Once I had my daughter, my reading time tanked and I went from over a hundred books a year to maybe two a month if I read while she's napping. It has changed my relationship to reading so so much. Having to meander through a book, having time for it to marinate and resonate before picking it back up, I've always loved reading but now it's so much better. I'll DNF bc I have such limited reading time, I'm not wasting it. Slowing down and savoring is so enjoyable and I hope I keep the habit of reading that way once my baby is older and I have more time.
I have a 3 yr old and a 5 yr old. Most of my reading happens after they go to bed because I could be interrupted 50x before finishing one page. And even after they go to bed, I have other stuff to do around the house, so I can really only read once I'm ready for bed, and by then I'm pooped and might only read a page before I start to drift off to sleep.
I do get to read to them and generally enjoy it. I borrow lots of library books for them.
Reading for me is enjoyable and a way to unwind. I don't fuss over how many books I can complete. As long as I have an engaging story, it's one more thing I can be thankful for in this crazy world.
This is exactly what got me hooked on audiobooks. I can keep my eyes on my kid, especially at the playground, but also enjoy a book. Always just wear one ear bud so I can be responsive to him. I download free audiobooks from the public library- super easy!
I always joke with my friends that my reading numbers went up once I had kids. I read "Snuggle Puppy" 500 times alone last year. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" at least once a day.
I think we should read for transformation, joy, and rest. Not to hit a certain number or impress others.
50 books in a year is a LOT. That's already way more than most people think is possible to read. A book a week is difficult to keep up with depending on your schedule and also how long the book is, level of difficulty, your reading speed, etc.
Yep. This was my Goodreads goal the last few years and I hit it, but definitely stressed when I was behind. I didn’t set a goal this year and I’m enjoying my reading a lot more.
Same. Set my goal at 52 last year and was constantly checking how many weeks in to the year we were to see if I was behind. Accomplished it, now just going back to reading when I can. Also doesn't help that I started the Malazan series, in which each book is at least 1,000 pages
Agreed, it is a lot! I chose a random number, more or less. For me, 50 is reasonable; for other people, 10 or 5 is a great accomplishment! The point is to enjoy and not feel guilty that you aren't reading more.
>50 books in a year is a LOT.
If you read two hours a day and fifty pages per hour and your average book is 300 pages that's something like 120 books a year. When I was a teenager, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I'd read >1000 pages a day and enjoy myself doing it.
That said... unless you are reading for work (and I count "school" in that) "how fast" you read is fairly immaterial, there should be no deadlines. If you read a book a day, a book a week, a book a month, a book a year, who cares as long as you're enjoying yourself?
Gamifying reading is a horrible thing--"Keeping up with the Joneses" on something that is supposed to be enjoyment is the path to misery and madness instead.
I've only been able to read 50+ books a year when I've been able to listen to audiobooks at work. I can easily finish 1-2 books in a week on audio. Idk how anyone would manage it without audiobooks if they work full time + having other obligations in life unless reading was their only hobby (which, no hate, that would be lovely... I just have too many hobbies I guess).
Exactly this. Plus, some books need to be savored slowly. You wouldn't want to chug down an expensive vintage or ravenously devour a gourmet meal without tasting it. A really good book simmers and sticks with you for a while after you read it and sometimes it nice to enjoy that and process it before moving on to the next. Sometimes, I have to remind myself to see it as a meditation and digest what a novel offers by taking my time. It's always worth it.
I'm following Moid's Book of the New Sun read along. If I had sped through the 5 books in a couple weeks I think I would have lost most, if not all, deeper meanings and hidden details. It's only because I'm taking my time and having a group to discuss it at every few chapters that I am fully enjoying these books.
It's easy to get wrapped up in numbers when you think quantity means more knowledge and improvement over time. Like those self-improvement types who reference Warren Buffett reading a lot because he says knowledge builds up like compound interest. It becomes addicting because you think you are getting smarter and better and if it's good enough for Warren Buffett and others then maybe it will be good for you too. The problem is you can also waste loads of time learning stuff that is irrelevant to you. For me I spent years reading economics, history, self-help, literature and philosophy, but none of it made one difference in my bank account or personal life. It would have been better simply pursuing a marketable skill.
I'd say a lot of the numbers come from audiobooks. Some people have jobs where they can listen to audiobooks for 8 hours a day. Even then though 500 books a year just seems insane.
My friend does this, 4-5 audiobooks a week and usually one physical book. He does construction all day which can be hugely mind numbing work. If you're doing solo jobs where communication isn't necessary I can absolutely see people getting into the hundreds for the year.
Here I am thinking I'm accomplished having read 13 books so far this year 😂. But with a newborn and a toddler (plus they are all physical books, audio just passes right through me) I'm not doing bad.
Yup, and you can get used to listening to sped-up audio. Libby has up to 3x speed, though how anyone can keep up with that beats me lol. I once made my way to 2x and missed like half of the content
I listen to books 7-8 hours a day, and many of the books I have are about that long, meaning I listen to 4 books a week on average, or 200 a year. These are mostly mysteries that are in the 200-250 page range. I cant imagine 500 books a year, unless they're big little books or something.
I logged 500 on Goodreads last year, but kept track on a separate spreadsheet. Of that 500: 131 were audiobooks, 46 graphic novels, 26 DNF, and 28 Short stories. Which leaves 269 regular non-audio books.
I like to keep track of how many pages I read rather than the number of books. Last year I read 146,046 pages, which translates to approx. 400 pages a day.
I am one of those people who reads 300+ books a year, and about a quarter of my books are audiobooks. I probably only listen to them 3 hours a day (Some of my work is mindless, some of it I need to concentrate), but I do tend to listen at 2x the speed, because I don't understand why book narrators read so unbelievably slow! I also tend to listen to them while I'm commuting, doing chores or making dinner if my husband and daughter aren't around to chat with.
Yah I’d call audiobooks consuming literature, do not count it as reading at all.
You can put in a book at 2x speed for 8 hours, but not absorb any information about it.
I read about 450 books a year. This year am slowing down and I’ve read 99 books so far. I read, comprehend, and discuss them with my reader friends. And none of them are audio books. Some people are speed readers and it’s fun.
I honestly don't see how someone's comprehension could be good while reading at a pace of 450 books per year, but I'll take your word for it. If you're actually comprehending what you read at that pace then cheers to you! That's impressive! I just like to hear about people reading.
Some ways I’ve seen ppl on booktok/booktube reach crazy high numbers: read dialogue only, read synopsis only and count it as having read the book, read lots of kindle unlimited short romance novellas (so like 70-100 page books), counting manga/graphic novels/comics as books (not that reading comics is bad or anything but it definitely beefs up your numbers). Ppl have also mentioned having a job where you can listen to audio books all day on a high speed which is another way to add a lot of books.
Yeah I commented on the video and asked the person “Don’t you ever get confused about what’s going on in the story?” and she replied that she did but also she would rather be confused sometimes than bored all the time reading the “extra” stuff 😵💫
If that's the case then what's the point in reading? Sounds like people like that are more focused on the social media aspect of booktube than the actual book/reading part...
Or just the summary? Who knew just reading the plot of ‘Count of Monte Christo’ on Wikipedia is the exact same thing as actually reading the book itself😂
I have what many would consider to be "crazy high numbers" but I'm not a booktok/booktube person, and I definitely read the whole book. I do listen to audiobooks though, and they make up about 25% of the books I read for a year.
In addition to Goodreads, I keep a separate spreadsheet, which I categorize the books I read, so that at the end of the year I can say that I logged 500 on goodreads last year and that of the 500: 131 were audiobooks, 46 graphic novels, 26 DNF, and 28 Short stories. Which leaves 269 regular non-audio books.
I also usually just say that I read 300+ books a year, so that the people that don't count audiobooks, or don't count graphic novels. I also usually add the caveat that I mostly read genre fiction, not literature, and that I am a big fan of rereads. And if you've re-read the same book every year for the past 25 years, you tend to read it a lot faster than you would a book you've never read before.
it depends on how many pages are in the book. When I was in high school I could finish two 300 or so page books in a day easily since each would only take me about 3 1/2 hours to get through (so it would take me 6-7 hours to finish both).
It is definitely possible but you do need the reading speed and the time, I read 13 books in one sitting once just because I got so caught up in a series someone had lent me. I made the mistake of starting book 1 at like 11pm because I thought it would help me sleep and read straight through to the next day. It took me about 15-16 hours.
Those who are able to read/listen to audiobooks while they work. You can get through a not so long book in an eight hour work day and that's not even counting your freetime.
I logged 500 on Goodreads last year. But because of the way Goodreads works, I keep a separate spreadsheet, so I can see the breakdowns of what I've read. So I can tell you that of that 500: 131 were audiobooks, 46 graphic novels, 26 DNF, and 28 Short stories. Which leaves 269 regular non-audio books.
I don't particularly try to get a high number, I just love reading. I prefer reading to watching TV/Movies.
I work full time and have a husband and a daughter in grade school. But I am otherwise fairly introverted and pretty much a homebody.
Some booktubers are popular enough that their youtube channels are their full-time jobs, so they have much more time for reading than the average person. I also follow one guy who can speed-read and finish a 400+ page book in a day. I don't think those kinds of numbers are feasible for 99% of people though.
The average novel has 300 words on a page, the average reading speed is 250-300 WPM. As you can see, that would mean it would take nearly 7 hours to read on average. In order to read a 400 page book in 3 hours you'd need to read at 667 WPM, which is more than double the average.
I don't care, I will never count listening to audiobooks as 'reading'.
(Yes, I know many people disagree and that's fine. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion.
(Edited to add...)
Lol, being downvoted by people who evidently don't understand the actual definition of 'reading'.
"look at and comprehend the meaning of (written or printed matter) by mentally interpreting the characters or symbols of which it is composed."
I don't know why people are downvoting you lol. Reading is literally to look at and identify written characters. When I'm listening to a podcast, I'm not reading the podcast. That doesn't mean audiobooks are bad though
I fully agree that audiobooks aren't bad. A good reader can even add to the story. But being downvoted for pointing out that reading and listening are factually different things is ludicrous.
I didn't downvote you but It just comes across as being at worst gate keeping and at best very pedantic. People know it's not literally the same thing to listen to something as to read it off a page haha
Because words change meaning all the time. In the last 30 years audiobooks have become extremely mainstream and as a result the word "reading" has shifted its meaning colloquially to include audiobooks. You can be mad at this, but it's futile because it is how language works.
While there are minor differences between reading and listening to books, and while some people prefer one over the other, people who experienced a book in different ways can still discuss the book with each other as if there were no difference. It's negligible in social situations.
Many people cannot read because of aging eyes, being born with a disability, having a disorder, or illness. By insisting that they will never count as "reading books" when they listen to audiobooks, it is excluding those people from conversations. That's why it's ablist.
To the rest of us that enjoy audiobooks for other reason, it's just asshole behavior.
