Having just finished my first book (and audio) of 2014 – along with casting aside my DNF of the year – I’m thinking I’d really better wrap up 2013 before too much more time passes.
I’m not sure if anyone still cares to read yet another such list now that we’re twelve full days into January, but I tend to use this post as reference during the year, so I’m writing it anyway.
Number of Books Read in 2013: 70
This averages out to be five days per book, which I’m pleased about. My goal was 75 … oh, so close! Although I didn’t meet my goal, that’s a dramatic increase from 2012 when I read 57 books, but more in line with 2011′s total, which was 69.
To me, the main difference between 2012 and 2013 was my participation (or lack thereof) in reading challenges. I only signed up and completed one this year, and to be honest … I didn’t really miss them. I like the shorter challenges and read-alongs that bloggers come up in connection with a theme or an event, and I’ll probably continue to participate in those.
Number of Pages Read: 14,280
That’s an average of 204 pages per book and 39 pages read each day. This is almost identical to the daily averages from last year, although the total number of pages read is higher.
Number of female authors: 42
Number of male authors: 28
39 of the books I read (4%) were by new-to-me authors.
This isn’t surprising. I usually tend to read more female authors, and the number of new-to-me authors seems consistent, too. I envision this being the same for 2014.
Number of audiobooks listened to: 8
Total time listened (in days): 2.90 days
The number of audiobooks I listened to is down slightly from 2012, which is understandable. Most of my audiobook listening is done in the car and I wasn’t working full time (and out of the home) until mid-October. I expect this to go up significantly this year.
Books read on Kindle: 10
This is a 100% increase, which I’m happy about.
The average age (publication date) of the books I read was 7.8 years. That’s almost identical to last year. The oldest published book I read was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.
Genre Breakdown:
Fiction: 24
Nonfiction: 12
Memoirs: 12
Poetry: 10
Historical Fiction: 4
Young Adult: 4
Short Story Collections/Anthologies: 3
Fiction remained my most popular choice. Memoirs and nonfiction switched places this year. I read more nonfiction, but only one nonfiction title made my Best Of the Year list. I had a great year with poetry in 2013. I’d imagine this would be similar by the end of 2014.
Only 8 of these were books I owned (and several of them were on my Kindle). Eighteen of them were review books (either from TLC Book Tours, NetGalley, or the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). Two books were ones I edited. One book was borrowed from my mom. Everything else (40 books!) came from the library.
I read much less from my own shelves and more review books this year. I became a freelance book reviewer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in April, so that accounts for the increase in the review books. And there’s no way my library usage will decrease in 2014 because I work in a library now. Checking out books is an occupational hazard.
My median rating was 4.0, same as last year.
Author I read the most: Mark Doty (4 books)
Still Life with Oysters and Lemon
Paragon Park
Dog Years
Sweet Machine
There were 17 books that I abandoned in 2013.
In last week’s Salon, I gave you my choices for the best books I read in 2013. Here’s my complete list (links take you to my reviews):
70. Mother Love, by Elizabeth Cohen
69. Stitches: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope, and Repair, by Anne Lamott
68. Of a Feather, by Ken Goldman
67. Dr. Radway’s Sarsaparilla Resolvent, by Beth Kephart
66. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, by Elisabeth Tova Bailey
65. An Amateur’s Guide to the Pursuit of Happiness, by Britt Reints
64. Dog Years, by Mark Doty (audio)
63. The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism, by Naoki Higashida, translated by KA Yoshida and David Mitchell
62. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, by Erik Larson (audio)
61. Await Your Reply, by Dan Chaon (audio)
60. Blood Draw, by Melissa Luznicky Garrett
59. I’m Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted: A Memoir, by Jennifer Finney Boylan (audio)
58. The Glen Rock Book of the Dead, by Marion Winik
57. Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan
56. Raven Girl, by Audrey Niffenegger
55. Dirty Love, by Andre Dubus III (published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/13/2013)
54. The Returned, by Jason Mott
53. Paragon Park, by Mark Doty
52. Down the Up Escalator: How the 99% Live in the Great Recession, by Barbara Garson (audio)
51. Mornings Like This: Found Poems, by Annie Dillard
50. Songdogs, by Colum McCann
49. Sea Creatures, by Susanna Daniel
48. Help Thanks Wow: Three Essential Prayers, by Anne Lamott
47. Sweet Machine, Poems by Mark Doty
46. Swan, Poems and Prose Poems, by Mary Oliver
45. Still Life with Oysters and Lemon, by Mark Doty
44. Helen Keller in Love, by Rosie Sultan
43. The Burgess Boys, by Elizabeth Strout
42. Jacklight, Poems by Louise Erdrich
41. The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets, by Kathleen Alcott
40. Love is the Cure: On Life, Loss, and the End of AIDS, by Elton John
39. The Illusion of Separateness, by Simon Van Booy
38. Baptism of Desire, Poems by Louise Erdrich
37. The Grievers, by Marc Schuster
36. The Virgin Cure, by Ami McKay
35. In Persuasion Nation, Stories by George Saunders
34. E Street Shuffle: The Glory Days of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, by Clinton Heylin
33. The Light in the Ruins, by Chris Bohjalian (published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 8/25/2013)
32. The Other Typist, by Suzanne Rindell
31. Blood Type, by Melissa Luznicky Garrett
30. West Wind, by Mary Oliver
29. My Beef with Meat: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet, by Rip Esselstyn
28. When It Happens to You: A Novel in Stories, by Molly Ringwald (audio)
27. The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson (audio)
26. He’s Gone, by Deb Caletti
25. We the Animals, by Justin Torres
24. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
23. The Prophecy, by Melissa Luznicky Garrett
22. Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots, by Jessica Soffer
21. The Smart One, by Jennifer Close
20. Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story, by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor (audio)
19. Bloom: Finding Beauty in the Unexpected, a memoir, by Kelle Hampton
18. Carry On, Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed, by Glennon Doyle Melton
17. The Orchardist, by Amanda Coplin
16. The Spirit Keeper, by Melissa Luznicky Garrett
15. Why We Write: 20 Acclaimed Authors on How and Why They Do What They Do, edited by Meredith Maran
14. The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember, by Fred Rogers
13. Pittsburgh Memoranda, by Haniel Long
12. The Bird Saviors, by William J. Cobb
11. In Between Days, by Andrew Porter
10. Elegy, Poems by Mary Jo Bang
9. Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys
8. Open Heart, by Elie Wiesel
7. Bill and Hillary: The Politics of the Personal, by William H. Chafe
6. The Story of Ain’t: America, Its Language, and the Most Controversial Dictionary Ever Published, by David Skinner
5. Tenth of December: Stories by George Saunders
4. The Age of Miracles, by Karen Thompson Walter
3. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark (audio)
2: Eggshells and Elephants: My Cancer Journey Thus Far, by Jane Freund
1. Spark & Hustle: Launch and Grow Your Small Business Now, by Tory Johnson
So far, 2014 is off to a good reading start. More on that soon.