How often do you read novels?

[CesareNorrez]

I consider myself visually orientated and think it actually makes me a better reader. Sometimes I will re-read a paragraph multiple times to really get it. I also go back and read previous passages. My memories of books are all images. In the same way of my memories of films. Take your time when reading it'll cement the images.

I read about 2 books a month. Doesn't matter the length. 150 pages, 450 pages, 900 pages, I read a book every 2 weeks on average. I should be reading a book a week. I have degree in Literature for goodness' sake.

Lately I've found switching between multiple books helps. I seem to have a bit of a limit for how long I can read one voice. Changing it up helps.

 

[Deleted member 19813]

I read manga regularly. I'm about to try light novels.

 

[Boy]

Everyday for me. Usually try to finish one book a week. I mostly read non-fiction books, but switch it up every now and then with Novels.

 

[Deleted member 25606]

I'm always reading a book though not always a novel. That doesn't include comics which I read almost daily. I read Stephen King's Elevation earlier but that's short, only took an hour and a half to two hours. I also just got into Hoopla since that's what my library has and have been listening to audiobooks while playing games (since games are the biggest things that interrupt my reading) and in the last week or so listened to Clive Barker's The Scarlet Gospels and literally just finished Years best Horror vol.9 edited by Ellen Datlow. Now I am going to listen to either Years best Horror vol.10 or Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology. Will do both just need to decide which first.

As for those getting into reading, just do it. Find what type and format you like and then dive in. Personally I prefer Short Fiction in the Horror and Speculative Fiction genres and non-fiction about cultural things so while I will read just about anything those are my go-tos if I need inspiration.

 

[Boy]

I rarely read fiction. Most of my literature are non-fiction mainly history, sports, and political.

Ironically, I am currently reading The Godfather atm.

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How far along are you? Just finished reading that last week for the first time, and it was pretty damn good.

 

[Blue Sky Noise]

i average 1 book a lifetime

 

[PassiveObserver]

I'm always reading a book but it's slow-going recently. I'll fit in roughly 10 pages on my commute each day but rarely put in long sessions and seldom read on weekends. Not going to hit my Goodreads goal of 30 books this year. I'm at 15 currently, with 4 being graphic novels.

 

[Cross-Section]

I'm averaging a few a month currently. Helps to have a job that enables me to spend the day reading.

 

[Vanillalite]

Not much lately with a new job, and a 5 month old.

When it was just my two older kids I'd read while we made them read for 30 mins each night.

 

[CesareNorrez]

I have this huge problem where when I actually sit down to read a book invariably fall asleep.

This makes it so damn hard for me to read with any frequency.

Any tips to help mitigate this??

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Stop reading when you are falling asleep. You are just going to keep doing that. Try reading as soon as you can when you first wake up. And sit somewhere else, or don't sit at all. You need to break the habit. You can also just take a nap as soon as you start falling a sleep. No more than 20 minutes. Then try again when you wake up. And take a book wherever you go. Read a page or 2 here and there as you wait on line or at an appointment. You should be less likely to fall asleep.

 

[Bitanator]

Rarely if ever, and I do like reading, I just do not do it at all like I should.

 

[Deleted member 25606]

I'm averaging a few a month currently. Helps to have a job that enables me to spend the day reading.

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Yeah, when I was working overnights in convenience store retail I was averaging a book every two days. I swear I read every single entry when Leisure used to have their mass market horror imprint, introduced me to so many authors I love to this day, even joined their monthly book club I was reading so much of what they published.

Those were good times.

 

[Bazza]

No everyday option eh, one book short of my 195 reading challenge on goodreads this year. Obviously the number of books varies each month but I generally read between 10 and 30 books a month depending on how many pages they have.

Wanted some light reading for September so I'm on book 25 for the month, all this month's books have been in the 150-250 page range that normally take 1.5 to 3 hours each, so relatively easy reads that I can consume without much brainpower.

