Category: Reading Stats

These holidays were not nearly as exciting as last years, thank goodness, but we (MT and I and the menagerie) still had a number of mini-dramas that resulted in me unplugging and going on a jigsaw puzzle binge.  Mini-dramas included, but were not limited to: sick cats, mildly ill humans, home wi-fi networks going kaput, and fractured vertebrae (MT’s not mine).  Still, it was a nice holiday, all things considered.

Bottom line:  250 books read this year.

If being off your feet for 9 months has a silver lining, that was it.  I got a lot of books read.  2022 was the year of the re-read too, with re-reads accounting for 100 of the total books.  In fact, my year of re-reading was also a year of re-reading the re-reads, with 10 books from my total being re-read twice in 2022.  I also managed to make a noticeable dent in my TBR shelves, with 24% of my reading coming from TBR books from previous years, and 35% from this year’s TBR acquisitions, meaning 146 books came off the TBR pile.  (No, don’t ask me how many went on – I don’t know exactly, but it was less than 146.  That’s my story.)

2022 was the first year I caved and used a spreadsheet.  I liked it overall, although I’m still not sure I have found the exact spreadsheet I want to use.  I’m going with it again this year because I feel like I got most of the kinks worked out and want to try it again now that I know what I’m doing.

So, here are some random stats:

How I rated the books:

I had 2 new 5-star reads this year:

One Day: The Extraordinary Story Of An Ordinary 24 Hours In America

Charles Darwin and the Beagle Adventure: being an account of the voyage of the Beagle, 1831-1836  (kids book, but an excellent one)

I had a whopping (for me) 7 DNFs.

Genre distribution (via Library Thing):

and finally, countries I’ve read from (note: I read 7 books in translation this year, which I’m not sure, but I think is a new high for me.)

I’m never organised enough, or motivated enough, to do a monthly reading wrap-up, but I usually pull off a mid-year analysis, and as this year seems to be a personal annus horribilis, and I’m all about finding whatever nascent silver linings I can find (I’ve avoided mingling with the COVID masses!), I’ve been looking forward to this year’s mid-point check.  Because if I’ve had anything these first 6 months, it’s been time. Time to read, time to organise, time to learn  little embroidery.

So, here are the stats.  Just before starting this post, I finished my 152nd book for this year.  Before my great personal shattering of bones, I set my reading goal for 2022 at 200.  I think I’ll make it; it’s looking good, but let’s not jinx it.

This 6 month period, like last year’s first 6 months has seen an enormous number of re-reads.  Almost half my books so far have been re-visits of old friends.  What’s new is the number of DNF’s – I’ve hit a lifetime record of 5 DNFs.

That high percentage of re-reads and DNFs would, in any other year, have felt like a failure on some level, because I have so many TBR books and I take a lot of care trying not to buy books I might not read.  BUT, and here’s another tiny silver lining in both the broken leg and the pandemic, I’ve been reading a massive number of books from my TBR shelves – some that have been sitting on that shelf since its inception.

52 books came from previous years’ TBR, vs. 36 books I bought this year.  That, too, I suspect is a personal best.  I’m never truly disappointed when I re-read, because why keep books you aren’t willing to re-read again? but this year it’s felt like pure pleasure, rather than a guilty one, because of the dent I also made in the TBR.

As to what I’ve been reading – that’s been topsy turvy this year too, as I’ve suddenly found my interest in mysteries has waned this year.  I’m certain it’s temporary, as I’m a mood reader in search of solid traditional/cozy type mysteries that are becoming rarer than hen’s teeth.  There’s still a large number of mysteries in my tally, but there’s a lot more wide ranging reading too:

In ‘normal’ years, Urban Fantasy would be vying for the top spot next to mysteries, but this year General Fiction and Magical Realism are top contenders and non-fiction/science/history/biography was near 20%.

The one stat that wasn’t a surprise on some level, and remains static over all the years, is author gender.  Even though at times this year I felt like I was reading a lot of male authors for the first time, the females still dominated.  This is also the first year I’ve kept track of protagonist gender (because the new spreadsheet included it), and – no surprise – the XX’s have it in the bag:

(N/A, if it’s not obvious, are the non-fiction books that discuss a subject rather than people.)

My reading formats this year so far, have been off too; I am really useless with audio unless I’m in the car, so I’ve only read 2 audio books this year.  3 ebooks have made their way onto into the stats too.  Otherwise, Hardcovers dominated, the result of my TBR progress, if I had to guess.

My tracking of Folio Society as a format is a pure reactionary snit in spreadsheet form to my reading of Howard’s End is on the Landing, when the author made some rather sanctimonious comments about people who buy Folio Society editions; apparently we never intend to read them, just show them off.  This is my quiet way of saying “up yours dear”.

And finally, just because the spreadsheet tracks it and it turned out so pretty … really, look at all those colours!, I’m ending with a chart showing the publishers I’ve read so far this year:

It’s like one of those giant insulin-killing lollipops they sell at amusement parks!

Now that I’m finally caught up with my stacks, I peeked at the analytics.

45 re-reads and 40 new reads.  That’s far more new reads than I’d have guessed, as it feels like all I’ve done is re-read my shelves this year (which is a good thing).  35 different authors over the span of 85 books is a testament to my binge reading series.   If I reach 163, I’ll be pleased, though it will be far from one of my best reading years.

Another surprising stat, as it felt like the first few months of the year were ALL male authors, but obviously I rallied hugely at some point, though apparently I found the male authors’ writing to be .04th of a star better than the womens’.

The only non-surprising stat of the bunch, as I’ve been really focused on UF fiction for some time.  Other is non-fiction, which is a respectable showing for my last 6 months overall.