How Many Books In a Year

BySarra Cannon

I was thinking about this last night – I wonder how many books I read in a year? I’m not sure, really. If you look through my house, you’d think I read hundreds a year, if you were to base it solely on how many books I currently own. But there’s no way it’s truly hundreds. I would have to be reading a book a day for that to happen. Last year, I read a lot simply because I was reading a lot of Silhouette Desire books in order to better write them according to their “rules”. Since I’ve moved on from that idea and on to other types of books that I want to write, I doubt I’ll hardly pick up a Harlequin novel this year unless my critique partner is writing for them again this year. I think I just got burned out on them.

I was thinking that it would be fun to keep track of the books I read this year, both craft books and fiction books. I try to always have some book about writing going at all times, just so I can keep learning from other writers and keep thinking about the different aspects of writing a great novel. But I also always have a fiction book going, too. I suppose I will also count the audiobooks I listen to, since that’s technically “reading” them. I certainly can’t claim to be one of the most avid readers around, since I know there are people that devour books at a rate of more than one a week, but I’d still like to keep track for once in my life, just to see how many I read in a typical year.

So, this year, here are the books I’ve read so far:

  1. Under The Dome – by Stephen King
  2. The Wedding – by Nicholas Sparks (audiobook)
  3. Dear John – also Nicholas Sparks (also audiobook)
  4. Catching Fire – by Suzanne Collins

Currently, I am reading book #5, which is “The Zombie Survival Guide” by Max Brooks, as well as book #6, “The Gunslinger”, book one of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. Yes, I often read two books at once, don’t ask me why. If I had to guess how many books I’ll read over the course of the entire year, I guess I would say 35. That’s just a guess though, so we’ll see.

Have a good weekend all. If you’re in the North East, stay safe with the blizzard heading your way. Looks like mostly rain here in NC.