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feeling my mortality, when someone asks me if I'd want to live forever I always say yes so I can read more books which gives them confirmation that I am indeed slightly batty
Ack! Did any of you see the LitHub article today How Many Books Will You Read Before You Die? It really puts things into perspective. Since I don’t feel like doing the math, I am guesstimating from the article’s calculations that I have about 2,800 books left to read.
However, I want to quibble with that because it uses average lifespan and unless I am in a horrible cycling accident, I plan on living a lot longer than 85.5 years. I will, after all, be breaking the cycling distance record for the 105-year-old age group which gives me an additional 20 years on top of my estimated 36.5 remaining years. That’s another 1,000 books at least.
While 3,800 sounds like a lot of books, it really isn’t in the scheme of things. When I consider the number of unread books I currently own and the number of books on my TBR list I am already perilously close to my allotted number and that doesn’t even take into consideration books that haven’t even been written yet that I will want to read!
Over the years I’ve gotten pretty good at abandoning books I’m not getting along with, but now I think I will give them even less of a chance — 20 pages instead of 50. And I definitely won’t feel guilty. With only 3,800 books in my future why would I want to waste one of that number on something I am not enjoying?
Also, it makes me pause to wonder if I should be more deliberate in my choices. No, not abandon whim entirely, but perhaps temper my eagerness to grab the next book that “sounds really good” instead of the book that has been on my reading table for a very long time. Because at the rate that I’m going right now, the books on my reading table will never be read. What would it mean if I pause before clicking the hold button in my library’s catalog and ask myself, do I want this book to be part of the countdown?
That gives me a chill though because, FOMO. I mean, what if that book might turn out to be the most amazing book ever, a book that changes my life? On the other side of the coin, what if the book I don’t read because of that one had been the amazing book?
It’s a catch-22, which is also the title of a book that I would like to count among the remaining books left me. What if the book I put in a hold request for at the library yesterday ends up keeping me from reading Catch-22?
Oh the reader’s dilemma! It’s a distressing kind of fun. Have you ever thought about what you’d like the last book you will ever read to be? I haven’t, not until just now. I could name some lofty tome, but in reality it will probably end up being Squirrel Girl volume 212 or something equally as highbrow. Maybe I should keep a copy of Finnegans Wake with me at all times and when I feel death coming on I can pull it out, open to a random page and keel over. Will people say I have been done in by James Joyce? Or will they be impressed that I made it to page 406?
Thinking about the last book I will ever read makes me think of the opening lines of ee cummings’ “i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart),” because the words I’ve read and loved are part of me, and they’ll be part of what goes through my mind in my last moments. What I think I will “read” at the end is the last line of LOTR, “well, I’m home.” But who knows what other lines may be crowding in too? Probably a line from a Stanley Plumly sonnet “he was a dead man and he knew it,” and the last line of a James Wright poem “I have wasted my life.” For seasoning, the quavery voice of Ruth Stone singing “I have three daughters,” which isn’t true, but so much of my life has been spent in imagination that it will seem right.
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Jeanne, I love that cummings poem! And the LOTR line seems very appropriate. I’m not sure about the Wright poem but it might be good for a joke 🙂
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oh, the Wright poem ends with irony, saying that he really hasn’t wasted his life.
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Well ok, irony is good 🙂
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I’ve often thought how many more can I read in my lifetime, how much quicker I must get at abandoning the ones that dissatisfy or fail to engage, so I can get to all the other great ones. But I admit, I never yet wondered what book will the very last one I read…
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A distressing kind of fun indeed. Of course the chance may be that the last book we read might be heard rather than read and in that situation I think it might be more likely that the last book will be worth hearing.
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Ian, you have a good point there about the hearing. Makes me wonder do I want to hear something lyrical and soothing or words that are bright and sparkling?
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Jeane, heh, I hope I haven;t added any distress 🙂
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This is a great post and a fascinating topic.
I have thought about this. I have refrained from calculating my own number of books left for fear that the number will be so low 🙂
At times, while reading a book that I particularly love, I have thought that if something were to happen that led to my demise, it would be a shame if it prevented me from finishing the book 🙂
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Brian Joseph, yeah, when I think about the number of books I have left to read I make frightened *eep* noises. Maybe when the lights start to dim if you are in the middle of a good book the grim reaper will let you get to the last page. We can hope for that kindness!
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I was reading this the day after the terrorist attack in London so the phrase in that lithub article “we wake up every morning assuming we’ll also wake up the next morning,” struck a nerve as I thought of those 4 people who woke up yesterday with that assumption. A chilling thought.
