An argument broke out on an Internet book forum recently about whether or not someone could possibly have read in a year. Someone the person posting knew had bragged about reading literally hundreds of books in a year, yet she didn’t believe this could possibly true.
Personally, I reckon she’s probably right; the person claiming it was probably just trying to show off. But it did raise the question: how many books is a good number?
I suspect this is a bit like asking how many blokes you’ve spent the night with, or how many snickers bars is allowed before you’re officially labelled a pig? There’s no real right or wrong answer: the number depends on you as an individual. Everyone reads at a different pace, and some people read every day, whilst some only do it on special occasions. Some read a little and often, some binge read an entire series in two days.
Whatever your number may be, the important thing is that you’ve read books you enjoy and that you’ve learned something from them. You can read absolutely anything and still learn from it; whatever you read, make sure you retain some form of information from it. That way, you’ll feel satisfied when you finally finish the book and you’ll be excited to carry on with the next book.
It doesn’t matter how many books you read, but rather the quality of your reading matter, or more to the point how much enjoyment and happiness you get out of them. You need to be happy with whatever you’re reading to truly get the benefits and to be completely engaged, which will ultimately lead to you retaining and remembering more information.
For those who want to count their books, or write them down in a journal, just remember that you’re doing great. You’re reading something, and that’s the most important thing.
The Dorset Book Detective 