So that was 2011 and I far exceeded my targets. I read over 11,000 pages and 30 books.
Here’s a comparison based on the one I did last year:
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | |
| total reading time | 98:23:00 | 107:38:00 | 262:05:00 |
| Mins per/day | 16 | 17 | 43 |
| pages/hour | 50 | 51 | 43 |
| pages | 4924 | 5357 | 11059 |
| Pages/day | 13 | 15 | 31 |
| books | 18 | 14 | 30 |
| average book length | 274 | 352 | 367 |
| one book every… days | 20.25 | 26 | 12 |
| reading days | 71 | 85 | 142 |
| time/reading day | 01:23:00 | 01:15:00 | 01:50:44 |
| pages/reading day | 69 | 65 | 79 |
| longest gap | 54 | 45 | 32 |
| av score | 7 | 7.6 | 7.2 |
Based on that how did I score? Well you start with 15 points, add 1 point for each 100pages over 5000 (i.e. 15+61=76) then add a point for every reading day over 85 up to a max of 15 (76+15=91) and then add 2points for the average book length (in the range 326-375) – giving me a grand total of 93. Compared with last year’s adjusted score of 18 and 2009’s 17.
What’s most remarkable about this is that of that 150 extra hours reading, 100+ (and 12 1/2 of those 30 books) was in the last two months. During this period there are only 7 days when I didn’t read and I averaged 1h48m a day.
This was because I was trying something out that may become the basis of 2012’s challenge. See I was thinking about what it is that frustrates me about reading and that’s that I often get stuck with a book I don’t enjoy or that I see a book I think I’d like to read but I know that it’ll be weeks or months before I get to it – by which time I may have several other books on my to-read list ahead of it, or I may have lost my initial enthusiasm.
I realised that these things become less of an issue if you’re getting through books quickly and consistently. If I am finishing a book in a week or 10days then it means I can afford to be more spontaneous about the next book(s) because it won’t delay me for long from whatever it is I would otherwise read. And I can read an average length book in about 6-8hours so at less than an hour a weekday and a bit longer on weekends I can do a book/week or so. (I ended up doing more than that because first I had 11.22.63 a 850+ pager and then saw the possibility of 30 books which was too tempting to pass up)
Anyway the key is to read more regularly, every day if possible. That way I get through books more quickly and I’m never that far from starting whatever’s tempting me next and a bad book doesn’t slow me down too much. It also means I can afford to spend time on books I want to read but aren’t highest in my priorities such as catching up with series etc.
I’m still thinking about this and I’ll post something tomorrow setting out exactly what I’m going to do.
One reply on “11000 Pages, 30 Books!”
So, I managed a total of 21 books this year (my lowest score since we started counting). I am displeased by this, but will comment that 2011 has been the second worst year of my entire life, so some mitigating circumstances there.
Anyway, the results are as follows:
I read 21 books this year.
That’s a total of 9573 pages.
Averaging at 455 pages per book.
Which is a total of one book every 17 days.
Longest book read: The Stand, Stephen King (1325 pages)
Shortest Book Read: Maid of the Mist, Colin Bateman (250 pages)
Favourite book of 2011: Definitely “The Stand” by Stephen King, which I loved, with special mentions to: “Salems Lot” also Stephen King, “The Passage” by Justin Cronin.
Worst book of 2011: “Ravens”, by George Dawes Green, This book came with a sticker on it that said I could return it if I didn’t love it. I haven’t returned it but it was a boring and rather vacuous book.
Best find / surprise book: “The Passage” – It took me four months to get past the first few (very boring) pages, but once I got past that hurdle I devoured it.
Books I will be donating to charity because I will never ever read them again and they take up precious room on my shelves: “Ravens”.
Last year I noted that I didn’t read any Terry Pratchett or Michael Marshall Smith. This year I read four books by each of these, meaning that 38% of my reading was books by two authors.
This year I read:
4 books by Terry Pratchett
4 Books by Michael Marshall Smith
2 Books by Mo Hayder
2 Books by Stephen King
Book with the most anal sex: “The Stand”, but only by virtue of none of the others having any at all.
Book I am so embarrassed by having (skim) read that I didn’t even include it in my official count: “Breaking Dawn”. It is exactly as bad as I expected.
So under the points system that means that I scored:
15 base points.
An extra 46 for reading 4573 pages over 5000.
5 points for averaging 455 pages per book.
I don’t count how many days I read on, so we’ll count that as 0
Which gives me a total, in your system, of 66 points.
I scored 95 last year, so it’s a bit of a failure all round this year really.
One of my goals for the year is to read 50 books this year. I have a pact with my sisters about it.