How many ...?

[Pendragon]

80 to 100, I'd say.

How many TV shows do you regularly watch per week?

[Pompey Bum]

Only one (excluding newscasts), although my wife watches a few, so I end up being exposed to them. No situation comedies, though, since the 1970s.

Same question.

[Clopin]

None, though sometimes I watch episodes of Question Time or Kitchen Nightmares on YouTube or I'll watch some competitive video game streams when I eat meals, so probably thirty+ minutes a day on that.

How many minutes do you tend to spend searching for something before giving up?

[Pompey Bum]

Oh yes, I watch old Monty Python shows on Youtube. I didn't think that counted.

The only thing I lose regularly are my glasses. If I can't find them in 10 minutes or so, I'll use my spare pair. But I hate those, so I never really give up.

How many times have you been in love?

[Clopin]

Zero times.

Same question.

[Pompey Bum]

I don't think more than twice, although it almost always felt like it at the time.

How many sports teams have you ever played on?

[Clopin]

I was on the relay team for track and field when I was in elementary school and I was on the swim team around the same time. More recently (a few years ago now) I joined a recreational adult soccer league with my then girlfriend and we sucked - I was the worst guy on the team and she was the worst girl - but it was still fun; I scored a goal with my head and had a few assists.

How many of the books you read, as a percentage, are strictly fictional?

[Pompey Bum]

It really varies over time. I've spent years and years at a time reading 100% non-fiction, and a few years here and there reading only fiction. This year, it's been around 60% non-fiction books so far, but they've been really long books, so it would be more if you went by pages. Lately I've been missing fiction though, and thinking about rereading a lot of the classics I read when I was younger. But I'll be in non-fiction for a while longer.

Same question.

[Clopin]

More than ninety percent.

How many times a year do you read something you find really, truly horrible?

[Pompey Bum]

90% fiction or 90% nonfiction?

What do you mean? Information I find really troubling? Or a book about something upsetting? Or a horribly written book?

[Clopin]

90% fiction, and yeah, just a badly written book... I know you finish it. It how often do you put it down and think "this is just trash"?

[Pompey Bum]

Almost never--it hasn't happened in a long time in any case. Because I finish all my books, I'm a bit fussy about what I start. I have a low threshold for bad writing.

What percentage of books did you start but not finish last calendar year (and why)?

[Clopin]

Maybe five or six books, which makes it about seven or eight percent, I consider myself a book finisher though I'm not as rigid about it as you are.

I put down Europe a History by Norman Davies after three hundred pages for being too dense and because I felt I wasn't retaining much, I do plan to finish it however. I shelved Mein Kampf because I only started it out of interest and wasn't really committed to reading it, though again, I do plan to eventually. I only read the parts of Bloom's book on Shakespeare which pertained to the Shakespeare I had actually read and ditto for Bloom's The Western Canon.

Same question.

[Pendragon]

Unknown. I buy books constantly, almost compulsively. I have some I have never read. At present, there are six partially finished books on the table beside my chair and one I haven't even begun.

Pass the question.

[Pompey Bum]

Unknown. I buy books constantly, almost compulsively. I have some I have never read. At present, there are six partially finished books on the table beside my chair and one I haven't even begun.

Out of curiosity, Pen, what are they?