Seeing as I have been in a tidying sort of mood (I spent a chunk of yesterday afternoon, prime reading time I might add, cleaning . . . it had to be done unfortunately), it's time to take a little look back over the reading year. I sort of feel as though I shouldn't do this (counting and tallying isn't always a good thing), but idle curiosity has prompted me. I know my reading was off this year, but just by how much I wonder. Let's see, shall we? In any case, It helps me think about what I want to do next year.
- Books read: 85
- Audio books: More than 5--I didn't keep track very well and some were radio dramatizations
- 18th century: 2
- 19th century: 12
- 20th century: 48
- 21st century: 26 (there was some overlap between centuries since a few books were actually collections of stories)
- eBooks: One! I'm really not all that fond of ebooks, can you tell?
- Fiction (not mysteries, short stories or fairy tales and I'm counting classics separately, too): 37
- Nonfiction: 9 (two were books of essays)
- Diaries: 1
- Nature: 1
- Classics: 16
- Fairy Tales/Mythology: None this year!
- Mysteries/Crime/Suspense: 15
- Science fiction: 0
- Espionage: 1
- YA novels: 1
- Books written by women: 46
- Books written by men: 37
- Books written by more than one author: 2
- American authors: 22
- British authors: 36
- Canadian authors: 4
- Australian/Irish authors: 1 (one lone Irish author)
- Subscription Books: 18 (Melville House and NYRB Classics)
- Books in translation: 19 (original languages include: Swedish, French, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, Dutch, German and Italian)
- Short story collections: 4
- Novellas: 13
- Graphic Novels: 0
- Plays: 0
- Virago Modern Classics: 3 (same as last year)
- Persephone Books: 3 (better than last year but not by much)
- Books read that were checked out from the library: 13 (so small a number considering how many I actually borrow . . .)
- Books read from my own shelves: 67 (hah--so small a number considering how many I own and how many I bought. I don't, by the way, keep track of those books)
- Rereads: 4 (Martha Grimes, Antonia Fraser, Clare Chambers and Agatha Christie)
- Book club books (Slaves of Golconda, Cornflower's Book Group, my Postal Reading Group and the Literature and War Readalong): 11 (I actually didn't do so well with these--I started quite a few that I didn't finish and read very few of the Slaves books this year . . . and postal books also suffered)
- Multiple books by the same author: 4 (Paula Fox, Vasily Grossman, Virginia Woolf and Wilkie Collins)
- Books by Nebraska authors: 1 (Willa Cather)
- Approximate number of pages read: More than 21,000 -- can that be right?)
Not that I'm counting or anything (no pressure there!), but in the years since I've been blogging (since 2005) and keeping track, only three of those years had fewer reads during the course of the year. And quite a few of this year's books were actually novellas! I wish I could say that I spent the time doing needlework (I think I actually finished even fewer projects this year than in the previous few) or some other crafty activity, but I didn't. I'm not sure what I was doing. I guess some years are just like that. It was, unfortunately, a stressful year in many ways and my reading suffered. I hope that next year is better. Reading is usually a respite from stress, but I don't seem to have been reading more (comparatively speaking)--so, extra stress but no extra books--a pity. I do, however, most definitely believe in quality over quantity, so we'll see tomorrow how quality fared when I share my favorites list.
Comparing this year's reading with last year's, though, not much has really changed in terms of what I've been reading--other than there being fewer books (and maybe more novellas). I do see that male authors are catching up with female authors! The gap is closing. Reading along with others and reading subscription books has really helped vary my reading--lots more books in translation and more classics.
So, there you have it. The year in review. I seem to follow a pattern really--here are previous years. A fresh start is going to be a good thing.