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  1. Sclavus

    Sclavus Active Member

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    How Much Do You Read?

    Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by Sclavus, Dec 13, 2017.

    You're probably aware of the advice that says you need to read a lot as part of the "tools" to write fiction well. One of the habits I've developed this year is daily reading, and I'm curious to see how much others read. Part of my interest comes from my desire to increase the number of books I read, though I'm not sure what a practical goal would be.

    Right now, it takes me 2-3 days to get through a book, so I get through three or four books a week. What about you?
     
  2. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    My reading is very erratic. I'll go through phases of reading like a fiend, finishing a book every 1-3 days, and then I won't read any published stuff for months on end. I should balance pleasure reading with beta reading, but I always end up doing way more of the latter.
     
  3. dragonmint

    dragonmint Member

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    Shamefully, I don't read as much as I should - especially considering the advice that one should. With school in the way, I've only managed to read just one book. But, with winter break starting, I'll pour through every book I have on my shelf :)
     
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  4. MusingWordsmith

    MusingWordsmith Shenanigan Master Contributor

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    My reading has kinda gone down lately. Too much time on the internetz instead of in a book. >.> I'm working on building back up a daily reading habit.
     
  5. Trish

    Trish Damned if I do and damned if I don't Contributor

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    I haven't read as much as I should have this year - the last couple of years actually. Life has been a little... hectic. When I was younger I was a voracious reader, I couldn't begin to guess how many books I've read in my lifetime. When I do have time (and the interest) to read, I get through a 300 - 500 page novel in a day/day and a half - depending on how well it pulls me in. Shorter books (250 or less) I can read in half a day.

    This, of course, is if I'm only reading for pleasure, and not making notes or anything. It's also part of the reason I started writing, because books are kind of an expensive hobby when you're going through them that quickly. Now it's not so bad (though in some ways worse), but I don't have time because of life and writing.
     
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  6. Laurus

    Laurus Disappointed Idealist Contributor

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    Historically, I haven't read much. Over my life, I've read like...15 to 20 books cover to cover? Buuuut I'm free from school now, which clears up quite a bit of time, meaning I can finally crack into some more. It'll still probably take me weeks to finish one cause I'm a slow reader, but it's better than taking months.
     
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  7. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

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    When I was a kid (maybe up to the age of around 25 - not quite a kid, I guess, but it seems like it now), I read almost constantly. Often a couple of books a week, more if they were for school.

    But then I realized that I wasn't getting as much out of my reading as I should. My favorite writers were putting layers of nuance and subtlety in their work and I was missing a lot of it because I was just kind of skimming. Ultimately, I wasn't enjoying reading as much as I should.

    So I slowed down. I got much more selective with the books I was reading, and I learned to savor them. I learned the value of reading aloud - you really can't enjoy James Joyce, for instance, unless you read him aloud - and I learned to pause and think over the text as I felt my way through it. I began appreciating literature on levels I was barely aware of when I was young and just blasting through book after book.

    Don't get me wrong: blasting through book after book is very instructive. You learn a lot about sentence structure and about how to build paragraphs that way. You learn to punctuate and spell (I'm serious - this isn't intended as a demeaning of any books, even those I would now consider schlocky page-turners).

    But when I got more selective, and read more slowly, I learned more subtle lessons. I learned that the books I loved most were about character and theme, not plot. I learned the purpose of plot: it forms the picture frame that focuses and intensifies the reader's attention on the painting it contains, to use a somewhat awkward analogy. I learned that what I loved most about most books was the voice of the author.

    So, anyway, these days I read very slowly, and I reread a lot. I don't know how many novels I read in a year, but it's a lot fewer than I read when I was younger. I enjoy them more, though, partly because I need them - they teach me about myself.
     
  8. LostThePlot

    LostThePlot Naysmith Contributor

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    Funnily enough I don't really read and haven't in a long time. There's only ever been really specific slices of my life where I could just sit and focus on a book, right back to when I was a kid. I enjoyed reading for sure, and I'd always rather read than do nothing but that's not always made it easy to find time; I've never in my life just chosen to sit and read when something more immediately engaging presented itself. I used to read a lot on school buses and in the car or when waiting for people to pick me up. In fact the last time I read a reasonable amount was a summer in about 2009 when I stayed with my ex and so didn't have computers or games or anything else to do. These days with phones and laptops being common and capable almost any time that I'd spend reading I want to be writing instead, it's always been something that was more engaging to me.

    I've always consumed books as audio books, that's how I appear reasonably well read despite seldom actually touching a book. I'm always listening to one as I travel (even when I'm writing) and I listen to them to fall asleep too, have done since I was a kid. My problem was always that I got bored while waiting to fall asleep, so I started listening to stuff so at least that kept me in bed. And that's still what I do now. I can make the effort to read fiction if I have a reason but mostly I just listen to stuff and slowly absorb them that way.
     
