Stephen J. Gertz tells us that
over the course of fifty-two years of reading in bed (since age 6), I've slept with 12,775 books
(...)
I did so shamelessly, with little regard for the books as individuals. When I get an itch, I reach for a b**ch of a book. 'Might as well face it, I'm addicted to livre.
I wonder how many books I've read since I was six. Probably enough to stock a small library.
Thanks, Babs, for finding the article.
12 COMMENTS:
Hi
According to that fab article SJP read a book every day and a half. That's really amazing. Where does he get time to read a book in a day and a half!?!!
I'm more like a book every... er... month or so.
Or worse, reading 2 books simultaneously (of opposite gravitas and genres) because the other one is really hard going and the other is nice and fluffy.
Like SJP, I also cannot remember most of the books I've read - the titles, the names, even the content. Like I know I cried when I read Toni Morrison's Beloved (oooh a good few years back) but I won't be able to relate to you what exactly happened in it now.
Shameful!
Thanks for a great post and the link to that hilarious article.
Take care
x
Hi Kitty, I get through several books a week but I read for escapism so they're mostly very light. When the CFS Brain Fog is bad I really don't take in the plots so well, but it's been better lately.
I have a few more books in my house than there are in one of our small libraries (and nearly more than one of the others), so I'd guess you've read plenty enough to stock one.
While I can read most books under 100,000-words in a single sitting, I doubt I am anywhere near 12,000 books read in my lifetime. I just don't read every night. Also, I tend to reread books I especially enjoy.
But being a storyteller at heart I am much more likely to write a story, or just invent it in my mind, than read another.
While I have not written but a small percentage of them, I expect I have probably come up with that many stories to tell in my lifetime.
I'm sure I've read a vast pile, myself. Not many were in bed, though. Unlike most people, reading wakes me up. If I start reading, I'll read all night and regret it in the morning.
Wow. I wonder how many I've read. Amazing. Thanks for sharing, Fairy. ;-)
Being married to Babs, and knowing how much she reads in bed I'm almost scared to do the calculation... and since she had her new eyes - which make life much easier - her appetite for words has easily doubled.
Kevin, I'm amazed that you have more books in your house than in a library, even a small one!
Bevie, if I wrote more and read less I might be better off! But I'm lazy and reading is easier than writing.
ww, what a shame you can't read in bed. Maybe if you found something really boring to read it would work.
Demon Hunter (nice name!) Glad you liked it.
Richard, between the pair of you, you've probably read several libraryworths of books!
The only book I can recall which literally put me to sleep was this huge tome called 'The Pelopenesian Wars' (about a thousand pages, if I recall correctly) and I had to read it for Humanities course at Uni. No matter what, every time I started reading that book, I feel asleep. Every time. I was lucky that I had good lecture notes and the test was essay and reflecting professorial opinion was the road to success, lol.
ww, it's a good job that you don't always need to finish a book to write an essay on it!
I read heaps, and I can read a book a day, if it's a good one, but I can't keep up that speed all the time. Yanno, life...
McK, isn't it a shame when life gets in the way of the important things?
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