Me, My Shelf, I

Okay, so while I'm putting off the last bits of tutorial prep I need to do for this afternoon, and before I go and heat up my oh-so-nutritious student lunch (curry Pot Noodle, methinks), a few words on aNobii, to which I was only introduced like a green, trembling novitiate a couple of days ago. For those who haven't heard of it, aNobii is a website that allows users to share information about the books they own, have read, plan to read, or want to own - sort of like a virtual bookshelf, I 'spose.
(Indeed, your profile is referred to as your 'Shelf'.) Some may find this a pointless thing to do, but, though I may be an untidy soul at times, I do like to catalogue things like my bookshelf (though I stubbornly refuse to succumb to the impulse to alphabetise my LP and CD collection). So I spent some time yesterday (far too much time, I would add) uploading the books I own, the ones I've read, and some of the ones I plan to read in the near future.

I haven't even managed to complete the list yet, and severe risk of RSI and eye strain forced me away from the site eventually. I've got about halfway through my read books, maybe just a bit further, I'm not sure. A strange desire, to set your lands or at least your bookshelf in order; but I found it, like eating a slightly melted Rolo, oddly satisfying.

One of the questions it raised, though, was: am I well read? I don't think so. A glance at my real (forget for a moment my virtual) bookshelf reveals a number of books I feel I should have read, and that I really do want to read, but that I haven't, in all honesty, yet read. I'm on a bit of a reading spree at the moment, so hope to rectify this. But I wondered: who out there does consider her- or himself well read, and what counts, in your opinion, as being well read? I say this a someone who finds it impossible to lie about which books I have and haven't read - I struggled through North and South last year as I was teaching it, but if I'm completely honest, I didn't properly read it.

Dr Johnson famously said, 'A man should read as his fancy takes him, for what he reads as a chore will do him little good.' So, another question: what counts as 'reading' a book? Reading most of it, and then looking up the ending on Wikipedia? Skim-reading all of it? Or actually paying attention to every word? Hmmm, it's a strange issue.

Anyway, for anyone interested in aNobii, here is a link to my profile (riveting stuff): http://www.anobii.com/olivertearle/books