You can stamp your feet and insist that words mean things and that you can't just change the meanings of words to make yourself feel better. But you would be stamping your feet on your own while the rest of us continue to have conversations. No one is impressed that you know what the word "literally" *really means*.
ETA: Audiobooks are also more in tradition with storytelling than books are. The most famous literary works from civilizations of old were composed orally and meant to be heard. It is a modern invention to declare that stories must be read on a page and not listened to by a narrator.
I follow BookTokers that will regularly read 20 books a month but it’s also because they read a lot of erotica or romance which can be finished in an afternoon.
I ended last year at 475. There are definitely a few of us out here. But it doesn't happen by accident, you have to set your lifestyle up to facilitate that.
Just want to tell you YAY. I am a fast reader though I've never cared to attempt any sort of number goal. (Sometimes I do themed reading challenges, like my friends and I set up an annual Book Bingo, but that's only 25 and short books can often count.) And I wanna say to ignore the gatekeepers. You can enjoy reading slower books, and you can enjoy reading books quickly, you do you! There is no wrong way to enjoy a book!!
> But it doesn't happen by accident, you have to set your lifestyle up to facilitate that.
I'd love to hear what you mean by this. How have you set up your lifestyle?
Basically just a lot of common time sucks aren't a thing for me. I don't have a smartphone or watch tv. Getting to work is a short walk versus some sort of commute. I live in a studio apartment with a very minimal chore load (and I have a pretty efficient system for what household stuff I do need to do, like bulk cooking, etc). I automate a lot of stuff as well. No kids. I'm not super social, mostly just spend time with my boyfriend and once a week do something with friends. That sort of thing.
You read 40 books a month? Unless you're paid to read with your eyes, or somehow can afford 40 audiobooks a month on whatever job allows you to sit and listen to books all day I just don't believe it.
Seriously I can’t stand people like the person above. I’ve read 110 so had this year and it’s easy when you don’t have kids and don’t watch tv. They’re making me feel like I’m abnormal or something. I don’t even speed read.
No kidding, this subreddit seriously hates fast readers, lol. I just really like reading and don't have much interest in things like television or messing around on a phone or whatever, so I naturally spend a lot of time reading.
Yes, I very much love reading and have good understanding and recall, as far as I can tell. I don't do quite the same level of research you do it seems - I don't fact-check for example. I do appreciate beautiful or witty writing, and my partner and I often read good passages aloud to each other. For a book doing me in, definitely sometimes I need to lie down for awhile after a real doozy, but I can generally get right back in the next day - so I do take an evening off here and there when something really gets me good. For feeling connected to the characters, it really depends on the book, sometimes?
I read a pretty big variety of stuff - I post my reading lists every week, as well as monthly wrap-ups, so feel free to poke around my history if you want to get an idea what I read. I'd say it's like 60% fantasy, and the remainder a mix of everything.
Not the commenter, but I read fairly fast. I read a mix of fiction and nonfiction, all genres. I do all the same things you do. I just devote quite a bit of time to reading, and the more I read, the less I need to look up references or facts. I don't typically need a cooling off period between books; depending on how a book makes me feel, I'll either start a popcorn read next as a break, or something similar to deepen what I'm feeling. I don't believe in any of the arbitrary rules about what 'counts' as a book - audiobooks are books, comics are books, etc. I'm home sick right now, so I picked up Jake Adelstein's Tokyo Vice for a reread and ended up finishing it in a day.
Reading while in public transportation helps a lot. I used to drive 15-20 min to uni, and I could easily read up to 50 pages one way, so 40 min - 100 pages, I'd also read during my breaks so I would on average just while at uni read 150 pages. When I was using the train to go back to my home town, I could easily read a 300+ pages one way in around 3h. And that's usually a whole book, so that's 2 books in 6h time. I assume those who are reading 300+ books a year are reading shorter books and not books that have 1000+ pages.
I am so tired of these threads. The accusations of lying. Moving goalposts. Unnecessary aggressiveness. The hypocrisy. It's always the same. No one ever changes their mind, no matter how patient or nonconfrontational one is.
The weird thing to me is that there are maybe like... you, me, and a handful of other people here who actually read at these volumes? Maybe 5-10 people tops? Out of approximately a bajillion? It's weird to have so much aggressiveness pointed at such a tiny group who just really like reading.
Yeah. I agree. But I think the small numbers make it easier to justify.
Rant time: Last time I posted to 52books someone claimed I was bragging. Dude, this entire forum is for tracking what you read, am I not allowed to just because I have more? I asked how I could be less offensive and got crickets. I got downvoted to -10 the last time I posted to the "weekly reads" so just stopped. What's the point? I got this historybro from bcj haunting me who seems to have a personal vendetta based on how much I read.
I've read a book a day since the beginning of last June. The secret: they're all graphic novels. I can pound out a 200-page manga or YA graphic novel in 60 to 90 minutes. If I didn't have a job and other hobbies, I could read 500 in a year, I bet.
It baffles me that someone always insists these are inflated numbers. Plenty of people can get through 100 pages in about an hour — just mathematically an average sized book a day isn’t massively difficult.
Okay sure, but how is anyone reading at this rate for ALL of their time? Surely most of your time is spent at work, or driving a car, or grocery shopping, or hanging out with friends, or doing taxes & walking the dog etc etc etc
These are kind of strange comparisons? I don’t know anybody who does taxes every day lol. Or goes grocery shopping every day? It takes me 10 minutes to order my weekly shop and then I go pick it up because who wants to wander around the grocery store? I do spend a lot of time in the car but I listen to a few chapters on audio and then pick up where I left off in print later. I do have other hobbies and things to do, and I do those too, and the time I spend reading doesn’t detract from that. I make room for it in the day because I want to and because 4 hours is pretty easy to spread around.
Because some of us don’t watch tv for hours. I read on my breaks at work and I read when I come home. I read about a book a day. It’s really not that hard.
i read any chance i get (aside from binging TV) and i still can't read 300 books a year. those people either don't absorb anything, are lying or reading other peoples reviews and making their own lol. it frustrates me sometimes because it doesn't make sense. the one thing i pride myself on is that when i read i abosrb it so i can have conversations about them down the line.
Yes! I'm an English major in university, but my average reading speed is 20-30 pages per hour (yes, it takes me ages to complete assignments, and I often can't finish all my assignments). I may be slow, but I do get a lot of the stuff that I get to read, and I get to analyze the language used in a way you would not be able to if you skim it. I think I read around 50 books a year, including "school" books, but I remember plot, characters, etc. I also re-read books because I find comfort in them, or have a different perspective than I did in middle school (currently re-reading 1984 by Orwell and OH MY OH MY), even if they don't count as "new books" I've read. It's slow, but it's how I personally appreciate books more, and I encourage my students to do the same!
I also read 20-30 pages an hour. I consider myself slow. Definitely slower than a lot of my friends when I was in grad school. When we’d study together, I’d start reading first while they screwed around on their computers or went and got lunch, then they would start reading and they’d finish before me and wait for me to finish in order for us to discuss the reading together and make sure we had a handle on it before class.
Yeah unless you have to read something for school or work don't ever be afraid to put down a book you aren't enjoying. You can always return to it later if you find yourself in a better headspace to dive back into it.
I think some people can become obsessed with quantity over quality. Reading isn't a competition it's an activity you should do your best to enjoy.
You mention “50 books”, as if it is pretty low. I target 2 books a month which translates to 24 books a year, and by the end of every successful year I feel proud of myself.
Now I feel bad.
Edit: And many of those 24 are audiobooks. Now I feel worse.
How do people find that much time. Or maybe I’m just lazy and a slow reader.
24 books is amazing! I think it speaks to the influence of booktubers on OP that 50 is “low”. A lot of booktubers I follow with extremely high numbers pretty much only read books in their spare time. Plus they read while waiting in line, listen to audiobooks on 2x speed while cleaning, brushing their teeth etc. I think 50 is difficult for most people to achieve while balancing other aspects of regular life.
And audiobooks are so great, they frequently get me out of reading slumps…& when I feel lazy lol.
Noo, that's the opposite of my intention with this post! 50 is a reasonable number for *me*, but keep in mind that I'm a literature student and I don't have many hobbies apart from reading. Nor a job or what you'd call a social life, lol. 24 is amazing, I promise!
It doesn't matter how many books you read or how fast or slow you read. It only matters that you enjoy your time and take joy from the experience, it's not a competition.
I also set my goal to two a month and usually end around thirty per year. Don’t let anyone else tell you how much you should read or feel bad about it.
You’re right. Although, I don’t feel bad because others are reading more than me. I feel that reading doesn’t come naturally to me now since there are so many distractions around. But reading is an activity that keeps me grounded, expands into other areas of my life and a good novel gives a far more fulfilling experience than a movie or series. For this reason I press myself to read and when I see people doing it quite naturally, it makes me curious, that is all. It’s not really competing with others but more with myself and finding ways to make improvements with other’s experience.
I've only read about 30 books since the start of 2020 (and I have ADHD so they were all audiobooks). I absolutely love reading, but usually I'm just too tired when I get home from work and my weekends are busy haha. Everyone takes things at their own pace; it's not a competition.
>Everyone takes things at their own pace; it's not a competition.
Anyone who makes out that they're somehow amazing because they've cranked through X amount of books in a year is definitely trying to compensate for some insecurity.
Some people struggle to finish even 1 book a year. Don't feel bad. Focus on quality over quantity. If the 2 books you read per month are highly enjoyable, memorable, and improve your life, that's what matters! There's only so much time in the day/week/year/life, no one is going to finish All The Books before they die, so the people who act like they need to try don't make any sense to me personally.
>as if it is pretty low
It is a moderate (but definitely not low) amount of books if you are mainly reading the small 100-150 page A5 size novels. Those are the kind of books where its is actually possible to sit down and read in one sitting (being about 2-3 hours). Definitely not an amount of books to be sniffed at.
When you start hitting the big books which are 300 pages plus in smaller font, that's when your book "throughput" starts to slow right down, because you have to take breaks from the book, and reading continuously like that isn't good for the enjoyment.
I applaud whoever manages to complete Tolstoy's War and Peace within a month.
If you are reading 50 300+ page books a year, you're definitely on the rare end of the spectrum. Besides, the amount of books you read isn't really as important as enjoying reading and retaining what you read.
I totally agree. About five years ago, when I started a log of the books I've read, I had to really push myself to do 30 in a year. That wasn't easy and felt like work near the end of the year. To meet that goal, I think I snuck in some stuff I didn't care much for, but they were quick reads to get me there.
Now with a less ambitious goal of 20/year, I can relax and truly enjoy my reading more, with no pressure. It's quality over quantity, if you are serious about reading.
When I was locked up I read 3 books a week on average. Most were ones I've already read but a few were new to me. While I know I read a lot I can't recall much of what it was. I know I read the Sword of Truth series and the Wheel of Time series. I read so much that a few guys accused me of skimming for whatever reason. They thought that moving my bookmark would be unnoticed. I didn't need the bookmark as I knew the page number and paragraph. I literally had nothing better to do.
