I always say this, but this post really is my favourite of the year! The master spreadsheet is still going strong. I love playing with all the data, mining it for nuggets of information that will tell me if my reading habits have changed. In truth, they bobble along generally, but there are some general trends, I think. Without further ado, here are the charts (accurate to 26 December).
Books & Pages Through the Ages
Shock! Horror! I put my Goodreads target back again from 125 to 120 this year having not achieved it last year, and this year I made it a few days before Christmas. It’ll stay at 120 now for the forseeable. 10 books per month average to aim for feels right.
Where the Books Came From
The percentage of review copies is up thanks to the 38 blog tours I’ve taken part in, and they were mostly for brilliant books! Thank you so much to all the publishers for sending them. I’ve added two categories this year to the stack above a) books borrowed and b) Review copies from the TBR. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to read everything. I really must try harder to read from my TBR and own bought copies.
Year of Original Publication
Slightly fewer books from this year by 5%, in previous 2020 yrs’ favour. Otherwise this picture stays pretty constant.
Book Origins
I read books by authors of 20 different nationalities this year, six fewer that 2023, adding no new countries to my roster. They comprise 11 different languages including my first in Nyorsk, Norway’s other language. My total books read in translation was down again to 22% from 26% last year. But just look at the big uncoloured swathes on the world map below showing author nationalities (I have included 2 authors, now US citizens in USA, rather than China and Korea where they were born though). I need to try harder to read more from these untouched areas.
Book Genres, Publishers and Miscellaneous
- Author Gender: Although I’ve given up graphing these stats, male authors outweighed women at 52% this year..
- Crime Thrillers and Spy novels down a little from last year’s high of 40 at 42. Quite a lot of Nordic Noir in there again. Spec & SF: 3. Horror: 1, Short stories: 2
- Graphic novels – none this year. Poetry up – to 2 from 1!. Must still try harder on this front.
- Non-Fiction: in total I read 19 books which a percentage point down on last year. Memoir-based books dominated, with entertainment/media coming close behind.
- Publishers: It really is getting harder to separate out the indies from all the new imprints from the big conglomerates. Bloomsbury lead the way this year with 10 titles, followed by Orenda with 8 and No Exit and Bitter Lemon Press with 4 each this year.
- Multiples: Just 1 at 2 titles for Georges Simeon (Maigrets, natch).
- Re-Reads: Just 1, Orwell’s Animal Farm for book group.
- New to Me: 76, ie 62%. A high, I think.
…And Finally
A few more fun stats for you…
- Longest books read – none over 500 pages this year, but The Skeleton Key was closest at 497.
- Shortest book read –was poetry – Modern Fog by Chris Emery came in at 79 pages.
- Most viewed posts from whenever – I suspect it’s STILL Return to Wigtown, but I can’t access Jetpack stats any more because I have affiliate links on my website (which rarely earn me more than a few quid a quarter at best), and thus my site is ‘commercial’ according to Jetpack rules. The Jetpack commercial licence is £6.95 pcm – rip-off! I haven’t had time to work out how to get longer-term stats for individual posts off Monster Insights/Google Analytics yet.
And some recurring motifs in book titles…
- Body Parts & Functions: Ageing, Blood, Heart (x2), Skeleton.
- Buildings and Contents: Hotel, Houses, Station, Table,
- Colours & Textiles: Black (x2), Blue (x2), Dot, Green, Red, White.
- Flora & Fauna; Environment: Animals (x2), Bear, Cat, Dogs (x2), Gazelle, Horse, Human, Ivy, Mountain, Peacock, Serpent, Sparrow, Stones, Wild.
- Food & Drink: Eat, Pie, Wine.
- Forenames: Anna, Brian, Dougal, Eileen, Harauld, Hattie, Helen, Hera, Joe, Kalmann, Karla, Rodolfo, Tristan, Venus, Yseult.
- Friends & Family: Boys, Brothers, Family, Husbands, Kids, Mr, Mrs, Wife, Women, Young man,
- Occupations & Activities: Art dealer, Dancer, Imposter, Instrumentalist, King, Librarianist, Lover, Madman, Prey, Puzzlemakers, Spies, Witness.
- Real People: Orson Welles,
- Real Places: Beirut, Bergerac, Salo..
- STEM: Zero (x2), Nothing, One, Two, 3, 8. Doppler.,Gas, Luminous, Orbital,.
- States of Mind & Emotions: Content, Falling, Guilty, Lost, really good, Ordinary, Rude, Seriously, Special, Suspicious, Tame, Torment, Toxic, Unfinished, Vicious, Vulnerable, Witty.
- Supernatural: Souls.
- Times, Weather & Seasons: Clouds, Cold, Dark (x2), Fog, Ice, Midnight sun, Night, November, Now, Snow, Storm (x2), Winter, Yule,
I abandoned publishing my stats about 15 years ago but I can tell you I reviewed an entire 3 review copies this year and I LOVE not having them come through the door. The freedom to read what I want when I want is liberating. Impressed with all your reading and the varied mix of genres, genders etc.
Fewer review copies would be great. I should try to say no more often in 2025 onwards. Happy reading for the New Year to you.
I really enjoy your yearly stats Annabel!
It’s always fun to see this post so I’m glad you have as much fun putting it all together as we do reading it! Your map of the world is impressive – how do you get the shading to work? I tried using Google maps to track my international reading but much prefer your version
I’m thinking of migrating from Goodreads to Storygraph, which I think compiles some of these type of statistics for you. I noted your use of “try harder” three times. We put such obligations on ourselves! I guess the choice is set a challenge and make a goal for consciously working towards it, or just let yourself read freely.
I love your fantastic statistics, so varied and so interesting. I will not be able to come even close myself. You seem to have read quite a few books, along with reviews, and challenges. A successful year indeed.
I enjoyed reading your summaries here and your thoughts about patterns you’ve noticed, which ones satisfy you and which ones continue to elude you (next year I’ll read more xxx…something I’m constantly muttering too!) Kim’s comment resonates with me and with what you’ve already said above (related to the number of tours in which you’ve participated this year). When the ARCs got to 43% of my reading one year, it was too close to half for my comfort and in the next year it was a single digit: that switch turned out to be crucial (not that the publishers’ books weren’t great). What hadn’t occurrred to me, is that books simply being good wasn’t necessarily a satisfying reason to read them, because I actually wanted to read *other* good books. But it’s such a personal thing: each of us is just finding their page on the page in the end! In 2025, I hope you find some fabulous new-to-you authors and, when December 31 comes, I hope you’re saying to yourself “I read exactly what I intended to read and it feels amazing!”
Thank you Marcie. I do find reading to a deadline for a tour a drag sometimes, and I do intend to be choosier this year! There are certain publishers, particularly of translated crime that I find it hard to turn down though.
Excellent stats! Do poke around on my blog if you want African authors, I have quite a few now …
I do have a few in the TBR – I mustn’t forget to look out for them. But yes, I’ll definitely note your reviews where one appeals. Thank you.