If you’ve been with me for awhile, Squiders, you know I keep a list of every book I read in a year, along with genre, publication year, and a rating out of 5. Then, at the end of the year, I run stats to get a general view of what I read for the year. (I thought I started in 2010, but it turns out I started in 2009. Huh.)
I think this is the third year of me sharing here with you guys. Anyway, I’m always interested in the genre variations. For example, two years ago (2013) I read a ton of mysteries (19) and last year fantasy reigned supreme (16). 2011 I read mostly nonfiction (16) which–I must have been researching something. I wonder what. Death mythology, probably.
Anyway, I could go on about trends forever, but here are the stats for 2015.
Books Read in 2015: 52
Change from 2014: +2
Of those:
11 were Fantasy (includes all age ranges and subgenres)
9 were Science Fiction
8 were Nonfiction
5 were Mystery
3 were General Literature
3 were Ghost Story Collections
2 were Gothic
2 were Horror
2 were Mythology
2 were Romance
1 was an Anthology
1 was Historical Fiction
1 was Science Fantasy
1 was a Short Story Collection
1 was Steampunk
Huh. That’s a lot wider spread of genres than usual. Good for me, I guess!
New genre(s)*: ghost story collection, Gothic, horror, romance, anthology, science fantasy
Genres I read last year that I did not read this year: Christian literature, crime procedural
*This means I didn’t read them last year, not that I’ve never read them.
Genres that went up: science fiction, nonfiction, mythology
Genres that went down: fantasy, mystery, general literature, historical fiction
28 were my books
24 were library books
0 books were borrowed from friends/family
(Normally I borrow a few. I guess nobody wanted to pass anything on this year!)
47 were physical books
5 were ebooks
(I had been reading more ebooks every year–last year I read 12–but this year dropped to my second lowest ever. I blame The Mysteries of Udolpho, which I read on Kindle–and posted about here–and took me forever.)
Average rating: 3.45/5
Top Rated:
Collected Ghost Stories (4.5 – ghost stories)
Illuminae (4.1 – science fiction)
Blackout/All Clear (4 – science fiction – 2 books)
The Boys in the Boat (4 – nonfiction)
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (4 – mystery)
The Supernatural Enhancements (4 – horror)
I don’t normally note anything below a 4, but I also really enjoyed (and gave 3.9s) to The Queen of the Tearling and Throne of Glass. I actually gave out quite a few 3.9s this year.
Most recent publication year: 2015
Oldest publication year: 1794
Average publication year: 1991
Books older than 1900: 2
Books newer than (and including) 2012: 18
How did your 2015 go in reading, Squiders? Any truly excellent books you want to recommend (or any terrible ones I should avoid)?
Actually, I’m an idiot, and I’ve been doing this here since Jan of 2011 (when I did 2010’s stats). But, judging from the posts, it sounds like every year I think I’m doing it for the first time. Whoops!
Anyway, I am also willing to share the whole list for people who want it. There were a few books this year that I found really hard to classify from a genre POV, which is interesting.
Very impressive list. I haven’t tried the Kindle yet. I’m mired in the old school tradition…love the hard copy, BUT I do have an audible books membership…just haven’t done anything with it.
Great post. Thanks.
In general I prefer to read a real book, but the ebooks are nice for when I’m out and about, as it keeps my place and is non-bulky. I use the Kindle app on my phone. I do have an actual Kindle but usually it’s too much work to actually carry around, so I don’t use it much anymore.
I’m not great with audiobooks–tend to get too involved and lose track of what I’m doing.
Glad you enjoyed it!