A Book for Christmas!

Did you know that, of all the print and e-books sold every year, most are purchased between the period 1st December to 15th January? I think that's a wonderful statistic. It means that we love to give the gift of reading, and we love to receive it from others. The figures for sales and consumption are both mind-blowing and intriguing. In 2020, 750 million print books were sold in the USA. In the UK, it was over 200 million. 

In the same year, the bestselling book in the USA was The Promised Land, by former President Barack Obama (some 2.5 million copies). Good choice, a fascinating read. In 2020, readers in the UK were also wowed by the cosy crime capers of The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.   

Which country "reads" the most? That's a tough one, but the consensus seems to be that Indian readers spend the most time reading, some 10 hours per week. The UK and much of Europe reads for about 5 hours a week on average. These figures are not current and I suspect that reading times have increased across the world during the pandemic. What's also increased is the number of audiobooks being downloaded. I'm hoping the trend will bode well for The Fire Portrait, due out in audio in January, and read beautifully by Joanna Bending. More about that next time, watch this space.

My final fun, festive fact: apparently you could read about 4600 books in a lifetime - if you read fast. So... the clock's ticking. Grab that book you've been meaning to get to, settle down and enjoy. 

Happy Christmas!