I'm getting this full year wrap up out a bit later than I was initially hoping, but my regularly scheduled activities have been interrupted by doomscrolling given the whole racist/fascist insurrection incited by the sitting president thing. If you're in the US, I hope you have reached out to your electeds many times to call for impeachment and removal of those sitting congresspeople who have encouraged these actions.
Anyway, reading. Why not focus there? So I did some of that last year. Which is surprising given everything going on. General having of a toddler, then having a toddler at home while also trying to work, stress about the world. It's a lot. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that because global pandemic means we're all dealing with this in some way or another and I've been extremely fortunate that I've still been able to work. But read I did, when I could, which was almost entirely while cooking or cleaning, maybe a few minutes grabbed while showering. Seriously, audiobooks have been the best and I would have managed only a handful of books if it weren't for them.
As I said last year, I'm not doing an infographic because if I did I would have to pay for it and perhaps in the future I will pay for them but for now, we'll have to go with a more simplified list. And I figure I'll compare my reading in 2020 with my average reading stats for the years I've been tracking this stuff (2013-2019) to give it a little extra something. You know, for your troubles, since I'm getting this out later.
Total books read
52 - I managed my goal of averaging one a week. So that's nice
Historic Average: 52.7 books
Total pages read
17,126
Historic Average: 17,631
Ok so, in terms of volume, turns out my reading this year has been very average, despite how I felt about it. This is why I like looking at the actual numbers vs. going with my gut feeling because my gut is wrong a lot.
Month with the most/least books read
March (7) / July, August, October, December (3)
Historic Average: Nothing really interesting here since the months average between 3-5 books
Month with the most/least pages read
March (19,555) / July (726)
Historic Averages: October (1,805) / December (1,112)
Fiction
52%
Historic Average: 60% though it's been trending closer to 50/50 in recent years
BIPOC authors
17% - which is down from last year, which was already not a great amount so that...could def be better
Historic Average: 17% so again, guess I've been basically on par with my normal reading
Female authors
60%
Historic Average: 55%
Author's nationality
US: 58% (Historic Average: 70% - still in the lead but not by such a high margin)
UK: 27% (Historic Average: 19%)
Canada: 4% (Historic Average: 2%)
Australia: 2% (Historic Average: 2%)
Japan: 2% (Historic Average: 2%)
Nigeria: 2% (Historic Average: 1%)
Poland: 2% (Historic Average: 0% - new country unlocked)
Singapore: 2% (Historic Average: 1%)
Spain: 2% (Historic Average: 0.2%)
Translation
4%
Historic Average: 3%
Rereads
29% - look, it was a rough year and I needed comfort. The only year with higher rereads was the year the lil monster was born so again, a time of stress when I needed comfort reads
Historic Average: 19%
Me, thinking about how I should read something new, then picking up an old fav
Book format
Audiobook: 81% (Historic Average: 18% but I really got into audiobooks last year so makes sense)
Ebook: 2% (Historic Average: 42% so big change there)
Hardback:10% (Historic Average: 5%)
Paperback: 8% (Historic Average: 35%)
Where'd I get the book
Chain bookstore: 6% (Historic Average: 4%)
Indie bookstore: 10% (Historic Average: 22%)
Kindle/Audible: 33% (Historic Average: 43%)
Library: 52% (Historic Average: 5% - big change here. Because I do mostly audiobooks now, and I can get audiobooks on my phone, this has been a great option)
Decade published
1920s: 4% (Historic Average: 0% - new decade unlocked. Turns out all my 1920s reading I had done prior to 2013.)
1930s: 8% (Historic Average: 1% - this, and the '20s, is all Agatha Christie)
1950s: 2% (Historic Average: 0.5%)
1960s: 4% (Historic Average: 1%)
1990s: 2% (Historic Average: 8%)
2000s: 23% (Historic Average: 17%)
2010s: 38% (Historic Average: 66%)
2020s: 19% (Historic Average: 0% cos it hadn't happened yet...)
Top Genres
Mystery: 23% (Historic Average: 5% - a lot of Christie this year)
Humor: 12% (Historic Average: 7%)
Fantasy: 8% (Historic Average: 4%)
Parenting: 8% (Historic Average: 2%)
Science: 8% (Historic Average: 3%)
Resolution books
54%
Historic Average: 46%
Making some progress here, if not necessarily in the areas that need the most work
What will this year look like? Well if this first week (can you believe it's only been a week instead of 6 months?) is any indication, probably going to be a lot of rereads. I mean, [spoiler alert] I've already started the year with a reread. But hopefully I can do better this year. Gotta have hope.