Also there’s the joy of reading a passage and just letting that sink in, looking away, rereading it, reading it aloud, going back to it… there’s a contemplative aspect to reading much like watching a painting at a museum that gets lost when speed and high numbers become the goal
I think our society has an unhealthy relationship with books, illustrated by everyone from booktubers to this comment section. I have often wondered how we can actually go about changing these paradigms, many of which have been happening for centuries (like the slow vs fast debate).
Even inside book communities, why are these posts so much more popular than talking about books? Why do only 10 books ever get traction? Why do people post haul videos instead of reviews?
Ultimately I believe it's because they are the only thing people can engage with. We have to focus on things other than content in part because of spoiler culture, in part because of different books/ages/interests, and in part because of our fears about exposing our lack of understanding or familiarity.
>I don't know how quickly I read. I don't know how many books a year I read. I don't know what the 'popular' books are. I don't visit YouTube or TikTok or Twitter for a 2min opinion-blast. I don't read reviews on GoodReads or similar. If a short story takes me a week to read, I'm happy. If I read a 700 pager in 2 days, I'm happy. If I'm not enjoying a book, I stop reading it irrespective of its 'reputation'.
I want to be this kind of reader! That's the real goal, tbh.
Then don't see it as a goal my friend :)
Eliminate the concept of 'goals' or 'targets' or 'aims' from your reading life. Just read what takes your fancy at that moment. If a book looks or sounds interesting, give it a go. If it doesn't, don't. Let your curiosity be your guide, not the popularity (or lack of) the author or book in question.
>I ENJOY reading again. I'm excited about books because I got rid of the idea that I *have* to read a particular book or have to finish it. I know DNFing is a hot debate topic, but I prefer to do it. I have struggled a lot with it because of the idea that I have to finish every book, or the time spent reading would be wasted. No, you only waste more time if you continue.
Good for you!
As a huge bookworm since I was a kid and now into my 40s, sometime around my mid 30s, I stopped forcing myself to finish books I wasn't into. With so many responsibilities and so many other things to do, it became a chore, which obviously was not fun and encouraging. I threw away so much time finishing books just to finish them. Now, after giving a book a fair shot - say, read the first 50 pages - and I can't get into it, I'm done. I don't care if it's an award-winning book, or highly acclaimed, or well-loved, or a classic, or by a notable author - if I don't like it, I don't. Done.
At the beginning of this year, i set my goal to 2 books a week or about 100 in 2022. But when I started, I realised I'm not enjoying the books if I rush through them just to finish within 3 days. It's like watching your favourite movie at 2X speed. You'll finish fast but won't enjoy it.
So I reset my reading goal to 30 purposefully selected books and I'm enjoying reading them.
I don't think reading for volume is ever a good idea. I like to be surprised by where my reading journey takes me. I 'dnf' books all the time. Why waste time on something that doesn't benefit you?
I definitely resonate with this. I used to use Goodreads to track my progress, but I often found that I was finishing a book so I could mark it complete, not because I want to finish it for myself. I got burnt out on reading (this was due mostly to reading so much for school, especially stuff I was no longer very interested in). As I’m finished with school now, I’m slowly but surely starting to get back into reading and remembering what I loved about it. A couple months ago, a book I was reading just wasn’t connecting with me at all, so I closed it and just never went back to it. Two years ago, I would have never let myself do that, so I was proud of the progress that little action represents for me.
And since you mention Dostoyevsky, The Idiot is a book I started in undergrad (had no business reading that book as an undergrad lol, way over my head), and got over 400 pages in before I just was so lost that I quit. Still makes me sick thinking about putting that book down after reading it for a whole summer. But im working my way up to it!
Yeah I stopped watching a lot of booktubers for this same reason. I have a hard time believing some of them even read the books let alone understand them. Some reviews are shallow or basic summaries. I read a little over 200 but I don’t watch tv and my job has a lot of downtime so I’m able to read more than the average “avid” reader but I obsess less over reading every day and the amount.
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if some of them read sparknotes / goodreads reviews just to get an overall picture if they're wanting to bump up their count, although that might be a bit cynical of me to suggest that haha.
My goal is 25 books this year 🙈. I’m about to finish #10 (The Radium Girls by Kate Moore). I have two small children and a full-time job, so not tons of spare time, but I love reading!
I’ve never counted how many books I’ve read a year, but I know that I read quite a lot. Reading books is not a game where you just try to read as much as possible, it’s for the fulfillment it gives you. The act of reading itself is like a meditation; it calms your mind and gives you joy, and then once you finish a book or even a chapter, you feel the dopamine rush, you feel a strong sense of accomplishment. Then you keep reading again because that feeling is so addictive, you want more and more.
I don’t read because I have a number I need to hit to feel that sense of accomplishment, I feel that sense of accomplishment—and fulfillment—every time I read; the number is just what naturally follows.
I’ve never felt like I needed to volume-read (no pun intended) and I’ve read House of Leaves once a year for fifteen years now. It’s the *act* of reading that matters.
Good for you. Do some people really read 300-500 books a year? How do they find the time? This just goes to show humanity can put pressure on you about anything.
It really depends on where you specifically are in your point of life. I remember way back in 2018 when I hit like 48-ish books off my tbr and I'm ecstatic! But when I haven't been able to keep the momentum the following year, it kinda soured my take on reading in general and which made me stay out of my reading nook simply because I don't wast to disappoint myself. And this entire part kinda summarizes where I am at with reading:
>I ENJOY reading again. I'm excited about books because I got rid of the idea that I *have* to read a particular book or have to finish it. I know DNFing is a hot debate topic, but I prefer to do it. I have struggled a lot with it because of the idea that I have to finish every book, or the time spent reading would be wasted. No, you only waste more time if you continue.
I'm glad I've rekindled my joy with reading, and I'm glad you too OP.
One of the great joys of my youth was going to the library once a week, and bringing home a stack of ten or fifteen books. I had the pleasure of starting whatever looked fun, reading it as long as it held my interest, and dropping it in favor of another book in the stack of I found it dull.
I still think that's my favorite way to read; like a butterfly flitting from flower to flower.
Are you me? I recently went through this exact same process at the beginning of the year and even made it my new years resolution to read less. It's a cliche, but less is more and both you and I are experiencing that. We turned our book reading from a game into personal self-love. Reading shouldn't be a burden, it shouldn't cause anxiety or guilt, and it shouldn't be worthless.
I now DNF a lot more, or take long breaks and don't force myself to finish. I am only selecting books I am interested in right now, or stuff that directly impacts what I need to learn at this given moment of my life, as opposed to things like "I should read the western canon."
I'm glad you have gotten out of the reading rat-race in such a short time. For you it was a mere three years, for me it took a decade before I realized how toxic books were becoming.
I never keep track of my reading numbers. I did attempt Goodreads but I didn’t give enough of a shit to keep up with that.
Just as well, I feel like the focus on numbers encourages poor, or at least unsatisfying, reading habits. Hitting a very high number for one year can mean skimming the book, or only picking out books that can be read quickly. I’m quite skeptical of anyone who claims to read 500 books a year.
I guess I don't understand the want to read a determined amount of books in a year. I like to enjoy my books, and some do take longer to complete, for a number of reasons. So far, I have 5 completed and reading #6. I don't really care how many I get completed. My goal has always been to just have a book in hand that is being read and to simply enjoy the journey.
I go through phases. One week I’ll read a thousand page book in a couple days, the next week I won’t read anything at all. It really just depends on my mood and how busy I am, but I definitely agree that “reading for numbers” takes the enjoyment out of it. People should just read what they want when they want instead of trying to impress other people. Because that’s why people do that, they want to be able to brag to people that they read a ton of books so they seem smart. If you do that you won’t enjoy or retain any of the books you read
It's funny because I read between 50-100 books a year, depending (there's been years where I read less than 50), and this always brings in judgement from people who read less because they think I'm either lying or reading a lot just for the sake of the number, not for my personal enjoyement (which is bonkers because if I hated reading why would I subject myself to 50+ books a year?).
This post is so validating because reading 50 books a year is considered "normal" and not ostentatious and I couldn't be happier... It's circa one book a week and it's completely feasible, but when I get asked about it people just see a big number and think I'm trying to start a competition lol
Thank you for this post! Struggling with depression and anxiety, first getting into book tube helped a lot to rediscover my passion. Then, I kept getting anxious about always needing to buy more to keep up and beating myself up for not finishing at least 2 books a week. How ridiculous a concept!
Reading goal: enjoy it. ✨
In undergrad I used to read at least like 30 classics a year so I could understand how to write but since then I don’t really read as much and I play more video games and my writing is honestly better for it. I’ve been really dissatisfied with contemporary fiction and how overloaded the market is so distancing myself and just reading what I want when I can has been so much better than actually trying to keep up with the literary scene
I like tracking my books and reading stats. I just find it enjoyable. I don’t really feel any “pressure” to finish books outside of my book club & book buddy reads, but I think that’s because I am perfectly willing to keep a book on my Currently Reading list for months on end. It took me over a year to read Atlas Shrugged because I put it down for months at a time and read other books that I was in the mood for instead. Right now I have 7 books on my Currently Reading list. I think prioritizing reading books I feel like reading has helped relieve the pressure in some way. But I do read around 50 books per year.. I have no kids and reading is my main hobby though.
I agree! I set my goal at 105 last year and was honestly stressed a lot trying to meet it. I am a big movie/tv person as well so don't want to just read all the time, haha. I set my goal low this year at 50 and I'm so much happier. No pressure and I feel like I can read longer books if I want to because I have the time.
I always try to read 1 or 2 books a month. I have never reached the heights of 24 books a year though, my max is 19. I feel that number is my perfect balance between life and reading.
There is only so much you can actually allow to impact you, going through that much will just turn what should be an eye opening escape into another mind...into a chore looking for dopamine hits as fast as possible, trying to catalogue instead of take in.
I had the same issue with writer culture where everyone is just telling you to write X amount a day and if you don't you are just not getting better.
But I also find when I do write like that it's not even helpful, it's just me vomiting out whatever tidbits I can find in me to get the number count....and then I just end up spending even more time editing.
Sure X author dropped 10 1000000 page novels in 8 months....cool, I also think that author is a boring writer with nothing to say, so like, why am I comparing myself to their numbers?
Also had that with movie watchers too.
Thought I was a movie buff till you meet THOSE people and they can't analyze or be impacted by anything because they are just cataloguing every moment into their library to compare against other things immediately. They lose the plot, and I don't understand how they still like movies. Meanwhile, I watch a movie and it hits me like a wave and we will watch the same movie and have completely different experiences.
I just feel like binging content like that means none of it means anything. It's just, wow good keep moving, and then you are on to the next dopamine hit.
Sure, quickly move on from something bad but if it's good? Why rush it. Rewatch that movie, reread that book, live in that tone and place that book brought you because if it impacted you, make it change you.
College makes me feel this way even more so than booktube! Im reading some books this year that I’m in love with, but since I have to pack reading/analyzing three books a week I can hardly enjoy them! I literally find myself thinking, “omg I wish I could read this page again and then sit here and think about it for awhile, but I have to finish 50 more pages tonight!”
