In keeping with my annual tradition of looking back over my year of reads I like to see where my reading has taken me. I'm sure I can already predict--more women authors than men, not enough nonfiction, and far fewer classics than I'd have liked. In the end it only matters that I've read some good books (and in some cases--very, very good books) and enjoyed myself. But for the sake of curiosity:
- Books read: 88 (not counting audio books)
- Audio books: 3
- Fiction (not mysteries or short stories and I'm counting classics separately, too): 41
- Nonfiction: 8
- Classics: 10
- Mysteries/Crime/Suspense: 28
- Science fiction: 1
- Espionage: 2
- YA novels: 0
- Books written by women: 69
- Books written by men: 21
- Books written by more than one author: 1
- American authors: 22
- British authors: 56
- Canadian/Australian/Irish authors: 6
- Books in translation: 7
- Short story collections: 1
- Graphic novels: 1 (actually this was an illustrated novel in diary format)
- Plays: 0
- Virago Modern Classics: 2
- Persephone Books: 2
- Books read that were checked out from the library: 35
- Rereads: 3
- Book club books (Slaves of Golconda, Cornflower's Book Group, and my Postal Reading Group): 8
- Multiple books by the same author: 10 (Clare Chambers, Dorothy Whipple, Agatha Christie, Margaret Irwin, Tana French, Elizabeth Chadwick, Katharine McMahon, Willa Cather, Jennifer Johnston, Patrick Leigh Fermor)
- Books by Nebraska authors: 3
I seem to be holding steady in terms of how many books I can read in a year. More mysteries than in previous years, but maybe it only seems that way as I counted in crime and suspense novels this time around. Far more women authors than men (and more than last year), but again that seems to be my norm. I really do need to level things out a bit more in that area.
I read three times more library books than last year--a third of my reads were not my own books, which is not a bad thing as I am all for supporting my local library, but my own shelves seem to be expanding, and if I am reading fewer of my own books....the equation is a bit off I think. Something to work on next year.
I read a really paltry number of books in translation, and most of those were books I read early in the year. Fewer Viragos and Persephones--books I actively collect! But I did read a couple more nonfiction books than last year. With the exception of four books from the 19th century all were written in the 20th or 21st centuries!
All in all I'm really pretty predictable it seems even though the numbers vary slightly. So I know more or less how many books I can manage in a year--it's just in the choosing how to fill those slots. Most of my books are chosen at whim, but I guess I need to be a little more thoughtful in my selections. My stats from previous years are here: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006.