How many books did you read in 2023?

[neverfstop]

Thought this was fun & interesting.  
Yes, listening counts!

So what did Montgomery find? Of 1,500 Americans surveyed, a less-than-ideal 46 percent finished zero books last year and 5 percent read just one. So, if you read more than two books in 2023, congratulations! You’re in the top half of U.S. adults.

The poll counted all types of books, but Montgomery found that dead tree books (i.e., paper) remain about twice as popular as their newfangled rivals. About 42 percent of us read physical books in the past year, compared with 22 percent who read digital books or 19 percent who read audiobooks.

www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/01/05/how-many-books-did-you-read-2023-see-how-you-stack-up/ 

[Susie]

I check in at a shameful 4... 62nd %.  All paper, borrowed from the library.  In this era of being stretched too thin all the time, reading for fun is something I do pretty much only on vacation.

[InBetweenDays]

24.5 - all paper, most from the library (Love our local library!). I had a goal of 25 but couldn't finish the last one before the end of the year. Although if you count the first half of Hello Beautiful that I read before giving up that puts me at 25? (I think this was the first book I ever read that I couldn't finish)

[ellipses84]

90+. This was a record breaking year for my adult life and only possible due to audiobooks. I’ve been an avid reader my whole life but the past decade+ I haven’t had much free time for it and had years where I only read 0-2 books. I think everyone reads a lot more short format stuff or news articles online, so I don’t think it’s anything to be judgmental or worried about. Like if someone in 1985 read the newspaper every day and only read 1 book a year you wouldn’t consider them uneducated.

[neverfstop]

Jan 9, 2024 13:25:45 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

24.5. I had a goal of 25 but couldn't finish the last one before the end of the year. Although if you count the first half of Hello Beautiful that I read before giving up that puts me at 25? (I think this was the first book I ever read that I couldn't finish)

I quit so many books this year...maybe 12?  Sometimes I'm just not in the right headspace or mood to read it...I did actually like Hello Beautiful & how it echoed Little Women, even hating some of the characters

[StrawberryBlondie]

30 for me in 2023. That's pretty average for me. I'm usually somewhere between 25-40.

[InBetweenDays]

Jan 9, 2024 13:28:22 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

Jan 9, 2024 13:25:45 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

24.5. I had a goal of 25 but couldn't finish the last one before the end of the year. Although if you count the first half of Hello Beautiful that I read before giving up that puts me at 25? (I think this was the first book I ever read that I couldn't finish)

I quit so many books this year...maybe 12?  Sometimes I'm just not in the right headspace or mood to read it...I did actually like Hello Beautiful & how it echoed Little Women, even hating some of the characters

I think that was part of the problem for me. It read like a period piece even though it took place in the 1980s. So I couldn't get to the place where I was visualizing the book rather than just reading the words on the page. Plus I didn't like any of the characters.

[kitty]

27, all on kindle. I read in bed at night when I should be sleeping and then hate waking up the next day. So feeding my mind at the expense of my body?

[acuore]

Maybe 100? That’s if you count audio books. But I have always been a really big reader. 

[abs]

62 is the official number on Goodreads but I think it’s closer to 70 after accounting for nonfiction library books.

[heygrey]

76, combo of physical books and digital.

I will shout from the roof tops - audiobooks always count. Some people process information much better through auditory means. It is ableist to assume that reading only counts if it’s eyes on words.

[erbear]

I read 101, though a good chunk of them were YA (teacher) or beach fiction. I am a really fast reader though, and I don't watch TV or movies so I have a lot of time, lol.

All books -- I don't read on a kindle and I can't pay attention to audiobooks.

[wawa]

135, almost entirely kindle. 2 audiobooks. vast majority are fantasy and sci-fi, but there's a handful of non-fiction, some historical fiction and some general lit fic in there for variety. ditto kitty on when I read - but add in my 30 min each direction bus commute for my solid weekday reading window even if I sleep like a normal person.