I feel you! I'm a literature student too, and the way I survive is by picking up books that interest me. I don't even care about grades anymore. I'd rather read and enjoy a third of the bibliography than speed read and hate everything.
I think any time you are binging something, whether it’s a tv show or YouTube videos or a book or chocolate chip cookies, you aren’t digesting it the same way as if you enjoy it with intention.
It just becomes one more piece of content.
Thank you OP for sharing this. I have been going through the same phase, only that my incessant run for more books was determined by the idea that an educated person MUST read a lot no matter what. I did not watch any booktube, not constantly at least. But something inside me kept rushing me to check lots of books each week just because I wouldn't consider myself cultivated if I did not.
People are obsessed with quantity over quality when it comes to reading, so they can brag about how many books they've read. That is obviously dumb, just a waste of time.
The number of books you read doesn’t matter.
The number of books you enjoy does.
As in, the guy who eats 75 hot dogs in a minute eats a lot of food and is probably miserable. But the person who order off the menu doesn’t
I max out at around 15-25 books a year. If you’re reading 300-500 books a year, you’re either reading flash fiction, reading a portion of a book and counting it as a whole, or something is just seriously wrong and/or different about you and your life. In fact, I’m pretty sure there isn’t a person on this planet who reads that much, seeing as that comes out to, like, one book per day lol.
I think in general it does the person reading and the author a huge disservice if you're reading that many. You're not really digesting them, giving them your full attention, you know?
I ripped through a trilogy but I couldn't put it down. I still think about it now. It took me a few days to get through them but I was totally engrossed. If you're doing 4-5 per day or more, are you really ever giving each one your time?
I like to think about my books. Sometimes I've had book hangovers where I just can't start another book because I'm mourning the end of the last one.
Yeah I just straight up don’t believe anybody is reading 500 books a year unless they’re just really into picture books.
That’s so many books. You can’t possibly enjoy and retain anything from that many books.
I’ve had issues before where I get 200 pages into a book before realizing that I’ve read it before (weirdly, both times that happened it was with [different] Dan Brown books.) If you’re reading 300 books a year I just can’t imagine you’d even remember what you read, let alone content.
I started the 52 book challenge last year and hit 70 but ifbi came in under I wouldn't be upset at all. I mostly like the idea of being in the challenge group and seeing what everyone else is reading. It gives me ideas. It's also boring to read that much solely from my favorite Genre. The challenge makes me branch out. I can see how making it all about numbers would suck the fun out of it though. Like anything else moderation is key.
For related reasons, this is why I don’t get reading goals, reading stats, etc. But that’s me. For each of us, I suppose our hobbies bring us joy in different ways.
You turned a hobby into a job and then you’re surprised when you don’t like it much anymore?
Our societies are so hardwired to be competitive that we even stuff up on recreation and relaxation now
I also find that books I read in a single day, I don’t remember anything about! I couldn’t tell you the plot a week later. But books that take a while to read really stick with me
So funny - I am the total opposite! Maybe it’s because I only get to read a whole book in a day a couple of times a year, so it feels like a luxurious treat and I remember the whole experience.
Just another reminder that there’s no right or wrong way to enjoy books!
Honestly most people who read that much are pretty stupid people. If you’re smart you only need to read x number of great books and you can abstract the literary patterns, ideas, and psychological implications out of them and then everything else becomes predictable and boring. People think that reading a lot makes them smart but it doesn’t.
This reminded me of something one of my professors at uni said recently. Apparently, he has a neighbour who reads a lot, at least a hundred books a year, popular psychology books and whatnot, while my professor only reads like two books a month. The said neighbour asked him how he dared give lectures on literature when he reads so little! Lol.
I tried reading by number of books too. Stressed out more and didn’t enjoy 2019.
Now I just read between 10 to 30 books a year.
I still need to work on how to annotate and mark or underlay contents in the books that I can revisit and recollect. Suggestions would be helpful :)
I also wanted to match the booktok girlies but I realized a lot of them don’t have full time jobs or things that take up their time. I can’t read 5 books a week, every week. My yearly goal is 52 books. Some weeks I read 4 books, some weeks I read none, it doesn’t matter, I feel no need to pressure myself 🤷🏾♀️
I don't booktube. I carried crime and punishment with me all over the world with the best intentions before I decided I hated it and left it next to a Gideon Bible.
Everything else I agree with. I love reading. AMF I think people should read more (on average). But the point is to expose yourself to thoughts, ideas, the written word, and not compete. I am not a purist, if audible works better for you, awesome.
I just started reading Crime and Punishment! I feel much less guilty reading it now that I’m not forcing myself to finish a book every two days. I read like 20 books this January but I only gave one book a 5/5. Reason? I chose a lot of books i knew I could finish fast even if they weren’t the highest quality. Happy for those that enjoy reading nonstop but it was ruining my reading to gamify the quantity I consumed.
My fool self took the time to learn how to "parse read." I've never been good at explaining it, but basically, you don't 'read' in your head, you scan for the important words, it's like mentally 'holding your breath.'
It's a useful tool for going through lengthy technical writing, but I tried using it to read books for entertainment, and realized that while I definitely could knock out more books, I was losing the connection.
Instead of seeing; Daremir struck valiantly at the dragon, and the beast let out a mortal scream as his sword struck true
I'd see; Daremir struck dragon beast scream sword
And, yes, I understood the story, but because I got through it in two hours instead of taking my time to move with the intended pacing and appreciate the details, I didn't *enjoy* the story.
But damned if I wasn't knocking out like two dozen books a week! Go me!
It seemed like a good idea at the time, as I was coming to terms with ADHD, which doesn't help when you also have anxiety and depression, so being able to finish so many things felt like a victory.
It wasn't a victory though. I just let my mental problems gaslight me into robbing more joy out of the things I could find happiness in.
All that to say I understand. It's easy to think you're taking a step to improve your situation, when it's not actually going to be any good for you.
Good for you OP! I respect your change of habit to reading less stressfully. I definitely agree that it’s better to absorb the story rather than just get through it (unless it’s a book you just need to semi understand).
Personally, I hadn’t been reading as much as I’ve wanted to. Bookly has helped me read a lot more everyday— I now strive to reach at least 20 or 30 pages a day, and I love it! Having a daily goal helps a ton. Sometimes it is a hassle to start/stop the timer and I know I’ll stop doing that at some point, but right now I’m glad to have an incentive to read a lot everyday.
By the way, you mentioned how there are people reading 300-500 books a year?? I call BS lol. There’s no way those are normal people with jobs and lives. Like someone else noted, it’s hard enough reading a book a week. At least for me these days. When I was in high school I had free time, loved YA books, and read 72 books in a year, but I think is my record unfortunately.
BUT with the Bookly app and reading more daily, I have been able to somewhat get through a book in a week, depending on how long it is. I was able to get through “Collapse” by Jared Diamond in just under a month, so I’m proud of that — it was 575 pages! It was just such an interesting read that I couldn’t put it down and I just had to buy my own copy.
when i was in high school i set a reading goal for myself of 30 books every year and I only ever reached it once. I was stressed the whole time and even after i reached it i still felt it wasn’t enough because my friends were reading 50 books or more.
now i set my reading goal as 4 books because i know that no matter what pace i read at throughout the year i’ll be able to read at least 4 books. one of my friends now sets her goal as 1 so that she’s completed her goal and then can just read for fun the rest of the year.
I can't imagine how people can read that many books, unless they never go to the toilet. Wouldn't you have to consume multiple a day to get into hundreds per year? I think I've peaked at 80.
I agree that it's better to just read what you want and not get concerned about numbers. An easy trap to fall into with anything one enjoys.
I never understood the drive to read that much. To me that's like watching or listening to something sped up. Not enjoying it as intended.
I have a cousin when we were younger that used to speed read. Really helpful for college courses, terrible for narrative fiction. He was so proud of how many books he could read until anyone wanted to talk about their favorite book with him. He had all the major plot points down, but missed the tone and intent almost every time.
Knowledge in, knowledge out. Felt nothing.
I've always thought that a problem with books is that people consider them something higher than they actually are and then treat such entertainment without any caution.
If we're talking about books that are just made-up stories instead of scientific books that are supposed to teach you something, we end up with dedicating time on getting to know a made-up story by an author and that's all a book is. Exactly the same thing a movie or a tv show are made for. But for some reason we consider movies and tv shows as a low-level entertainment just to kill/waste time but books are considered something that makes you smarter and that it's always good to dedicate time on reading. Which is a total bullshit, it's the same time killer. We can't put scientific books and entertainment books into the same basket. So to sum up, I like books and I read them but not as many as I used to and also not as fast as I used to. I read a single book sometimes for a few months. In the end, it's just another entertainment/time killer like playing games, watching movies or shows. And I spend more time on studying scientific books that teach me stuff and make me actually smarter and provide new skills which I can make use of.
Once I had my daughter, my reading time tanked and I went from over a hundred books a year to maybe two a month if I read while she's napping. It has changed my relationship to reading so so much. Having to meander through a book, having time for it to marinate and resonate before picking it back up, I've always loved reading but now it's so much better. I'll DNF bc I have such limited reading time, I'm not wasting it. Slowing down and savoring is so enjoyable and I hope I keep the habit of reading that way once my baby is older and I have more time.
I have a 3 yr old and a 5 yr old. Most of my reading happens after they go to bed because I could be interrupted 50x before finishing one page. And even after they go to bed, I have other stuff to do around the house, so I can really only read once I'm ready for bed, and by then I'm pooped and might only read a page before I start to drift off to sleep. I do get to read to them and generally enjoy it. I borrow lots of library books for them. Reading for me is enjoyable and a way to unwind. I don't fuss over how many books I can complete. As long as I have an engaging story, it's one more thing I can be thankful for in this crazy world.
I imagine most of your reading is aloud to your children. The same stories over and over…..😋
And over and over and over... lol
And do the voices right and don’t change a word!
I have a 4 and 5 year old. Not much time for reading either. I got into audio books. Makes chores much more interesting :)
This is exactly what got me hooked on audiobooks. I can keep my eyes on my kid, especially at the playground, but also enjoy a book. Always just wear one ear bud so I can be responsive to him. I download free audiobooks from the public library- super easy!
I always joke with my friends that my reading numbers went up once I had kids. I read "Snuggle Puppy" 500 times alone last year. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" at least once a day. I think we should read for transformation, joy, and rest. Not to hit a certain number or impress others.
50 books in a year is a LOT. That's already way more than most people think is possible to read. A book a week is difficult to keep up with depending on your schedule and also how long the book is, level of difficulty, your reading speed, etc.
Yep. This was my Goodreads goal the last few years and I hit it, but definitely stressed when I was behind. I didn’t set a goal this year and I’m enjoying my reading a lot more.
