Year | Books Read |
2003/04 | 151 |
2004/05 | 129 |
2005/06 | 141 |
2006/07 | 129 |
2007/08 | 152 |
2008/09 | 161 |
2009/10 | 157 |
2010/11 | 139 |
2011/12 | 184 |
2012/13 | 195 |
2013/14 | 148 |
2014/15 | 146 |
2015/16 | 149 |
SUM | 1981 |
MEAN | 152.4 |
The past three years have been remarkably consistent. Apparently a book every 2.5 days is the pace I will always have no matter what. But actually it doesn't really work like that:
Click to enlarge. |
As you can see, I had nine months that were below average, and three months that were above average-- but two of them were significantly above average, and made up a lot of ground at the last minute. If I'd read in July and August like I had the rest of the year, I'd have finished the year with 120 books, which would have been my worst year ever! I'm not really sure what happened to inflate my numbers so much late in the year. A combination of a bunch of comic books coming up on my list at the same time I began riding the bus almost every day again? (But I rode the bus a lot in March and April, and those don't really stand out.)
Here's what I've been reading this year: (I broke out series/authors only if I read more than one book of that series/author)
SERIES/GENRE/AUTHOR | # OF BOOKS | BOOKS/ MONTH | % OF ALL BOOKS |
Doctor Who | 9 | 0.8 | 6.0% |
Star Trek | 8 | 0.7 | 5.4% |
Star Wars | 8 | 0.7 | 5.4% |
Media Tie-In Subtotal | 25 | 2.1 | 16.8% |
H. G. Wells1 | 8 | 0.7 | 5.4% |
Other SF&F | 9 | 0.8 | 6.0% |
General SF&F Subtotal | 17 | 1.4 | 11.4% |
Batman | 17.5 | 1.5 | 11.7% |
Legion of Super-Heroes | 6.5 | 0.5 | 4.4% |
Birds of Prey | 5 | 0.4 | 3.4% |
The Sandman | 4 | 0.3 | 2.7% |
Supergirl | 1.5 | 0.1 | 1.0% |
DC Crisis Crossovers2 | 2 | 0.2 | 1.3% |
Superman | 1.5 | 0.1 | 1.0% |
Batgirl | 1.5 | 0.1 | 1.0% |
Other DCU Comics | 9 | 0.8 | 6.0% |
The Transformers | 12 | 1.0 | 8.1% |
Thor | 2 | 0.2 | 1.3% |
Calvin and Hobbes | 2 | 0.2 | 1.3% |
Top Ten | 2 | 0.2 | 1.3% |
Other Comics3 | 6 | 0.5 | 4.0% |
Comics Subtotal | 73 | 6.1 | 49.0% |
James Bond by Ian Fleming | 3 | 0.3 | 2.0% |
Victorian Literature | 8 | 0.7 | 5.4% |
Other Literature | 5 | 0.4 | 3.4% |
General Literature Subtotal | 16 | 1.3 | 10.7% |
Other Nonfiction4 | 18 | 1.5 | 12.1% |
1. This actually includes both science fiction and literature by Wells, but I can't be bothered to separate them back out for the purposes of this report.
2. This also include novels about these comics-originated characters/premises.
3. Comics based on a particular series (e.g., Doctor Who or Star Trek) are included with that series's count.
4. Nonfiction connected to a particular series or author (e.g., Doctor Who or George Eliot) is included in that series or author's count.
I knew I was reading a lot more comic books these days, but I would have not guessed they accounted for almost half of my reading! (Last year they accounted for just under a third.) My wife says it's cheating.
As usual, I picked a book every month as the "Pick of the Month"; here's the full list in alphabetical order by author:
- The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
- Science: A Four Thousand Year History by Patricia Fara
- Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor: Nothing O'Clock by Neil Gaiman
- The Heart of Thomas by Moto Hagio
- Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor: The Beast of Babylon by Charlie Higson
- 2001: A Space Odyssey by Peter Krämer
- On the Beach by Nevil Shute
- The Mighty Thor, Vol. 1 by Walter Simonson
- The Mighty Thor, Vol. 2 by Walter Simonson
- Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther
- Experiment in Autobiography: Discoveries and Conclusions of a Very Ordinary Brain (Since 1866) by H. G. Wells
- The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
Finally, here's my usual graph of my reading trends over time:
Click to enlarge. |
You can compare this to previous years if you're interested: 2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10, 2011/12, 2012/13, 2014/15. (I didn't do ones for 2010/11 and 2013/14.)
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