Poll of the Day > Compared to a decade ago, do you recreationally read more or less books a year?

(+) Yeah! (+)

How have your reading habits changed?

Ive gone from reading almost entirely fiction to entirely nonfiction. And from reading 100 or so books a year to about 2 a year, but I hope to get that back up to like 12-24

Fewer

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Depends on whether audiobooks count or not. I used to read a lot of books but as I've gotten older I've started listening to them instead.

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Definitely a lot more. I'm now a 6th grade English teacher and part of our curriculum is we read twenty minutes a day. So with my three classes I'm at least reading 60 minutes a day, I am reading so much. I love it.

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Probably less. I hate having to charge the iPad when Im at a really good part. I just cant find time to read anymore.

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Much less. Reading is not high on the list of things i actually care to do. Have read maybe 2 or 3 books since being done with school.

10 years ago though i was still in HS and i often read to pass the time and for easy grades. Didnt have a phone back then so it was either read or stare at the clock pretty much given how few classes i had with people i cared for.


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I didn't read books recreationally at all a decade ago. I got a bit into reading webtoons like 2 years ago but then I got chronically ill and now reading gives me horrible symptoms so I don't really do it anymore outside of briefly looking at message boards.

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Less, but I've actually picked up my reading pace the past 2 weeks lol.

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It definitely fluctuates year to year, but the past three years I've been on an all time high, with this year in particular being the most books I've read in a year yet. I've always read a lot, but 2018 and 2019 were high because I was in the Peace Corps and had a lot of free time with very little in regards to recreation. That strengthened my already strong reading habits so when 2020, COVID, and unemployment all hit, I had only free time and a lot of books I wanted to read. Though, I've barely read the last couple months since I recently got a PS4 and most my recreational time has been going to that. Once I get through a few more games I'll go on another reading binge though.

I don't think I've ever read a book from cover to cover unless I had to when I was in school. I've tried a few times, but I always got bored and quit.

Less. I wanna say being able to discuss my reading with another friend kept me going but since I have not been seeing said friend as much in the past few years, my drive to read have diminished.

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Same, but i read a lot anyway. The kindle, however, has exponentially increased the ease of reading. i no longer have to move 3 tons of dead tree every time i move house, and with a kindle i can read in any lighting condition at any angle free of distractions. I use a bog standard Paperwhite, but fuck if i don't love the thing unconditionally. I'm sure some of you have screencaps from a decade ago with a massive bookcase behind me 90% of the time, and that was just one of my old bookcases. not counting stacks of books in several corners. now i have a magic picture frame that delivers crisp text to my eye in just about any condition i can imagine.

i love my Kindle, but if you showed me one back in the mid-late 90's i would have personally brought back witch burnings. The Paperwhite is just that good at what it was purpose-built to do.

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I stopped reading around the time I got a PSX.

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I need to get into reading more literature. I end up reading way too many webnovels and the like. At least an hour a day.

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I used to regular published books constantly. I haven't gotten a book in years now, I've got series I never finished and really wanted to. I got into webnovels and just have never gotten back to paying for stories, so on that note I read more than ever before I just can't speak to the quality all the time.

Less

The Jack Ryan series has taken a dive since the authors passing and I'm no longer reading any comic books :(

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I used to have a job with a ton of downtime so I used to pick up books like an alcoholic picks up beers.

Without that I just dont care to dedicate time towards reading any more.

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I started reading when I'm ready to go to bed in the past couple years.

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Way, way, way less.

About the same. I read fanfiction mostly. Books cost money and going to the library is a hassle. Fanfics are free and easy to find, and there's enough fanfic out there that's good enough to enjoy even if most of it sucks or is just porn.

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I haven't read a hook in years, I cant even remember the last book I read. Must have been almost 10 years since I have read a book how that I think of it.

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Same, but I've always read a lot. Amazon Prime and MidContinent Library make Ebooks cheap and easy, I still visit bookstores and order paper books online.

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I don't read very much, not books at least. I just don't like passive entertainment. I do like story heavy games though.. One time I spent an entire night reading every book in Morrowind i could find.

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Compared to a decade ago, do you recreationally read more or less books a year?

Stannis wouldn't approve.

And really about the same at this point. Maybe I read a little less often, because I seem to go through fewer books.

