2011 was quite the strange year for me due to the arrival of The Floppy Alienette in my generally uninhabited body...errr..I got pregnant. The transition to pregosaurus was not an easy one for me as I had two miscarriages prior to this pregnancy which made five months in the middle of the year rather impossible for reading and blogging. Once the worry diminished, preparation time began, meaning I've had a rather lackadaisical year here on the blog.
THE BIGGIES
| Books Read | 96 | Pages Read | 29510 |
| New Books | 71 | Re-reads | 25 |
| Fiction | 83 | Non-Fiction | 13 |
I read 47 LESS books this year than last, and that doesn't really surprise me or make me sad. I re-read more books this year than normal because I wanted escapism, effortless escapism. Like I said, this was one strange year for me.
THE AUTHORS
| Male | 45 | Female | 52 |
| Alive | 87 | Dead | 9 |
| New To Me | 47 | 2+ Books/Author | 9 |
Yet again, my male-female ratio is pretty evenly split despite the fact that I make absolutely no effort in this area. I, yet again, failed miserably to read more dead authors this year.
THE BOOKS
| Age | Adult | 51 | YA | 38 | Middle/Children | 7 |
| Format | Novels | 88 | Short Stories | 4 | Plays | 2 |
| Graphic Novels | 2 | Misc. | 0 | eBooks | 21 |
| Source | Bought | 44 | Borrowed / Library | 8 | Gift/Win/Free | 17 |
| Swap Site | 5 | Review Copy | 22 | BEA | 0 |
As always, I primarily read adult novels that I bought at one point or another. Luckily, the "bought" does not mean I bought it this year; it just means that I spent my own money to acquire the book at one point or another. I only read 5 ebooks last year, so I'm making a bit of progress on that front, but still 21 is pretty minimal...
GENRES
I'm totally copping out on genres this year. Honestly, I've never been satisfied with genre classifications, and I really need to rework my labeling system in a more personal way.
MONTHS
| January | 13 | July | 5 |
| February | 7 | August | 2 |
| March | 9 | September | 4 |
| April | 7 | October | 8 |
| May | 11 | November | 8 |
| June | 16 | December | 5 |
My pattern seemed to reflect my emotional state: January normal, Feb. thinking about trying to get pregnant, March making the decision, April trying, May distraction from pregnancy tests, June overwhelming re-read as I realize I'm pregnant, July/August/September stressed over pregnancy, October/November/December planning for baby.
Overall, I am neither disappointed nor pleased with my reading stats. The year was so unusual that I can't make any sort of intelligent comments on it.
I'd be far from worried about any lack of reading here! You've been such a busy bee regardless of any practical or emotional ups and downs. 2011 was a crappy year for me, and that's also reflected in the books that I read. I think people fail to take this into account sometimes.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, your male to female ratio amazes me. I haven't counted mine, but I am definitely more biased towards men.
Congratulations with your pregnancy, and I wish you all the best with it!
The REAL question is: Have you decided what to read to your baby to put them to sleep? I recommend long verse, works l ike GANGBUSTERS. :D
ReplyDeleteOr, maybe HP Lovecraft.
I read 89 fewer books this year, and I am so completely happy about that. :D I know, I'm silly.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that your stress from this summer is over and you're in prep mode now. Can't wait to meet the floppy alienette! And Jason's right - Laurence fell right to sleep every night as Jason read him Aurora Leigh, intoning it like a Catholic priest. :D Of course, Morrigan and Ambrose fell right to sleep as Jason read them The Hobbit and Little Women (respectively), too. :D
Hey I am impressed. When I was going through all of this type of thing (ages ago, but still) I read NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. It is a wonder I made it through with my sanity. Almost a hundred books is amazing. I always get a kick out of your stats. Are you sure you aren't an accountant at heart?
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed too! I think I would have spent the year reading "what to do when the baby comes" and that sort of thing! And I love the charts - very nice!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you managed to get a lot of reading in there despite everything on your plate.
ReplyDeleteBethany - I have no idea why my male-female ratio works out that way as I pay no attention to it; I do think that most men are adult lit and most women are YA though.
