BOOK RIOT » Forum http://bookriot.com Always books. Never boring. Fri, 31 Oct 2014 18:48:58 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Do You Read Comics?: Poll Results http://bookriot.com/2014/10/30/read-comics-poll-results/ http://bookriot.com/2014/10/30/read-comics-poll-results/#comments Thu, 30 Oct 2014 10:34:44 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=71295 This month’s poll is sponsored by Kobo. Kobo has over 4 million eBooks in dozens of categories – from bestsellers to indie breakouts, plus world-class eMagazines and over 100,000 kids’ titles. And with the free Kobo App, you can read right on … Continued

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This month’s poll is sponsored by KoboKobo has over 4 million eBooks in dozens of categories – from bestsellers to indie breakouts, plus world-class eMagazines and over 100,000 kids’ titles. And with the free Kobo App, you can read right on your smartphone, tablet or computer – and switch between devices without losing your spot. Plus, purchases through Kobo can support your local independent bookstore.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

Comics are having something of a moment. There are a floppity jillion comic book adaptations on the slate; people who have never read comics before are giving them a shot; and there’s been a real shift in the cultural conversation around the medium. We’re excited about it (which is why, you know, we recently launched a comics site called Panels), so we got curious about how many Riot readers are into comics as well.

530 Riot readers responded to the poll. Let’s have a look! And remember: the data are most likely not representative of all Riot readers. Folks who are into comics are more likely to opt into a survey of this nature, and a whole host of other factors could also affect responses.

Have you ever read a comic?

523 responses

ever read a comic

Yes: 505

No: 18

Have you read any comics this year?

522 responses

read comics 2014

Yes: 488

No: 34

How many comics/series do you read regularly?

508 responses

Range: 0-75

Mean: 5.3

Median: 3

Mode: 0

comics reading habits

This is where it gets interesting. Most readers report that they have read at least one comic this year, but more than 22% (116) reported that they don’t read any comics regularly. Of readers who do keep up with some comics/series, most read 20 or fewer comics regularly. Is that a lot? A little? Are these readers who make casual forays into comics? I have questions! It’ll be fascinating to see how this stacks up with the survey we’ll do of Panels readers someday.

Here’s a closer look at the spread without the outliers who reported keeping up with 21 or more comics on a regular basis. It’s interesting to see the little spikes at 10 and 15, and I wonder how much of that has to do with readers guesstimating and rounding.

comics habits without outliers

In which format(s) do you read comics?

This was an open-ended item that allowed readers to enter any and all formats in their own words. Rather than providing pre-selected formats for readers to choose from, we identified the most common responses and divided the data into the groups you see below.

503 responses.

comics formats

Print: 453

Digital: 237

Webcomics: 15

Readers reporting multiple formats: 195

Print comics–both issues and trade paperbacks (which were grouped together for this poll because we did not ask readers to specify preference)–are clearly the dominant format, but digital gets a good amount of love too, and it’s interesting that so many readers (38.7%) read in multiple formats. Slightly more Riot readers consume digital comics than read ebooks, at least according to our 2013 reading habits survey. This could be a real difference (maybe people who are new to comics feel more comfortable downloading than going into a comics shop?), or there could be systematic differences between the populations who responded to the surveys, or an artifact of the time and developments in digital reading since the last survey.

Any thoughts? How does this stack up with your experience of reading comics?

_________________________

Check out other Riot polls:

Book Riot Readers’ 50 Favorite Novels

The 25 Most-Hated Books (by Book Riot Readers)

19 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read FOREVER

20 Books You Pretend to Have Read

Top 10 Books You’re Embarrassed to Admit You’ve Read

20 Most-Loved Literary Characters

Are These the 13 Most Underrated Books?