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I realized after posting. Im pretty sure I changed my thought part way through, plus mobile. Poll title was also butchered.

I'm a bibliophile who generally reads 50 or so a year back to back. The last two years I've barely been reading; it's a struggle to decide on something and I've been maybe a month between books. When I choose one I devour it in a few days.

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Far more, but it fluctuates, depending on life circumstances.

I have read 87 books this year, so far. To be fair, it ranges from 600+ page novels to 100 page short stories.

I don't anticipate being able to read that many next year due to some life changes coming, but we'll see.

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Sad how little people read here. Reading rules and it's not that hard to make time for it. Most people can read a 300ish page book in less than 10 hours and odds are the story will be better than 90% of popular tv or video games. I guess finding new stuff can be difficult sometimes but if you don't read then just randomly picking from "Books of the Decade" kind of lists is super easy/rewarding.

Compared to a decade ago, probably about the same.

I always used to read CONSTANTLY when I was in middle school/high school, and I really only dropped off once I got to college (where being forced to read lots of stuff for class kind of killed my desire to read recreationally). It wasn't until I was out of school for a while before I started picking back up again, but once I did, I've been at a relatively steady reading rate.

What I have noticed is that, over the last decade or so (give or take a few years), I've definitely gravitated away from fiction almost entirely, and now mostly just read historical stuff, science, and general philosophy. I'm not really sure if my palate has matured or if I've just run out of worthwhile fiction (because I've read most of the good stuff in the genres I'm interested in and most new stuff is kind of trash), but whenever I try to get into new fiction I always have a hard time finding anything that really catches my interest.
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SomeUsername529 posted... Sad how little people read here.

Sad how you draw that conclusion when very few people -- if any -- mentioned how much they read.

SomeUsername529 posted...

Reading rules and it's not that hard to make time for it.

It can be very hard. It's a lot easier when you're very young.

SomeUsername529 posted...

Most people can read a 300ish page book in less than 10 hours

I don't speed read any more, so I think it's more been 20-30 hours and those have to be quiet / uninterrupted hours, whereas a lot of other stuff I multitask.

Otherwise "fewer" (or "in under 10 hours").

SomeUsername529 posted...

odds are the story will be better than 90% of popular tv or video games.

No, 90% of anything is crap, books included. And even most of the books I've read in recent years haven't been terribly good (fiction, anyway, which is somewhat easier evaluate)

Books are just another medium, same as anything else. There's nothing inherently superior or inferior about it. Most of the criticisms you can level at TV or film can equally be leveled at books.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I always used to read CONSTANTLY when I was in middle school/high school, and I really only dropped off once I got to college (where being forced to read lots of stuff for class kind of killed my desire to read recreationally).

Same, more or less. And it wasn't simply just that forced reading diminished enthusiasm, but it replaced time I had used for recreational reading and, of course, it was just a matter of not having very much time at all for anything at that point. Whatever the cause, my reading habits have diminished in relation to my youth.


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Fewer. I'm not happy about that, and I keep meaning to make up my mind to put it right.

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On the topic of reading more or less, have any of you switched over to audio books? Do you find yourself "reading" more when you are able to do it while busy with something else?

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InfestedAdam posted...

On the topic of reading more or less, have any of you switched over to audio books? Do you find yourself "reading" more when you are able to do it while busy with something else?

I used to do audio books when I used to read a lot. I cant do them these days unless theyre memoirs narrated by the author. It needs to be more conversational or my mind will drift.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I've definitely gravitated away from fiction almost entirely, and now mostly just read historical stuff, science, and general philosophy. I'm not really sure if my palate has matured or if I've just run out of worthwhile fiction (because I've read most of the good stuff in the genres I'm interested in and most new stuff is kind of trash), but whenever I try to get into new fiction I always have a hard time finding anything that really catches my interest.

most of my fiction these days are new installments of series that i've followed for quite a while or anthologies of short stories. I suspect we're both at an age where its just so hard to show either of us something new, something novel, something we haven't seen before, or something where we don't see the twist lampshaded well in advance. we're both well schooled in the titans of scifi and fantasy, and everyone "new" seems to think they're going to really get the kids fired up with a twist Asimov or Clarke or Goodkind used decades back and hasn't been seen since. So many writers these days seen to just chace the same shit that's been done for decades. I know you hate Dresden Files, but its at least a different take on urban fantasy.