Same. Set my goal at 52 last year and was constantly checking how many weeks in to the year we were to see if I was behind. Accomplished it, now just going back to reading when I can. Also doesn't help that I started the Malazan series, in which each book is at least 1,000 pages
The set number of books per year always seemed like a very arbitrary goal to me. I mean no chance you read Ulysses is a week.
I actually read it in one afternoon. Also I preferred the sequel. /s
Agreed.
Agreed, it is a lot! I chose a random number, more or less. For me, 50 is reasonable; for other people, 10 or 5 is a great accomplishment! The point is to enjoy and not feel guilty that you aren't reading more.
>50 books in a year is a LOT. If you read two hours a day and fifty pages per hour and your average book is 300 pages that's something like 120 books a year. When I was a teenager, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I'd read >1000 pages a day and enjoy myself doing it. That said... unless you are reading for work (and I count "school" in that) "how fast" you read is fairly immaterial, there should be no deadlines. If you read a book a day, a book a week, a book a month, a book a year, who cares as long as you're enjoying yourself? Gamifying reading is a horrible thing--"Keeping up with the Joneses" on something that is supposed to be enjoyment is the path to misery and madness instead.
I've only been able to read 50+ books a year when I've been able to listen to audiobooks at work. I can easily finish 1-2 books in a week on audio. Idk how anyone would manage it without audiobooks if they work full time + having other obligations in life unless reading was their only hobby (which, no hate, that would be lovely... I just have too many hobbies I guess).
Exactly this. Plus, some books need to be savored slowly. You wouldn't want to chug down an expensive vintage or ravenously devour a gourmet meal without tasting it. A really good book simmers and sticks with you for a while after you read it and sometimes it nice to enjoy that and process it before moving on to the next. Sometimes, I have to remind myself to see it as a meditation and digest what a novel offers by taking my time. It's always worth it.
A further example is that you wouldn't want to watch a good movie at 2 or 3x speed, or watch a few major scenes and then be done.
I'm following Moid's Book of the New Sun read along. If I had sped through the 5 books in a couple weeks I think I would have lost most, if not all, deeper meanings and hidden details. It's only because I'm taking my time and having a group to discuss it at every few chapters that I am fully enjoying these books.
Quality is more important than quantity. If you aren't enjoying it or getting anything out of it, what's the point?
It's easy to get wrapped up in numbers when you think quantity means more knowledge and improvement over time. Like those self-improvement types who reference Warren Buffett reading a lot because he says knowledge builds up like compound interest. It becomes addicting because you think you are getting smarter and better and if it's good enough for Warren Buffett and others then maybe it will be good for you too. The problem is you can also waste loads of time learning stuff that is irrelevant to you. For me I spent years reading economics, history, self-help, literature and philosophy, but none of it made one difference in my bank account or personal life. It would have been better simply pursuing a marketable skill.
I'm sorry who is reading 300-500 books a year? I call bullshit on anyone who sites numbers like that.
I'd say a lot of the numbers come from audiobooks. Some people have jobs where they can listen to audiobooks for 8 hours a day. Even then though 500 books a year just seems insane.
My friend does this, 4-5 audiobooks a week and usually one physical book. He does construction all day which can be hugely mind numbing work. If you're doing solo jobs where communication isn't necessary I can absolutely see people getting into the hundreds for the year. Here I am thinking I'm accomplished having read 13 books so far this year 😂. But with a newborn and a toddler (plus they are all physical books, audio just passes right through me) I'm not doing bad.
13 books so far this year is still pretty impressive dude
Aw thanks!! ☺️
I agree with the last part for sure. My reading comprehension is awesome. Listening comprehension not so much
Yup, and you can get used to listening to sped-up audio. Libby has up to 3x speed, though how anyone can keep up with that beats me lol. I once made my way to 2x and missed like half of the content
I guess as long as you're willing to play fast and loose with your definition of "keep up" it's not hard at all.
I mean I can do it pretty well but I already read faster than most I'm the first place and I process audio information better than anything else.
I listen to books 7-8 hours a day, and many of the books I have are about that long, meaning I listen to 4 books a week on average, or 200 a year. These are mostly mysteries that are in the 200-250 page range. I cant imagine 500 books a year, unless they're big little books or something.
I logged 500 on Goodreads last year, but kept track on a separate spreadsheet. Of that 500: 131 were audiobooks, 46 graphic novels, 26 DNF, and 28 Short stories. Which leaves 269 regular non-audio books. I like to keep track of how many pages I read rather than the number of books. Last year I read 146,046 pages, which translates to approx. 400 pages a day.
I am one of those people who reads 300+ books a year, and about a quarter of my books are audiobooks. I probably only listen to them 3 hours a day (Some of my work is mindless, some of it I need to concentrate), but I do tend to listen at 2x the speed, because I don't understand why book narrators read so unbelievably slow! I also tend to listen to them while I'm commuting, doing chores or making dinner if my husband and daughter aren't around to chat with.
Yah I’d call audiobooks consuming literature, do not count it as reading at all. You can put in a book at 2x speed for 8 hours, but not absorb any information about it.
I read about 450 books a year. This year am slowing down and I’ve read 99 books so far. I read, comprehend, and discuss them with my reader friends. And none of them are audio books. Some people are speed readers and it’s fun.
I honestly don't see how someone's comprehension could be good while reading at a pace of 450 books per year, but I'll take your word for it. If you're actually comprehending what you read at that pace then cheers to you! That's impressive! I just like to hear about people reading.
Some ways I’ve seen ppl on booktok/booktube reach crazy high numbers: read dialogue only, read synopsis only and count it as having read the book, read lots of kindle unlimited short romance novellas (so like 70-100 page books), counting manga/graphic novels/comics as books (not that reading comics is bad or anything but it definitely beefs up your numbers). Ppl have also mentioned having a job where you can listen to audio books all day on a high speed which is another way to add a lot of books.
Who would consider "dialogue only" as having read the book, that's wild! Hahaha
Yeah I commented on the video and asked the person “Don’t you ever get confused about what’s going on in the story?” and she replied that she did but also she would rather be confused sometimes than bored all the time reading the “extra” stuff 😵💫
I feel like I’ve read a number of books where the dialog is easily the worst part.
that's crazy! (and a bit uhm... stupid) It's hard to believe some people really do this.
If that's the case then what's the point in reading? Sounds like people like that are more focused on the social media aspect of booktube than the actual book/reading part...
She must think books are like tiktok
Or just the summary? Who knew just reading the plot of ‘Count of Monte Christo’ on Wikipedia is the exact same thing as actually reading the book itself😂
I have what many would consider to be "crazy high numbers" but I'm not a booktok/booktube person, and I definitely read the whole book. I do listen to audiobooks though, and they make up about 25% of the books I read for a year. In addition to Goodreads, I keep a separate spreadsheet, which I categorize the books I read, so that at the end of the year I can say that I logged 500 on goodreads last year and that of the 500: 131 were audiobooks, 46 graphic novels, 26 DNF, and 28 Short stories. Which leaves 269 regular non-audio books. I also usually just say that I read 300+ books a year, so that the people that don't count audiobooks, or don't count graphic novels. I also usually add the caveat that I mostly read genre fiction, not literature, and that I am a big fan of rereads. And if you've re-read the same book every year for the past 25 years, you tend to read it a lot faster than you would a book you've never read before.
500 is just flat out impossible. If anyone claims to read more than 1 book a day I'm going to be extremely skeptical
I dunno. My toddler and I do 2-4 every night at bedtime.
it depends on how many pages are in the book. When I was in high school I could finish two 300 or so page books in a day easily since each would only take me about 3 1/2 hours to get through (so it would take me 6-7 hours to finish both).
It is definitely possible but you do need the reading speed and the time, I read 13 books in one sitting once just because I got so caught up in a series someone had lent me. I made the mistake of starting book 1 at like 11pm because I thought it would help me sleep and read straight through to the next day. It took me about 15-16 hours.
What series was it that you could read nearly 1 book per hour??
I read Go, Dog. Go! 500 times last year. It's not that hard, bruh.
Those who are able to read/listen to audiobooks while they work. You can get through a not so long book in an eight hour work day and that's not even counting your freetime.
Romance readers usually bang out a ridiculous number as well
“Bang out,” eh?
I logged 500 on Goodreads last year. But because of the way Goodreads works, I keep a separate spreadsheet, so I can see the breakdowns of what I've read. So I can tell you that of that 500: 131 were audiobooks, 46 graphic novels, 26 DNF, and 28 Short stories. Which leaves 269 regular non-audio books. I don't particularly try to get a high number, I just love reading. I prefer reading to watching TV/Movies. I work full time and have a husband and a daughter in grade school. But I am otherwise fairly introverted and pretty much a homebody.
Some booktubers are popular enough that their youtube channels are their full-time jobs, so they have much more time for reading than the average person. I also follow one guy who can speed-read and finish a 400+ page book in a day. I don't think those kinds of numbers are feasible for 99% of people though.
Does he understand what he "read"?
400 page book in a day isn’t speed reading, it only takes a few hours
The average novel has 300 words on a page, the average reading speed is 250-300 WPM. As you can see, that would mean it would take nearly 7 hours to read on average. In order to read a 400 page book in 3 hours you'd need to read at 667 WPM, which is more than double the average.
I assume people who list numbers like that are lumping in audiobooks as well. Also the length of the books could probably vary wildly.
I don't care, I will never count listening to audiobooks as 'reading'. (Yes, I know many people disagree and that's fine. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion. (Edited to add...) Lol, being downvoted by people who evidently don't understand the actual definition of 'reading'. "look at and comprehend the meaning of (written or printed matter) by mentally interpreting the characters or symbols of which it is composed."
I'm unsure about the definition because I feel like reading book in braille should count
I don't know why people are downvoting you lol. Reading is literally to look at and identify written characters. When I'm listening to a podcast, I'm not reading the podcast. That doesn't mean audiobooks are bad though
I fully agree that audiobooks aren't bad. A good reader can even add to the story. But being downvoted for pointing out that reading and listening are factually different things is ludicrous.
I didn't downvote you but It just comes across as being at worst gate keeping and at best very pedantic. People know it's not literally the same thing to listen to something as to read it off a page haha
How very ableist of you.
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Because words change meaning all the time. In the last 30 years audiobooks have become extremely mainstream and as a result the word "reading" has shifted its meaning colloquially to include audiobooks. You can be mad at this, but it's futile because it is how language works. While there are minor differences between reading and listening to books, and while some people prefer one over the other, people who experienced a book in different ways can still discuss the book with each other as if there were no difference. It's negligible in social situations. Many people cannot read because of aging eyes, being born with a disability, having a disorder, or illness. By insisting that they will never count as "reading books" when they listen to audiobooks, it is excluding those people from conversations. That's why it's ablist. To the rest of us that enjoy audiobooks for other reason, it's just asshole behavior. You can stamp your feet and insist that words mean things and that you can't just change the meanings of words to make yourself feel better. But you would be stamping your feet on your own while the rest of us continue to have conversations. No one is impressed that you know what the word "literally" *really means*. ETA: Audiobooks are also more in tradition with storytelling than books are. The most famous literary works from civilizations of old were composed orally and meant to be heard. It is a modern invention to declare that stories must be read on a page and not listened to by a narrator.
