How Much do you read?

JonnyBGood · Jul 14, 2006

Stephen King, in his book “On Writing”, referred to reading as a “great commandment” to a successful writer. I think most writers would concur, but I get the impression a lot of writers don't seem to want to read anything other than their own manuscripts.

There was a thread I saw, several weeks ago, asking the question “Do you read prologues?”. What! Of course you read it. It's not even up for debate. Why is there this mentality that reading is somehow like eating liver and onions? Anyway, I'm curious to find out what everyone's reading habits are. I'm a somewhat slow reader, but I still manage to devour a novel every week or so, depending on the size.

Shadow_Ferret · Jul 14, 2006

How Much do you read?

Not nearly enough. There are far too many distractions in my life and reading has become a casualty.

CaroGirl · Jul 14, 2006

I'm a slow reader too. I read about 2 novels a month, again, depending on length (sometimes more, sometimes far fewer). I LOVE to read, but have so little time I usually read only before bed for about an hour. It takes a while to get through a novel that way.

I also read the newspaper, magazines, books on writing, and literary journals.

emeraldcite · Jul 14, 2006

I'm also a slow reader. I finish about three to four novels a month during the summer and one to two a month during the school year.

My wife blazes through novels every two or three days.

Jenan Mac · Jul 14, 2006

I hit the library about once a week, take out five or six books, and read probably three of them. I still haven't learned to read the seven-day books first, so I keep them around until I either read them or decide I'm not going to, thus racking up overdue fines by the millions. I think the library cooperative would go broke without me.
Right now I'm on a string of fluff books. Janet Evanovich, Sherrilyn Kenyon...anything that's easy and isn't at all the same as my writing style.

LeeFlower · Jul 14, 2006

I read as much as possible, but I'm dyslexic, so It's pretty slow going. It can take me several weeks to finish a single novel. YA goes a bit faster, which is nice because I write a lot of YA and it's a good idea to read what you write. YA writers who are good enough to write a story that's as engaging at twenty as it was at twelve are my heroes-- It took me about a week to finish Libba Bray's "A Great and Terrible Beauty," and I adored it.

I also read a lot of nonfiction, newspapers, magazines, short story collections, etc-- I'm one of those people that can't not read something that's sitting in front of me. No cereal box is safe.

Elizabeth Slick · Jul 14, 2006

Quote:
>>>I get the impression a lot of writers don't seem to want to read anything other than their own manuscripts. <<<<<

Yes, I fall under that category when I am writing. If I start reading other writer's works, it confuses me and I lose my "voice" or, it changes. I read a lot when I am not in that spell of writing. Now with two small children at home with me all day, it's not as easy to read. Sometimes when I try to read, I start getting so inspired, that I keep jumping up to write my own story.

Andre_Laurent · Jul 14, 2006

I read on my lunch hour every day and sometimes at night. I read a lot on the weekends.

PeeDee · Jul 14, 2006

I'm a very fast reader. When I was young, we'd go to the town with the bookstore (about an hour and a half away) and I'd buy a book. By the time we got home, I would be halfway through the novel.

I read less these days, but I still read quite a lot. In the past week, I've read....*hm* four books. Granted, one I've read before, but the others I hadn't.

Reading is what I do for fun in the evenings. I like video games, movies (long walks on the beach, candle-lit dinners, sex) but reading is what makes me happiest.

My wife reads less quickly, but she is generally more tired than I am. (I R Dynamo.) She reads a lot of comic books these days, which makes me plenty happy too. I like being able to say that my wife reads comics. Now if I could only get her to read comics outside of the Marvel Universe. *sigh*

Siddow · Jul 14, 2006

I read daily. Not just novels, but newspapers, magazines, (cereal boxes!), and I read all types of fiction. Mystery, thriller, horror, SF, fantasy, literary, mainstream, romance. Pretty much, if there's words in it, I devour it. I'm also known to sit with the dictionary and just browse.

I read perhaps five or six novels a month, and I subscribe to eleven different magazines. Writers who don't read? Who's ever heard of such a thing?

LeeFlower · Jul 14, 2006

Siddow, we should start a club.

Or maybe we can get General Mills to start putting speculative fiction on the backs of specially marked boxes of breakfast-product. They could call it a Nerd Special-- "Heart Healthy; Brain Healthy."

CaroGirl · Jul 14, 2006

Jenan Mac said:
I hit the library about once a week, take out five or six books, and read probably three of them. I still haven't learned to read the seven-day books first, so I keep them around until I either read them or decide I'm not going to, thus racking up overdue fines by the millions. I think the library cooperative would go broke without me.

Me too! Every time I go to the check-out counter, I tell them I'm making a *donation*. I think they'll be able to add a new wing by next year.

PeeDee · Jul 14, 2006

It's like being an alcoholic.

"How much do you read?"
"All of it."

stephblake24 · Jul 14, 2006

I read all day every day even though I have 3 kids...novels, short stories, the internet!!! (time waster), PB's to the kiddos and my own stuff. I feel like I am taking a break when I read a novel before bed. Current books on my nightstand: Bridge to Terabithia, Water, my journal, and some book about the Johnstown flood (for book club). Keeps my mind off of my writing...although I do dream about my WIP until it is finished.

Marlys · Jul 14, 2006

For most of my life, I had a book-a-day habit (2 or 3 on Saturdays and Sundays). It was only when I started writing novels that I broke it--I had to make time for the writing somewhere, and so I didn't let myself read any fiction until I completed my first draft.