Firewerx posted...

Fewer. I'm not happy about that, and I keep meaning to make up my mind to put it right.

Get. A. Kindle.

A Paperwhite, not one of the glorified tablets. a straight e-ink reader. zero distractions, just hit me with crispy text.

the Paperwhite completely changed how i read. Any light, Any angle, any time. with wifi off the battery lasts for like a month on a charge. no notifications, nobody looking at the cover of my paper book and trying to start a conversation when i'm clearly reading and not fishing for a chat. I can read anywhere, anytime, and you can go find someone else to talk to right now. light, dark, sitting up, laying down, sideways, in a hammock, hanging upside down from a jungle gym like a bat, it doesn't matter. God, i wish the Kindle was a thing 30+ years ago, the thing is just amazing as a reading device. it weighs next to nothing. I keep it in a plain black case in my day bag, and i pop it out of the case if i plan on reading for more than 10-15 minutes at a clip. change fonts, margins, text size on the fly...just load the thing up with all the shit you want to read, kill the wifi, and you're good to go. no incessant app notifications distracting you every 3 minutes, just the text of a book on a sharp display. its probably one of the 10 items i own that I would wholeheartedly give a 10/10 review as an outstanding product. it is purpose built to do one job, and it does that extremely well. that job is to put clean text in front of your eyeballs to read it.

screw the kindle app, screw the browser app, screw the Fire, the Oasis, and every other device Kindle makes, i'll take the Paperwhite, hands down.

it really is a gamechanger if your intention is to read.

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Same, which isn't much.

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InfestedAdam posted...

On the topic of reading more or less, have any of you switched over to audio books? Do you find yourself "reading" more when you are able to do it while busy with something else?

i like that audiobooks are a thing, but i have two major problems with them. the first is that they're like podcasts, radio, or music. my attention will always drift in and out as i do other things, *because* i'm going to do other things while i listen. If I'm reading a book, I'm *reading a book*. that's my sole intention since i've gotten my kindle out, and my eyes are aimed solely at the device. I've made a conscious decision to Read. If i go the audiobook route, i'm working, i'm cooking, i'm hiking...my attention is already inherently going to be divided.

the second problem i have with Audiobooks, is that the person that is reading the book can make or break a book, especially if i know what the author sounds like and the book is being read by somebody else. If i'm just reading the text with my eyeballs, the text either falls into the voice of my own inner monolog, or that of the Author if i'm familiar with that author's voice, or even multiple characterizations filled in by my own imagination. Hearing a big burly dude trying to do female dialog is an immediate immersion break, same with a chick doing a dude's dialog. for non-fiction it can work, but in fiction its always a mood wrecker.

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WhiskeyDisk posted...

I know you hate Dresden Files, but its at least a different take on urban fantasy

My initial resistance to it was that it kind of comes across like shitty White Wolf crossover fanfiction. Though I did try to watch the show when it was on Syfy and it didn't really grab me.

Most "modern fantasy"/"urban fantasy" tend to come across as kind of trashy to me, though. It doesn't really help that stuff like True Blood or anything written by Laurell Hamilton kind of comes across a bit like softcore porn (which I think is mostly the fault of Anne Rice's influence on the genre, possibly with Poppy Z Brite making things worse).
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Compared to a decade ago? About the same, which is to say very, very few. I could probably count the number of recreational books I've read since high school (graduated '07) on one hand, and that trend hasn't really shifted since then. Compared to two decades ago? Much fewer. I used to be a very avid reader, that just died off as I got older.

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

My initial resistance to it was that it kind of comes across like shitty White Wolf crossover fanfiction. Though I did try to watch the show when it was on Syfy and it didn't really grab me.

Most "modern fantasy"/"urban fantasy" tend to come across as kind of trashy to me, though. It doesn't really help that stuff like True Blood or anything written by Laurell Hamilton kind of comes across a bit like softcore porn (which I think is mostly the fault of Anne Rice's influence on the genre, possibly with Poppy Z Brite making things worse).

Give Dresden a chance man. the TV Series was more or less Dresden in name only. Executive meddling changed just about everything about the series. screw Poppy Z Brite and that sort of stuff. Dresden is far from softcore porn. if anything its more noir at first. I mean Butcher literally rolled character sheets for most of the main characters and writes them accordingly. Harry has the misfortune of high INT, WIS, AND CON so Butcher beats the shit out of him pretty consistently while he fights back using zero finesse in his castings.

