Three Million Words

[thewayne]

Earlier this year I decided to re-read the entire Honor Harrington series by David Weber. Conveniently, in addition to having all of them in hard back, the last book came with a CD that had the entire Weber library in ebook format. This made it quite handy to read them all on my Palm Pilot.

Here's the total:
130,000 On Basilisk Station
132,000 The Honor of the Queen
117,000 The Short Victorious War
117,000 Field of Dishonor
143,000 Flag In Exile
172,000 Honor Among Enemies
177,000 In Enemy Hands
253,000 Echoes of Honor
231,000 Ashes of Victory
328,000 War of Honor
296,000 At All Costs

89,000 More Than Honor
144,000 Worlds of Honor
133,000 Changer of Worlds
188,000 The Service of the Sword

281,000 The Shadow of Saganami
192,000 Crown of Slaves

3,123,000 words in total

In round numbers, three and an eigth million words. Wow! I finished On Basilisk Station on 4/6/06 (I didn't record when I started it) and completed At All Costs on 7/22. So three and a half months to read 17 books.

That is just a bit of reading! And I enjoyed it. I've always liked Weber's Harrington stories, and he has thus far avoided the problems that beset Tom Clancy and Terry Pratchet: his main character is still viable. Yes, she's now a Duchess and landed noble in two different star systems, also a fleet admiral in two systems, and perhaps the most highly decorated warrior of both systems, but Weber still has this nasty war going on and it's taken a decided turn for the worse.

I am REALLY looking forward to the next book!

Thus far, I've averaged around a book a week for this year.

Comments

jealous now

[paulmc.livejournal.com]

Thus far, I've averaged around a book a week for this year.

Been a long time since I read at that rate!

At least I'm averaging a few per month, plus an audiobook here and there.

Good work!

Re: jealous now

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Let's just say it's really REALLY boring up here. ;-)

With my wife's work schedule, we don't have nearly the conscious hours together that I'd like, so I read a lot. I've always been an avid reader, and I'd rather read than watch TV any day.

[deborak]

What's the word count on your blog? I bet it's higher, and I bet I read it all. *grins*

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

LOL. Quite likely. But then you'd have to differentiate from what I write to eliminate stories that I occasionally copy.

I suppose that if I were a true glutton for punishment that I could get one of those utilities and download my blog, then do a word count on it.

[tomegatheron.livejournal.com]

I average about a book a week myself. Granted a large part of my "reading" involves audiobooks in the car. I drive almost 1,000 miles a week.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Yeah, audio books are definitely cool. Very good things for people with long commutes. I've never gotten into them myself, they require too much concentration. Or maybe it's just the reader that my wife's laptop uses to read fic, it just doesn't work for me. I prefer listening to and singing with MP3s.