20 Books You Love to Give as Gifts

Your 25 Favorite Authors of Color

The Book Riot 2013 Reading Habits Survey

The Great TBR Poll: Results

The Top 17 Books That Make You Feel Dumb

The Great Book Budget Poll

The 35 Most Powerful Books You’ve Read

The Great Audiobook Survey

Your 25 Favorite Books from Assigned Reading

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Do You Read Comics? http://bookriot.com/2014/10/15/read-comics/ http://bookriot.com/2014/10/15/read-comics/#comments Wed, 15 Oct 2014 10:36:29 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=70790 This month’s poll is sponsored by Kobo. Kobo has over 4 million eBooks in dozens of categories – from bestsellers to indie breakouts, plus world-class eMagazines and over 100,000 kids’ titles. And with the free Kobo App, you can read right on … Continued

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This month’s poll is sponsored by KoboKobo has over 4 million eBooks in dozens of categories – from bestsellers to indie breakouts, plus world-class eMagazines and over 100,000 kids’ titles. And with the free Kobo App, you can read right on your smartphone, tablet or computer – and switch between devices without losing your spot. Plus, purchases through Kobo can support your local independent bookstore.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

By now, I hope you’ve heard that we here at the Riot recently launched a site devoted to comics. Panels is off to a grand start, and since we have comics on the brain lately, we thought we’d dedicate this month’s reader poll to talking about them. We’re curious folks, you know, and we’re interested in how many Book People are also Comics People.

Complete the form below by 11:59pm Eastern, next Wednesday, October 22nd. We’ll crunch the numbers and report back with a summary of findings in a few weeks!

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Your 25 Favorite Books From Assigned Reading http://bookriot.com/2014/09/29/25-favorite-books-assigned-reading/ http://bookriot.com/2014/09/29/25-favorite-books-assigned-reading/#comments Mon, 29 Sep 2014 10:36:02 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=70131 In our latest reader poll, we asked you to tell about your favorite books from assigned school reading. There were no rules or restrictions, no genre requirements, no statements about which years of school counted or didn’t: just your favorite books from school reading, … Continued

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In our latest reader poll, we asked you to tell about your favorite books from assigned school reading. There were no rules or restrictions, no genre requirements, no statements about which years of school counted or didn’t: just your favorite books from school reading, period.

1142 Riot readers answered the call, sharing 660 unique titles. (Participants were allowed to nominate up to 3 books.) Here are the top 25 selections. Any surprises? Do these square with your favorites? If you’re in the mood for a deeper dive, here’s the full data set.

  1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (281 votes)
  2. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (165)
  3. Lord of the Flies by William Golding (83)
  4. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (79)
  5. 1984 by George Orwell (73)
  6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (70)
  7. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (62)
  8. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (60)
  9. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (58)
  10. The Giver by Lois Lowry (56)
  11. Hamlet by William Shakespeare (48)
  12. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (47)
  13. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (47)
  14. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (44)
  15. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (43)
  16. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (40)
  17. Animal Farm by George Orwell (37)
  18. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (37)
  19. A Separate Peace by John Knowles (37)
  20. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (36)
  21. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (33)
  22. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (33)
  23. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (31)
  24. Macbeth by William Shakespeare (29)
  25. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (26)

It’s no surprise to see Harper Lee in first place here, as To Kill a Mockingbird is by far the most common (and has become the most expected) response to almost any survey about favorite books/characters/authors we conduct. Interesting to see that 8 of the 20 writers mentioned here are women. That’s a better gender balance than I would have expected given dead white guys’ popularity on syllabi. It’s disappointing but also not terribly surprising, given the popularity of dead white guys, to see only one book by a person of color. I was happy to see some young adult titles make the list, including The Outsiders, which is arguably the first modern young adult novel, and The Giver.

Here’s how these favorite assigned books overlap with Riot readers’ favorite novels, most-hated books, and the ones we just pretend to have read.

Assigned and Favorite Assigned and Hated Assigned and Pretend

 

What are your thoughts and questions and theories about these results?

