Final Stats For This Year's Book Challenge

Total number of books completed: 4
Total number of pages read: 1,430
Number of books given up on after starting: 3
Number of hours reading: Say, 30 over a 48-hour period, with breaks for writing two blog posts, taking two showers, making a trip to the Chinese restaurant to pick up takeout--the usual.

My family is quite humiliated for me because I read only 4 books this year over a 30 hour period while last year I read 7 over a 23 hour period. However, I actually read more pages this year--1,430 vs. 1,312. And that's not counting the 60+ pages I read on 3 books I didn't like.

On the surface, last year's Challenge seems more successful for me because I liked all the books I read and felt I was getting the hang of magical realism, since I read only those types of books. However, I definitely got something from this weekend's experience, too. Like many serious readers, I've always had a need to finish reading every book I start. Over the last few years, I've been able to begin to get over that compulsion by skimming books I'm not enjoying. I've only recently started giving up altogether. Giving up on 3 books in 24 hours as I did this weekend was a liberating experience.

The number of books published goes up and up and up, but for some reason or another the number of hours in the day remains constant. How much of my life do I want to sacrifice reading stuff I don't like? Not much, it seems.