Monday 4 January 2010

End of year review 2009

In my first post on this blog, I wrote that by mid-October, I had read 100 books, reread 18 and read 13 trade paperbacks of the graphic novel 100 Bullets. At the end of 2009, I had read a total of 127 "new" books, reread 20, and never really got any more graphic novels under my belt. This year, as well as listing all the books I read (or reread) and the dates I finished them, I decided to record the page numbers, to work out at the end of each month, and then finally at the end of the year, just how many pages I'd read.

By the end of October, I had read a little over 50 000 pages. This made me set myself the short term goal of completing at least 60 000 pages by the end of December. I'm happy to say I made it. In 2007 I read a total of 155 different books and 60 777 pages. I also, because I was in a procrastinaty sort of mood, and a bit curious, sat down and worked out how much I'd read of each main genre.

Classifying each book as just ONE genre, even if said book may fit into two or more, this is the break-down:

Non-fiction: 2
General fiction: 6
Fantasy: 12
Comic trade paperbacks: 13
Mystery/crime/thriller: 13
Young Adult: 24
Paranormal fantasy: 35
Romance: 50

This amuses me, as in 2007, I did not read a single book that I would have classified as a romance first and foremost. But thanks to the discovery of sites like Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, Dear Author and All About Romance, I have rediscovered my love of good, decently written and well-plotted romance, and it really helps me keep sane from a job that is sometimes quite soul-crushing.

Since 2009 was also the end of a decade, I made my Best of the Decade-list as well. Here in alphabetical order, by author's name are the ten best books I read from 2000-2009:

The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
Kushiel's Dart - Jaqueline Carey
A Gathering Light - Jennifer Donnelly
Coraline - Neil Gaiman
Until I Find You - John Irving
Alphabet of Thorns - Patricia McKillip
Sunshine - Robin McKinley
The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
Shadow of the Wind - Louis Ruiz Zafon

My goal for 2010 is obviously to continue with The Cannonball Read. I have decided not to blog every single book I read, mostly because I tend to read a lot of series, and reading about each and every book would be boring to my readers (if I have any). It would also be a bit tedious to for me to blog about, I'm already having to treat the blogging a bit like homework. I'm going to try to read at least 100 "new" books, and I will probably blog about more of them than the required 35 I have left to complete the challenge. We shall see...

1 comment:

  1. Holy cow...! That's a lot of numbers. Really awesome that you can read so much!

    ReplyDelete