Reading competitions, lists, and libraries.

I remember hearing a while ago about a reading competition between Karl Rove and George W. Bush, wherein President Bush read 95 (ninety-five) books in the year 2006. Jokes about Nancy Drew mysteries and Dr. Seuss aside, that's still an impressive feat, if it's true. That's almost two books a week, and he had a full-time job.

I have no idea how many books I read last year, even though I tried to keep track with my Book-It for Grownups!™, a group that sadly fell to the wayside as the year moved on. I think I'm going to keep track this year. The library won't give you a print-out of all the books you've checked out, which I think is a travesty. I mean, can't the CIA get a list of my library books? Why can't I? GoodReads will have to do for now.

Friend-with-a-Truck signed up for GoodReads last night, and the competition began. I didn't realize how competitive I was feeling about this until he added 10 (ten) books to his already-read list this calendar year alone. I've read nine so far, and I plan on overtaking Friend-with-a-Truck immediately and permanently.

Admittedly, three of my books have been audiobooks. But I think they totally count. In fact, if you question audiobooks and are a busy person, see how much more you can read when you start listening to books in the car or while you're grocery shopping or washing dishes. I still prefer a hardcover book, but it's nice to be able to "read" where you otherwise would be doing mundane time-consuming tasks. Hmmmm .... maybe that's how President Bush read so many ...

Got any reading goals this year? Not a reader at all? Try reading (or listening to) one book a month.

3 comments

  1. Audio books do not count. That is not reading. It is "listening". That is only for people like Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and Jim Bunning.

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  3. You can set your library account to keep a list of the books you read. Log onto your account on the LFPL website, go to the My Record page, and click on Change Preferences. Check the box by Maintain Permanent Reading List.

    And you might also like www.librarything.com.

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