Following hard on the heels of my Books of the Year – it’s time for bookstats. Many of you may know that I keep a spreadsheet of everything I read so I can analyse my reading at the end of each year. Don’t groan – it’s not that bad!
I had a really good year statswise, managing to finish over 100 books for the first time in a couple of years. The pagecount is holding up too (although see how many chunky books I must have read in 2011!). NB: The stats are based on 101 books read as at 24.12.13 – I’ve managed to read five more books since then to make 106 books read in total.
Each year I say I plan to read more books from before I was born and the 20th Century in general. I’ve failed yet again! Last year 44% of books read were from 2011-12, this year 2012-13 account for even more at 55%. I am such a sucker for new books, (although this year I read more review copies which probably accounts for the increase).
Then I like to look at author nationality, and I have managed to read a little more widely from around the world, but only managed to increase the total in translation by 3 from 10 last year to 13. Less by American authors too, and more by UK ones.
This year I’ve added a genre chart. The mix is much the same though – a smattering of SF, historical, crime/thrillers, children’s/YA, a few more modern classics, but the largest part is what I call contemporary fiction. Non-fiction remained at the same level around the 10% mark.One last stat for you before I make my Reading Resolutions – that of male/female author ratio. Last year I almost reached parity for the first time ever, reading as many books by women authors as by men. This year it returned to 70/30, despite having read my first books by Barbara Pym, Margaret Forster and Penelope Mortimer for instance. I never knowingly consider an author’s gender when I’m choosing what to read, within the constraints of any review copies, I largely go by whim (which is a big reason that I’m really crap at challenges apart from the TBR dare).
READING RESOLUTIONS FOR 2014…
- Again – to read more from my TBR. Initially by participating in The TBR Triple Dog Dare as hosted by James at Ready when you are, C.B. until the end of March. Only exceptions are book club books, plus one I have pre-ordered for January.
- To read as much as I can, from as wide a choice of books as I can.
- To only read books I want to read – when I want to read them – that means being tougher on accepting review copies, and that unsolicited books will not get read at all unless they fit my mood.
That’s it really!
Do you make reading resolutions?
How has your reading year been in stats?
Good resolutions Annabel – and I’ll be doing likewise reading off the TBR and what I want when I want to. I can’t think of a better way to read!
I find TBR is the way to go, especially when it’s a bit quieter after Christmas.
I love reading stats, although I’m not that hot on drawing them up. If I were to make a reckoning of last year I know that it would show that I read far too much crime fiction and so next year I want to widen my genres (which, reading that back, sounds vaguely disgraceful!).
‘Widen my genres’ does indeed sound like a euphemism – but for what I’m not sure! 😀
Ooh I find the page count vs books read very interesting and am tempted to try and do that myself next year. I usually use Goodreads to keep track of my reading but it doesn’t do anything that sophisticated. 🙂 well done for reading 13 books in translation – no matter what I do I don’t seem to be able to get above 8!
Hope you have an amazing year of reading in 2014!
I’ve had my big spreadsheet since 2006, and I love looking at the stats! I am beginning to search out for books in translation – particularly European authors, over US authors these days – there is are so many good books available now, it’s much easier.
Love your wonderfully organised stats! I may get as far as counting female vs male authors myself. But I must try to emulate your resolutions 🙂
I added the M/F line into my spreadsheet a few years ago, and am shocked how many books by male writers I seem to read. It’s not a conscious decision at all when I choose a book to read!
My biggest goal is to read Proust in 2014. Watch this space….
We’ve been joking about *doing* Proust in our book group for years. Maybe we should dive in … Good luck with your reading.
Gosh this looks impressive. I tend to use my links on my blog to see what I have read and how many. I seem to have read 190 books this year, usually it is muchhigher than that but have been busy with grandchildren which cuts into reading time. Not complaining about that. My top ten books this year are five fiction and five non fiction which surprised me. I think I shall have to start taking note of the categories of the books I read. Mmmm you have got me thinking now!!!
I’ve been keeping my spreadsheet since 2006, way before blogging, and I still keep it up. The funny thing is that my reading habits don’t actually change that much from year to year! I am glad to get back over 100 books though this year.
Enjoy the grand-children and have a great 2014 Elaine.
I like the separation of translations and nationalities, it makes interesting reading and perhaps says more about what is being offered than our natural inclinations. It’s great that the statistics highlight what we might otherwise not be aware of. I’m tempted to analyse my reading more to see if there are any dominant influences. Great post and bonne continuation, I love following your reviews.
Thank you Claire. I was surprised to have read less books by US authors this year and so many more by UK ones – which I have really enjoyed doing a lot.
Oh wow — you did the graphs!!! 😉
I hardly accepted any review copies in 2013 but I still found that newly published books dominated my reading, so, like you, I’m vowing to read more from my shelves in 2014!
Happy new year to you, and good luck with your reading resolutions!
Thanks Kim – I rather like the graphs, and as I had all the info in my giant spreadsheet it was very easy!
I must go and check last year’s female:male (or male:female) ratio – it’s something I don’t think about too much at all, but perhaps I should. It does rather clash with my need to read on a a whim. Hmmm. We’ll see! And Happy New Year!
I only ever look at the M/F ratio as an afterthought – I don’t consider it at all when picking what I read. Happy New Year to you too!
I like the resolutions – they are quite similar to the ones I make every year and consistently fail to achieve!
I always start off well – with the TBR dare helping, but am always itching to get to the new, shiny books! My reading habits don’t change much – just fluctuate gently most years.
I do so like the TBR Double Dare’s impact on the blogs I follow – I love seeing what people have tucked away on their shelves and finding out more about the quirkier aspects of their reading tastes. 🙂
I’ve been amassing a pile by my bed of stuff on my shelves from everyone else’s recommended titles. Of course that means that 90% of that will not meet my whim to read – so let’s see what the dare throws up… 🙂