I’ve reviewed a few years now (2013; 2012; 2011), so we can do some comparisons.
Of the 135 books I read in 2014…
- 44% were nonfiction (45% last year)
- 44% were by female authors (48% last year)
- of the 75 novels I read, 33% were historical fiction, 20% were mysteries or thrillers, 24% were miscellaneous fiction, and 15% were fantasy. (Last year 37% were mysteries, 10% were historical fiction and the rest included classics and misc.)
- only 13% were audiobooks. (23% last year)
- 20% of the books I read came from the library, and a whopping 71% were review copies; the few remainders were either ones I already owned or were gifts. (Last year, 35% of the books I read came from the library, 43% were review copies, and 14% came from my personal collection.)
- I read 135 books this year, compared to 116 last year.
For the very *best* books I’ve read this year, see New Year’s Eve’s post.
How have my reading habits changed? Well, perhaps the biggest change is in all those books I read for review, over 70%. I did this on purpose, as part of my plan to quit my day job and move across the country (!). This trend will likely continue in the foreseeable future. It’s been a little tiring at a few moments, but overall is nothing I regret: I mostly get to read and review really good books, and I still love my job. I do regret the books I haven’t read yet, though. Currently begging for attention, for example, are Hemingway’s True at First Light and The Fifth Column; the remainder of Snyder’s Practice of the Wild; a fuller version of Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac; and all these:
(click to enlarge)
(and more). Sigh.
Also, you’ll see that I listened to fewer audiobooks. I spent my working year of 2014 taking the train to work rather than driving (hooray!), which let me read or listen; I can only guess that accounted for a lot of this change. I quit my job in October, too, which has left me with almost no audiobook time: just cleaning & gym time, is about it, since I don’t spend any time commuting any more. I miss my audiobooks, and have so many good ones loaded, too. I guess I should put in more gym time? New Year’s resolutions…
And, my fiction choices seem to have moved away from mystery/thrillers, in favor of historical fiction. I can’t quite explain the shift to hist fict, but I have made a conscious effort to read fewer mysteries. Aside from the outstanding ones (ahem), they can all begin to really sound alike.
What about you? How has 2014 stood up to your reading years in the past; and what do you foresee in the near future?
Whatever that may be, I wish you a happy new year, and happy reading!
Filed under: musings | Tagged: lists, year in review | 5 Comments »