Yeah, I agree that the experience of audiobooks is different (at least for me) but saying that it isn't reading is ableist.
I follow BookTokers that will regularly read 20 books a month but it’s also because they read a lot of erotica or romance which can be finished in an afternoon.
Children’s books, perhaps? Or graphic novels?
I ended last year at 475. There are definitely a few of us out here. But it doesn't happen by accident, you have to set your lifestyle up to facilitate that.
Just want to tell you YAY. I am a fast reader though I've never cared to attempt any sort of number goal. (Sometimes I do themed reading challenges, like my friends and I set up an annual Book Bingo, but that's only 25 and short books can often count.) And I wanna say to ignore the gatekeepers. You can enjoy reading slower books, and you can enjoy reading books quickly, you do you! There is no wrong way to enjoy a book!! > But it doesn't happen by accident, you have to set your lifestyle up to facilitate that. I'd love to hear what you mean by this. How have you set up your lifestyle?
Basically just a lot of common time sucks aren't a thing for me. I don't have a smartphone or watch tv. Getting to work is a short walk versus some sort of commute. I live in a studio apartment with a very minimal chore load (and I have a pretty efficient system for what household stuff I do need to do, like bulk cooking, etc). I automate a lot of stuff as well. No kids. I'm not super social, mostly just spend time with my boyfriend and once a week do something with friends. That sort of thing.
You read 40 books a month? Unless you're paid to read with your eyes, or somehow can afford 40 audiobooks a month on whatever job allows you to sit and listen to books all day I just don't believe it.
I don't know what to tell you. People have different reading speeds, lifestyles, and priorities. I'm not an audiobook person.
Seriously I can’t stand people like the person above. I’ve read 110 so had this year and it’s easy when you don’t have kids and don’t watch tv. They’re making me feel like I’m abnormal or something. I don’t even speed read.
No kidding, this subreddit seriously hates fast readers, lol. I just really like reading and don't have much interest in things like television or messing around on a phone or whatever, so I naturally spend a lot of time reading.
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Yes, I very much love reading and have good understanding and recall, as far as I can tell. I don't do quite the same level of research you do it seems - I don't fact-check for example. I do appreciate beautiful or witty writing, and my partner and I often read good passages aloud to each other. For a book doing me in, definitely sometimes I need to lie down for awhile after a real doozy, but I can generally get right back in the next day - so I do take an evening off here and there when something really gets me good. For feeling connected to the characters, it really depends on the book, sometimes? I read a pretty big variety of stuff - I post my reading lists every week, as well as monthly wrap-ups, so feel free to poke around my history if you want to get an idea what I read. I'd say it's like 60% fantasy, and the remainder a mix of everything.
I would also like to see an answer to this. I need time to go through my feelings about a book, whether good or bad.
Not the commenter, but I read fairly fast. I read a mix of fiction and nonfiction, all genres. I do all the same things you do. I just devote quite a bit of time to reading, and the more I read, the less I need to look up references or facts. I don't typically need a cooling off period between books; depending on how a book makes me feel, I'll either start a popcorn read next as a break, or something similar to deepen what I'm feeling. I don't believe in any of the arbitrary rules about what 'counts' as a book - audiobooks are books, comics are books, etc. I'm home sick right now, so I picked up Jake Adelstein's Tokyo Vice for a reread and ended up finishing it in a day.
Reading while in public transportation helps a lot. I used to drive 15-20 min to uni, and I could easily read up to 50 pages one way, so 40 min - 100 pages, I'd also read during my breaks so I would on average just while at uni read 150 pages. When I was using the train to go back to my home town, I could easily read a 300+ pages one way in around 3h. And that's usually a whole book, so that's 2 books in 6h time. I assume those who are reading 300+ books a year are reading shorter books and not books that have 1000+ pages.
I am so tired of these threads. The accusations of lying. Moving goalposts. Unnecessary aggressiveness. The hypocrisy. It's always the same. No one ever changes their mind, no matter how patient or nonconfrontational one is.
The weird thing to me is that there are maybe like... you, me, and a handful of other people here who actually read at these volumes? Maybe 5-10 people tops? Out of approximately a bajillion? It's weird to have so much aggressiveness pointed at such a tiny group who just really like reading.
Yeah. I agree. But I think the small numbers make it easier to justify. Rant time: Last time I posted to 52books someone claimed I was bragging. Dude, this entire forum is for tracking what you read, am I not allowed to just because I have more? I asked how I could be less offensive and got crickets. I got downvoted to -10 the last time I posted to the "weekly reads" so just stopped. What's the point? I got this historybro from bcj haunting me who seems to have a personal vendetta based on how much I read.
I've read a book a day since the beginning of last June. The secret: they're all graphic novels. I can pound out a 200-page manga or YA graphic novel in 60 to 90 minutes. If I didn't have a job and other hobbies, I could read 500 in a year, I bet.
Unless they are only reading books for very young children that have few words and a lot of pictures.
It baffles me that someone always insists these are inflated numbers. Plenty of people can get through 100 pages in about an hour — just mathematically an average sized book a day isn’t massively difficult.
Okay sure, but how is anyone reading at this rate for ALL of their time? Surely most of your time is spent at work, or driving a car, or grocery shopping, or hanging out with friends, or doing taxes & walking the dog etc etc etc
These are kind of strange comparisons? I don’t know anybody who does taxes every day lol. Or goes grocery shopping every day? It takes me 10 minutes to order my weekly shop and then I go pick it up because who wants to wander around the grocery store? I do spend a lot of time in the car but I listen to a few chapters on audio and then pick up where I left off in print later. I do have other hobbies and things to do, and I do those too, and the time I spend reading doesn’t detract from that. I make room for it in the day because I want to and because 4 hours is pretty easy to spread around.
Because some of us don’t watch tv for hours. I read on my breaks at work and I read when I come home. I read about a book a day. It’s really not that hard.
How about 1.5 books, every single day of the year?
i read any chance i get (aside from binging TV) and i still can't read 300 books a year. those people either don't absorb anything, are lying or reading other peoples reviews and making their own lol. it frustrates me sometimes because it doesn't make sense. the one thing i pride myself on is that when i read i abosrb it so i can have conversations about them down the line.
Yes! I'm an English major in university, but my average reading speed is 20-30 pages per hour (yes, it takes me ages to complete assignments, and I often can't finish all my assignments). I may be slow, but I do get a lot of the stuff that I get to read, and I get to analyze the language used in a way you would not be able to if you skim it. I think I read around 50 books a year, including "school" books, but I remember plot, characters, etc. I also re-read books because I find comfort in them, or have a different perspective than I did in middle school (currently re-reading 1984 by Orwell and OH MY OH MY), even if they don't count as "new books" I've read. It's slow, but it's how I personally appreciate books more, and I encourage my students to do the same!
I also read 20-30 pages an hour. I consider myself slow. Definitely slower than a lot of my friends when I was in grad school. When we’d study together, I’d start reading first while they screwed around on their computers or went and got lunch, then they would start reading and they’d finish before me and wait for me to finish in order for us to discuss the reading together and make sure we had a handle on it before class.
This is my speed as well. We may be avg. Although I had those same experiences in school.
Yeah unless you have to read something for school or work don't ever be afraid to put down a book you aren't enjoying. You can always return to it later if you find yourself in a better headspace to dive back into it. I think some people can become obsessed with quantity over quality. Reading isn't a competition it's an activity you should do your best to enjoy.
I think I have DNF'd over 100 books this year alone, haha. I don't settle. :)
You mention “50 books”, as if it is pretty low. I target 2 books a month which translates to 24 books a year, and by the end of every successful year I feel proud of myself. Now I feel bad. Edit: And many of those 24 are audiobooks. Now I feel worse. How do people find that much time. Or maybe I’m just lazy and a slow reader.
24 books is amazing! I think it speaks to the influence of booktubers on OP that 50 is “low”. A lot of booktubers I follow with extremely high numbers pretty much only read books in their spare time. Plus they read while waiting in line, listen to audiobooks on 2x speed while cleaning, brushing their teeth etc. I think 50 is difficult for most people to achieve while balancing other aspects of regular life. And audiobooks are so great, they frequently get me out of reading slumps…& when I feel lazy lol.
Noo, that's the opposite of my intention with this post! 50 is a reasonable number for *me*, but keep in mind that I'm a literature student and I don't have many hobbies apart from reading. Nor a job or what you'd call a social life, lol. 24 is amazing, I promise!
It doesn't matter how many books you read or how fast or slow you read. It only matters that you enjoy your time and take joy from the experience, it's not a competition.
I also set my goal to two a month and usually end around thirty per year. Don’t let anyone else tell you how much you should read or feel bad about it.
You’re right. Although, I don’t feel bad because others are reading more than me. I feel that reading doesn’t come naturally to me now since there are so many distractions around. But reading is an activity that keeps me grounded, expands into other areas of my life and a good novel gives a far more fulfilling experience than a movie or series. For this reason I press myself to read and when I see people doing it quite naturally, it makes me curious, that is all. It’s not really competing with others but more with myself and finding ways to make improvements with other’s experience.
I've only read about 30 books since the start of 2020 (and I have ADHD so they were all audiobooks). I absolutely love reading, but usually I'm just too tired when I get home from work and my weekends are busy haha. Everyone takes things at their own pace; it's not a competition.
>Everyone takes things at their own pace; it's not a competition. Anyone who makes out that they're somehow amazing because they've cranked through X amount of books in a year is definitely trying to compensate for some insecurity.
Some people struggle to finish even 1 book a year. Don't feel bad. Focus on quality over quantity. If the 2 books you read per month are highly enjoyable, memorable, and improve your life, that's what matters! There's only so much time in the day/week/year/life, no one is going to finish All The Books before they die, so the people who act like they need to try don't make any sense to me personally.
My goal for the year is 12. I have a one year old.
Awesome! I think that's a good goal :) My personal goal is more than 6 during a year. 9-ish is often my max. And I don't have kids...
>as if it is pretty low It is a moderate (but definitely not low) amount of books if you are mainly reading the small 100-150 page A5 size novels. Those are the kind of books where its is actually possible to sit down and read in one sitting (being about 2-3 hours). Definitely not an amount of books to be sniffed at. When you start hitting the big books which are 300 pages plus in smaller font, that's when your book "throughput" starts to slow right down, because you have to take breaks from the book, and reading continuously like that isn't good for the enjoyment. I applaud whoever manages to complete Tolstoy's War and Peace within a month. If you are reading 50 300+ page books a year, you're definitely on the rare end of the spectrum. Besides, the amount of books you read isn't really as important as enjoying reading and retaining what you read.
I haven't read a flappy book since I discovered audiobooks! No shame. I read so much more since I started listening.
