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I picked up the idea of analyzing some of my reading patterns over the year from other bloggers and I did it for the first time last year. So here you have it–more than you could ever hope to know about my reading in in this 2012 reading by the numbers post.
The Stats
My goal on Goodreads was 90 books for the year. After all, I read 104 last year, far surpassing my goal of 75. I didn’t make it. I’m hanging my head in shame. But if we could just factor in all the pages and pages and pages of protocols and training that I’ve had to read over the past 5 months in my new position at work, I’m sure my page count would blow away last year’s. My final count? 80 books read toward my goal of 90.
I listened to 14 audiobooks, down from last year as well. I don’t know what happened there, unless I just listened to longer ones.
I read 14 books on my nook, largely thanks to my penchant for reading ebooks on the cardio machines at the gym and because I actually read ebooks exclusively when we were on vacation.
I read 11 young adult books and 4 middle grade books. Those numbers were down quite a bit.
My longest book was Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry at 945 pages. I really think that if my copy of Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell had a font size larger than about 4, that would have won out, but it is what it is. I read four chunksters that were over 600 pages. I must have been feeling brave this year.
I read a total of 22,624 pages, down about 6000 from last year. With such an increase in audiobooks, which don’t count toward my pages, I don’t know how much that really means though.
I read 35 books by men and 45 books by women. Still fairly balanced.
Categories
The breakdown of the categories I read. I tried not to choose any re-reads as favorites. If I haven’t reviewed a book yet, I linked to a synopsis.
Audio
Read: 14
Favorite: The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon, read by Kate Reading
Banned/Challenged
Read: 5
Favorite: Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Chick Lit
Read: 1
Favorite (not just by default–this made it into my top 10 for the year): Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie, read by Deanna Hurst
Classics
Read: 3
Favorite: Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Contemporary Fiction
Read: 10
Favorite: The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon, read by Kate Reading
Ebooks
Read: 14
Favorite: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
Fairy Tale
Read: 5
Favorite: Ice by Sarah Beth Durst
Fantasy
Read: 16
Favorite: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, read by Khristine Hvam
Graphic Novels
Read: 7
Favorite: Daytripper by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá
Historical Fiction
Read: 9
Favorite: Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran
Horror
Read: 3
Favorite: Carrie by Stephen King
Humor
Read: 4
Favorite: Four to Score by Janet Evanovich
Middle Grade
Read: 4
Favorite: Juniper Berry by M. P. Kozlowsky
Mystery
Read: 4
Favorite: Dog On It by Spencer Quinn
Nonfiction
Read: 12
Favorite: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
Science Fiction
Read: 1
Favorite: Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey
Southern Lit
Read: 10
Favorite: Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Young Adult
Read: 11
Favorite: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, read by Khristine Hvam
Reading Challenges
Southern Literature Challenge (hosted here)–10 books read with a goal of 4
Dewey Decimal Challenge (hosted here)–11 books read with a goal of 11.
Books in Translation (hosted here)–3 books read and a goal of 4.
Off the Shelf–18 books read, goal of 15
Audio Book–15 books read, goal of 12
Eclectic Reader–12 books read from 12 genres, as required
Europe–7 books read with a goal of 3
Immigrant Stories–3 books read with a goal of 1-3
2nds–11 books read with a goal of 6
Middle East–0 books read, open-ended goal. Mega-FAIL.
Not too shabby overall. I need to work on my own challenges a little more!
2 Comments
I did manage to finish my Southern Lit Challenge, only haven't gotten around to reviewing Cold Sassy Tree, the last of my commitment of three. Are you planning to organize it again this year?
ACK. I hadn't considered the sex of the authors. I had 13 females and 41 males. That's horrible. Also I had two books by an author whose sex is a secret, but even if we assume that brings my count of female authors up to 15, it's still horrible. Something else for me to feel ashamed about in the reading year of 2012.