Friday, December 29, 2006

End of year reading stats

I've had a very good reading year. I did goof around and waste a lot of time that could have been spent reading, but I should have 74 books completed by New Year's Eve, and that's a respectable amount. I can remember being at a Christmas party a year or two after my daughter was born, complaining to my husband's cousin's ex-boyfriend that I'd managed to read only 20 books that year, and how shocked he was that anyone would think that 20 books wasn't a tremendous number of books to have been gotten through. There are people in this world who brag about not having read a book since 1973; this post is not for them.

Here's how the year breaks down statistically:

Nonfiction: 14

Novels: 50

Plays: 5

Works of poetry: 3

Short stories: 32 stories total, one story collection pending (Deborah Eisenberg's Twilight of the Superheroes should be finished by Sunday at the latest)

Picture book for adults: 1

Books bought and read: 24

Books bought and stockpiled: 75+

Library books: 31

Books "just published" in the last year or so: 33

Works I consider classics: 23

Books written prior to the 20th century: 11

Re-reads: 7

Books started that remain unfinished (not counting those currently in progress): 4

Books written by women: 28

5 out of 21 books from my priority list completed; three others started

I should have my list of favorites and biggest disappointments posted in a day or so.

16 comments:

  1. Wow! 74 is impressive. I've never read that much in one year. The most ever was 62 or something like that. Usually I land somewhere in the mid 50s. Looking forward to you rlist of favorites.

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  2. A great reading year for you by the looks of things!

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  3. Anonymous1:00 PM

    Wow, that's a lot of pages turned!
    My landlord once said that since high school he's read *one* book. It was all about Rottweilers. :D

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  4. Fun stats! I look forward to your post of favorites and biggest disappointments. I'll be back. :)

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  5. More than a book a week. I wonder if there is anyone out there who beats you. Not me.

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  6. Anonymous2:31 PM

    Sadly I do know people that would probably be proud of saying they haven't read a book all year. Sigh. Anyway great reading stats and can't wait to hear about your favorites :)

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  7. I always thought I was a freak when it came to books and reading, until I discovered book bloggers. Now I can freely confess I have over 100 books on loan from the library and have 3-4 books on the go at the same time! Looking forward to reading your favourites.

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  8. Anonymous5:00 PM

    When I told my sisters and mom over lunch the other day how many books I read they were sort of stunned. I always assumed that they read a lot too (granted not a ton, but more than say ten a year), but I guess that is not exactly the case. I guess if the average person has read 12 books in a year that is actually really good considering that most people haven't ready any at all this year! I don't think I honestly know how many books I have bought this year (and how many have actually been read!)--it is too scary for me to keep that sort of count. I'm looking forward to seeing your list of favorites!

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  9. 74 is a good number! And what do people do who don't read? Aren't they bored out of their minds?

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  10. I read 72 this year. My goal for 2007 is that every third book I read must be a book I OWN rather than a library book. Those darn due dates always put library books at the head of the pile.

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  11. I recently checked my list and noted that I read 70. That's about the same as last year, give or take a few. I counted the number of female authors I had read too and cringed because the men had trumped them by an embarrassingly significant percentage. Hopefully I can be a bit better about that next year.

    You've read a lot of new releases. I'm impressed!

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  12. Impressive number of books finished! I am afraid to go and count how many books I started this year and didn't finish! ;)

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  13. I love your stats! Seeing things broken down into so many categories is fascinating. I didn't do this, but think I might try keeping track as I go along this coming year. It was a bother just going back reviewing each month's list. Easier to keep track as you go, I think. My favorite one of yours is "books bought and stockpiled!" :)

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  14. That is definitely a respectable amount! I love seeing lists of books. :) It took me a while, but I just finished putting together a list of all the books I read in 2006: all 110 of them! This is more than double what I read in 2005, due to various factors (explained in more detail in the post). They're broken down into categories, and I denoted the ones that I liked the best.

    http://www.zandria.us/archives/000925.html

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  15. Anonymous10:35 PM

    I didn't break down my list either, but I'm thinking I will do that next year, as it's been interesting to read everyone's lists in that regard.

    I never understand those people who brag about not reading!

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  16. I'm inspired by your passion for reading. My goal for 2006 was to read 52 books; I fell far short at 37. However, it was probably the most reading I've done since I was little.
    Now, I'm a new mom, but my goal of 52 remains the same. We'll see how everything plays out with a newborn in the house! At this stage, our little boy seems fascinated to hear me read Francine Prose out loud, but I'm not sure how long that'll last. :)

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