Half Year check-in...how many books have you read?

[purplybob]

With June here 2011 is half over...just curious as to how many books you have read thus far this year...for those who keep up with that.

I'm at 41

[Drkshadow03]

With June here 2011 is half over...just curious as to how many books you have read thus far this year...for those who keep up with that.

I'm at 41

21 books so far.

[Dark Muse]

I am currently at 30

[ChicagoReader]

wow, respect, I've done 17 so far but now with summer here I plan to read a lot more so I can finish 50 by years end.

[G L Wilson]

Roughly 32. If I didn't procrastinate so much, it would be more. But as I say, Procrastinate always - it saves on boredom.

[bouquin]

19 (5500pages). I'm a couple of books slower than my pace last year.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Twenty-one.

[laymonite]

Had to consult Goodreads: 30.

[deguonis]

29....

[larryF]

im a slow reader but...
Infinite Jest - DFW
Falconer - Cheever
Ape and Essence - Huxley
Breakfast of Champions - Vonnegut
On the Road
Consider the Lobster - DFW
Jailbird - Vonnegut

[kiki1982]

I am now on my fifth, so actually four. I am pretty much on track as my average has been 10 for the last two years. That said, though, I did not read a word in February as my husband was away and I can't bear silence, though for reading I need silence. :banghead:

I don't know whether I'll reach my ten this year though, because I have a passionate wish to read Clarissa and that is extremely long... We'll see.

[Big Dante]

With June here 2011 is half over...just curious as to how many books you have read thus far this year...for those who keep up with that.

I'm at 41

41 :thumbsup: very impressive.

I'm somewhere in the twenties, lost count amongst the attack of homework so far this year.

[iamnobody]

Working on 45, The Count of Monte Cristo, almost finished.

[MystyrMystyry]

About eighty fiction, but only 7 I'd recommend; 60 with 15 recommends non-fiction (So shoot me - I enjoy complete crap)

[spookymulder93]

2 so far. A couple of short stories too.

[Venerable Bede]

I am at a miniscule 16. It was very hard to get much reading done during the rest of the year due to university homework. Now that it's summer, I'm reading a lot more.

[oanna]

Only 9 so far, but during the summer I hope to read more...

[ChicagoReader]

Well, since my last post on this thread, about 7 days ago, I have finished three books so I'm glad to say I'm picking up the pace!

[Kundan]

only 14 till now. will definitely increase my pace now

[Serena03]

I've lost count, but over fifty.

[m2vihand]

Let's count. Uhh, i have nearly nothing to count. 5-6. I wonder if i can keep my pace. I bought a kindle and i read everything in English (foreign to me thus I am slow), but at summer i am going to have more time.

[prickly_pete]

Zola was the last author I really read. Mostly I read books on politics and economics now. There's a war going on right now. If you guys want to hop into it I suggest you start reading something besides poetry.

[Drkshadow03]

Zola was the last author I really read. Mostly I read books on politics and economics now. There's a war going on right now. If you guys want to hop into it I suggest you start reading something besides poetry.

Recommendations?

[prickly_pete]

Recommendations?

I like books that don't pretend to have blanket answers to the world's problems - instead directing our attention to how we might be looking at problems in the wrong way.

Robert Michels "Political Parties" - all organizations are oligarchical. They have to be oligarchical in order to function efficiently. At 2AM with Navy SEAL's on the ground in Pakistan Barack Obama can't hold a national referendum on whether to kill Osama or take him prisoner or do neither. It's not practical. Since political parties can never be truly democratic (there's always going to be a small group of leaders acting on 'behalf' of 'the people') we should instead strive to find moments where democracy is actually possible.

Ted Kaczinsky "Industrial Society and Its Future" - Just because this was written by an eco-terrorist doesn't mean its without merit. There's a good chance that psychological and social problems on a massive scale are related to our living in a drastically different environment than which we're biologically adapted for. We've only been out the pleistocene period for about 15,000 years - this isn't enough time for evolution to have caught up with the world in which we're currently living. We're still essentially adapted for a hunter-gatherer world.

Benedict Anderston "Imagined Communities" - highlights the importance of literacy and the printed word in the rise of the nation-state. A nation is more of an imaginary connection with other people than it is based on anything concrete. It's a creation of mass media. This doesn't make it less 'real' or illigitimate but it raises important questions about how - if at all - we can influence this imagined community and what happens to communities when mass media becomes global.