am

    Hi Cynthia! I didn’t count before but now that I’ve started VCFA I am counting. Using Goodreads.com to help me keep track. I’m also trying to do a better job of reviewing things I’ve read on Amazon and Goodreads.

    Reply
    • cynthia
      cynthia on February 24, 2012 at 9:31 am

      Hi Sophfronia! Ha. It will be easy for you to count now since at the end of every semester you have to turn in a list of the books you read : ) Hope your semester is going great!

      Reply
  2. Darrelyn Saloom
    Darrelyn Saloom on February 24, 2012 at 11:10 am

    I don’t count.
    Sorry.
    But I am always reading.
    Something.

    Reply
    • cynthia
      cynthia on February 24, 2012 at 11:14 am

      Better to be reading than counting : )

      Reply
  3. K.
    K. on February 24, 2012 at 12:32 pm

    34 is almost three books per month, so still very good. I’d like to get my count even that high! Thanks for posting all the titles you’ve read. Some great stuff there that I need to add to my ever-growing “to read” list.

    Reply
    • cynthia
      cynthia on February 25, 2012 at 3:28 pm

      Thanks, Karen! Great to hear from you again. If you have any questions about any of the titles, let me know. Happy Reading!

      Reply
  4. Anthony Haynes
    Anthony Haynes on February 24, 2012 at 5:30 pm

    Yes, do count: have kept a record for 25 years. I find the total (books per year) doesn’t mean very much – reflects other pressures on life and,in any case, quality of reading much more important than quantity. More revealing, I find, is the changing pattern of genres and subjects over the years. When I look back at my reading lists for different years, I sometimes wonder if I was a different person.

    Reply
    • cynthia
      cynthia on February 26, 2012 at 2:09 pm

      Hi Anthony, thanks so much for adding your comment to the discussion. What you’ve written is so true and deepens the subject considerably. I would love to read essays about what our reading lists say about who we are. I may have to try my hand at writing one. Hope you’ll be back.

      Reply

Leave a Reply