  9. pyroglyphian

    pyroglyphian Word Painter

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    Quality of reading experience is more important to me than quantity, so I tend to read fiction sequentially, one-at-a-time, in dense binges that might last a few months before a kind of fatigue sets in.
     
  10. Hwaigon

    Hwaigon Senior Member

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    Same for me. I'm a slow reader in that I go real deep into both the structure and the meaning of what I read, pondering what is said and how and thinking of ways I would phrase the same idea. I can attest to the fact that by doing so I savor the content and grow passively as a writer.
     
  11. newjerseyrunner

    newjerseyrunner Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    My reading is also erratic. I tend to do it on the bus to and from work, but I'm a fast reader so a I finish a book in a few days, then might pick up another or give it a rest for a while. I think I rest longer after long books (I enjoy Stephen King.)

    I read science journals weekly though, particularly ones about cosmology, physics, and AI.
     
  12. crappycabbage

    crappycabbage Member

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    Like a lot of the previous posters I used to read all the time, during meal-times even, but I read nowhere near as much now. It's not only because writing takes up a lot of my free time these days, which it totally does, but also because I read as a writer now. I don't seem to be able to switch that critical writer-eye off and that makes it hard to find books to get sucked into, books I actually wanna finish. And also, if I find an awesome book, I get so excited that I wanna go back to my own writing. While I'm working on my own fiction I often feel that reading someone else's novel influence me away from my own ideas somewhat. Non-fiction goes down a lot better, so I read that more than fiction tbh.
     
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  13. Adenosine Triphosphate

    Adenosine Triphosphate Member Contributor

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    I have a similar history. I read very frequently as a child, but I spent most of my time between school and assorted tedious daycare programs, and books were the most interesting objects in sight. When I had a computer or a gaming console nearby, I'd go weeks without opening an novel, although I still read articles on the Internet. I like reading, but it's a more conscious effort than playing a game or watching TV, which are easy to focus too deeply on. I used to read dozens of novels every year, some of them adult-level, but the rate fell to a trickle the moment high school started. I've been getting back into it lately, but I have to consciously decide how many pages I'm going to read, which was never an issue in the past. I'll still have the odd day where I read several hundred pages on impulse, but they're few and far between.
     
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  14. LostThePlot

    LostThePlot Naysmith Contributor

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    Sadly I can't even do that, even if I really try to make myself. If I can focus I want to do something more productive than reading, if I can't then I can't read anyway. Either I'm so into doing something that it almost feels like a waste to read instead of write or I'll ping pong between things every few minutes all day long.
     
  15. Lemie

    Lemie Contributor Contributor

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    Too little!

    And here is a confession:

    I love books and I love to write - but I think I've fallen out of love with the medium.

    If I listen to a book I'll clean, draw or do crafts. If I watch a movie or series (by myself) I usually work out. Just sitting down to read a book makes me restless. That - and I've ended up with so many shitty books lately. If I am to invest time in sitting down I need something good.

    I'll try to read more next year. I think it's mainly down to habits.
     
  16. xanadu

    xanadu Contributor Contributor

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    I always have a book that I'm reading. I try to read before bed every night, and I'm usually successful. I haven't really paid much attention to how many books I've read, but I do try to make some amount of reading as close to a daily thing as possible.
     
  17. newjerseyrunner

    newjerseyrunner Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    Interesting. I have a very difficult time reading before bed. I find by the time I wake up, what I read has become foggy. I can only read books before bed if it’s one I’ve read a thousand times.
     
  18. CoyoteKing

    CoyoteKing Good Boi Contributor

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    Whenever I write a book, I binge read a bunch of books similar to mine.

    So honestly... not that much? I read maybe 4-8 books a year. And they’re very carefully selected books.
     
  19. itsmickib

    itsmickib Member

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    I don't think I read enough. As a child, I adored the library. The library was pretty distant, so my mother would carry home books for me and return them when I'm done. And she'd return a book every other day. I read fast, and I enjoyed my books.

    Now, I have way less time. Money isn't too much of an issue, since I know where to get good books at super low prices. (Like, 90% discount low). But time... reading takes a lot of my time. If I find a good book, I'm not putting it down. I'll take up a book at 10 pm, tell myself I'm reading myself to sleep, and I'll finish the book at 5 am. But those moments are now rare.

    Now that I have some holiday time, I'll be reading more often. But I'm trying not to rush. I agree 100% with minstrel. Sometimes, you need to take your time. Don't worry about reading a million books a year. Just enjoy what you're reading now, if you can.
     

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