It’s also sobering to think there are only so many books that each of us will have time to read in our remaining lifespans. It does make you re-evaluate your reading habits. Hence at the beginning of the year I decided I needed to concentrate on reading what I already have instead of buying yet more. I mean, I bought these books because I wanted to read them, not have them as ornaments….
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BookerTalk, I didn’t find out about the attack until late in the day after I had read the article. Those lines do make one stop, don’t they? For the most part unless a person is terminally ill, we do assume we will wake up the next morning and the next and the next. I’m not entirely certain we could manage otherwise. You make a very good point about reading the books you have already bought. I wish I had such restraint but the new and shiny keep distracting me!
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I thought I would find it impossible to resist buying – but its not been as tough as I expected. The secret is to just delete the emails from publishers about new releases…..
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heh, you have some strong will power! 😀
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Oh, Stefanie, that was hilarious! I laughed out loud at the last paragraph. Now that I’m 64 1/2, I feel the pressure is on. I definitely feel that I want / need to spend every possible minute reading. Besides, I much prefer fictional or historic worlds to today’s world. I’m thankful that I read many of the ‘harder’ books when I was young enough to be able to concentrate better.
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Glad you enjoyed that Joan 🙂 I hear you in preferring fictional or historic worlds to today’s world, it is so much nicer in those other places even if something terrible happens there. I’m thinking harder books as we age might help to keep us young, like they say doing crossword puzzles helps keep you mind agile, a good hard book could offer the same. Since I am not a crossword fan, I’m hoping that’s the case!
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I’m a crossword fanatic, can’t live without at least one crossword a day, and delight in two large crosswords, including the NY Times, on Sunday.
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Well then your brain should be good as long as you need it!
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Ah..the reader’s dilemma! To read or not to read…that is the question!The last book I really liked? Toss up between the wonderful humanity displayed with tummy aching laughter that only the brilliance of late Sir Terry Pratchet could do. Re-read Carpe Jargulum and Bill Bryson’s The Short History of Nearly Everything, which was of course a couple of months back!
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cirtnecce, a Pratchett book as the final read would be a great way to go!
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No, don’t read James Joyce then, it’s too awful a death! I do remember when I was about 11 years old and my gran died, I worried that she might have not got to the end of whatever book she was reading at the time. I don’t even think she was a big reader – but I always have been.
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Pining, LOL! I actually kind of like Joyce but I have not dared try Finnegans Wake. I want to hug 11-year-old you for worrying about whether or not your gran got to finish her book!
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Hahahaa, I never look at those things! I don’t know how to plan the length of my life given that the average lifespans are wildly variant on my mom’s side and my dad. So who knows. I will just carry on as I’ve been! I don’t think I’d read any differently if tomorrow were my last day — maybe I’d reread more? I don’t know!
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Jenny, you are a far wiser woman than I am then! I have great hope for my lifespan, obviously, as the women in my family tend to live well into their 90s and a few have made it past 100. I hope you got the long life genes!
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Much along the lines of what you are expressing here (and what’s in some of the comments), I’m right on the verge of retiring Book Chase once and for all. I need to go back and read so many great books that I’ve missed and do some exploring and wandering on my own time now that I’m approaching 70. I’ve been reviewing about 125 books a year for over ten years now, and I imagine that’s a good 250 hours of writing and editing per year..at the least. I think I’ll be better served using that time for reading and exploring the world from now on…so if I disappear (as I’m starting to do), you’ll know why.
I do plan to read blogs and comment, etc. but that will likely be the extent of my blogging in the future.
Sam
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Sam, oh, you are thinking of closing down Book Chase? I totally understand but it would be sad to see you go.
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I’ve pretty much pulled the plug since Tuesday, Stefanie. I’m just exhausted by all the demands of life at the moment, and I can’t keep up with Book Chase anymore. It’s started to feel like a job/obligation instead of a hobby. The hours I mentioned earlier (I’m sure you know this) are just the tip of the iceberg of the amount of time that a daily blog requires. I’m thinking that I spend at least 600 hours a year, probably more, in total. I’m planning to enjoy the stuff I used to do before starting Book Chase ten years ago. Reading the things that catch my eye will still be a big part of that…just want have to spend so much time on the backend of a completed book by preparing a review.
I’m sad, in a way, that it’s come to this, but I suppose it’s inevitable for most of us. I’ll still be reading your blog and a few others, though, because I enjoy your take on life and what it’s all about.