Check out other Riot polls:

Book Riot Readers’ 50 Favorite Novels

The 25 Most-Hated Books (by Book Riot Readers)

19 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read FOREVER

20 Books You Pretend to Have Read

Top 10 Books You’re Embarrassed to Admit You’ve Read

20 Most-Loved Literary Characters

Are These the 13 Most Underrated Books?

20 Books You Love to Give as Gifts

Your 25 Favorite Authors of Color

The Book Riot 2013 Reading Habits Survey

The Great TBR Poll: Results

The Top 17 Books That Make You Feel Dumb

The Great Book Budget Poll

The 35 Most Powerful Books You’ve Read

The Great Audiobook Survey

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What Are Your Favorite Books From Assigned School Reading? http://bookriot.com/2014/09/04/favorite-books-assigned-school-reading/ http://bookriot.com/2014/09/04/favorite-books-assigned-school-reading/#comments Thu, 04 Sep 2014 10:36:40 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=69262 Whether the back-to-school season has you longing for the days of Trapper Keepers and fresh new textbooks or sighing in gratitude for your grown-up-ness, chances are good (at least, I hope they are!) that you had a few memorable reading experiences … Continued

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Whether the back-to-school season has you longing for the days of Trapper Keepers and fresh new textbooks or sighing in gratitude for your grown-up-ness, chances are good (at least, I hope they are!) that you had a few memorable reading experiences in school. So in this month’s Riot reader poll, we want to know about your favorite books from assigned school reading.

Enter up to 3 titles in the form below by 11:59pm Eastern, Thursday, September 11. We’ll tally up the favorites and share the results in a few weeks.

A few formatting requests to make processing the responses more efficient:

  • Begin your entry with the book’s title, not the author’s name. Entries like “Austen – Pride and Prejudice” make things a little hairier.
  • Do NOT put quotation marks around book titles.
  • Do not enter additional information into the form. It’s great if you have a fun story about how or why you loved the book, but we can’t include it in the data analysis.

Thanks!

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The 35 Most Powerful Books You’ve Read http://bookriot.com/2014/07/10/35-powerful-books-youve-read/ http://bookriot.com/2014/07/10/35-powerful-books-youve-read/#comments Thu, 10 Jul 2014 10:33:30 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=66973 In our latest reader poll, we asked about the most powerful books you’ve read. Not necessarily your favorites, or the ones that gave you the most enjoyable reading experiences, but the books that left a lasting impression on you and maybe even changed your … Continued

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In our latest reader poll, we asked about the most powerful books you’ve read. Not necessarily your favorites, or the ones that gave you the most enjoyable reading experiences, but the books that left a lasting impression on you and maybe even changed your life.

1037 Riot readers answered the call, each sharing up to three selections. After removing unusable entries (did you know that bookternet trolls like to write naughty words into surveys?) and a few authors’ obvious attempts to game the system (don’t do that, we’ll catch you), we wound up with 1158 unique titles. That is A LOT of unique titles, and even the top title was only mentioned by 11% of readers. This tells me that what makes a book powerful has a whole lot do with who we are as readers. But there were some far-and-away favorites. Check out the top 35 below, and click to see the full response set.

Did the most powerful books you’ve read make the list? Any surprised? What do you think?

  1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (123 votes)
  2. The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling (59)
  3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (54)
  4. 1984 by George Orwell (38)
  5. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (36)
  6. The Bible (33)
  7. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (30)
  8. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (30)
  9. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (28)
  10. Beloved by Toni Morrison (27)
  11. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (25)
  12. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (20)
  13. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (19)
  14. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (19)
  15. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (18)
  16. East of Eden by John Steinbeck (18)
  17. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (18)
  18. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (18)
  19. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (18)
  20. The Giver by Lois Lowry (17)
  21. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (17)
  22. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (16)
  23. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (16)
  24. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (16)
  25. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (15)
  26. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (15)
  27. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (14)
  28. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (14)
  29. The Color Purple by Alice Walker (14)
  30. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (14)
  31. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (14)
  32. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (14)
  33. Night by Elie Wiesel (14)
  34. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (13)
  35. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (13)

And here’s a look at how some of the most powerful books overlap with some of Book Riot readers’ 50 favorite novels. Thanks to fellow Rioter Minh Le for the graphic.