Since then I've eased up on myself somewhat (quitting the day job didn't hurt), but I still probably average only about 2 books per week.

JonnyBGood · Jul 14, 2006

I struggle with finding time to read, too, but I found a way to cheat (drum roll please)-- audio-books. If I'm in the car (or even at work) I can listen to it and make headway through the novel—impressing my wife later with how quick my bookmark is sailing across the spine. Of course, it's a challenge finding your place in the book later, or visa-versa with the CD or tape.

PeeDee · Jul 14, 2006

JonnyBGood said:
I struggle with finding time to read, too, but I found a way to cheat (drum roll please)-- audio-books. If I'm in the car (or even at work) I can listen to it and make headway through the novel—impressing my wife later with how quick my bookmark is sailing across the spine. Of course, it's a challenge finding your place in the book later, or visa-versa with the CD or tape.

Oh God, how could I not mention audio books! I adore those things. Done well, they bring out details and nuances that I would never have noticed in the book. I loved American Gods before George Guidall read it, but I adore it afterward. I think that Jim Dale does a stunning Harry Potter.

My wife and I listen to audio books whenever we take a road trip. I have a SLVR L7 phone, which means I have an Mp3 player with me at all times. I always put a bunch of chapters on my phone. Usually of a book I've already read (American Gods right now, but about to become John Ringo's There Will Be Dragons because I got it free off a Baen Sampler Disc) so that I can listen to it without worrying about finding my place.

Serena Casey · Jul 14, 2006

I have always been a reader, but like someone else mentioned, it often has to give way to more immediate needs. I have subscriptions to several magazines and just keeping up with those is nearly impossible, let alone novels. But it's definitely one of the most pleasurable things to do that I can think of.

ChaosTitan · Jul 14, 2006

I used to read more novels before I discovered the internet (pre-college days). As a child I blasted through middle-grade and young adult books by the stack, and would reread favorites when my stack was finished and Library Day was still a few days away. (*On a side note, I have recently started haunting thrift stores, searching for all the titles I used to read. My most recent acquisitions were Beetles, Lightly Toasted by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, and The Borrowers Afloat by Mary Norton.)

I read fewer books nowadays, which means my To Read stack is huge, and my Have Read stack is miniscule by comparison. A novel really has to grab me quickly to make me carve out extra minutes in a day. Most recently I've tried to read James Patterson's Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment. The subject matter is right up my writing alley, but I'm having trouble with his POV swapping. Some chapters are First-Person, others are Third. Why? Dunno, but it's bothering me. I may not finish it.

It makes me wonder if my attention span just isn't what it used to be, or am I becoming a much pickier reader? With so many books out there and so little time to devote to reading, I can't be bothered with one that I just like.

I think I just need to start a Book Reading pledge. There are Rejection Pledges, and Acceptance Pledges. I will read 20 books by Christmas. That's a reasonable number.

Hmm....I wonder how this will go....

Hoody · Jul 14, 2006

I read at every possible moment I get. Went to disney world a couple of years ago, and I read while standing in line for rides. So I read Dracula while doing this. That's one example, I listen to audio books on my commute (40 mins one way). Add all that up and I read over 100 books (fiction, non-fiction) a year.

Jamesaritchie · Jul 14, 2006

Reading

Less as I've gotten older, but I still try to read two to four novels each week, but I also read short stories, nonfiction books, newspapers, various things online, etc. If you don't read, you can't write.

I hate audio books, though. That isn't reading, it's listening.

jbal · Jul 14, 2006

I get two or three from the library every two weeks, buy one or two a month, and reread two or three I already own in that time. That's about seven to ten a month. And I read the prologues

ChaosTitan · Jul 14, 2006

Hoody said:
I read at every possible moment I get. Went to disney world a couple of years ago, and I read while standing in line for rides.

Ha! I started reading Maximum Ride while standing in an hour-long autograph line this past weekend, at a sci fi convention. It passed the time, but I kept wishing I'd brought my Bones tie-in instead.

MidnightMuse · Jul 14, 2006

I used to have more time, and could eat my way through a novel at week minimum. Now I'm more finicky, which means it takes me longer to find a good one, but I enjoy it even more once I do. I wish I had more time, but lately I've found myself spending my reading time gobbling up science books, physics, philosophy, technical aspects of writing - stuff like that.

When I'm barreling through a new WIP that has me by the throat, I can't read fiction - it distracts me from my own pace. But I love curling up with one when I'm done.

In fact, our local Barnes & Noble is in the process of remodeling, and moving into a building 10x the size it is now, and I'm really looking forward to this Fall when its done, and I can wander around for hours looking for something new to pick up.

Jamesaritchie · Jul 14, 2006

kpmcneil22 said:
I read every day. I read a lot and in every genre, but slowly, probably 3 novels per month. I think I read slower than most because I am a read-every-word-the-author-wrote reader. It doesn't make sense to me why people skip prologues or descriptive paragraphs, etc.

I always have a novel (currently: "Nobody's Fool" by Richard Russo), an e-book (currently: "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells), a non-fiction (currently: "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn), a writing book (currently: "The Art of Fiction" by John Garnder), a book of short-stories (currently: "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien), and an audibook (currently: "Last Man Standing" by David Baldacci). This way, I always have something I am in the mood to read and something I can read or listen to anywhere.

There might be another reason that I read slowly.

Kevin

I read every word, as well. If I'm going to skip, I'll find a different writer.

How Much do you read?

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