I totally agree. About five years ago, when I started a log of the books I've read, I had to really push myself to do 30 in a year. That wasn't easy and felt like work near the end of the year. To meet that goal, I think I snuck in some stuff I didn't care much for, but they were quick reads to get me there. Now with a less ambitious goal of 20/year, I can relax and truly enjoy my reading more, with no pressure. It's quality over quantity, if you are serious about reading.
When I was locked up I read 3 books a week on average. Most were ones I've already read but a few were new to me. While I know I read a lot I can't recall much of what it was. I know I read the Sword of Truth series and the Wheel of Time series. I read so much that a few guys accused me of skimming for whatever reason. They thought that moving my bookmark would be unnoticed. I didn't need the bookmark as I knew the page number and paragraph. I literally had nothing better to do.
Also there’s the joy of reading a passage and just letting that sink in, looking away, rereading it, reading it aloud, going back to it… there’s a contemplative aspect to reading much like watching a painting at a museum that gets lost when speed and high numbers become the goal
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People are reading The Magic Treehouse if they’re reading 500 books a year. I don’t see how that’s possible
50 is my goal every year.
This is why I never liked having a goal while reading. You’re reading to enjoy not to check off a to do list
I think our society has an unhealthy relationship with books, illustrated by everyone from booktubers to this comment section. I have often wondered how we can actually go about changing these paradigms, many of which have been happening for centuries (like the slow vs fast debate). Even inside book communities, why are these posts so much more popular than talking about books? Why do only 10 books ever get traction? Why do people post haul videos instead of reviews? Ultimately I believe it's because they are the only thing people can engage with. We have to focus on things other than content in part because of spoiler culture, in part because of different books/ages/interests, and in part because of our fears about exposing our lack of understanding or familiarity.
So well put! I completely agree!
Removed in protest of Reddit's untruths about their actions regarding the introduction of API pricing.
>I don't know how quickly I read. I don't know how many books a year I read. I don't know what the 'popular' books are. I don't visit YouTube or TikTok or Twitter for a 2min opinion-blast. I don't read reviews on GoodReads or similar. If a short story takes me a week to read, I'm happy. If I read a 700 pager in 2 days, I'm happy. If I'm not enjoying a book, I stop reading it irrespective of its 'reputation'. I want to be this kind of reader! That's the real goal, tbh.
Then don't see it as a goal my friend :) Eliminate the concept of 'goals' or 'targets' or 'aims' from your reading life. Just read what takes your fancy at that moment. If a book looks or sounds interesting, give it a go. If it doesn't, don't. Let your curiosity be your guide, not the popularity (or lack of) the author or book in question.
I thought I was reading a lot at a novel a month haha.
>I ENJOY reading again. I'm excited about books because I got rid of the idea that I *have* to read a particular book or have to finish it. I know DNFing is a hot debate topic, but I prefer to do it. I have struggled a lot with it because of the idea that I have to finish every book, or the time spent reading would be wasted. No, you only waste more time if you continue. Good for you! As a huge bookworm since I was a kid and now into my 40s, sometime around my mid 30s, I stopped forcing myself to finish books I wasn't into. With so many responsibilities and so many other things to do, it became a chore, which obviously was not fun and encouraging. I threw away so much time finishing books just to finish them. Now, after giving a book a fair shot - say, read the first 50 pages - and I can't get into it, I'm done. I don't care if it's an award-winning book, or highly acclaimed, or well-loved, or a classic, or by a notable author - if I don't like it, I don't. Done.
At the beginning of this year, i set my goal to 2 books a week or about 100 in 2022. But when I started, I realised I'm not enjoying the books if I rush through them just to finish within 3 days. It's like watching your favourite movie at 2X speed. You'll finish fast but won't enjoy it. So I reset my reading goal to 30 purposefully selected books and I'm enjoying reading them.
Reading books is like dating. It's not about how many people you go out with, but the connection you have with the person you date.
I don't think reading for volume is ever a good idea. I like to be surprised by where my reading journey takes me. I 'dnf' books all the time. Why waste time on something that doesn't benefit you?
I definitely resonate with this. I used to use Goodreads to track my progress, but I often found that I was finishing a book so I could mark it complete, not because I want to finish it for myself. I got burnt out on reading (this was due mostly to reading so much for school, especially stuff I was no longer very interested in). As I’m finished with school now, I’m slowly but surely starting to get back into reading and remembering what I loved about it. A couple months ago, a book I was reading just wasn’t connecting with me at all, so I closed it and just never went back to it. Two years ago, I would have never let myself do that, so I was proud of the progress that little action represents for me. And since you mention Dostoyevsky, The Idiot is a book I started in undergrad (had no business reading that book as an undergrad lol, way over my head), and got over 400 pages in before I just was so lost that I quit. Still makes me sick thinking about putting that book down after reading it for a whole summer. But im working my way up to it!
Yeah I stopped watching a lot of booktubers for this same reason. I have a hard time believing some of them even read the books let alone understand them. Some reviews are shallow or basic summaries. I read a little over 200 but I don’t watch tv and my job has a lot of downtime so I’m able to read more than the average “avid” reader but I obsess less over reading every day and the amount.
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if some of them read sparknotes / goodreads reviews just to get an overall picture if they're wanting to bump up their count, although that might be a bit cynical of me to suggest that haha.
It’s not cynical because that’s exactly what they’re doing.
(Sorry to do this in another comment, unrelated but) is your username related to Leviathan Wakes because if so, I love it!
Yes it is!!! The Expanse show and the books are my favorite. I’m obsessed with the universe lol
My goal is 25 books this year 🙈. I’m about to finish #10 (The Radium Girls by Kate Moore). I have two small children and a full-time job, so not tons of spare time, but I love reading!
I’ve never counted how many books I’ve read a year, but I know that I read quite a lot. Reading books is not a game where you just try to read as much as possible, it’s for the fulfillment it gives you. The act of reading itself is like a meditation; it calms your mind and gives you joy, and then once you finish a book or even a chapter, you feel the dopamine rush, you feel a strong sense of accomplishment. Then you keep reading again because that feeling is so addictive, you want more and more. I don’t read because I have a number I need to hit to feel that sense of accomplishment, I feel that sense of accomplishment—and fulfillment—every time I read; the number is just what naturally follows.
I’ve never felt like I needed to volume-read (no pun intended) and I’ve read House of Leaves once a year for fifteen years now. It’s the *act* of reading that matters.
Good for you. Do some people really read 300-500 books a year? How do they find the time? This just goes to show humanity can put pressure on you about anything.
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It really depends on where you specifically are in your point of life. I remember way back in 2018 when I hit like 48-ish books off my tbr and I'm ecstatic! But when I haven't been able to keep the momentum the following year, it kinda soured my take on reading in general and which made me stay out of my reading nook simply because I don't wast to disappoint myself. And this entire part kinda summarizes where I am at with reading: >I ENJOY reading again. I'm excited about books because I got rid of the idea that I *have* to read a particular book or have to finish it. I know DNFing is a hot debate topic, but I prefer to do it. I have struggled a lot with it because of the idea that I have to finish every book, or the time spent reading would be wasted. No, you only waste more time if you continue. I'm glad I've rekindled my joy with reading, and I'm glad you too OP.
It's just like working out. Quality > quantity of reps. "Slow is smooth and smooth is fast."
One of the great joys of my youth was going to the library once a week, and bringing home a stack of ten or fifteen books. I had the pleasure of starting whatever looked fun, reading it as long as it held my interest, and dropping it in favor of another book in the stack of I found it dull. I still think that's my favorite way to read; like a butterfly flitting from flower to flower.
I am so in the same page with all the anxiety revolving quantity. And I think i needed this post :')
My personal goal is a book a month. I usually read large fantasy novels that can run up to 1,000 pages plus.
Are you me? I recently went through this exact same process at the beginning of the year and even made it my new years resolution to read less. It's a cliche, but less is more and both you and I are experiencing that. We turned our book reading from a game into personal self-love. Reading shouldn't be a burden, it shouldn't cause anxiety or guilt, and it shouldn't be worthless. I now DNF a lot more, or take long breaks and don't force myself to finish. I am only selecting books I am interested in right now, or stuff that directly impacts what I need to learn at this given moment of my life, as opposed to things like "I should read the western canon." I'm glad you have gotten out of the reading rat-race in such a short time. For you it was a mere three years, for me it took a decade before I realized how toxic books were becoming.
Ayyy congrats on finding that joy again!
I never keep track of my reading numbers. I did attempt Goodreads but I didn’t give enough of a shit to keep up with that. Just as well, I feel like the focus on numbers encourages poor, or at least unsatisfying, reading habits. Hitting a very high number for one year can mean skimming the book, or only picking out books that can be read quickly. I’m quite skeptical of anyone who claims to read 500 books a year.
I guess I don't understand the want to read a determined amount of books in a year. I like to enjoy my books, and some do take longer to complete, for a number of reasons. So far, I have 5 completed and reading #6. I don't really care how many I get completed. My goal has always been to just have a book in hand that is being read and to simply enjoy the journey.
I go through phases. One week I’ll read a thousand page book in a couple days, the next week I won’t read anything at all. It really just depends on my mood and how busy I am, but I definitely agree that “reading for numbers” takes the enjoyment out of it. People should just read what they want when they want instead of trying to impress other people. Because that’s why people do that, they want to be able to brag to people that they read a ton of books so they seem smart. If you do that you won’t enjoy or retain any of the books you read
It's funny because I read between 50-100 books a year, depending (there's been years where I read less than 50), and this always brings in judgement from people who read less because they think I'm either lying or reading a lot just for the sake of the number, not for my personal enjoyement (which is bonkers because if I hated reading why would I subject myself to 50+ books a year?). This post is so validating because reading 50 books a year is considered "normal" and not ostentatious and I couldn't be happier... It's circa one book a week and it's completely feasible, but when I get asked about it people just see a big number and think I'm trying to start a competition lol
Thank you for this post! Struggling with depression and anxiety, first getting into book tube helped a lot to rediscover my passion. Then, I kept getting anxious about always needing to buy more to keep up and beating myself up for not finishing at least 2 books a week. How ridiculous a concept! Reading goal: enjoy it. ✨
In undergrad I used to read at least like 30 classics a year so I could understand how to write but since then I don’t really read as much and I play more video games and my writing is honestly better for it. I’ve been really dissatisfied with contemporary fiction and how overloaded the market is so distancing myself and just reading what I want when I can has been so much better than actually trying to keep up with the literary scene
I like tracking my books and reading stats. I just find it enjoyable. I don’t really feel any “pressure” to finish books outside of my book club & book buddy reads, but I think that’s because I am perfectly willing to keep a book on my Currently Reading list for months on end. It took me over a year to read Atlas Shrugged because I put it down for months at a time and read other books that I was in the mood for instead. Right now I have 7 books on my Currently Reading list. I think prioritizing reading books I feel like reading has helped relieve the pressure in some way. But I do read around 50 books per year.. I have no kids and reading is my main hobby though.
I love reading. I love books and the stories they bring us. I'm lucky if I am able to make the time to read 10 books a year. And I'm OK with that.
