Eighty-eight?!

I was chatting with one of my good friends from college who has recently relocated and is feeling like a stranger in a strange land. Without the least bit of sympathy, I began prattling on about what I have been doing here to combat loneliness (aside from the obvious step of befriending my neighbors and other local residents). Among these things, I said "I've read like a hundred books... ok, make that more like twenty." And indeed, on my list of books read, there are only about twenty.

Then I noted on the blogs of certain other volunteers (cliffgardner and ponavirginia) significantly higher counts. And I got to thinking- my count is so low only because I've been counting the respectable, I-can-tell-people-about-this books, when in fact, I've been reading much more. After brainstorming for quite a bit of time, I have come to a grand total of 88 (!) books that I have read while in the Peace Corps, and this is low-balling it because I haven't kept such good track of the less-prestigious novels. Had I in fact noted the titles of all the romance novels, I feel confident that I would top one hundred.

I suppose it is shameful that rather than reading equal parts serious novels and trash, I dedicated so much of my time to reading murder mysteries. However, the fact remains that I like potboilers and a lot of the reading I do is to relax. And so I read mysteries, romance novels, fantasy, and young adult literature. And also the occasional classic.