(Some of my favorite reads of 2017)
Here it is the end of January and I’ve just finally gotten around to looking at my reading stats for 2017. Sure, I’ve been busy like everyone else, but I’ve also put this off because I didn’t personally keep track of my reading last year.
I relied on Goodreads and, as many of us know, that’s not always accurate due to the occasional glitch and other issues, such as the user not paying particularly close attention to details when they’re adding books. *cough* That said, I did export my books today and spent some time with the spreadsheet, crunching the numbers.
Total books read in 2017: 56
My annual reading goal is always 52 books per year. This helps keep me on track to read a book a week, but also leaves plenty of time to read lengthy and/or dense books. I can spend two or three weeks reading a chunkster, which is “naturally” balanced by a few weeks where I’ll read two short books per week. I almost always easily get to 52 books a year. That said, there have been some years when I’ve read fewer books than the previous year, but more pages… but I digress.
The Details
The following numbers in various categories often won’t add up to 56, because some of the information is unknown and/or anthologies skew things a bit, but here goes:
About the Authors
- Books by Women: 33
- Books by Men: 20
- American: 33
- English: 12
- Australian: 4
- Irish: 2
- POC: 13
- Queer: 7
About the Books
Fiction: 37
- Mystery: 15
- Literary: 12
- Classics: 5
- Horror: 2
- YA: 2
- Play: 1
Nonfiction: 17
- Memoir: 5
- Graphic History: 4
- Biography: 3
- Self-Development: 3
- True Crime: 1
- Writing advice: 1
Format
- Paperback: 28
- Hardcover: 15
- Ebook: 6
- Audio: 5
Time Periods
- Oldest book read: Macbeth 1623
- Books published in 19th century: 3
- Books published in 20th century: 10
- Books published in 2017: 26
Other Details
- Re-reads: 2 – 1984 and Macbeth
- Longest time on TBR List: The Grapes of Wrath
- Longest book: 848 pages – Women Crime Writers of the 1940s
- Review copies: 16
You can read more about my favorite reads of 2017 by clicking here.
What these numbers make me want to do in 2018
- Read more history — I’m shocked by how little history I read this year.
- Read more classics — I read six classics last year and that’s not bad, but I’d like to challenge myself more. I plan to update my Classics Club list in February.
- Keep my own spreadsheet — I’m thinking that if I keep better track of what I’m reading from month-to-month that I’ll notice trends. This will help keep me focused on reading more of what I want to read and I’ll read fewer of those books that come to me from getting caught up in the moment (thanks to the excellent displays at local libraries and bookstores, not to mention my fellow book bloggers, podcasters, book tubers, and friends on social media who entice me with their excellent current reads. So many books! 🤓). I’m not knocking getting swept up in the moment — I’ve found loads of good reads that way — but there are so many classics and backlist titles that I want to get to, and historical events and time periods that I want to learn about, that I want to be sure to focus my reading in these directions.
How about You?
Do you keep stats on your reading? How do you do it? Spreadsheet? Notebook?
If you’ve written a post about your 2017 stats, please link it below or, if you prefer, just share some highlights in the comments.