Reading in 2011

Reading in 2011 was something that should have been reflected upon at the end of December (ahem...thanks, Bethany, for the lack of public flogging. :) )

Instead, I'll do a bit of it now instead because it was a fun conversation starter for my HRM class last Monday.

Just like Bethany's co-workers reaction to her reading habits, I tend to use the number of books I've read or pages or something like that for my ice breaker in groups. Only those that have been through that activity aren't surprised.

In the HRM class, we had to share one characteristic about ourselves and write in on our name plate. I drew a book and wrote "87; 35,294". Note the proper semicolon usage. We are, after all, Word Nerds with a passion for grammar.

(Any rules not followed were broken with cause. That should be a standard disclaimer here.)

Where was I? Oh, yes, numbers and books.

So one of my group members is suitable impressed while another says, "Oh, no, it gets crazier. Go on, show her."

What he meant was show her the Excel tracking spreadsheet that I use. It has loads of fun facts to those of us who like books. I track pages, titles, author, series name, and category. I've thought about tracking book format too, but haven't quite committed to it yet. What I'd really like to do is create an Access database so I can really get creative with my metrics.

And somewhere in the middle of that paragraph, non-readers stared to have glazed over eyes.

Same with my audience.

In truth, I'm passionate about reading. I like to collect things like number of pages, book titles, authors and series. I like to make up measurements so I can boast that I've read 1,139 titles in the last 11 years, and one month. I love finding people who feel the same way about books.

Or, at minimum, those that will tolerate my passion for it during ice breakers.

2011: 87 books; 35,294 titles, 61 books inside a series; 48 different authors; 409 pages per book (slightly longer than the average mass market paper back, the short one, not the one with the trade paper back height).

In all, a good reading year.