Excluding abandoned books, but including any re-reads I bothered to track, here are some Facts about my year in reading.
Books finished: 74
Oldest book: She by H. Rider Haggard (1887)
Read old books! They’re great sometimes. This one has magic, powerful women, pillars of fire, and immortality, as well as imperialist racism, terrible sexism, and other fun bits of black mold.
Longest book (by Goodreads page count):Â Dune by Frank Herbert (537). Runner-up:Â Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (522).
Average rating: 3.87
This seems utterly absurd to me!!! That’s a really high average. Have I gotten so profligate with my star ratings? Last year I was at 3.8, which astonished me at the time. Looking back — 2014 was 3.42, and 2013 was 3.64. Maybe I’ve gotten better about dropping bad books. Maybe I’m going soft.
Rating distribution:
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 = 18 books
🌟🌟🌟🌟 = 32 books
🌟🌟🌟 = 21Â books
🌟🌟 = 3 books
🌟 =Â 0 books
Phew, that’s a lot of highly rated books.
Largest divergence from average rating: -2.21 (My 2 stars up against the average 4.21 stars)
Last year, the books I read and liked more than average were interesting to me. This year they are not. This year the books I liked less are interesting, but it still feels mean to harp on that.Things are not to everyone’s tastes.
I’m thinking of trying something different next year. I might abandon Goodreads in the end, but for now I’m going to double-log. Goodreads stats are awkward to parse at the end of the year, and don’t really give me the info I necessarily want.
To come: Should I review my paltry accomplishments in reading poetry and romance? Will I come up with some other way to talk about 2016? Will I set actual reading goals for 2017 or continue to let impulse guide me? ehhh who knows.