Friday, November 5, 2010

So many books, so little time

Happy Friday, everyone! Hope you all had as great of a week as I did, and hopefully all of you WriMo's out there have been keeping up on your word count!

So when I had to decide what I was going to write about for today's post, I wasn't really sure what to say. I haven't finished any new books to review (at least any that aren't elitist literary novels assigned from Stetson). I've already talked about NaNo. No amazing T.V shows or movies have premiered in the past week and I already gave some writing advice on Wednesday. Finally, when I was staring at my bookshelf from where I sit at my desk, it came to me.

According to Google (as far as they can accurately determine anyway), there are 129,864,880 books in the world. That's one-hundred and twenty nine million, eight hundred and sixty four thousand, eight hundred and eighty books with more and more being released every day--and that's just the number of original books, that's not including the multiple copies that are printed of each published novel, nor does it take into account different editions.

When I look at this figure, it's no wonder that there seems to be so many books to read, but so little time. As I stare at my bookshelf, I wonder how many books I will read in my lifetime and then wonder how few that is in the overall scheme of literature. You have to admit, it's pretty darn amazing.

But no matter how amazing it may be, I'm still wondering, how am I ever going to manage to read all the books I want to read? Should I take a speed-reading class? Should I read a certain amount each day? Obviously, there is no right or wrong answer, but it leaves me guessing. So to all of you prolific readers out there, how do you do it? Do you simply have an overwhelming amount of free time or what's your technique. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

Don't forget to venture on to our weekly blog hops--hosted courtesy of Crazy-for-Books and Parajunkee's View. Go find some wonderful book bloggers and make sure you tell them who sent you ;-)

Book Blogger Hop
 

Til Monday!

13 comments:

  1. Hi Kaitlyn I found you via parajunkee's hop and am your newest follower now.

    I for one have been pondering if I will ever get to read all the books on my ever growing book shelf. They are an addiction I tell you. BUt everytime I goto the bookstore or Walmarts and start reading back covers I come home with several more! Never fails! I have to have them! I cant say I really have a particular routine. Just grab and read!

    Hope you can pop in and holler a howdy hon. Have a great weekend! A Page Turner 4U

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  2. I just read fast lol. I have 2 part time jobs, 4 kids etc etc so I am grateful I do.
    I am aiming for 300 books this year (I'm about 23 short right now) No matter how much I read though my TBR pile just gets bigger though LOL

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  3. I'm such a slow reader! My family and friends can read 7+ books a week, whereas it takes me a minimum of 2 days to read one. I used to hate it!

    Now, though, I'm okay with it. I realized that I've given up speed for internalizing: I can remember what I've read a lot more than they do. I think this helps me blog, since I internalize and digest what I've read, I can review it more in-depth.

    I've found that reading with audiobooks (sped up via computer) does help a bit, since I'm receiving the book via two sources, but I still take a while to digest the material before I review. And I always make sure to review before starting a new book.

    I don't think my To-Be-Read pile will ever shrink, but I'm not overly worried about it. Sure, I might not read everything I want to, but I don't think that's something I should hate myself for.

    Happy Reading and Hopping

    ~Vicki @ The Wolf's Den~

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  4. apageturner4u- Thanks for following! I am EXACTLY the same way. My TBR pile just keeps growing and growing and with all the school books I have to read as an English major, it seems never-ending. Not to mention, I have about 40 books from attending the RWA conference signings and I haven't even begun to put those in my TBR pile yet.

    bookdout- Thanks for following! I wish I could read fast. I've tried but it just isn't possible for me. I guess I like to savor the words lol. Probably a good thing since I'm a writer haha.

    Vicki- Thanks for following! I am a VERY slow reader as well. I always like to take my time. That gives me a lot of trouble as an English major because I usually have to read three books a week on top of all my other homework. Fun fact: when I was a kid, I was considered a "non-reader" until I was nine years old. When I was nine my teacher gave me the Harry Potter books and they were the only thing I'd read until I was about 12. Now I love to read and I'm even studying literature, and now I write my own books. How ironic is that? They thought I'd never read well lol.

    Darcy- Thanks for stopping by to follow! I love J.K Rowling and Kelley Armstrong too. Suzanne Collins is in my TBR pile right now =)

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  5. Hopping through. I'm a new follower. How to manage all the books? Go to law school. I did and now I can plow through books twice as fast as I used to. (actually, I wouldn't really recommend you go to law school).

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  6. Alison- Thanks for stopping by! Lol! Yeah, I don't think law school is for me. I am going to grad school, but for English, not law. Have a good weekend! I hope you stop back on by. =)

    Howard- I think every blogger is sad when they lose followers, but I think ultimately you have to stay true to yourself and your opinions. I try as hard as I can to avoid controversy and drama, but many bloggers seem to live for that. I've never lost any followers before, but I'd be disappointed if I did. I've only stopped following someone once, because she was causing all sorts of drama with her negativity on her blog and Twitter. Have a good weekend!

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  7. Hello,
    I'm making my rounds on the Blog Hop and Follow Friday too say hello and share the love. I really try to be a faithful follower that visits often but I don't always have the time to comment like I should. I hope you have a spectacular weekend and Happy Reading.

    I'm a old follower.
    Romance Book Junkies

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  8. Danielle- Thanks for stopping by again! =) Always happy to see old followers continuing to visit. Have a great weekend!

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  9. I am resigned to the fact that I will never read everything I have, since I never stop bringing books into the house :)
    The only "trick" I have adopted is that I always have one book I am reading, and one I am listening to on my ipod, usually a checkout from my library.

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  10. BookGirl- I'm pretty much starting to realize the same thing lol. That's a good idea though. Books on audio allow you to multi-task, though I think staring at the page gets me into a sort of trance that allows me to be transported into the fictional world, so I guess I'd have to see if I could still achieve that.

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  11. I've just realised that there are several of my followers who I haven't yet met or haven't visited for such a long time that I thought I'd stop by to say hello and thank you for following.
    Wow that's an awful lot of books - I wonder just how accurate those figures are?

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  12. Petty- Thanks for stopping by! Yes, it is a lot of books. I'm not sure whether the figure is accurate, but it was the most reliable answer I could find. I don't know whether that's counting ancient texts, books of poetry, or children's books as well. I guess we'll never know.

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