Here are the stats for my reading of 2010.
Total Books Read: 132 or an average of 11 books per month. This is down from 142 books read in 2009. I know this was due to (1) an obsession with the World Cup, (2) a re-emergence of my love for crochet, but most of all (3) difficulty in focusing on reading due to worrying about being unemployed.
Author Gender: Someone is always suggesting that readers focus mainly on authors of the same gender as they. I am proof this is not always true. Last year, I read
Male Authors: 68 (52%)
Female Authors: 62 (47%)
That's pretty close to a 50/50 split and indicates I select books by story rather than author gender.
Book Rating: Anyone who follows my reviews knows I have a fairly detailed rating system which has developed over time. Reading for 2010 resulted in:
13 (10%) - Excellent (A top read of the year)
23 (17%) - VG+ (Close to excellent with only small quibbles)
36 (27%) - VG (Enthused about it - Very well done for it's genre)
30 (23%) - Good+ (Enjoyed it very much)
11 ( 8%) - Good (An enjoyable read)
9 ( 7%) - Okay (Enjoyed with significant reservations - only okay)
5 ( 4%) - Poor (Wasn't awful; wasn't good. Finished with difficulty)
1 ( 1%) - NR (Finished it; would not recommend it - Didn't work for me)
5 ( 4%) - DNF (Did not finish; truly awful or did not suit my taste at all)
The breakdown of this year's results indicates I've become better about selecting the books I read. Those that fell below a rating of Good--only 16%--were, for the most part, books chosen to read by The East Bay Mystery Readers' Group or books sent to me for review.
Book Setting: This is a statistic I found particularly fascinating.
Non-US: 91 (69%)
US: 41 (31%)
I know I have a strong Anglophile tendency, but there is also a fair representation of Canada, France, Italy, Australia and Africa among the books I read last year. It does indicate the appeal to me of the British "voice," interest in learning more about foreign settings and love of historical mysteries, the vast majority of which are set outside the US.
New-to-me Authors: 18 (14%)
It is always wonderful to discover an author you've not read previously but now add to your must-read list. Unfortunately, the analysis I've not done is to cross reference these authors with the rating I've given their books. That would tell me the success of my hunt for new authors to read.
Story Time Frame:
Cont: 86 (65%)
Hist: 43 (33%)
Future: 3 ( 2%)
This was a bit surprising. I would have thought the numbers between Contemporary and Historical would have been closer. Shows what I know. Those set in the future can be attributed to J.D. Robb, Jim Butcher and Simon R. Green.
There you have it. More analysis can always be done but one also, I believe, has to be careful not to become so immersed in the numbers, analysis is being performed for analysis sake alone. Still, it is fun to see. By the way, the photo was taken in 2004 and only shows a very small portion of the books I own.
And now you, my dear friends. How was your reading last year? Did you keep statistics? Did you learn anything about your reading habits? I'd love to know.
Posts
132 - awesome!
ReplyDeleteLove the picture of your bookshelves. I imagine that they are shelved in alphabetical order according to author and that you are just as organized in your shelving of books as you are in your reviews.
Best wishes,
Diane
Thanks, Diane. They are split into categories (classics, history, poetry, general fiction, etc.), then for the mysteries, by "to be read," and "have read," then by author and by publishing date within author. There's nothing like being a Virgo. :-)
ReplyDeleteI love this entry LJ, I am going to make one at my blog, too. Well, I am not Virgo and probably it will not be so detailed, but I like the idea a lot.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jenny. I have a spreadsheet broken into these categories that I maintain throughout the year. This is the third year I've been keeping it up. It is interesting to see how one's reading breaks down. Have fun!
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