It’s time to start wrapping up the year, now that I’ve made it to the very last day. Every year I like to write up my reading stats for the year, so here they are, first the total number and genre:
- Books read: 72 (not counting 9 audiobooks, not included in the stats below)
- Fiction (of any genre or length): 45
- Nonfiction: 22
- Poetry: 2
- Drama: 3
- Essay collections: 7
- Biography/autobiography/memoir/letters: 6
- Mysteries: 10
And now the gender breakdown:
- Books by women: 35
- Books by men: 36
- Books by men and women: 1
Nationalities and books in translation:
- Authors from America: 32
- Authors from England: 21 and Scotland: 1
- Books in translation: 13. Chinese: 1, French: 2, German: 3, Hungarian: 1, Sanskrit: 1, Norwegian: 1, Russian: 3, Spanish: 1
- Authors from Ireland: 2
- Canadian: 1 (L.M. Montgomery)
- Nigerian, written in English : 1 (Chinua Achebe)
Year of publication:
- From the 5th century: 1 (poems of T’ao Ch’ien)
- 16th century: 1 (Montaigne)
- 17th century: 1 (Francis Bacon)
- 19th century: 8
- First half of 20th century: 14
- Second half of 20th century: 20
- 2000s: 16
- 2010: 9
And a couple more:
- 12 rereads (a lot for me; these come partly from rereading for class)
- Books by authors I had never read before: 34
Not a bad year. Some of the rereads and books in translation come from preparing for my World Literature class, and many but not all of the mysteries were for my mystery book group. Quite a lot of nonfiction. I hope to be back soon for a list of my favorite books!
Of Books and Bicycles 
What a great year you had! And the gender balance you achieved it pretty amazing. Was that on purpose or did it happen accidentally?
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What strikes me most about this is the diversity of your reading. I really mean it when I say that I find this very impressive. I know that one of my own weaknesses is not reaching out sufficiently to try something new. You are officially my new role model. I hope that isn’t too scary!
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Your reading is nice and varied! I’d really like to try and balance mine out, but I’m sure I say that every year. I would definitely like to read more literature from earlier periods! I never know what to do about audio books–I feel like I’m sort of cheating since I’m not actively reading and only listening! Looking forward to seeing which were your favorites!
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What an interesting wrap-up, Dorothy. I’m quite surprised though, that you’ve read just one book by a Canadian author 😉 But wow, reading 72 books, and books at such calibre as you’ve reviewed is quite something. Congrats on a fine year of reading! Have a Happy New Year and may 2011 bring your more exciting literary discoveries!
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Happy, happy New Year, Dorothy and to the Hobgoblin and Muttboy, too! I do love other people’s reading stats – always so interesting. The gender balance is hilarious, but I’m seriously impressed by how many books in translation you’ve read – now there’s a category I should work at. And I’d also like to read more essay collections next year. Emily Fox Gordon’s arrived in the post a few days ago and I’m really looking forward to it!
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I agree, you have such a great diversity of reading! I forgot to count up my rereads this year…will have to go back and do so. Glad to see that you read some LMM, though perhaps we could convince you to try another Canadian novel this year? 😉
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Great wrap-up, I like the range!
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Oh I can’t wait to see what some of your favorites were. I like that you also list the countries your authors came from. I need to see about adding that to my stats 🙂
Wishing you a very happy new year!
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There’s no doubt about it, you are a catholic reader. My reading is almost 100% contemporary.
Looking forward to the best reads post.
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I like the international aspect to your tally…
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Really interesting, and parallels some of my own reading last year in parts. I did get a clear majority of female authors in 2010 which I was very happy about. And I do really enjoy your mystery breaks, and hope to work in a few of my own this year.
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Wow, a great reading year! Your reading seems quite balanced, and you also took time to read classics, poetry and drama, which I neglect too much… I love stats, I can’t resist to compute my own as well. Look forward to reading about your favorites!
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Stefanie — it was mostly accidental. I noticed near the end of the year how even it was and wanted to keep it that way, but for most of year I had no idea!
Annie — well, it inspires me to keep trying to read widely, which is a good thing! Teaching my world lit. class really helped a lot; in addition to what I listed here, I read short stories and poems from other countries as well. I’ll have to keep teaching that course so I can explore new things.
Danielle — I seriously considered adding audio books in this year, as I do think I’m reading them just as much as I read a book. But I haven’t included them in the past, and if I start now, it makes comparison harder. I would like to read more from earlier periods too!
Arti — I know, I should read more Canadians! I have Margaret Atwood coming up some time this year, so that’s good. If I find another, I will double my reading from that country! 🙂 I hope you have a wonderful 2011 as well.
Litlove — happy new year to you and your family! My gender balance always comes out pretty even, which is bizarre. I think my subconscious mind is working very hard to be politically correct 🙂
Melwyk — I know where to look to find some good Canadian authors! As I told Arti, Margaret Atwood is up this year, and maybe I’ll even read two from her! 🙂
Lilian — thank you!
Iliana — listing author is fun, but I like looking at the map you can fill in with the countries you’ve “visited” even more. It’s a nice visual representation of what you’ve read. Happy new year to you!
Charlotte — I like thinking of myself as a catholic reader, so thank you! Nothing wrong with contemporary reading, especially since you are writing something contemporary!
JaneGS — thank you! I would like to read even more from other countries, but we’ll see how that goes.
Frances — enjoy those mysteries! It’s interesting that some people struggle to read more women, and some read hardly any men at all. And it’s really strange how my gender balance ends up working well, as I don’t plan it that way …
Smithereens — if it weren’t for my world lit. class, I can’t say I would have read any drama and would have read less poetry. It’s easy to neglect those genres, and I’m particularly bad with plays. Oh, well, nothing wrong with reading lots of novels!
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