I read, on average, 100 books a year. Anna Karenina was on my list for a long time and I read it back in 2023.
With 100 books a year, I’m averaging two books a week. It took me three full months to make it through that slog; hoping to find one fucking redeeming factor for it.
Let me tell you: there is absolutely no reason anyone should read that novel unless the intention is to make one hate reading.
Can we please stop making kids read books that fucking suck while telling them it’s somehow good for them to do so? We wonder why reading is seen as a slog and few do it; instead focusing on their phones or Netflix watchlist.
The first paragraph of the Wikipedia article tells you all you need to know about Anna Karenina.
By the time he was finishing up the last installments, Tolstoy was in an anguished state of mind and, having come to hate [the book], finished it unwillingly.
This isn’t a criticism on you - in fact this isn’t anything about you specifically however the 100 books a year made me think of this.
The folks I know who read a lot more than average tend these fall into camps:
The ones who seem to have the best recall for the material they’ve read - like recalling very specific things from any given book they’ve read. They read about 12-16 books a year.
Then you have the ferocious readers, some of which I can personally attest read anywhere from 30-60 books a year, maybe even more. They however don’t have the same strength of recall. They can often give good synopsis of information they’ve read, but will struggle to recall specifics without looking it up or having to find a book in question and re-skim it for more relevant information etc.
Now achievement wise both groups have done fine but the methodical 12-16 books a year folks seem to make more knowledge gains over time - forgetting less stuff, basically.
I’m not sure which is better, or even if there is a better, but this is something I’ve noticed about volume vs time taken to digest books slower.
Do you read a lot of short works? Fast reader? or just constantly reading at every opportunity? That’s a huge amount of reading — I was able to hit 20 books last year but that included a re-read of all 7 Harry Potters, so quite light reading.
Do you feel like you retain things from all 100 books?
If you take the assumption that most books average out to ~350 pages in length, then you get a pretty good heuristic that if you read a minimum of N pages per day, then you're likely to complete at least N books per year.
10 pages per day gets you 10 books per year, 50 for 50, 100 for 100, etc.
Pages read is a more useful metric in general. A process goal that leads to the outcome.
100 pages/day is a lot! i’m not the type who can whip out a phone and read just 7 pages while standing in a line — i’d retain none of that or not be able to follow a plot that staggered.
I used to be VERY into police procedurals: John Sanford, Lee Child, and William Kent Krueger. I still read them, but during lockdown I made a conscious decision to widen my horizons.
Some of my favorites over the last year:
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Most of Joe Abercrombie; particularly the First Law series.
Why do you assume your experience is the same an everyone’s? Is yours the only opinion in the world? I would expect someone who reads a thousand books a decade to have a more nuanced opinion. Instead you spew self righteous arrogance.
Our daughter counted AK as her favorite book for years, though now I suspect she'd choose Little Women or any of the last five William Gibson books as her fav.
She's read many of these books multiple times. Of course, she's never had a reading list to do, so I'm sure it helps that she chose them on her own. She also read Langston Hughes self-collected "Best of" treasury he released towards the end of his life. And, she has just bailed on other books, like effing Wuthering Heights, ick!
Comments
I read, on average, 100 books a year. Anna Karenina was on my list for a long time and I read it back in 2023.
With 100 books a year, I’m averaging two books a week. It took me three full months to make it through that slog; hoping to find one fucking redeeming factor for it.
Let me tell you: there is absolutely no reason anyone should read that novel unless the intention is to make one hate reading.
Can we please stop making kids read books that fucking suck while telling them it’s somehow good for them to do so? We wonder why reading is seen as a slog and few do it; instead focusing on their phones or Netflix watchlist.
The first paragraph of the Wikipedia article tells you all you need to know about Anna Karenina.
Excellent catch, although I loved that book!
This isn’t a criticism on you - in fact this isn’t anything about you specifically however the 100 books a year made me think of this.
The folks I know who read a lot more than average tend these fall into camps:
The ones who seem to have the best recall for the material they’ve read - like recalling very specific things from any given book they’ve read. They read about 12-16 books a year.
Then you have the ferocious readers, some of which I can personally attest read anywhere from 30-60 books a year, maybe even more. They however don’t have the same strength of recall. They can often give good synopsis of information they’ve read, but will struggle to recall specifics without looking it up or having to find a book in question and re-skim it for more relevant information etc.
Now achievement wise both groups have done fine but the methodical 12-16 books a year folks seem to make more knowledge gains over time - forgetting less stuff, basically.
I’m not sure which is better, or even if there is a better, but this is something I’ve noticed about volume vs time taken to digest books slower.
People who read 100+ books a year are probably doing it for entertainment, not knowledge. It seems like an odd point of comparison.
Do you read a lot of short works? Fast reader? or just constantly reading at every opportunity? That’s a huge amount of reading — I was able to hit 20 books last year but that included a re-read of all 7 Harry Potters, so quite light reading.
Do you feel like you retain things from all 100 books?
If you take the assumption that most books average out to ~350 pages in length, then you get a pretty good heuristic that if you read a minimum of N pages per day, then you're likely to complete at least N books per year.
10 pages per day gets you 10 books per year, 50 for 50, 100 for 100, etc.
Pages read is a more useful metric in general. A process goal that leads to the outcome.
100 pages/day is a lot! i’m not the type who can whip out a phone and read just 7 pages while standing in a line — i’d retain none of that or not be able to follow a plot that staggered.
400p books on average. To respond to another comment: I retain every book I’ve ever read to the point I cannot read the same book twice.
That’s impressive, and I’d say is mental recall far above average. I applaud you for taking every advantage of it possible
Phones make it pretty easy these days, just read a chapter of your book instead of a hn comment page.
So the natural question that follows is what are your favourite authors and genres?
I used to be VERY into police procedurals: John Sanford, Lee Child, and William Kent Krueger. I still read them, but during lockdown I made a conscious decision to widen my horizons.
Some of my favorites over the last year:
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Most of Joe Abercrombie; particularly the First Law series.
God of the Woods by Liz Moore
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
Why do you assume your experience is the same an everyone’s? Is yours the only opinion in the world? I would expect someone who reads a thousand books a decade to have a more nuanced opinion. Instead you spew self righteous arrogance.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
Our daughter counted AK as her favorite book for years, though now I suspect she'd choose Little Women or any of the last five William Gibson books as her fav.
She's read many of these books multiple times. Of course, she's never had a reading list to do, so I'm sure it helps that she chose them on her own. She also read Langston Hughes self-collected "Best of" treasury he released towards the end of his life. And, she has just bailed on other books, like effing Wuthering Heights, ick!