Slow reader

In his book On Writing, Steven King admits to being a slow reader. In a period of a year he will read between 60 to 70 books. That few!? King does listen to books as well as reads them. Jasper Fforde in his talk at the booksigning here in Austin says he is never without something to read. Fforde will read anything in any genre - he loves stories.

I have been counting lately how many books I read. For September, I read On Writing, First Amoung Sequels by Fforde, and One Good Dog by Jon Katz. The Katz book I listened to on tape. That's 3.

To date in October I am "0 for". I am about 100 pages in Cormac McCarthy's The Crossing, using book and recording, about 100 pages into Q-School by John Feinstein, and 1 chapter into From Jesus To Christianity, a text being used at church class. This is why for the longest time I read mostly short stories, simply because I could finish them before losing interest or starting something else.

I guess my question is how they get all that reading done? I've often wondered how much other people read and where I fit. Is 3 books a month average? I think I am going to aim for a book a week, Sunday to Saturday. That's probably 50 pages a day!

The biggest threat to my goal is that I tend to fall asleep, especially if laying down, late at night, on the bed, with the fan running.