Monday, April 25, 2016

With 3,000 Books Read, My List Has Reached a New Milestone

I was going to post a book review today (and still might) since I do that every Monday, but then I noticed something on a reading list I keep and decided to make note on Book Chase of a major milestone I've just reached.

Way back on February 18, 1970 I started a list keeping track of every book I read - and today I reached one of those nice, round numbers that stand out: 3,000 books read.  The 3,000 books listed do not include several dozen audiobooks that I completed during the same period, but they probably total another 100 or 150 books.  

With everything going on in my world these last few days, I had kind of lost track of how close I was to reaching that point.  As it turns out, number 3,000 was written by one of my favorite British authors, Gerald Seymour.  His Vagabond is a political/espionage thriller having to do with a rogue group in Northern Ireland that still believes violence is the only way to fight their British "occupiers."  It's a good book that I will be reviewing in a couple of weeks.

I admit to being a numbers freak, so if statistics bore you, it's time to tune out:

  • Number of books read in a given year varies all the way from 11 in 1975 to 141 in 2007. 
  • It took me 21 years and 4 months to read the first 1,000.
  • It took me 16 years and 10 months to read the second 1,000.
  • It took me 8 years and 2 months to read the third 1,000.
  • That's an average of over 65 books per year for just over 46 years.
  • The last 1,071 books I've read are reviewed here on Book Chase.
So enough with the stats.  It's time now to start on the next 1,000 books.

8 comments:

  1. I do love numbers and these are very interesting. I sure wish I had kept track of my reading for that long.

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    1. Thanks, Nan. I can't remember why I started my book log in the middle of February like that but I'm glad I did.

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  2. Replies
    1. There's just something special about numbers that end in multiple zeros. :-)

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  3. My favorite thing about this post is that after reading 3000 books your first thought is that you're ready to read a thousand more.

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    1. My goal has always been to hit 5,000, and I'm hoping that the clock doesn't catch up with me before I hit that number. The next four are all partially read now...and counting.

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  4. Well done! You have inspired me to count 'em up. I've been tracking steadily since Jan. 1, 1993. There was also an attempt to begin tracking earlier, so I have a list from 1990. Your numbers make me feel fierce and inspired, so I must be a bit of a numbers freak as well.

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    1. "Fierce and inspired." I love that. Do let me know what number you come up with...I still hope to hit 5,000 before the fourth quarter clock ticks it's last. Maybe I should start preserving my remaining time outs now.

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