BR Favorites Powerful Poll

Check out other Riot polls:

Book Riot Readers’ 50 Favorite Novels

The 25 Most-Hated Books (by Book Riot Readers)

19 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read FOREVER

20 Books You Pretend to Have Read

Top 10 Books You’re Embarrassed to Admit You’ve Read

20 Most-Loved Literary Characters

Are These the 13 Most Underrated Books?

20 Books You Love to Give as Gifts

Your 25 Favorite Authors of Color

The Book Riot 2013 Reading Habits Survey

The Great TBR Poll: Results

The Top 17 Books That Make You Feel Dumb

The Great Book Budget Poll

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What Are the Most Powerful Books You’ve Read? http://bookriot.com/2014/06/17/powerful-books-youve-read/ http://bookriot.com/2014/06/17/powerful-books-youve-read/#comments Tue, 17 Jun 2014 11:05:46 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=66179 This month’s reader poll is straight to the point. We want to know: what are the most powerful books you’ve read? They don’t have to be your favorite books, or the most enjoyable reading experiences you’ve had, but the most powerful–the ones that left a … Continued

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This month’s reader poll is straight to the point. We want to know: what are the most powerful books you’ve read? They don’t have to be your favorite books, or the most enjoyable reading experiences you’ve had, but the most powerful–the ones that left a lasting impression and that maybe even changed your life.

It’s a big question, and we know it’s too tough to choose just one, so we’re giving you three slots. Share your answers in this anonymous survey by Tuesday, June 24th, and we’ll round up the results the following week.

 

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What’s Your Annual Book Budget?: Poll Results http://bookriot.com/2014/06/11/book-budget-poll-results/ http://bookriot.com/2014/06/11/book-budget-poll-results/#comments Wed, 11 Jun 2014 11:05:59 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=65881 In our latest community poll, we asked you to share your annual book buying budget. Ready to crunch some numbers? 534 Riot readers participated in the survey over a one-week period. As with all self-report surveys, the data is only … Continued

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In our latest community poll, we asked you to share your annual book buying budget. Ready to crunch some numbers?

534 Riot readers participated in the survey over a one-week period.

As with all self-report surveys, the data is only as accurate as the respondents are truthful and knowledgeable. We have no way to confirm the amount of money participants actually spend, and it’s reasonable to guess that some of the clustering around round-number responses (25, 50, 100, etc.) might be due to participants who do not track their spending closely making guesstimates about their totals instead.

Additionally, we should not assume that this sample is representative. The results here indicate book buying habits of Book Riot readers who saw the survey and chose to participate. These individuals may differ in some meaningful way(s) from readers who do not track their book spending, were not online when the survey was distributed, or opted not to participate. Therefore, we should not use this data to generalize to Book Riot’s community at large.

Here we go!

Question 1: Of all the books you read in a year, what percent do you buy or pay for in some fashion (i.e. through an ebook subscription service)?

515 usable responses

Range: 0-100%

Mean: 53.4%

The mean is likely not the most informative measure here. Let’s examine how buying habits break down more closely.

book buying pie chart

The largest pieces of the pie come from readers who buy 0-9% of the books they read in a year (126) and readers who buy 90-99% of the books they read in a year (104).

When we look at distribution, we can see that responses cluster at the top and bottom of the scale.

Book Buying Habits chart

181 readers (35% of respondents) reported buying less than 20% of the books they read; 209 readers (40.5% of respondents) reported buying 80% or more of the books they read. This puts 75.7% of readers at the extremes, explaining the reverse bell curve-like pattern. This jibes with anecdotal data from the Book Riot community that tells us we have passionate library patrons and passionate book buyers. It’s interesting (and surprising, at least to me) that comparatiely few readers seem to do a mix of borrowing and buying. The data from this sample seems to indicate that readers tend to do one or the other.

