2014 Books

Overall Stats:

• Total Books Read:  207 (1 more than last year)
• Total Pages Read:  76,638 (2700 more than last year)
• Total Number of Books from a Series 135 or 65% (last year was 135 or 66%)
• Average Length of Book:  370 pages (359 pages last year)
• Author Most Read:  Joanne Fluke (Julia Quinn & Eloisa James last year)

Books Read by Month:

• January:  16 (8%)
• February:  16 (8%)
• March:  18 (9%)
• April:  21 (10%)
• May:  21 (10%)
• June:  18 (9%)
• July:  20 (10%)
• August:  17 (8%)
• September:  12 (6%)
• October:  18 (9%)
• November:  16 (8%)
• December:  14 (7%)

Last year, my biggest months were February and October.  But this year, I read more in April, May and July.

Books Read by Category:

• Classics:  5 (2%)
• Fantasy:  20 (10%)
• Fiction:  16 (8%)
• Historical Fiction:  1 (0%)
• Horror: 1 (0%)
• Juvenile:  32 (15%)
• Mystery:  38 (18%)
• Nonfiction:  1 (0%)
• Romance:  29 (14%)
• Science Fiction:  7 (3%)
• Supernatural:  32 (15%)
• Young Adult:  25 (12%)

Last year, I read  more of Supernatural fiction than anything else.  After that was YA then Fiction, Mystery, and Romance.  This year, I read more Mystery than anything else, followed by Supernatural and Juvenile, then Romance.  I know I read more Juvenile this year since I read the Helen Ruffin books with Em.

Books by Source:

• Library:  74 (36%)
• Owned:  77 (37%)
• Owned/Kindle:  56 (27%)

I didn’t borrow any books this year from non-Library sources.  I did read more of my books from the library.  I also read more of my own books in non-e-format.  I read much fewer Kindle books.

Books by Rating:

• A+:  12 (6%)
• A:  11 (5%)
• A-:  2 (1%)
• B+:  24 (12%)
• B:  17 (8%)
• B-:  24 (12%)
• C+:  22 (11%)
• C:  16 (8%)
• C-:  30 (14%)
• D+:  16 (8%)
• D:  10 (5%)
• D-:  12 (5%)
• F:  11 (5%)

So, did I do better about picking books this year?  Well, last year, I read 48 crappy books (D+ or lower), comprising 23% of my reading.  This year, I read 49 crappy books, also comprising 23%.  :-\  On the other end of the spectrum, last year, I read 27 (or 13%) A rated books last year and this year, I read 25 (or 12%).  So, yeah.

Best Books of the Year:

• Golden Fool by Rogin Hobb
• Fool’s Fate by Robin Hobb
• Red Rising by Pierce Brown
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold
• Passage by Lois McMaster Bujold
• The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JR Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

I did have MANY more A+ books this year.  However, look at the list.  5 of those are Harry Potter re-reads.  Pride and Prejudice, of course, is also a re-read.  Still, even putting those aside, I still had way more this year.  So yay me!

Worst Books of the Year:

• Curse of the Kingsmans by Emma Daniels & Ethan Somerville
• All I Want for Christmas is You by Lisa Mondello
• The Darkest Kiss by Gena Showalter
• Enchantment by Charlotte Abel
• Wolfsbane and Mistletoe by Charlaine Harris etc.
• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
• Cursor’s Fury by Jim Butcher
• Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik
• The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
• Ringworld by Larry Niven

Yeah.  I fully recognize that mine is probably not a popular opinion on quite a few of these.  Some are even a surprise for me (Butcher and Novik).  But in the end, F books are ones I finished and LOOOAAATTHED or that I couldn’t finish because I loathed them, but gave them a really good try.

In the same line as the stinky books, I also kept track of DNFs this year.  Of these Fs listed above, 6 I didn’t finish.  In addition to those, I didn’t finish at least 7 more.  However, since Goodreads counts a book as read only if you put a finish date in them and I neglected to manually add the date to my review, I’m not sure which other ones I tried this past year.  The 7 above are just ones that I added to GR in the last year and then marked DNF.  So, that’s something to do this year, yes?  If you’re interested, my DNF shelf is here.

And, I put teeny mini-reviews of all my books over on Goodreads.  Check me out there.