This was an interesting year for me, reading wise. I had hoped to read a lot more than I did, yet at 110 books read in 2010 I have nothing to complain about. I'm not totally sure what kept me from reading as much, was it working on home renovations, was it spending more time running on the weekends, was it not going on vacation like I have in years past (I'm usually able to read a lot on vacations), was it something else I haven't thought of? Honestly, it's probably a combination of all of this.
Here are some stats for the year:
Total books read: 111
Pages read: 26,466
New Authors: 48
Mystery: 49
Non-Fiction: 2
Fiction: 45
Young Adult: 15
Audio: 29
DNF: 2
A major surprise for this year was the number of audio books I read. At 29 audio books, that's 15 more than the year before. I seemed to embrace audio books this year. I know that mostly it's because I had a long compute, something that hasn't been there in years past. When you drive about 50 miles every day to work (well..5 days a week anyway) you can really get in some time listening to audio books. However I also found that I loved the audio books. The few times when I finished an audio book and didn't have another one at home waiting for me, I found that I listened to music but wasn't satisfied with it, I craved an audio book. I'm really looking forward to listening to more in 2011.
I also participated in 19 reading challenges in 2010. I must be crazy. The cool thing is that I was able to complete 16 of them. I knew I took on a lot and was nuts attempting that many challenges, but pleasantly surprised when I realized just how well I did. I was close to finishing two of the challenges as well, only a total of 3 books away from having them completed. The one I wasn't close to finishing was the Pages Read. I was 4,534 pages away from that one.
One surprise this year is that I tended to read a lot more of the books I already owned instead of buying a ton. I still like to buy books, I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy owning them. I also like knowing I'm supporting the author's by doing so. However, I found that the majority of the ones I did buy, was done at 2 of the large used book fairs we have in St. Louis every year. I went a little crazy but boy did I get some good books. For 2011, I plan to read more of the books I already own. It feels good to read them. However, I already have a list of books I want to read next year that I don't own, so I'll be buying more, possibly more than I did this year. One change for next year is that I'm going to keep track of how many books I read that I own as of 1/1/2011 and how many I read that I purchase. I'm only doing this because I'm interested to see what the numbers will end up being. Those books that won't be included are ones I receive for review.
I hope you all had a great reading year in 2010 and let's hope 2011 is even better!
3 comments:
Wow, great job! I read just 2/3 books a month so I can't imagine reading over 100 in a year!
Congratulations on the challenges, I'm going to do a few fo 2011. With the move behind me and training coming to an end (run is next week)... I'm looking forward to a quiet year and time to read more (exploring countries/cultures more).
Happy New Years!
It sounds like you had a great reading year, Kris. I love how you summarize your progress, the surprises and your goals for next year. I hope you have a great New Year!
Thanks Mari! Heck...you spent a lot more time running than I did! Good luck with your run, I envy you yet at the same time not sure I could ever do it. I can't wait to hear how you did.
Literary Feline - Thanks, I think this is the first year where I really sat down and analyzed/summarized how I did..I enjoyed it and I can see myself doing it again next year. I think it's like lists..I love lists...and now I'm getting hooked on keeping track of different things and analyzing what I find. lol
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