How Much Time Do You Spend Reading

I cleaned piles of papers off the table for this picture.

In an article by James Patterson in TIME, he lamented about first time voters reading less than  ten minutes a day according to the latest annual survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistic. That floored me. I know it seems many people don’t read more than text messages.

A cabinet with two glass doors in upstairs hallway.

Recently on NPR I heard more people are reading print books than is believed according to the latest Pew Research so I checked that out. According to the research, so far in 2016 65% of the people have read at least one book in print format while only 29% have read an e-book. When  asked how many read a book in any format, the number jumped to 73%. That could include people who only read one book a year, or course.

Two bookcases in my bedroom, more in the spare bedroom.     

 I belong to two book clubs – one with six to eight women who meet for lunch at a restaurant. The other has thirteen members. We meet one evening a month either in a home or a restaurant. Both book clubs skip December, so that means almost all members read at least eleven books a year. Occasionally, someone skips a month. My afternoon book club gets together at someone’s house for lunch in December where we choose the books we’ll read for each month of the following year. In

the other book club, the hostess picks the book.

There are more books on the piano  & a bookcase left of the chair.

As for me, so far this year I have finished seventy-six books, and I’m currently reading four – two beside my chair and two upstairs by my bed.  I know how many I’ve read because I keep track of them on the inside covers of my journals which I write in every evening. I average between five and nine books a month, and in March it was ten books.

One of two bookcases in my sun room.

And it’s not just books I read, either. I read TIME magazine with my morning coffee and oatmeal, I read the newspaper with lunch and supper, and slowly read through Reader’s Digest when I have time.

Desk next to a book in room off upstairs bathroom.

Three books I’ve finished recently were The Care and Management of Lies, by Jacqueline Winspear for my evening book club. Everyone liked it, and we had quite a good discussion. I’ve been a fan of Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs books, and I just finished reading her latest A Dangerous Place. For my last afternoon book club, I read Lost in Shangri La by Michael Zuckoff, a nonfiction book that took place towards the end of World War II. It was a mixture of sadness and humor at times, too.

The other side of the room with more bookcases. 

In the mystery field, which is my favorite reading, I also recently finished Kait Carson’s first in the Catherine Swope mysteries, Zoned for Murder. I liked it so much I’m going to order her second in the series. I like her Hayden Kent mysteries, too. Also, beside my bed I’m reading The Case Book of Emily Lawrence by K.B. Inglee. It’s a collection of short stories, and rather than read them all at once, I’m reading several a week so I can enjoy them longer. Just this week I finished an Anne Tyler book, A Spool of Blue Thread, which is not a mystery, but I found it a good read. I’m reading a chapter at a time of Dreams of Justice; Mysteries as Social Documents by Dick Adler. For my next two book clubs coming up next week, I’m reading Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, by Jenny Lawson. So far I’m not too enthused with it. The other one is The Secret to Hummingbird Cake, by Celeste Fletcher McHale. I think I might like this a little more, but the book I really want to be reading is Elizabeth George’s third in her YA series – The Edge of the Shadows. I just recently got it through The Mystery Book Club.

Moggie likes my books to - more books on desk to left. 

P.S. I didn’t have room in this blog to put in pictures of all my bookcases in every room except

        the kitchen and bathrooms.

How much time do you spend reading?

How many books do you read in a year?