I was going to post about Proust and the Squid today but I got to working on my reading stats and couldn’t stop so the book review will have to wait until tomorrow
My reading plan for 2009 was simple, “read some good books.” I did a fair job of it. Maybe it was because for the first time in a long time there was no plan and so I was more relaxed. Or maybe it was because of the time carved out in every day to read on public transit to and from work. It could also quite probably have to do with the TV no longer working since we chose not to get a converter box and don’t subscribe to cable. There was also an almost continuous low-level fear that I carried through the year that school was eating away all my time so the time I did have to read was fully committed and focused on reading. And it helped that I tended to choose shorter books, at least it seems to me like they were shorter. Whatever it was, 2009 wasn’t a bad year for reading but given the average rating, it could have been better. That, however, is to be worked out in 2010.
Here are some statistics:
Books Completed: 61
Fiction: 31
Nonfiction: 26
Poetry: 1
Plays: 3
From the above:
Graphic novels: 4
Short stories: 2
Essays: 2
Books in translation: 13
Published BCE: 3
Before 1900: 8
1900 – 1999: 21
2000 and after: 29
Books by women: 26
Books by men: 31
Books by multiples authors: 4
From the library: 26
Borrowed from a person: 3
Kindle: 4
Own: 28
Average rating on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being excellent: 3.9
Highest score: 5
Lowest: 1
Re-reads: 3
Books begun but abandoned: 2
Five Books I liked Best (in no particular order):
- Moo Pak Gabriel Josipovici
- The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson vols 1 & 2
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
- The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
Honorable Mentions:
- Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf
- Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson
- Burial at Thebes (Antigone) by Seamus Heaney and Sophocles
Wow–I’m very impressed by the number of NF reads you managed! Actually for being in school and working you read quite a few books, which is great! I wonder how many I abandoned–I don’t note those. And I’m so happy to see both Wilkie Collins and Daphne du Maurier on your lists! Next year I’d like to read a better variety (across more time periods), but you know how that goes!
I’m jumping up and down giving high fives for Woman in White and Rebecca – two of my all time faves. I had already put Moo Pak on my “must read list”, and I’m going to add Sexing the Cherry based on the review you did awhile back. Happy New Year to you and Bookman!
Yay! Two of my favorites, Enchanted April and Rebecca made your list! I want to reread Rebecca this next year, maybe when we get the next big storm. You did fantastic, esp. considering all the school!
Glad you’ve included Pride & Prejudice in your faves. With so many parodies nowadays, from zombies to vampires, I really think that Jane Austen ought to be given more respect.
All best wishes to you and yours for a wonderful, book-filled 2010!
I had never thought of doing reading statistics like this. What an excellent idea! I love it! Are you on Goodreads? I consider this one of my best reading years ever as far as quality of books goes, but I wonder if it really was. I should see what my average rating is.
I’d love to know wich ones you’ve re-read
and why.
great statistics!
Agree with Faith about what you re-read and why. I find most of the books I re-read after many years just aren’t the books I remember. Some hold up, but most disappoint. Great post, by the way.
What great stats! I love seeing stats. I’m glad to see that Proust and the Squid managed to make it to the list for the year — that’s a good recommendation!
I think you did great this year given school and work and all. It sounds smart to stick to shorter books given the circumstances, and there are so many good short books out there, so why not? (Although The Woman in White isn’t short!) I hope you have a great 2010 reading year!
Happy New Year Stef!
I <3 the stats break-down of what you read this year. Prompts me to sift back thru what I read and do likewise, since I've actually been tracking my reading via Virtual Bookshelf (facebook app). However – I'm still fishing for the perfect online reading tracking tool – as Virtual Bookshelf is not nearly versatile enough for me, it's too minimalist in features. what are you using these days to track your reads?
<3 tara
I had Pride and Prejudice down as one of my favourite reads for this year too and I was quite surprised as it has never been one of my favourite Austen’s before – shows you that reading a book at a different time can make a difference!
Danielle, well many of those NF reads were short or read in the process of doing research for papers for school. I didn’t used to keep track of abandoned books but I started last year out of curiosity. This was a nice year for me of discovering great authors everybody else already knew about!
Grad, Rebecca and Wilkie were wonderful reads and I am so glad I finally got around to them. Happy New Year to you too, and happy reading!
Daphne, I am glad I finally got around to reading Rebecca. For some reason I always thought it was some torrid romance or something. Silly me!
Arti, P&P is one of my all time favorite books. I read it with zombies too but didn’t like it much. Happy New Year!
andalucy, yes I am on Goodreads as wellred2 but I am shamefully terrible at updating things there.
Faith, the re-reads were Pride and Prejudice, Oedipus the King and Antigone. As to why, P&P is a favorite and I hadn’t read Sophocles since high school and am working my way through all his plays.
Michael, thanks. See my comment to Faith above for the re-reads and why. P&P only gets better on re-reading and so did Sophocles.
Rebecca, aren’t stats fun? I like looking back at my own reading and everyone else’s for that matter!
Dorothy, I am surprised at how well I did. I think mostly short books sprinkled with some longer books will be the plan for next year since it worked so accidentally well this year.
Tara, I use an Xcel spreadsheet to keep track of books. If you want to use something online, LibraryThing or GoodReads might be something to investigate. Happy New Year!
Karen, P&P and Persuasion are my favorite Austens so it was a safe and comforting re-read. I am glad it made it on your top list! I agree, time can make a big difference in how well we like a book.
I am amazed you managed to get through 61 books on top of a demanding work like AND library school. Incredible! And I love your best of lists – so many there that are favourites of mine, too, and so the rest will go on my tbr as I trust your judgment!
Looking at your list I have just realized that I shamefully neglected classics this year.
I am also happy to see Proust & the Squid on your honourable mentions list and am awaiting your upcoming thoughts on it!
Oh yay, Enchanted April made your list! That’s one of my all-time favorite books. I almost listed Woman in White on my list too but held back.
I hope 2010 is a year of a lot of good books for you!
Litlove, I was amazed myself because I hadn’t actually counted them until I did my stats. First time through I thought I had badly miscounted. And I am always glad to add to your tbr list since you add so much to mine!
Melanie, classics are easy to forget about with all the new and shiny books that call for our attention. I am surprised and pleased that I managed to read the ones I did.
Iliana, Enchanted April was such a wonderful and delightful surprise. So many people love it that I was worried I wouldn’t, but once I began it, well, how could I not love it?