Ian Daniel Stewart

Reading in Malaysia

I’m not sure how many books I read a year. Once I read 16 books in a month. Some years I only read 16 books, period. This year, seeing as how I’m blogging about books, I’ll probably have a better idea.

What I do know is that, for now, I read more than the average Malaysian:

The [Malaysian] Government is targeting to have Malaysians read at least 10 books yearly from 2010.

According to a survey, Malaysians only read an average of five books last year, Culture, Arts and Heritage Deputy Minister Datuk Wong Kam Hoong said in Penang yesterday.

He said this should gradually increase to reach the targeted number in four years from now.

“People in Britain and Japan read an average of 20 books a year,” he said.

I wonder what the average is for North America? Anyone know? Some days I think it might be 2. If you count TV Guide.

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  1. Elliot

    I started keeping track over the past few years. On average I tend to read somewhere between 50-75 books a year. But up to a third of those are trade paperback graphic novels.Sheer volume doesn’t tell you much. Looking over my past lists reveals a mixed bag. All 1350 pages of Les Miserables counts as one book, while William King’s Warhammer novel Trollslayer (about 200 pages) also gets to count as one book.I’m sure some women read 750 Harlequin romances in a year, but those don’t exactly measure up to, say, Margaret Atwood’s 300 books per year. (I’m guessing.)

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  2. Imani

    TV guide’s no longer a book in Canada so you’re gonna have to lower that estimate.

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  3. Ian

    Oh, right. Poor TV Guide. I used to read it all the time at my Grandma’s. The real TV Guide, that is. Not the fake one they put in the newspaper.Elliot, I’m glad to hear you count graphic novels as books. These days I only read comics in the laundry room while my dress shirts do their 10 minute cycle in the dryer. I’ve been reading the same Jack Kirby Captain America comic for weeks.

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  4. Enn

    Maybe the japanese count their comics (mangas) as books, that’s why they read 20+ books a year. Their mangas are really something one will enjoy.

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