Non-required Reading

About two weeks ago, The Chronicle posted 0ne of the more interesting best-seller lists I've seen recently: those books that sell well in college bookstores (not textbooks, but books from the "regular" shelves). Top-rated on the list is The Lovely Bones.

I realize this list is imperfect because not all students do their book shopping at the school bookstore. NYU's bookstore had a spectacular selection of "regular" books, and as a staff member, I got 20% off... and I still rarely bought anything but NYU hoodies there. But it's interesting to see that there is enough interest in non-required books to generate such a list in the first place.

When I was in undergrad, my for-pleasure reading dropped significantly. I told myself it was because I had so much required reading to get through that by the time I was finished, I wanted to do anything but stare at more pages of words. Realistically, though, I didn't often finish my required reading (I hope none of my professors read this blog). Instead, I felt like any reading time had to be committed to my required reading - which was pretty much an interminable stack - and therefore ended up watching a lot more crappy television than I thought possible while reading barely a book a month. And that was in a good semester.

I struggle a bit with the same phenomenon now, feeling as though I should get through my work reading (whether for the office or for a review) before diving into my for-pleasure reading. I like to think that I have gotten much, much better about carving out uninterrupted reading time, however. Even so, my reading pales in comparison to some other book bloggers, whose monthly round-ups of titles number in the 20+ range.

Anyone else have the same experience? I know that almost all the booklovers I talk to say they struggle with finding enough time to read all the books they'd like to read, but how do you find to read those books you pick up? How many do you manage to read in an average month? Does school/work reading get in the way?