ReplyDeleteJason - Oooohhhh, I love it. I have already made the decision to read whatever I'm reading to the baby for a solid chunk of time. Some people look at me like I'm crazy when I say that. :)
Amanda - Your 89 books less still puts you a head of me, so I can definitely see the appeal. :) If you read too much (especially new books, not re-reads) you remember even less of what you read (at least I do).
Sandy - I swear I'm not a number person at all unless it comes to book stats. :)
Jill - I didn't want to read any baby books because they always mention the "problems" and I didn't want to freak myself out any more than I already was. I may need to read one or two now in the next month though as I have no clue what I'm doing. :)
Anna - The joy of re-reading romance novels. :) Super easy to read.
I think that your numbers are incredible considering the changes that you've had this year, and I am glad that you aren't stressing over not having read hundreds of books, because frankly, the little one is so much more important! It will be interesting to see how your reading changes once she arrives. I love your organization in this post as well!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!!
I love how much of your time was devoted to rereads. I think that's so important. (Congrats on the baby!)
ReplyDeleteI am not sure why, but I burst out laughing that you are upset you didn't read more books by dead authors this year. I just had this (funny, but I suppose morbidly so) picture in my head of a horde of authors jumping off a cliff in sacrifice to your meeting your goal :-)
ReplyDeleteYou are reading! You crazies who are disappointed in reading more than the average American will read in a lifetime amaze me. ;) I say this with love and affection.
ReplyDeleteI've never done such an extensive reading recap, but you just may have inspired me to do so. Happy New Year!
This is a fascinating break down. I never even bother to think about these things but I should, just to see what my reading habits look like.
ReplyDeleteI love your lists! Congrats on the baby - when are you due?
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great overview! I've been meaning to compile something like this, but I keep putting it off! And congratulations on the pregnancy! I'm in that trying/stressing stage :|
ReplyDeleteHeather - I am wondering how my reading will change too.
ReplyDeleteJillian - I am a big fan of re-reads too!
Aarti - I am rather powerful, so this may happen. :)
Picky - I enjoy doing my end of year stats. And I know it's nutso to worry about my reading when I read so very very much....but I must obsess.
Jenny - I think it's cool to see what my numbers are like year to year, especially since I rarely make an actual effort to do anything different with my reading.
Sheila - I'm due January 27! (but ready anytime...)
Natalie - Thanks! And good luck!
Wow, you re-read tons. I started reading and blogging after my baby, she is 4 now so you will find your way and balance.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year
I'm stunned you read as much as you did...and were still able to write exceptional, thorough, intelligent, reviews...WHOA! I don't know if I read a thing during my first two pregnancies (only 16 months apart...I felt like I was either pregnant or nursing for 3 straight years!) I am impressed! :)
ReplyDeleteAarti's comment kind of cracked me up :P I never thought of keeping track of that, but since my mental definition of classic is "50+ years old" I guess most would qualify.
ReplyDeleteMarce - I definitely re-read a lot this year. No stress reading!
ReplyDeletePeppermint - Thanks so much! I felt very lazy with blogging this year so that's nice to hear.
Ana - I've never been able to determine what a classic is, so I decided a few years ago to do dead v. alive. This coming year I'm actually dividing into time periods(beginnings to 100 ce, 101 - 1499, and so on). I haven't determined the exact separation dates yet though. :)
What a year - 96 books is very impressive even with all your (happy) distractions!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing what 2012 brings on your blog!
It's going to get even more weird with the arrival of the alienette!! I'm looking forward to seeing this play out during the new year!!!
ReplyDeleteWishing you a wonderful 2012 filled with 5 star reads!
I'm amazed at how much you did read with everything you had going on! I'm really excited for you, Trisha, and can't wait to follow your journey into motherhood!
ReplyDeleteAlthough you read less, you still read a huge amount of books. Congrats! With the new baby arriving soon, I hope you are able to get some reading in.
ReplyDeleteTrisha, that's a really interesting thing you say about adult and YA literature. I read pretty much no YA lit, and that could be the clue!
ReplyDeletewow, you sure still read a lot of books! Best of luck in the last weeks before baby comes!!
ReplyDeleteI didn't look at my reading by month this year but I'm pretty sure there was a big drop when my morning sickness started :)
Loved, as always, reading your stats. Congrats on a really great year despite all of the other issues.
ReplyDelete