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Sam, I hear you. I always tell myself that as soon as blogging starts to be a job and ceases to be fun then I’m done. Sometimes it feels that way but it hasn’t lasted for more than a day or two. But someday it might. You’ve been at it a long time and it’s been fun. I hope you enjoy the time it frees up! And yes, please keep in touch!
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Ha ha ha! I love this post. You have a great perspective on aging, which is a pleasure to read during my birthday week. I hope to read as many books a year at 105 as I read now.
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AMB, glad you enjoyed it! I am hoping that when I get to retire one day I will have more time to read too, but then I also know me and I am sure I will have a month or two of binge reading and then get myself involved in all sorts of other things and complain about not having enough time to read 🙂
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I saw it but I could not bring myself to do the math. I am so bad about buying new books and the sad thing is–how many will I even get to read. So, best not to think things too deeply. I had not even thought about the Last Book! What a thought! Now you have me all stressed out…. 😉 I hope it is something really good. Maybe a comfort read. A Georgette Heyer or something that will elicit and at least feeble guffaw! (Will this slow down my book buying….I don’t think so).
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Danielle, sorry to have stressed you out! I’m sure I will carrying as though I will live forever, at least in regards to books. And who knows, by the time the end gets near there might be life-extending things that will keep us reading for another decade or two!
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Oh, this post is a delight, Stefanie! So many miles to cross on our bikes, so many books to read… Sigh!
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Deepika, isn’t that the truth! It’s a great big adventure! 🙂
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I stumbled upon something like this a few years back, and promptly tripled my reading. The math was just too sobering. Now my house is chronically dusty and I have tried to make a lot of other parts of life ridiculously simple so that there is more time to turn the pages. But, also, as you say, there is the matter of being willing to set aside books on the TBR which simply are not all you were dreaming of. A crucial part of it, I’d say. (Laughed aloud at the Squirrel Girl comment. So true!)
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buried, your dusty house and my dusty house would get along swimmingly 🙂 yep, setting aside those books that just aren’t working is hard especially when they are popular books and everyone says keep with it there is a good payoff in the end! But is 400 pages of time worth it for a 10-page payoff? Heh, yeah if I go out with Squirrel Girl at least I will have been enjoying myself 🙂
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I love this post so much! I’m too scared to calculate my number because I know I’d be shocked by how low it would seem to me. Even 5,000 would sound low, I think! But I do think about this often, most especially when I’m trying to purge my book collection. I often look critically at a book I bought 3 years ago and think — “sure, I’d like to read this if I was going to live forever, but I’m not, so am I really ever going to get to this!?”
I wish I thought about it more when selecting books to read though, and not just while purging. I read at whim most of the time, which is nice in it’s own way, but sometimes I look back over the list of books I read in a year and spot many that seem unworthy of being read above some of the classics still sitting on my shelves!
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Emily, oh I know that question when weeding so well! And even though I know the answer most of the time it is still really hard to put an unread book on the pile of books to go away. As for reading at whim, I used to give myself a hard time about it and tried for a couple years to be very deliberate about my reading choices and while I read lots of really good books, I also found it super stressful and didn’t enjoy my reading as much as I might have otherwise.
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That’s a very good point – reading at whim is a large part of enjoying being a reader. Sometimes I need a reminder of that when I feel like I’m not structured enough! I’m sure it helps me fly through books faster, and read more in general, when I’m reading what I’m most interested in at that moment. I guess I just need to balance it with reminding myself of all the good things on my shelves, so I can get “in the whim” to read those too! 🙂
It’s funny timing – I just opened up a blog post I started drafting weeks ago that highlights a few books I couldn’t purge, and I touched on some of these ideas in there as well – about how purging books makes me confront my own mortality! 🙂 Just finished that draft up and will be posting tomorrow.
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I will be stopping by to read that post as soon as I can! 🙂
One of the reasons I have been reading so much from the library over the last few years is because I discovered that if I buy a book and put it on my shelf I have no urgency to read it even if it is one I really want to read. but if I borrow a book from the library, it gets read 9 times out of 10 because I don;t have the luxury of it sitting around forever. I joke with my husband that maybe I should start requesting books I own from the library so I will finally get around to reading them!
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What happened? I read this and didn’t comment. Probably too depressed. I first did this calculation in my 40s and was depressed then. I dare not do it again now. However, it does occasionally make me think about my reading choices and why. But doing that can make me panic so mostly I pretend life will go on forever, and why not think that way, within reason!
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Nice book 👌👓
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