I Like To Read

A friend got me to thinking about how much I read. I had counted up the number of books that I had read so far in 2007 and was surprised that I have only read thirteen so far. That is a low number for me. But then I started thinking about all of the other non-book things I read. I think overall my reading has increased this year over the recent past. Not counting anything I read for work (and I read a lot for work) I have read:

• 13 Books
• 14 Fiction and Non-Fiction Magazines (cover to cover)
• 21 Newsletters/Journals (also cover to cover)
• 2 e-Magazines (all content)

On top of that, online I have read over 40 short stories and probably half that in non-fiction works of short story length or longer.

Considering that most of the magazines equate (word count-wise) to a book, and that the newsletters to about half a book, my total is closer to 40 books so far this year. Yet… yet that is still much lower than when I was in high school. I was reading up to three books a week back then. That is a pace more than twice as much as what I am reading now.

Today I have behind me a shelf of books and magazines that are all queued up to read. My pace is not slower for lack of reading material. This is a big contrast from my high school days when I was starved for books. The money I earned doing odd jobs went mostly to books. The only other thing I bought during that time was a 10-speed bike, which I rode the 5 miles to the library quite a bit. During that time period the library shared the building where my father worked. Many times I would drop off my school books with my Dad before track or cross-country practice and spend a few moments in the library before heading back to practice. The library always seemed to have a cart filled with withdrawn paperbacks that they would throw away if no one took them. I grabbed every book that seemed interesting. I still have some of those books. Phillip Francis Nowlan’s Armageddon 2419 A.D, the original Buck Rogers, is one of many golden age science fiction books I rescued from an early grave in a dumpster.

I don’t read as much because of the TV. During a good bit of my childhood we did not have a TV, and when we finally got one it was just a portable black and white model. Needless to say, reading was my entertainment. Now however, I am constantly stopping to watch TV. Some dramas, but also a good deal of history and science programming. I am trying to cut back on my TV watching.

Lately I try to have a book or magazine with me that I can read during the many interminable commercial breaks. Sometimes I forget to stop reading when the show comes back on. Progress!