I'm not feeling very motivated to look backward this year. I would much rather look forward! So, here are some quick stats and such from this year's reading and I'll be back tomorrow with some goals for my 2012 reading.
Pages read: 24914+
This is down from 38102 last year but I also spent a lot more time reading chapter books at bedtime with Z and I didn't record those books or pages for some reason. I'm definitely not going to complain that I'm spending more time reading with my son!
Books read: 72+
This is down from 125 last year and even the books I read with Z wouldn't catch it up but that's okay!
Non-US/UK authors: 9
Books in translation: 4
I'm a bit disappointed by these numbers and will have to be more aware of my international reading habits next year. I already have two Murakami's on the schedule so that's a start!
New-to-me authors: 34+
Most read author: Jasper Fforde - 7 books
This is a lot lower than last year but I did a lot of re-reads, bulk reads of the same author (Jasper Fforde, Agatha Christie, Neil Gaiman, Rick Riordan, Diana Wynne Jones, Georgette Heyer) and just read less in general.
Oldest book finished: The Dead Secret by Wilkie Collins - 1857
Longest book read: The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma - 609
These will both be blown away next year by my Dickens' project. A lot of my reading will be Victorian and will be from chunksters. It will be fun to compare! (The "finished" is because I started The Mysteries of Udolpho which is older but I haven't finished it yet. I think it might be longer than 609 too!)
Non-fiction: 5
I failed here again but I'm happy with the non-fiction titles I chose even though there weren't twelve of them.
Books from the library: 7
Books from my shelves: 29
Re-reads: 13
Review books/ARCs: 23
My goal was to read 50 books from my shelves and, between the new ones and re-reads, I got to 42 which seems pretty good! I controlled myself at the library and read nine less review books than last year too.
DNF: 1
Would not read again: 3 definite, 2 maybes
This is one of my favorite stats to see this year. I may have read less books this year but they were good ones and obviously the ones I wanted to be reading.
Some favorites read this year:
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - Winifred Watson
Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K. Jerome
A Red Herring Without Mustard - Alan Bradley
To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis
The Emerald Atlas - John Stephens
Nerd Do Well - Simon Pegg
House of Many Ways - Diana Wynne Jones (re-read)
Juniper Berry - M.P. Kozlowsky
Smith - Leon Garfield
The Thursday Next series - Jasper Fforde (mostly re-read)
The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson
The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime - Michael Sims, editor
Favorite book read this year:
The Poisoner's Handbook - Deborah Blum
Favorite book read that comes out next year:
The Technologists - Matthew Pearl (review-ish thing in a week or two)
Happy New Year, my friends,
K
I want to read To Say Nothing About the Dog next year--I even have it on my list of books! It's interesting to see the goals we set for ourselves and whether or not we reach them--I also was not happy about some of my reading habits, but I still enjoyed lots of great books and there is a fresh new year to look forward to now! Happy New Year and Happy Reading in 2012!
ReplyDeleteI REALLY need to read To Say Nothing of the Dog. here is my own recap: http://wordsandpeace.com/2011/12/30/year-of-reading-2011/
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to have to read that Erik Larson book. It seems to be appearing on quite a few lists!
ReplyDeleteWishing you a wonderful 2012 filled with 5 star reads!
You've got some great books on your favorites list! To Say Nothing of the Dog will be on my list for the year, and I really liked Miss Pettigrew, Three Men in a Boat, and Devil in the White City. I really liked Deborah Blum's earlier book, Ghost Hunters, and so I've want to try The Poisoner's Handbook. It sounds really interesting.
ReplyDeleteKristen, you had a great year for books ; hope 2012 is just as good.
ReplyDeleteHappy New year, Kristen!
ReplyDeleteI love the Thursday Next series (am slowly re-reading it) and To Say Nothing of the Dog is one I hope to read this year - and that's because of your review.
Three Men in a Boat and To Say Nothing of the Dog are my first planned reads for the new year. So glad you enjoyed them both. Looking forward to your thoughts in 2012 -- glad your son is enjoying chapter books!
ReplyDeleteAnother blog full of stats - I am in awe. I don't know how you do it. Maybe because I have to keep stats for my book buisness I shy away from reading for pleasure stats. Anyway, thanks for all 2011's reviews and happy new year to you and Z.
ReplyDeleteDanielle - I loved it so much that I have three Connie Willis books on my TBR for this year. :) I'm thinking about my goals right now and what really matters to me this year in reading.
ReplyDeleteWordsandpeace - It's a good one if you like convoluted time travel and adventure!
Jenners - It's definitely a good one! And I just finished my first book of the new year last night before bed and it was a good solid read so I'm off to a good start. :)
Teresa - I was a lucky reader this year as I got to read some all-time favorites for the first time and hardly anything that I hated. And thanks for reminding me about Ghost Hunters. I've just added it to my wishlist!
Thanks, Diane! I think I'm going to have even more purpose in my reading this year so it should be a good one!
Thank you, Tracy! I hope you do get to it. Would it be your first Connie Willis?
Col - That pairing seems like the perfect way to start a new reading year! And Z and I are in the middle of The Phantom Tollbooth so I'm especially enjoying the switch to chapter books!
Jux - Well, I keep adding columns to my reading spreadsheet each year. ;) I didn't turn anything into percentages this year which is a good step toward not over-analyzing things so much. Happy new year to you too!
I read The Phantom Toll Booth with both my girls, 7 years apart, and loved it both times. Have you read Three Tales of My Father's Dragon with Z yet? That was a favorite of both of my girls as well!
ReplyDeleteCol - We're about two-thirds of the way through it and loving it so far. It's just as good as when I read it as a kid! And we read the first of the My Father's Dragon books a couple of months ago and loved it. I hope the other two stories are just as good!
ReplyDeleteYou have a Dickens project? Do tell! One of my 2012 plans is to pay him homage, somehow. I'm not sure I'll have the courage to tackle the Our Mutual Friend sitting on the TBR, but I might read Claire Tomlin's new biog.
ReplyDeleteMiss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and Three Men in a Boat were favorites in previous year and The Devil is going to be my next audiobook - looking forward to it!
Alex - I'll be announcing my Dickens project soon and will definitely be inviting everyone to join in. The Tomalin biog is part of it. :)
ReplyDelete