I'm usually down more in the 80-90 books/year range. it's been a bad insomnia year and I picked up a handful of really low-brow smutty series and two novella series that I tore through really fast.

I love the "how do you organize your books" question. My paper books are grouped by author and type, but there's no organization within that. Like, all my sci-fi/fantasy books and general fiction are in one area grouped by author, but there's no order to the authors themselves beyond whim and which fit on a shelf together. "classics" are together, but in no particular order. Same for non-fiction.

My husband barely reads. Which is bizarre to me - he likes the same sorts of stories I do, but has never shown the slightest interest in reading something like Game of Thrones or Good Omens despite liking those shows and knowing the books are RIGHT THERE on the bookshelves. He says they burnt the desire to read out of him in high school.

[TR]

104, all physical books, 99% library borrowed

I can't get to the article, but like wawa, I find the organization of books fascinating. I don't own all the books I read (I usually buy < 10 per year of my favorites at the end of the year) but I am running out of space. Anyway, I have my shelves separated by fiction vs non-fiction and then by color within those sections.

[archiethedragon]

mark me off as one of the 46%'ers, although I did read some books with my kids, if that counts.

[wawa]

do people have a lot of ebooks? I try to borrow most of mine through Libby, but at this point with the ones I decided I needed regular access to for comfort re-reads and the ones not available at my library - my elibrary is probably rivaling my physical library and it makes it really hard to contemplate divesting from Amazon. Which I'd love to do - but like...they have all my books. I need my books.

there's not a way for that library to follow me off platform, is there?

eta: I really wish I'd thought about this 10 years ago when I got my first kindle, but....I do still really love that thing for ease of use and the fact that I can never again run out of things to read while traveling.

[AJL]

29, mostly on my Kindle. I typically read 100+ each year but grad school was kicking my ass.

[scribellesam]

I read just over 70 last year, pretty much all library books on my Kindle. I read mostly sci-fi/fantasy with some romance thrown in there. I like to read on the treadmill and before bed but I’ll read other times if it’s a good book that’s really grabbed my attention. I’m usually between 70-100 books annually.

[pixy0stix]

73 - which is more than normal. It was a lot of short books, though.

I wish I could find the article, but in conjunction to this the article talked about how it's not important how many books you read, but how many pages.

ETA: it was a few audio books, but mostly ebooks.

[neverfstop]

Jan 9, 2024 14:16:27 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

73 - which is more than normal. It was a lot of short books, though.

I wish I could find the article, but in conjunction to this the article talked about how it's not important how many books you read, but how many pages.

ETA: it was a few audio books, but mostly ebooks.

I didn't do good reads, but kept track other ways & decided to use something this year.

I've heard good things about this app, which also tracks genres, page, themes, monthly, pages, etc.  (i.e. lots of stats)


thestorygraph.com/ 

[scm1011]

I read 41 books last year (17 audiobooks, the rest paper). I DNF at least a dozen more. If a book doesn't grab me after ~100 pages I have no problem abandoning it. There are too many good books out there to waste time on the bad ones.

[mrsslocombe]

85, which includes some novellas. That's on the lower end for me, since the pandemic. about 80% ebooks, 20% physical. Nearly all borrowed from the library.

I have several different reading goals every year-overall #, nonfiction, BIPOC authors, and then "vegetable" aka books that are more intellectual. Some books overlap on those categories.

I read a lot of romance, it is the way I reset my mind from a stressful day.

[mcsangel2]

I had a pretty terrible year, I read 26 books (and three of those I use the term 'read' loosely), in 2022, I read 50 books. 10 physical, rest kindle. I have no more room in my bookshelves so the only time I get physical now is when it's not available on Kindle.

ETA: actually I just did some math, and starting with 2008, the year I joined GR, through 2023 my average is 27.5. But starting with 2016, my average is 36.5. I started listening to podcasts and discovered a bunch of youtube channels I follow now, and for the first time I have more content I want to consume than I have time to do it in.

