Book Stats

Three thousand thirty-eight.

That's how many books I read between January 1, 1996 and February 28, 2007.

123 months.

That's an average of 24.699287 books a month, or an average of .764 books a day.

The month with the most reads? December 1999, with only 9 books.

The month with the most? July 2001, with 42.

The number of months that I equalled or exceeded 30 books? Twenty-one.

The number of months that I read less than 20 books? Forty-four

The number of months that I read less than 10? One

The year with the least reads was 2000, when I read only 182 books.

The year with the most reads was 2005, with 347 books.

The average per month? Remarkably similar, really, in the 20-22 books-per range but with a jump in August, where I apparently average 26 books a month.

Author with the most reads? Anne McCaffrey, with 198. (Mercedes Lackey was second, with 168, then Elizabeth Peters, David Eddings, Sharon Shinn, Diana Wynne Jones, Sharon Lee/Steve Miller, Dick Francis, and JK Rowling and Sean Russell tied for 10th place.)

Book with the most reads? Sharon Shinn's Archangel, with 14 reads. I read that book for the first time on 5/3/97 (the first book of hers I read) and have read it fourteen times in the ten years since. No wonder she made the top-ten list for favorite authors, huh? Anne McCaffrey's Freedom's Landing comes in second, with 13 reads, followed by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (read 12 times, with the very first one being on 9/18/99). Behind that is David Edding's "Belgariad" series, Sean Russel's "Moonlight and Magic" duology (read for the first time in October 1996), and Mercedes Lackey's "Mage Storm" trilogy--all tied with 11 reads apiece. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, incidentally, comes in at 9 reads in the period stated--but I still couldn't tell you how many times I've read it. I lost count at about 13 reads back while I was in high school, and I must have read it at LEAST five times between then and when I started my reading list, so that's got to be up somewhere around 30. I'd guess that Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern books are right up there, too...

Oh, and I didn't always track page numbers, but the one with the highest count is Diana Gabaldon's Voyager (read 6/30/04). Next is Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor (990 pages, read 6 times since 1996).

The average number of pages per book is 368.21

I'm obviously having a lot of fun here, but just a couple more statistics for you:

Number of people who guessed for my contest? 48

Number of people who waaaaay overestimated my abilities? 16 people who guessed over 3500. (And, really, Amanda? Liz? Eva? I'm flattered that you think I can manage over 40 books a month. I hope you ladies don't think less of me.) The lowest guess was Jessalu's at 2,182 (at least she thinks I have a life outside of reading).

The winning guess? Amy, who guessed 3,012, and is therefore closest without going over--only 26 books off from the final total. (Ironically--and I think this is really funny--she was the very first person to guess, which means all the rest of you might not have bothered . . . except that then it would have been a really boring contest . . . I do love the irony, though!)

The closest guess on the high side was Samantha, who guessed 3,056--only 18 off. I'm feeling a little badly about her being so close, though . . . Samantha, would you like a consolation prize?? Speak up, if you do!

Thank all of you who played!!

And yes, before you ask, yes, I do have a full-time job, and I do spend at least an hour or so knitting or spinning each day. And no, I don't read in the shower, or while blogging, or taking Chappy out for walks...

I did, however, mean to upload the file, in case you're at all interested in seeing the titles, so here you go:

Download reading_list.xls

Now, I know what you're thinking--Deb clearly has too much time on her hands. But for the record? I just finished my fourth book for the month of March . . . And in addition to all this number-crunching, I even squeezed a walk in for what my sister calls Parade Day.

March forth, everyone! Onward!

Comments

[Rachel H]

You either have too much time on your hands, or you need to SLEEP MORE. Dayum that's a lot of books.

[Amy]

No, no. Time spent reading is always time well spent.
And THANKS! I'm so excited.

[Chris]

Congrats, Amy!!

[Samantha]

A consolation prize? I'm you are willing to give I am willing to take! You have inspired me to read more for pleasure (it's hard when your career revolves around reading as well). I have started listening to books on tape while I knit! I am enjoying the Jasper Fforde Tuesday Next mysteries so far!

[michelle]

yowza - that's a lot of books! I average 3 a day if I'm able to count the children's books I read to little man L)

Oh, I used to be such the reader (pre-children) but not so much anymore. Lately all I do is sleep with them, and I've been sleeping with the same book for about a month now.

[Carole]

Dude, that's a lot of books.

[Kim]

Wow that's a lot of books!

[Kristi aka Fiber Fool]

Wow! I'm in awe!

[Carol]

You read more books than I've read words...I'm so ashamed.

[JessaLu]

Dude. You've out-geeked me.

[Debby]

Amazing! I think your local library needs you as a resource! Book recommendations/reviews/discussion group leader!!

[Christina]

Wow! When do you sleep? lol!

Thanks for visting my blog and telling me how to link.

[Deb]

I don't think you're reading too much. I think I'm not reading enough!! Can't wait to have beach-book reading-time!!