Question 2: How much money do you spend on books in a year?

514 usable responses.

Range: $0 -$12,000

Mean: $718.73

Median: $400

Mode: $500

annual book budget graphic

Here’s what the full distribution looks like:

Book Budget Distribution

If we throw out the major outliers–the 8 readers who reported spending more than $3,000 per year on books–the mean budget decreases to $625.60, and variation within the distribution is more visible.

book budget modified

 

Without the outliers, it’s easier to see that most of these Book Riot readers spend $1,000 or less on books in a year. Indeed, 431 respondents (83.7%) reported an annual book budget of $1,000 or less.

Additional note of interest: When we conducted a poll about reading habits earlier this year, we found that Riot readers reported reading an average of 75 books per year. We can’t know what the overlap is between readers who completed that poll and readers who completed this one about book buying, but it makes sense on the face of it–if you read about 75 books a year and buy more than 80% of the books you read, a budget around $1,000 would work, especially with preferences for paperback and ebooks.

What do you make of these results? Anything unexpected here?

_________________________

Check out other Riot polls:

Book Riot Readers’ 50 Favorite Novels

The 25 Most-Hated Books (by Book Riot Readers)

19 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read FOREVER

20 Books You Pretend to Have Read

Top 10 Books You’re Embarrassed to Admit You’ve Read

20 Most-Loved Literary Characters

Are These the 13 Most Underrated Books?

20 Books You Love to Give as Gifts

Your 25 Favorite Authors of Color

The Book Riot 2013 Reading Habits Survey

The Great TBR Poll: Results

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What’s Your Annual Book Budget? http://bookriot.com/2014/05/28/whats-annual-book-budget/ http://bookriot.com/2014/05/28/whats-annual-book-budget/#comments Wed, 28 May 2014 11:04:27 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=65325 We readers love to talk about our favorite books, our shelving habits, where and how we get recommendations–all the fun aspects of the reading life–but we don’t talk about money very much. There’s pressure to support libraries, competing pressure to buy from indies, and oodles … Continued

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We readers love to talk about our favorite books, our shelving habits, where and how we get recommendations–all the fun aspects of the reading life–but we don’t talk about money very much. There’s pressure to support libraries, competing pressure to buy from indies, and oodles of choices for the book-loving consumer. So this month, we thought we’d bring our reader poll down to scratch. Complete this anonymous poll by next Wednesday, June 4th, and we’ll report the results!

Please answer in U.S. dollars. Here’s a currency converter if you need one.

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What Are the Books That Make You Feel Dumb? http://bookriot.com/2014/04/14/books-make-feel-dumb/ http://bookriot.com/2014/04/14/books-make-feel-dumb/#comments Mon, 14 Apr 2014 11:04:34 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=63889 Rioter Swapna struck a nerve last week when she wrote about the perils of feeling dumb while reading. It’s a phenomenon every reader has experienced at some point–maybe you read something everyone else loves and you just don’t see the appeal; maybe … Continued

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Rioter Swapna struck a nerve last week when she wrote about the perils of feeling dumb while reading. It’s a phenomenon every reader has experienced at some point–maybe you read something everyone else loves and you just don’t see the appeal; maybe you read something everyone else loves and they actively make you feel like you’re dumb for not loving it; and maybe you read something that’s supposed to rock your world and you just plain don’t get it. Several commenters on that post mentioned specific titles, so we got to wondering: what are the books that make you feel dumb?

Share your answers in this poll by 11:59pm, Sunday, April 20th. We’ll tally the totals and come back with results in a few weeks. Maybe we’ll find out there are just some books that do this, and it’s not YOU, it’s them.

