Reading stats

It’s the first Wednesday of the month again, time for a post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.

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JANUARY QUESTION: Do you have a word of the year? Is there one word that sums up what you need to work on or change in the coming year?

MY ANSWER: I think my 2022 word of the year was READ. I read a lot. Perhaps, this year, my word should be WRITE. I want to write more.

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In compliance with this month’s question, I think it is time to look back on my reading during the previous year. Recently, I saw a statistical report that an average American reads 13 books a year. A discouraging count. I guess an average Canadian (I’m Canadian) would boast a similar number. But what does a statistical average mean?

Image by Art_Dreams from Pixabay

In mathematical terms, it means that in a pool of 10 people, if nine of them read 1 book a year, and the tenth one read 121 books during the same year, the average would come to 13. To no one’s surprise, I’m the number 10 in this equation. I think most writers are. We need to read in order to write well. Furthermore, personally, I need to read in order to feel comfortable. If I don’t have a pile of books ready for me on my dresser every day of the week, I get antsy. I need to read less than I need to breathe, but only a little.

According to the stats page of my GoodReads account, I’ve read 140 books during the year 2022. That would translate to approximately one book every 2.6 days. Most of my reading comes in two genres: speculative fiction and romance. In general, I’m not a speedy reader, but my 2021 stats show an even higher figure – 166. And those numbers are only new reads. They don’t include re-reads of the old favorites, which I regularly do.

What about you? Do you keep track of your reading? Are your personal reading statistics important to you? Care to share the numbers? What genres are the most common in your reading? Tell me in the comments.