Opinions of a Wolf

Every year, I wrap up the old year and start the new one here on the blog with a look back at my reading stats.  You can see my stats for the years 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 by clicking on the years.

Total books read: 52
Average books read per month: 4.33
Month most read: July with 7
Month least read: September with 2. This is no big surprise, since that’s the month I got married!
Longest book read: The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson with 763 pages

Fiction: 46 (88.5%)
Nonfiction: 6 (11.5%) (I read slightly less nonfiction this year.)

Series: 26 (50%)
Standalone: 26 (50%)
(I’m fascinated that this wound up exactly 50/50!)

Formats:
–print:  13 (25%) (Almost the same as last year.)
–ebook: 27 (51.9%)
–graphic novel: 2 (3.8%) (I successfully read 2 of the graphic novels I already own. I believe I have 2 left.)
–audiobook: 10 (19.2%)

New Categories
I decided to track a few new categories this year.  The author’s gender, whether the book is indie or traditional, the publication year of the book, and the target age-range.  Snazzy graphs for all of these!

I read more female than male authors.  This isn’t a surprise, since I actively seek out scifi and fantasy by female authors.

You will definitely hear about some indie books if you follow this book blog! 😉 Note that I only accepted 6 ARCs to read this year, so that means I read 7 indie books I sought out myself.

I mostly read books from the 2000s. I did solidly touch upon the 1970s and 1980s.  I’d like to read a bit more from older books next year.  Maybe up to more like 20% to 25% of my total.

I mostly read adult books.

Genres:
–Scifi: 14 (26.9%)
The subgenre I read the most of in scifi was dystopian (28.6%).
–Fantasy: 13 (25%)
The subgenre I read the most of in fantasy was urban fantasy (46.2%)
–Historic Fiction: 5
–Horror: 5
–Contemporary: 4
–Nonfiction history: 4
–Romance: 4
–GLBTQ: 3
–Mystery: 3
–Nonfiction science: 3
–Chick lit: 2
–Alternate history: 1
–Erotica: 1
–Nonfiction cookbook: 1
–Nonfiction self-help / psych: 1

Number of stars:
–5 star reads: 3 (6%)
–4 star reads: 26 (50%)
–3 star reads: 20 (38%)
–2 star reads: 3 (6%)
–1 star reads: 0 (0%)

This was a slower reading year than last year, but given everything that happened (my wedding and the loss of my father), I’m happy I was able to make my goal of one book a week.  Honestly, next year I intend to keep the same goal and focus my energy on writing more. I think a book a week is a good amount for a writer to read.

My new stats I tracked this year show with hard data what I already know.  I mostly read adult books and read more female than male authors, although I do still read a strong minority of male authors.  I also read a strong minority of indie books.  I’m interested to see how this changes with time, and with some of my new reading goals, which are such a big deal I’m going to be making a whole separate post about them.

I’m disappointed I only had three 5 star reads this year.  Where were the heart-gripping life-changing books?

The other thing of note is that half of my reads were scifi or fantasy.  This blog is half scifi/fantasy and half eclectic, lol.  I noticed throughout the year I wasn’t wanting to read thrillers, but I didn’t realize I’d read none.  I’ve definitely changed from a thriller reader to a mystery reader.

Normally I would talk a bit more about my future goals, but as I mentioned earlier, those are significant enough this year that they deserve their own future post. So keep an eye out for that!

I hope you all had a good reading year and found my reviews helpful in your pursuit of good books.  Sending best wishes for everyone’s 2016!