NEW YORK — Steven Lloyd, a man who has allegedly read 200 books this year, includes graphic novels in his loose definition of what constitutes a book, according to sources.
“A couple hundred books a year isn’t even that much — anyone who’s impressed by that isn’t a real reader if you ask me,” said Lloyd, lovingly arranging his collection of Suicide Squad trade paperbacks next to a stack of Love Hina mangas. “Reading is like breathing for me. I’m just a naturally curious person who loves experiencing different lives through the eyes of others. I honestly pity people who don’t read as much as I do. If you aren’t reading, you aren’t growing.”
Goodreads creator Otis Chandler said his website made book measuring contests much more common, giving readers a reason to stretch their numbers.
“People walk up to me at parties and brag about how much they’ve read this year, but they forget that I can look up their reading lists,” said Chandler. “The guy who reads 300 books a year has a few Grishams in there along with a Thor: Dark World movie tie-in comic and a 1991 Archie Double Digest as well as a horizontal rectangle book of Garfield comic strips with a green plastic cover. And, of course, none of the 300 books is non-fiction.”
Lloyd’s girlfriend Nancy Williams claimed she had never seen him read an actual book.
“When he’s not reading comics, Steven mostly plays computer games, but he tells me they’re ‘visual novels’. He says he’s reading Telltale’s Batman right now. After that, he says he’s going to read Apex Legends,” said Williams. “One time I caught him playing a dirty Japanese game and when I confronted him, he wasn’t embarrassed at all. He said he was reading an erotic tale and that it was his 103rd book of the year.”
At press time, Lloyd was seen bragging about his stock portfolio after putting all his money into GameStop.