Summers appear to be very lean months for me as far as reading goes. I was just glancing at what I had been reading in past years on today’s date, July 11 (via my reading lists) and I made a surprising discovery: Since January 1, 1996, there were only 4 years (out of 13) that I was actually reading a book on this date. Those 4 books are:

1. 2005: Shogun by James Clavell

2. 2001: Truman by David McCullough

3. 2000: Executive Orders by Tom Clancy

4. 1997: The Solar System and Back by Isaac Asimov

The other nine years that appear on the list, I wasn’t reading anything on this date, and in fact, nothing much in July generally. July definitely seems to be one of the lean months.

Interestingly, two of the books are fiction and two are non-fiction, which is about what my pattern has been for the last 13 years. 47.7% of the books I have read since 1996 have been fiction; the remaining 52.3%, non-fiction.

To date (and not counting the current book), I’ve read 391 books since 1996, totaling just about 150,000 pages or 57.2 million words. I am pushing to hit #400 sometime this year, perhaps in the fall.