How many books have you read?

Yeah, even at the college level, I find a lot of people prefer to find a synopsis of books for classes and such online rather than reading.  I took a comparative literature course on science fiction a few semesters ago, I'd estimate that less than 10% of us actually read the books.  I'll admit, some of them I didn't make it through, but only because I found them incredibly distasteful *cough* J.G. Ballard's Crash and Atrocity Exhibition *Cough*, but I tried each.

As far as the favorite author question goes, I'd have to say either Douglas Adams or Frank Herbert or Heinlein or H.G. Wells or Vonnegut or Philip Dick. 

Ricochet wrote: russellk wrote: ^ Henry, it is estimated that only 3% of adults read novels regularly. More than 80% of adults have not read a novel in the last decade. Makes it hard to tell them stories. Well, I certainly felt as a "3%" in high-school.

Change that percentage to 0.003%, and you have my School in a nutshell...

russellk wrote: ^ Henry, it is estimated that only 3% of adults read novels regularly. More than 80% of adults have not read a novel in the last decade. Makes it hard to tell them stories.

Well, I certainly felt as a "3%" in high-school.


Edited by Ricochet - August 12 2009 at 18:57

How can anyone who is over the age of 18 not have read 100 books? It's really not very much, even if you're like me and unable to sustain the 2 books a week anymore.

Around 70 probably, or more. But around 100 if we include graphic novels!

Lost count long ago. I have been known to borrow books get home and when I have started realised I have read it before. Any Genre like music for me except the old Mills and Boon.The girls can have them

All of them that I have.  Then I got stuck on a Noam Chomsky one I couldn't get through.  Now I stick to comic compilations. 

russellk wrote: I've averaged three novels a week since I was a teenager. So I guess I've read a few thousand novels - I have over a thousand in my library. I read good books more than once, though.

Plus you've written some too.

Dean wrote: Does anyone ever get that Prog-head need to be a completist? I remember reading 2001 - A Space Odyssey, then the Sentinel, followed by Lost Worlds of 2001 and every Clarke book I could find, then later 2010, 2061 and 3001. Once I'd discovered Dune I then bought every novel Herbert wrote, the same for Robert Sheckley, Harlan Ellison, Philip K Dick, John T. Sladek, Iain M Banks, Michael Marshall Smith, Ken MacLeod, Peter F Hamilton, Storm Constantine and Neil Gaiman. I've recently discovered the comedic fantasy novels of Tom Holt ... that's another 28 books I'll end up adding to my collection.

I'm trying to do that with Jeffrey Ford and Kurt Vonnegut at the moment.

With Ford, I have just the two to get (his debut Vanitas isn't easy to find).

Vonnegut I have a little longer to go.

But yes, I also end up doing this.

I want to get all the SF Masterworks series eventually.  Seeing them all lined-up together will look great.  It's a shame I only have one so far though (and that happens to be The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut).

Edit:

Oh and yes, like Rico, I have the Penguin editions of Jorge Luis Borges.  I think there's still some letters of his to get though.


Edited by James - August 10 2009 at 16:05

I've averaged three novels a week since I was a teenager. So I guess I've read a few thousand novels - I have over a thousand in my library. I read good books more than once, though.