That article is incredibly depressing and I'm not surprised, but it doesn't really make me feel better about my reading goals.

[mcsangel2]

Jan 9, 2024 14:24:20 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

I read 41 books last year (17 audiobooks, the rest paper). I DNF at least a dozen more. If a book doesn't grab me after ~100 pages I have no problem abandoning it. There are too many good books out there to waste time on the bad ones.

I keep telling myself this but have trouble putting stuff down, because I think it's less the book and more my attention span has suffered because I haven't been reading regularly enough.

[Vespasia]

I read 79 books last year. A few were Kindle Shorts (around 50 pages) but I still had more pages total than the year before when I read 80 books.

I only did one audiobook, Third Eye by Felicia Day, but that was really more of a radio play than a book. The rest were on my Kindle. I did check out one physical book from the library but I couldn't really get into it. The small print also motivated me to get glasses...

By far the biggest boost to my reading has been the ability to get Kindle books from my library. I buy books occasionally and get others from Kindle Unlimited, Firsts, etc. but the majority are from the library. I'm also very good at managing my holds and recommending new books so I have a steady stream of things I really want to read. 

[scm1011]

Jan 9, 2024 14:36:41 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Jan 9, 2024 14:24:20 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

I read 41 books last year (17 audiobooks, the rest paper). I DNF at least a dozen more. If a book doesn't grab me after ~100 pages I have no problem abandoning it. There are too many good books out there to waste time on the bad ones.

I keep telling myself this but have trouble putting stuff down, because I think it's less the book and more my attention span has suffered because I haven't been reading regularly enough.

I get it, its tough. But I try to remind myself that reading is supposed to be enjoyable and if a story isn't grabbing me there is no reason I need to continue. When I find myself in reading ruts I will usually reread a book I loved. Its kind of like exercising with me - I just need to get on a roll.

[minzy]

I read 17 last year, my lowest in a really long time, due to being busy AF.

… waits for tacokick to enter the chat… 😛

[mcsangel2]

Jan 9, 2024 14:43:58 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

Jan 9, 2024 14:36:41 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

I keep telling myself this but have trouble putting stuff down, because I think it's less the book and more my attention span has suffered because I haven't been reading regularly enough.

I get it, its tough. But I try to remind myself that reading is supposed to be enjoyable and if a story isn't grabbing me there is no reason I need to continue. When I find myself in reading ruts I will usually reread a book I loved. Its kind of like exercising with me - I just need to get on a roll.

I did exactly that this year and I'm still struggling with a couple of current reads. Both are definitely my kind of thing, so it isn't the books. Reading atrophy is real y'all.

[AdaraMarie]

43, which is not an all time high by any means but about twice as much as the last several years. Probably about half were audiobooks and some were for sure ya or middle grade books.

[tacokick]

Jan 9, 2024 15:01:13 GMT -5 minzy said:

I read 17 last year, my lowest in a really long time, due to being busy AF.

… waits for tacokick to enter the chat… 😛

Since I’m tagged I’ll answer but people tend to get weird about it for some reason.

I read 340 books last year. I DNF around 180-190 books? I am ruthless about that. It was high for me, in recent years I’ve been more in the mid-high 200s.


Re: format:

I don’t count craft books or cookbooks or reference books as books I read which are the main physical books I get out of the library and read/leaf through. I probably get 100 physical books or so out a year?

This year I listened to about 20 audiobooks (also from the library) and that was new for me. I included those into books read.

I do not like reading physical library books in bed at night and that’s when I do 95% of my reading. That really pushed me to being a ebook reader as an adult. Luckily the library systems I belong to offer a ton of ebooks. I don’t really buy books to read at all. I don’t reread books as a whole so there is no reason.

My library branch always jokes that I am single handedly boosting the circulation numbers for the entire system.