You’ll be sick of these soon… but what is the new year for but to share book-reading statistics? I’ll be revisiting the meme I started a few years ago – quite a simple one. I’ll be doing some comparing with the results I got in 2011.
Number of Books Read
135 – rather more than the scant 106 I managed last year.
Number of Books Bought
I don’t know, and you shouldn’t guess.
Fiction/Non-Fiction Ratio
95 fiction, 40 non-fiction – a higher percentage of non-fiction than ever before, which seems to be a growing trend – but does not reflect the books I have waiting on my shelves…
Male/Female Authors
45 books by men, 90 by women. My reading is always slanted towards female authors, but not usually this much. Maybe I should make 2013 the year of the male author. But I won’t.
Re-reads
Only 9 this year, and most of those were for my thesis.
Biggest turn-around in opinion
How could I not have realised how brilliant One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes was the first time?
Oldest book read
Castle Rackrent (1800) by Maria Edgeworth. And I didn’t like it.
Newest book read
My friend Karina’s Shrinking Violet (2012). And I loved it!
Shortest title
Mamma by Diana Tutton. Which unwittingly reveals my confession that I have read it, and never wrote about it! It’s not very much like Guard Your Daughters.
Books in translation
Only 8, which is far fewer than I’d imagined – from French, Swedish, Spanish, German, and Czech.
Most books by one author
6 each by Sylvia Townsend Warner and Muriel Spark – no surprises there, since I wrote a chapter on Sylvia Townsend Warner and co-led Muriel Spark Reading Week.
Place names in book titles
The Abbess of Crewe, Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris, Mrs. Harris Goes to New York, The Westminster Alice, Brighton Rock, The House in Paris, Lovers in London, Reginald in Russia.
Animals in book titles
Dear Octopus, When God Was A Rabbit, His Monkey Wife, Dewey the Library Cat, Lady Into Fox, Gentleman Into Goose, The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies.
Strange things that happened in the books I read this year
I loved doing this bit last year. Ok… A donkey played chess, a man turned into a teapot, another man turned into a bug, several people turned into flowers, parliament turned up with Alice in Wonderland, a ring turned people invisible, someone sought lots of Mr. Browns, someone sought lots of Mr. Blacks, a woman was haunted by a reappearing corridor, a nunnery was bugged, and a man married a monkey.
If this all sickens you completely, go and enjoy C.B. James’ irreverent take on end of year stats!
You read some strange books, Simon. ;) As informative as the other categories are, the strange things that happened in the books you read is easily my favourite and also a reminder that I clearly did not pay close enough attention to all your reviews this year since I can only identify a few of these!
It's great fun to write too! I thought I'd had quite a normal year, until I started compiling that… although the weirdest coincidence was reading a novel where someone goes through all the Mr. Blacks in the phone book, and going door to door – and then the same for Mr. Browns. Very odd!
And, I must confess, some of those weird things were either not mentioned in the reviews, or of books which I didn't end up reviewing.
Very nice! I found strange things that happened very compelling…now I will have to go back and check your reviews to see which ones I've missed. Sneaky! Also enjoyed the idea of shortest title — I hadn't really paid attention to such things. Yet.
Sneaky indeed! But be warned that I don't always mention the strange things when reviewing… though I might give the game away below.
Happy New Year Simon. I think I like your last category best ;-)
I love writing it! The strange things are always there…
Happy new year, Simon, and here's to much good reading ahead!
thanks Karen, and to you!
Happy New Year! Nice quirky stats, great fun. Here's to 2013.
thanks Annabel!
Here's a New Year's resolution question: how does everyone keep track of all the books they've read each year? Goodreads? LibraryThing? Paper diaries? So far all my attempts to keep a note of what I've read have ended in confusion – any suggestions?
Yours hopefully for 2013,
Vanessa
Hi Vanessa – I always use pen and paper – more specifically, I keep a list in the back of my journal.
I enjoyed reading your statistics, it looks like 2012 has been a good reading year. All the best for 2013! I really look forward to your Reading Presently project. I'm sure it's going to be something extraordinary!
One day for Reading Presently already! And what a great book it was (the Moran was from my brother for my birthday)
Happy New Year! I love your stats — the animals and the strange things especially!
thanks Elizabeth! They were such fun to compile :)
Happy New Year! Please provide your strange things with titles. The man turning into a bug is the only one I knew!
And I almost forgot to include that one when compiling the strange things!
Well, I will… ssshhhh, don't tell anyone…. in order, the titles are:
Caroline, Gentleman into Goose, Metamorphosis, Green Thoughts, The Westminster Alice, The Enchanted Castle, Mrs. Harris Goes To New York, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Uncanny Stories, The Abbess of Crewe, His Monkey Wife.
A very productive year simon ,a great round up of stats ,all the best stu happy new year
thanks Stu – a happy new year to you!
Happy, happy New Year dear Simon! I loved reading your stats and the last category cracked me up. I realise I am not paying anywhere near enough attention to the strange things that happen in the books I read. I will have to remedy this in 2013. I have One Fine Day on my bookshelf to read as soon as possible, and am most encouraged by your comments about it. Even if I hate it the first time around, there's hope for the second!
It is great fun to go back and see how many strange things happened! Especially since I took most of them in my stride whilst I was reading…
Can't wait to hear your thoughts on One Fine Day – and your second thoughts, if you don't like it the first time!
Happy new year Victoria :D
I love the strange things snippet and it was fun to try and work out which titles they came from… :)
Heehee! I have given the game away in a reply to AEH above…
I do love statistics! Thank you for your blog, and all the quirky books (to me) you read.
thanks Jo! Happy new year :)
Simon, I may have said this before, but you are so well organised! You always hit your reading targets, and you can do statistics on the books you've read in 2012,and you have tidy book shelves… I could make a New Year Resolution to be organised, but I wouldn't stick to it, so I won't bother! Happy New Year, and Happy Reading in 2013!
Thanks Christine! I will accept the reading targets and stats, but you obviously haven't seen my book shelves recently… ;) I do tend to have piles of books on every surface, too.
Somehow, the fact that you read the Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies cheered me up so much! Love that you care to admit it too. (Not that there's anything shameful, just.. not everyone does).
Have a very happy 2013, Simon!
After I admitted that I'd read High School Musical: The Book early in my blogging days, there was no longer any shame!
Happy new year :D
This is very inspiring. I am currently working on my statistics, not as elaborate as yours but will hopefully publish it soon.
great! :)
well, I did reach the scant 106…
here is my wrap-up, with pies and charts:
http://wordsandpeace.com/2013/01/03/year-of-reading-2012/
Wow! I'm very impressed by it all :)
Thank you so much for these statistics. It's always great to see what others have been doing throughout the year. Here are mine: http://momobookblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/statistics-2012.html
I'm catching up, so very late with my Happy New Year! I think you're onto a winner with Animals in Book Titles. Definitely the best categorization I've seen in the 2012 lists! I can only get bees, an oyster and a cat out of my reads.
Enjoyed your stats especially the strange things that happened in the books. I hope 2013 is off to s good start!