I'm not really stunned by it. More options on TV, ookier hours and commutes, more people willing to answer honestly...

My commute actually helps me find time to read, being on the train. There's not much else to do. (Driving, obviously, would be a bit trickier, but I'm willing to give it a shot.)

My mom keeps telling me to leave some of my books at home, as I keep on accumulating more and they become somewhat of a hassle to pack up and move, but I've refused.

That's funny, my mom threatened to line the driveway with my books if I didn't come over, pronto, and remove them from her house. Can I have your mom?

more books for us!

that is my new standard response for people who don't enjoy what I enjoy. more for me!

I didn;t read a book for my own enjoyment for probably 4-5 years from junior year highschool to junior year college. The summer after my junior year, I lived without a TV and I read 11 books and I was AMAZED with myself. Now I read 3-4 a month, but that is more than most of my friends.

and their grandparents are dying off -- so, people for whom reading was a default entertainment are dying.

in my family, my generation is the most active readers. Neither of my grandmothers read novels at all. One doesn't read anything except the newspaper, and she was a teacher.

Can I have your mom?

Dude, take her.

P-C, I'd be happy to let your mom store some of my books if it would make her feel better. Not my favorites, obviously, because I find, like you, that having them close is a tactile pleasure. She could have some of the klunky ones I've hung on to since the Seventies that are shelved behind the couch. I might possibly consider getting rid of them if I move to a place with lots of stairs, but otherwise, hah!

When I'm in the mood, I tend to plow through close to 200 pages a day, minimum. Fiction, nonfiction, all depending on mood.

However, I know that's largely my wiring. I get more pleasure from reading than I do tv, film or music. I prefer my information in that form. My brother doesn't read (outside of school stuff) anywhere near the volume of books my parents and I churn through. He gets more from hands on activities, like his car(s) and remote controlled engines and such. Me? I'll change a lightbulb because I resent paying someone for it, and have dissassembled my stereo to fix it, but there isn't so much an ooh fun! reaction as it feels like necessity.

And I'm a real freak in that I don't actually attempt to see movies. The 12 year old where I was staying last week made it his mission to get me to watch Spiderman, and considered it a great accomplishment. He's not far from wrong.

I just started tracking my reading habits in my LiveJournal, partly because the recent kerfluffle here and a discussion on All About Romance made me curious to figure out just how much and what I actually read. So far I've finished four books in July, three of them fiction, though two of those were very quick reads. And, so far having a baby hasn't cut into my reading time that much--in some ways it increases it, since there are times when I have Annabel in my lap and can't really do anything requiring two hands, but she likes it if I read to her. I'll usually start with one of her board books, but then I'll just move on to whatever I'm reading myself.

But, I've definitely gone through phases where I've read much less than I do now.

I emailed the link to DH, who made the same comments about different learning styles. He's a visual learner while I'm verbal/auditory, and while he reads a fair amount and, like me, was an early and self-taught reader, he doesn't read anywhere near as fast as I do, which makes me suspect it's not quite as relaxing and effortless for him. Anyway, he made the following comment that intrigued me:

With me and books, I don't remember where in the plot something happened, I remember where in the book it is. The ORIGINAL book I read it in.

hey, not only did Beckett write Godot in French, he did it for a rest between books 2 and three of the Trilogy. Now that's hardcore.

I hardly read anything other than fic these days, I've realized. Well, untrue, I'll frequently grab an old familiar book off one of my shelves and read it. One thing I do a lot is pull down a book and flip to a favorite scene and just read that. Kind of like shorthand for the entire book. Part of me says "Free up some space! Just rip out the favorite scenes and let them stand for the whole book!" At which point I regret not having the ability to slowly back away and run from my own brain.

Some great responses to "Have you really read all these?":

"Yes, and many more."
Or, "Oh, no, those are all stored somewhere else. This is my to-read collection."