Book number, that is.

Now that we’re nearing our halfway point of the year, I wanted to open a forum to discuss how far along we are in this year’s book count and our lifetime book count. My goal for this year is 36 and so far I have read 11. Some notable book shoutouts go to The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, Autoboyography by Christina Lamb, and The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed. As for my “all-time” book count, according to my Goodreads, I have read 408 books (excluding most of the picture-books I don’t remember reading as a child).

It’s actually sad to think about the number of books there are in the world compared to how many we will read in a lifetime. I once read this article about how Winston Churchill forlornly noted that he would only be able to read 5,000 books in his life. That may seem like a lot, but compared to the number of stories there are in the world… Basically, my point is: putting a finite number on our book adventures is actually quite terrifying.

However, to dwell on this limit would be ridiculous, so I invite you to share your book number—take pride in brandishing that value no matter how small or large—because reading is not a speed sprint; it’s a marathon.

University Press Books, a quaint little book shop that I visited in Berkeley, California.