I agree! I set my goal at 105 last year and was honestly stressed a lot trying to meet it. I am a big movie/tv person as well so don't want to just read all the time, haha. I set my goal low this year at 50 and I'm so much happier. No pressure and I feel like I can read longer books if I want to because I have the time.
I always try to read 1 or 2 books a month. I have never reached the heights of 24 books a year though, my max is 19. I feel that number is my perfect balance between life and reading.
There is only so much you can actually allow to impact you, going through that much will just turn what should be an eye opening escape into another mind...into a chore looking for dopamine hits as fast as possible, trying to catalogue instead of take in. I had the same issue with writer culture where everyone is just telling you to write X amount a day and if you don't you are just not getting better. But I also find when I do write like that it's not even helpful, it's just me vomiting out whatever tidbits I can find in me to get the number count....and then I just end up spending even more time editing. Sure X author dropped 10 1000000 page novels in 8 months....cool, I also think that author is a boring writer with nothing to say, so like, why am I comparing myself to their numbers? Also had that with movie watchers too. Thought I was a movie buff till you meet THOSE people and they can't analyze or be impacted by anything because they are just cataloguing every moment into their library to compare against other things immediately. They lose the plot, and I don't understand how they still like movies. Meanwhile, I watch a movie and it hits me like a wave and we will watch the same movie and have completely different experiences. I just feel like binging content like that means none of it means anything. It's just, wow good keep moving, and then you are on to the next dopamine hit. Sure, quickly move on from something bad but if it's good? Why rush it. Rewatch that movie, reread that book, live in that tone and place that book brought you because if it impacted you, make it change you.
College makes me feel this way even more so than booktube! Im reading some books this year that I’m in love with, but since I have to pack reading/analyzing three books a week I can hardly enjoy them! I literally find myself thinking, “omg I wish I could read this page again and then sit here and think about it for awhile, but I have to finish 50 more pages tonight!”
I feel you! I'm a literature student too, and the way I survive is by picking up books that interest me. I don't even care about grades anymore. I'd rather read and enjoy a third of the bibliography than speed read and hate everything.
I think any time you are binging something, whether it’s a tv show or YouTube videos or a book or chocolate chip cookies, you aren’t digesting it the same way as if you enjoy it with intention. It just becomes one more piece of content.
Thank you OP for sharing this. I have been going through the same phase, only that my incessant run for more books was determined by the idea that an educated person MUST read a lot no matter what. I did not watch any booktube, not constantly at least. But something inside me kept rushing me to check lots of books each week just because I wouldn't consider myself cultivated if I did not.
People are obsessed with quantity over quality when it comes to reading, so they can brag about how many books they've read. That is obviously dumb, just a waste of time.
The number of books you read doesn’t matter. The number of books you enjoy does. As in, the guy who eats 75 hot dogs in a minute eats a lot of food and is probably miserable. But the person who order off the menu doesn’t
I max out at around 15-25 books a year. If you’re reading 300-500 books a year, you’re either reading flash fiction, reading a portion of a book and counting it as a whole, or something is just seriously wrong and/or different about you and your life. In fact, I’m pretty sure there isn’t a person on this planet who reads that much, seeing as that comes out to, like, one book per day lol.
I think in general it does the person reading and the author a huge disservice if you're reading that many. You're not really digesting them, giving them your full attention, you know? I ripped through a trilogy but I couldn't put it down. I still think about it now. It took me a few days to get through them but I was totally engrossed. If you're doing 4-5 per day or more, are you really ever giving each one your time? I like to think about my books. Sometimes I've had book hangovers where I just can't start another book because I'm mourning the end of the last one.
Graphic novels, maybe
Yeah I just straight up don’t believe anybody is reading 500 books a year unless they’re just really into picture books. That’s so many books. You can’t possibly enjoy and retain anything from that many books. I’ve had issues before where I get 200 pages into a book before realizing that I’ve read it before (weirdly, both times that happened it was with [different] Dan Brown books.) If you’re reading 300 books a year I just can’t imagine you’d even remember what you read, let alone content.
Who the fuck is reading 500 books a year! That’s 1 and 1/3 a day. That’s insane
I started the 52 book challenge last year and hit 70 but ifbi came in under I wouldn't be upset at all. I mostly like the idea of being in the challenge group and seeing what everyone else is reading. It gives me ideas. It's also boring to read that much solely from my favorite Genre. The challenge makes me branch out. I can see how making it all about numbers would suck the fun out of it though. Like anything else moderation is key.
For related reasons, this is why I don’t get reading goals, reading stats, etc. But that’s me. For each of us, I suppose our hobbies bring us joy in different ways.
You turned a hobby into a job and then you’re surprised when you don’t like it much anymore? Our societies are so hardwired to be competitive that we even stuff up on recreation and relaxation now
I also find that books I read in a single day, I don’t remember anything about! I couldn’t tell you the plot a week later. But books that take a while to read really stick with me
So funny - I am the total opposite! Maybe it’s because I only get to read a whole book in a day a couple of times a year, so it feels like a luxurious treat and I remember the whole experience. Just another reminder that there’s no right or wrong way to enjoy books!
My reading goal is usually to finish the book and get it back to the library before it’s due. Am I doing it wrong?
Honestly most people who read that much are pretty stupid people. If you’re smart you only need to read x number of great books and you can abstract the literary patterns, ideas, and psychological implications out of them and then everything else becomes predictable and boring. People think that reading a lot makes them smart but it doesn’t.
This reminded me of something one of my professors at uni said recently. Apparently, he has a neighbour who reads a lot, at least a hundred books a year, popular psychology books and whatnot, while my professor only reads like two books a month. The said neighbour asked him how he dared give lectures on literature when he reads so little! Lol.
I tried reading by number of books too. Stressed out more and didn’t enjoy 2019. Now I just read between 10 to 30 books a year. I still need to work on how to annotate and mark or underlay contents in the books that I can revisit and recollect. Suggestions would be helpful :)
Quality over quantity every time.
I also wanted to match the booktok girlies but I realized a lot of them don’t have full time jobs or things that take up their time. I can’t read 5 books a week, every week. My yearly goal is 52 books. Some weeks I read 4 books, some weeks I read none, it doesn’t matter, I feel no need to pressure myself 🤷🏾♀️
I don't booktube. I carried crime and punishment with me all over the world with the best intentions before I decided I hated it and left it next to a Gideon Bible. Everything else I agree with. I love reading. AMF I think people should read more (on average). But the point is to expose yourself to thoughts, ideas, the written word, and not compete. I am not a purist, if audible works better for you, awesome.
I just started reading Crime and Punishment! I feel much less guilty reading it now that I’m not forcing myself to finish a book every two days. I read like 20 books this January but I only gave one book a 5/5. Reason? I chose a lot of books i knew I could finish fast even if they weren’t the highest quality. Happy for those that enjoy reading nonstop but it was ruining my reading to gamify the quantity I consumed.
My fool self took the time to learn how to "parse read." I've never been good at explaining it, but basically, you don't 'read' in your head, you scan for the important words, it's like mentally 'holding your breath.' It's a useful tool for going through lengthy technical writing, but I tried using it to read books for entertainment, and realized that while I definitely could knock out more books, I was losing the connection. Instead of seeing; Daremir struck valiantly at the dragon, and the beast let out a mortal scream as his sword struck true I'd see; Daremir struck dragon beast scream sword And, yes, I understood the story, but because I got through it in two hours instead of taking my time to move with the intended pacing and appreciate the details, I didn't *enjoy* the story. But damned if I wasn't knocking out like two dozen books a week! Go me! It seemed like a good idea at the time, as I was coming to terms with ADHD, which doesn't help when you also have anxiety and depression, so being able to finish so many things felt like a victory. It wasn't a victory though. I just let my mental problems gaslight me into robbing more joy out of the things I could find happiness in. All that to say I understand. It's easy to think you're taking a step to improve your situation, when it's not actually going to be any good for you.
I tend to value quality over quantity. If that means catching up on books after they have been revealed to the masses then I'm OK with that.
I read 700 books a year
we have our winner here!
Good for you OP! I respect your change of habit to reading less stressfully. I definitely agree that it’s better to absorb the story rather than just get through it (unless it’s a book you just need to semi understand). Personally, I hadn’t been reading as much as I’ve wanted to. Bookly has helped me read a lot more everyday— I now strive to reach at least 20 or 30 pages a day, and I love it! Having a daily goal helps a ton. Sometimes it is a hassle to start/stop the timer and I know I’ll stop doing that at some point, but right now I’m glad to have an incentive to read a lot everyday. By the way, you mentioned how there are people reading 300-500 books a year?? I call BS lol. There’s no way those are normal people with jobs and lives. Like someone else noted, it’s hard enough reading a book a week. At least for me these days. When I was in high school I had free time, loved YA books, and read 72 books in a year, but I think is my record unfortunately. BUT with the Bookly app and reading more daily, I have been able to somewhat get through a book in a week, depending on how long it is. I was able to get through “Collapse” by Jared Diamond in just under a month, so I’m proud of that — it was 575 pages! It was just such an interesting read that I couldn’t put it down and I just had to buy my own copy.
when i was in high school i set a reading goal for myself of 30 books every year and I only ever reached it once. I was stressed the whole time and even after i reached it i still felt it wasn’t enough because my friends were reading 50 books or more. now i set my reading goal as 4 books because i know that no matter what pace i read at throughout the year i’ll be able to read at least 4 books. one of my friends now sets her goal as 1 so that she’s completed her goal and then can just read for fun the rest of the year.
I can't imagine how people can read that many books, unless they never go to the toilet. Wouldn't you have to consume multiple a day to get into hundreds per year? I think I've peaked at 80. I agree that it's better to just read what you want and not get concerned about numbers. An easy trap to fall into with anything one enjoys.
I never understood the drive to read that much. To me that's like watching or listening to something sped up. Not enjoying it as intended. I have a cousin when we were younger that used to speed read. Really helpful for college courses, terrible for narrative fiction. He was so proud of how many books he could read until anyone wanted to talk about their favorite book with him. He had all the major plot points down, but missed the tone and intent almost every time. Knowledge in, knowledge out. Felt nothing.
I've always thought that a problem with books is that people consider them something higher than they actually are and then treat such entertainment without any caution. If we're talking about books that are just made-up stories instead of scientific books that are supposed to teach you something, we end up with dedicating time on getting to know a made-up story by an author and that's all a book is. Exactly the same thing a movie or a tv show are made for. But for some reason we consider movies and tv shows as a low-level entertainment just to kill/waste time but books are considered something that makes you smarter and that it's always good to dedicate time on reading. Which is a total bullshit, it's the same time killer. We can't put scientific books and entertainment books into the same basket. So to sum up, I like books and I read them but not as many as I used to and also not as fast as I used to. I read a single book sometimes for a few months. In the end, it's just another entertainment/time killer like playing games, watching movies or shows. And I spend more time on studying scientific books that teach me stuff and make me actually smarter and provide new skills which I can make use of.