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agree that a Kindle is awesome. I had never wanted or cared to get one, but when moving over seas it was the easiest way to bring a lot of books with me. Now I can carry a library in my pocket!

WhiskeyDisk posted...

Oasis, and every other device Kindle makes, i'll take the Paperwhite, hands down.

Even the oasis? I actually got one recently and...thinking of going back to the paper white. Its nice but it cant fit in my pocket anymore.

A lot less because Harry Potter.

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In 2010 I was in college so I didn't have much leisure time. 2012-2015 I read like a fucking demon. Now I just listen to audiobooks and the like.

WhiskeyDisk posted...

most of my fiction these days are new installments of series that i've followed for quite a while or anthologies of short stories.

tbh, these days whenever I see something is part of a series, I tend to give it a hard pass >_>

ParanoidObsessive posted...

My initial resistance to it was that it kind of comes across like shitty White Wolf crossover fanfiction. Though I did try to watch the show when it was on Syfy and it didn't really grab me.

I loved the show, but it didn't exactly interest me in the books, especially when I learned they weren't much like it.

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I was in middle school 10 years ago, I used to read many books just for fun. Then in late high school and college, I would barely even read the required books. I read a lot of random stuff online all the time though.

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WhiskeyDisk posted...

Give Dresden a chance man.

I feel like you kind of misinterpreted my post there.

1) I was aware of the books long before the show existed. Pretty much everything I ever heard about them led me to believe I'd straight up hate them. Almost nothing I heard about them ever led me to question that impression.

2) I specifically watched the show because TV is more accessible than books, so it potentially could have interested me in the setting/franchise in spite of my prior apathy, and thus lead me to invest time in the books after all. It did not.

3) Pretty much everything I've ever heard about the books since has continued to lead me to believe I'd straight up hate them. The fact that the series is up to 17 books really doesn't help its case either, because now it's the victim of its own bloat. Almost every time I see some plot point or story element mentioned online it tends to make me roll my eyes a bit, so it's pretty much a given at this point that it's never winning me over, period.

4) My comment about the "erotic" side of urban fiction wasn't specifically about Dresden, it was pointing out a problem that crops up way too much in that particular genre as a whole (which is part of why I tend to avoid it on general principles). My problems with Dresden are different, though - and are mostly specific to the books themselves. I really only brought it up specifically because Butcher mentioned early on that he liked the Anita Blake books and they were an inspiration for him to start writing Dresden, which is an admission he probably should have been ashamed to make because those books are terrible.
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Definitely less. Partly because I have less time. And I like multitasking. Its easy to play a game while watching something. But I have a harder time reading while playing a game or watching something...
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

I feel like you kind of misinterpreted my post there.

1) I was aware of the books long before the show existed. Pretty much everything I ever heard about them led me to believe I'd straight up hate them. Almost nothing I heard about them ever led me to question that impression.

2) I specifically watched the show because TV is more accessible than books, so it potentially could have interested me in the setting/franchise in spite of my prior apathy, and thus lead me to invest time in the books after all. It did not.

3) Pretty much everything I've ever heard about the books since has continued to lead me to believe I'd straight up hate them. The fact that the series is up to 17 books really doesn't help its case either, because now it's the victim of its own bloat. Almost every time I see some plot point or story element mentioned online it tends to make me roll my eyes a bit, so it's pretty much a given at this point that it's never winning me over, period.

4) My comment about the "erotic" side of urban fiction wasn't specifically about Dresden, it was pointing out a problem that crops up way too much in that particular genre as a whole (which is part of why I tend to avoid it on general principles). My problems with Dresden are different, though - and are mostly specific to the books themselves. I really only brought it up specifically because Butcher mentioned early on that he liked the Anita Blake books and they were an inspiration for him to start writing Dresden, which is an admission he probably should have been ashamed to make because those books are terrible.

so you're hating on something that you only have the shallowest cursory knowledge of.

blu posted...

Even the oasis? I actually got one recently and...thinking of going back to the paper white. Its nice but it cant fit in my pocket anymore.

The Oasis is asymmetrical and as a book replacement, that irks me to the core of my being. I hate everything about that design choice with every fiber of my being.

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