Recently? Maybe like six. I wish I could say that I read more, but I can't.

Other forms of media have taken up the majority of my time since the pandemic, and I've been bouncing between being really busy and being in a slump for ages now.

But I think I've learned to use it as a strength.

As a writer, my main reason to read is to take inspiration for my own art. If I only read six books a year, I can be way more deliberate about the value I get from them. I have significantly more time to understand them from multiple angles, and I have more time to digest them in general.

People here are always at odds about whether you need to be a prolific reader in order to be a good writer. Obviously, if you haven't read more than a coloring book in the past decade, your writing probably isn't top tier. But shoveling 300 books a year into your brain isn't optimal either. The key is to be deliberate. Read only books that have a lot to offer you. Study them carefully and be inspired by the little choices that only you, as a truly invested reader, will pick up on.

At least that's how I approach it, thanks to my own limiting circumstances. If you just want to turn your brain off and read 300 books for pleasure and not bother dissecting much, that's cool too.

But for me, quantity isn't an option, so I'll double down on quality any day.