After this binge I'm planning on re-reading Joe Abercrombie's books so all the details are fresh in my mind for when I read A Little Hatred so I can't imagine I will get through more than 10 books in October.

 

[Keikaku]

I last read the song of ice and fire series around when GOT launched so not often.

 

[Deleted member 23381]

I used to read a lot but I haven't read anything in years, wonder what happened.

 

[SUBZERO-08]

I want to but I feel like I don't have enough time to read novels anymore (while still doing my other hobbies). Last time I read a novel was a few years ago.

 

[Rhomega]

I honestly don't read as much as I want to.

 

[pantsattack]

I finish a novel every 10-14 days, but this is a new habit as of this year. School had me reading so many medical textbooks and before that theology, and I was really done with reading in general. Reading fiction is a breath of fresh air, so much so that I'm considering dropping this memoir I'm reading just to get back to a good story.

Solar Puffin Regarding paralysis, maybe look for some best of the year lists in your preferred genre. If you look at past years lists, libraries will have those books available immediately. If I know something is highly regarded and I don't have any preconcieved notions about that book, it can be easier to get into/lower pressure.

 

[Deleted member 4452]

I usually only read while commuting, which can be up to 60-90 min of reading time on workdays. It usually takes me a few months to finish a book. Lately, The 3 Musketeers took me 2 months to finish, and I've been tackling War & Peace since early July (still on book 3).

 

[meowdi gras]

My untreated childhood ADD has only worsened as I've gotten older, so I can really struggle to maintain the concentration necessary for devouring entire books at a stretch. For whatever reason, it seems to be easier for me to keep my focus reading non-fiction vs fiction over the last several years, so my novel consumption has expectedly dropped. (Although I did manage to complete a relatively swift reread of Turgenev's Fathers and Sons a couple months back.)

Presently, I'm burning through this after stumbling across it at the used bookstore the other day for a song (I'm a sucker for polar exploration accounts):

Honestly, I do the majority of my reading on the internet these days. Besides social media (shamefully), I spend most of my time reading every article, analysis, or whatever on the subjects that interest my most, of which there are many. I've always had an insatiable thirst for knowledge and that is probably only increasing with age.

 

[patientzero]

My untreated childhood ADD has only worsened as I've gotten older, so I can really struggle to maintain the concentration necessary for devouring entire books at a stretch. For whatever reason, it seems to be easier for me to keep my focus reading non-fiction vs fiction over the last several years, so my novel consumption has expectedly dropped.

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Funny enough, in looking into an ADD diagnosis late last year (which, boy do I have ADD) I had to mention to my psychologist that books are a rare area where my ADD can focus. Which explains why I go through so many a year. I did notice in my mid-20s, though, that I had to usually have a few books going at once to really make it work, since if one starts to lose me I can switch between it and some others in lieu of simply quitting. It's actually helped me retention skills quite a bit.

 

[Josh5890]

How far along are you? Just finished reading that last week for the first time, and it was pretty damn good.

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~80% of the way through. I've seen the film about 5-6 times, but I love it even more after reading this book.

Spoiler

Holy shit at Lucca Brasi's backstory.

 

[meowdi gras]

Funny enough, in looking into an ADD diagnosis late last year (which, boy do I have ADD) I had to mention to my psychologist that books are a rare area where my ADD can focus. Which explains why I go through so many a year. I did notice in my mid-20s, though, that I had to usually have a few books going at once to really make it work, since if one starts to lose me I can switch between it and some others in lieu of simply quitting. It's actually helped me retention skills quite a bit.

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Hmm, maybe I should try that. I've always tried to force myself to zero in on just one thing, but perhaps that's just exacerbating the matter.

 

[PeskyToaster]

I just finished The Accursed Kings series and now I'm reading House of Leaves. I also read history books. I just read one on the American Revolution and I have one on the American Civil War. I also read all the Witcher books. If I focus and read consistently I go really fast but sometimes I just play games and stop reading for a bit. I need to stop watching YouTube and Twitch and just stick to reading. It's a lot better for you obviously.

