I have, for the majority of my life, been a voracious consumer of books. But in the last few years, that consumption has dwindled precipitously. There are many things to blame for this sad turn of events--motherhood, online consumption rather than print, diminishing attention span. This year I vowed to read more and decided to keep a spreadsheet to track my progress. In addition to title, author, and a short summary, I kept data on multiple categories including book length, year published, and the gender, race, and ethnicity of the author. Since I doubt highly that I will finish another book before the end of the year (thanks Christmas!) I'm ready to report my year end totals and findings.
Total Books Read: 40
Total Pages Read: 12,706
Fiction: 27
Young Adult Fiction: 3
Non-Fiction: 9
Stageplay: 1
Written 2010-2016: 27
Written 2000-2009: 6
Written Before 2000: 7
Oldest: Written in 1926
Female Authors: 32
Male: 9
Americans: 30
British: 4
Irish: 1
Nigerian: 1
Pakistani: 1
Japanese: 1
Indian: 3
Favorite Books - Fiction
1. Jane Steele - Lyndsay Faye
2. Under a Painted Sky - Stacey Lee
3. Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
4. The Martian - Andy Weir
5. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire-Saenz
Favorite Books - Non-Fiction
1. Alexander Hamilton - Ron Chernow
2. When Breath Becomes Air - Paul Kalanithi
3. The Price of Motherhood - Ann Crittenden
4. Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates
5. Modern Romance - Aziz Ansari
Least Favorite Book: Fates and Furies
Movie that was actually better than the book: Brooklyn
Best Guilty Pleasure Read: The Suffragette Scandal
Favorite Re-Read: The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery
So what are your favorite books that you read this year?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
You only read 40? I started tracking what I read starting in June and I am well over 100 (with the caveat that about 40% of what I read was romance and I also read many graphic novels this year as well). The books I liked the most: 'A Curious Beginning' by Deanna Raybourn, 'Delialah Dirk' graphic novel series by Tony Cliff, The Raven Cycle books by Maggie Strefvater (there are four books in the cycle and they are all excellent), 'Every Heart a Doorway' Seanan McQuire, 'Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" by Grace Lin (middle grade novel that I read aloud to the kids, they loved it), 'Year to Yes' by Shonda Rimes, 'The Boys who Challenged Hitler' by Philip Hoose, and 'A Girl's Guide to Moving On' by Debbie Macomber.
I told you I've been in a big slump lately! I used to average multiple books a week but now it's just a few each month. I do read *a lot* of internet content--news stories, essays, articles--and I listen to an insane number of podcasts, but I've been struggling to get into the written word and finish them. I probably started an additional 30 books that I never finished. I'm going to look up your recommendations. I desperately want to get back into reading.
You might want to check out the Blog "Modern Mrs. Darcy" and her podcast "What should I read next." I get a lot of book ideas from her, none that were on my favorites list for this year but I have liked that books that I have read from her recommendations. Although I forgot to list 'The One-in-a-Million-Boy' by Monica Wood on my favorites list and that was one of her recommendations. I also liked 'The Shadow of the Wind' by Carol Ruiz Zafon; I read this before I started writing the books that I read down so I forgot about it.
Right now I have a very long To Be Read (TBR) list (its non-fiction heavy, I've ODed on romances for the moment). Some of the books on that list are:
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
How to Read Literature like a Professor- Thomas Foster
Evicted- Matthew Desmond
All the Single Ladies- Rebecca Traister
America's Women- Gail Collins
You Will Not Have My Hate- Antoine Leiris
Girls & Sex- Peggy Orenstein (I am a quarter of the way into this one, and so far I like it and makes me more aware of the things I need to talk about with Anna and the boys).
The Passion of Dolssa- Julie Berry (YA)
The Inquistor's Tale-- Adam Gidwitz (YA)
The 100 year-old man- Jonas Johasson
I hope this helps you out of your slump.
I started reading All the Single Ladies and I definitely want to pick it back up. For whatever reason, non-fiction has been the hardest for me to stick with this year and that's usually my favorite genre. I've heard great things about Homegoing and A Man Called Ove which I hope to check out soon. Under a Painted Sky (YA) was probably my favorite book I read this year and I picked it up on a total whim at the library just because I liked its cover. I added that podcast to my podcast player. Hopefully it'll be a good motivator in 2017.
Post a Comment