I'm special, so special

[tamaranth]

(in a unique and snowflakey way, no doubt).

Interesting article on BBC site reports and extrapolates from a survey of 4000 people -- "the books least likely to be finished by Britons". Direct quotations in bold.

- almost half the books these people bought remained unfinished. a.k.a. "What a lot of books! Have you read them all?" "No, not yet." My 'unread' pile is considerably less than half of the books I currently own: on the other hand, over a given period, I may well buy many more books than I read. This is called an 'accident' or an 'investment'.
Also, I don't tend to read every non-fiction book all the way through -- I'm often only reading for particular information.

- 32% had started but not finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; 28% ditto for Ulysses. This is what it says. I think they mean "of the people who'd bought the Potter book (lots), 32% did not finish it. Of the people who bought Ulysses (not many), 28% did not finish it.'

- The average Briton spent more than £4,000 on books during their lifetime. Well, yes, but how much more than £4,000? In my case quite a bit more. (OK, quite a lot more.) Mind you, I might be making up for my brother-in-law, who is quite proud of the fact he's never bought (or read) a book in his life.

And less than a quarter of Britons find time to read every day, apparently.

As far as the survey goes, it's interesting -- though I suspect there are many more books that are least likely to be started by Britons.

Comments

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

I haven't found time to read a book for over a month :-(

[(Anonymous)]

would you like my stomach bug? I guarantee you will spend a great deal of time stationary and in need of distraction!

[pigeonhed.livejournal.com]

Given that even voracious readers such as you or to a lesser extent me occasionally have days when life intervenes to prevent reading the fact that 24% say they find time to read every day is actually quite encouraging.

[tanais.livejournal.com]

We have all of the Harry Potter books here (thanks to elinor) and after reading the first few (three?) I just couldn't be bothered by Goblet of Fire. I really think the films are a lot better as stories in that a professional seems to know what to hack out -- or rather what to leave in.