 

[H.Protagonist]

I can't imagine not reading regularly, but I totally understand life (and the internet) getting in the way. I made a New Year's resolution to do at least 26 books this year (half the 1 a week challenge), but I'm only on book 11 right now. The next three months are going to be a real race. In my defense, I kept picking 800+ page books. :P

No everyday option eh, one book short of my 195 reading challenge on goodreads this year. Obviously the number of books varies each month but I generally read between 10 and 30 books a month depending on how many pages they have.

Wanted some light reading for September so I'm on book 25 for the month, all this month's books have been in the 150-250 page range that normally take 1.5 to 3 hours each, so relatively easy reads that I can consume without much brainpower.

After this binge I'm planning on re-reading Joe Abercrombie's books so all the details are fresh in my mind for when I read A Little Hatred so I can't imagine I will get through more than 10 books in October.

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Wow. Amazing numbers. I really need to just turn off the comp and buckle down. If you ever run out of options or need a short page-turner to get you over the challenge bar, I recommend mine. The way you read you'd burn through it over dinner.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Every day

 

[Bazza]

Wow. Amazing numbers. I really need to just turn off the comp and buckle down. If you ever run out of options or need a short page-turner to get you over the challenge bar, I recommend mine. The way you read you'd burn through it over dinner.

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Added to my reading list 😁

I think a couple of other posters mentioned the number of books read increased when they brought a kindle/ereader. That was definitely the case for me, while I have always been a reader it was never the same volume as it is now, maybe 5-20 books a year depending what was going on in my life.

The kindle just makes things so much easier and convenient now, I still buy physical books if it's some kind of special edition hardback or something illustrated. As a result of reading being really convenient my other media consumption has taken a nose dive.

I think the other contributor is the fact I'm now stuck on a PC all day every day at work and when I get home the last thing I want to do is stare at a screen watching something or playing a game.

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

I don't. I think about doing it and even have bought some stuff I wanted, but then I set down to do it and end up staring off into space for like half an hour.

 

[Just Some Rando]

OP, pick up that languishing copy of 1984 and read it. 👍

I currently read about two novels a month (and a dozen or so short stories), but all for my narrated audiobook livestream on Mixer. It takes up so much time, I've not had a chance to read something contemporary for myself in quite a while.

 

[Tobor]

I'm down to once a year and it's frankly embarrassing as someone who grew up reading every thing I could get my hands on.

 

[Dyle]

I've pretty much been reading only nonfiction since graduating college, not sure why but the few times I've tried to get into some fictional books since then they've done nothing for me. In high school and college I was reading novels pretty regularly though

 

[Blue Skies]

Sure, why not?

But I think reading could be really helpful, even if only books about writing (like the great On Writing by Stephen King)

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In which he tells the reader to either write or read for 8 hours a day haha

 

[Error_404]

I'm at about 38 novels read this year, picked up reading in a big way after reading Good Omens last year and immediately started reading almost anything with Gaiman's name on it, and over the last couple months I've been getting more into Pratchett's writing which a whole other type of fantastic. I've also enjoyed some older classics I've read like Jane Eyre, Wuthering Height and The House of the Seven Gables

 

[Goldenroad]

Maybe 4-8 hours a week. I can't really quantify that in terms of the number of books I read, but I try to always have something on the go.

 

[Deleted member 984]

I've read about 12 books this year so far but I primarily read short stories which aren't included in that number.

 

[rickyson33]

I try to read 20-30 or so a year but I can be very irregular about it

I often go months hardly reading at all then read a ton for a couple weeks

that's just my personality with media in general though I do the same sort of thing with games and television

as far as Visual Novels go since you also mentioned those I do read those as well but usually average only one a year,I think the idea of them mixing the experience of reading with art and music is a cool and engaging one but I have no interest in the vast majority of what the industry puts out so I tend to be incredibly selective about what I read there

 

[Stronginthearm]

I'm 26 books into my 30 in a year goodreads challenge. The library has been a godsend for saving me money on books.