How Much Do People Read?

My research tells me that people in the US read about fourteen books a year. In the UK it's about ten. That sort of floors me. I believe I read two this year. Two. Now granted, I used to read a lot more. In the days when libraries were an actual place people went for books, I would scan the posted bestseller list and add my name to the waiting list to get my hands on them. As soon as I finished one book, I'd pick up another. There is no doubt that the internet has cooled people's reading habits. I'm sure no one saw it coming in those early AOL days, when dial-up was the only way to get online, which also meant no one in the household was able to make or receive calls during those online sessions. One of the few (and they were few) e-commerce sites back then was a bookstore called Amazon. Yes, all it sold was books. But it had them all, even the most obscure title that maybe one person in the country was even interested in. I bought tons of books from Amazon. I loved it. My genre was true crime. And thus I still read and read. And when I managed to finish a stack of them I'd ship them off to my sister for her reading enjoyment. 

I bought a Kindle several years ago and would read late into the night, mostly biographies this time. I got free Kindle books from my local library, too, so I racked up quite a virtual stack of ebooks.

But time changes everything. Other priorities took over; first songwriting and recording, then eventually fiction writing of my own. Oh, and blogging. I was quite the prodigious blogger for many years. That left me little time to read. And I got out of the habit. Now, when I do sit down to read a book, I enjoy it, but only for short bursts, even if the book is highly interesting. 

As I was perusing Goodreads today and looking at their "best" books of the year and their list of most anticipated books for 2024, I began to wonder just how many books the average person reads. Goodreads is a mega-popular site, but it rather floored me to find out just how much people read. I mean, that's good for me as a writer (theoretically), but I marvel at people's ability to sift through that many books. I guess everyone has to be dedicated to something. 

The main reason I shy away from reading fiction is because I write fiction, too. I don't want to inadvertently begin copying someone else's style, but mostly it's because everyone is a better fiction writer than me, and I don't need any more reason to beat myself up. Secondarily, though, I just prefer non-fiction. I like reading about real people, real things that happened. I could never write it, but I love reading it.

I do find myself wistful for those days when I was a dedicated reader. Maybe it's something worth exploring again.