Do I Read a Lot?

So far this year, I have read 75 books for a total page count of just over 36,000 pages. I like big fantasy books. These numbers are not including all the books I started and did not finish. Or the one I re-read. Or any of the handful of books I’m currently reading. But is that a lot?

I don’t feel like I read a lot. I don’t read every day, I don’t finish a book every week, and there are plenty of people within the book community that have finished twice as many books as I have this year. But not all books are equal in size, so someone with more books read may have less pages read than me. Besides, the book community is an anomaly, so let’s get a larger perspective.

On average, Americans read 12 books per year. I’m American. And that’s an average. Half of Americans read less than 4 books per year. A single book per season. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but if we’re comparing my reading to the national average, I read an exceptional amount.

So while I may not feel like I read a great deal compared to the bookish community, compared to the average human I’m reading a ton. It’s really difficult to make a fair comparison between how much any two people are reading. And it shouldn’t matter either. As long as you’re enjoying the things you’re reading, that should be enough.

<3D