English Translation
How many books do you think you have read so far?
Why not 何冊の本? There’s a counter for books!
English Translation
How many books do you think you have read so far?
How many books do you think you have read so far?How many books do you think you have read so far?何冊の本 asks directly for a specific number and どれだけ is more vague and universally usable, in a sense.
I’m not sure if this is a good comparison, but compare how いつ (when) is used more often than more specific time question words, if it is clear from the context or hasn’t to be specified.
I would say, in general, Japanese has the tendency, when asking someone else a question, to leave them as much room to answer as possible, so this also comes into play often.
Also in this specific context in the sentence here the person asking does assume the other person does not know the exact number of books, so 何冊 would be less likely to be used.
Finally, from my understanding どれだけ also implies that the speaker thinks it is a huge amount of books, so if you would use 何冊, it would be 何冊もの本.
If anything, it’s more the English translation might sound a bit misleading (though it is accurate).
どれだけの本 in this sentence structure has two possible connotations. It totally depends on context and voice tone.
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You really don’t know how much time and effort I invested into reading books. Don’t underestimate my knowledge! (i.e. This is not a question but “what the hell” type of complain.)
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I’m so proud of myself reading a wide range of (or quality) books. (i.e. The number of books doesn’t matter but the variety (or the quality/depth of knowledge) does.)
If the speaker simply would like to ask how many books he/she has read, 何冊の本 is better.
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