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The Great TBR Poll: The Results http://bookriot.com/2014/04/03/tbr-poll-results/ http://bookriot.com/2014/04/03/tbr-poll-results/#comments Thu, 03 Apr 2014 11:01:04 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=63242 Size doesn’t matter, except when you’re talking books. In our latest TBR poll, we got nosy and asked you to reveal how many books are on your TBR. The first thing that became clear is that everyone has their own definition of … Continued

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Size doesn’t matter, except when you’re talking books. In our latest TBR poll, we got nosy and asked you to reveal how many books are on your TBR. The first thing that became clear is that everyone has their own definition of TBR. We didn’t want to lock you down or limit you, so we just asked for your number and where you keep your TBR, whatever TBR happens to mean to you. As usual, we’ve broken down the numbers, and we’ll leave most of the interpretation up to you.

What do you make of these results? Where do you fall on this spectrum? Any surprises?

Some notes on methodology:

Total participants: 1092

In quantitative questions, approximations & ranges were rounded.  Answers like “Over 500″ became “500.” Answers like “hundreds” and “thousands” became “100” and “1,000.” We can’t guess what the actual numbers are for each respondent, so we rounded conservatively. Anyone who answers “hundreds” likely has at least 100. The frequency with which readers gave these generalized answers may explain how 100 became the mode (the most-listed number) for both quantitative questions. It may also mean that the averages here are lower than readers’ actual counts. But since we can’t apparate into your homes or hack into your ereaders and count your books to know exactly what “thousands” shakes out to, we erred on the side of caution.

Word-based answers to quantitative questions were removed from analysis because they are impossible to quantify. For future reference, y’all, “too many to count” and “three bookshelves’ worth” are not usable responses, but we love you anyway.

Let’s have a look at the results!

Do you keep a list of books you want to read?

Responses: 1063

TBR chart

Yes: 1017

No: 46

How man books are currently on your TBR?

1011 Responses

Range: 0 – 5083

current TBR

Average: 335

Mode: 100

How many books do you own that you haven’t read yet?

1017 Responses

Range: 0 – 4,000

unread books you own

Average: 190

Mode: 100

Where do you keep your TBR list?

1026 responses

This item was open-ended, allowing readers to enter any methods and sources they wanted, and however many they wanted. After the survey closed, I identified the major response categories and coded answers into them. Some readers reported multiple sources, so the total number of list sources exceeds the number of respondents.

where readers keep TBR

Goodreads: 658

Journal, notebook, note pad, post-its: 170

Word file or spreadsheet: 134

Phone, tablet, or mobile app: 74

Other book social networking or listing site (LibraryThing, Shelfari, Riffle, local library, etc): 71

Amazon Wishlist: 69

Physical stack or shelf: 39

In ereader/ereading app: 18

Other book retailer wishlist: 6

 

There you have it, folks! Thoughts? Questions?

_________________________

Check out other Riot polls:

Book Riot Readers’ 50 Favorite Novels

The 25 Most-Hated Books (by Book Riot Readers)

19 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read FOREVER

20 Books You Pretend to Have Read

Top 10 Books You’re Embarrassed to Admit You’ve Read

20 Most-Loved Literary Characters

Are These the 13 Most Underrated Books?

20 Books You Love to Give as Gifts

Your 25 Favorite Authors of Color

The Book Riot 2013 Reading Habits Survey

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How Many Books Are On Your TBR? http://bookriot.com/2014/03/18/many-books-tbr/ http://bookriot.com/2014/03/18/many-books-tbr/#comments Tue, 18 Mar 2014 11:04:59 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=62865 In our most recent reader poll we asked about last year’s reading habits, so this month we’re looking to the future. And what better measure of a reader’s future plans than their TBR list? Complete this survey by Monday, March … Continued

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In our most recent reader poll we asked about last year’s reading habits, so this month we’re looking to the future. And what better measure of a reader’s future plans than their TBR list? Complete this survey by Monday, March 24th, then we’ll crunch the numbers and report back.

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How Many Books Did You Read Last Year? http://bookriot.com/2014/02/05/many-books-read-last-year/ http://bookriot.com/2014/02/05/many-books-read-last-year/#comments Wed, 05 Feb 2014 15:00:30 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=61599 The last month brought us a flurry of surveys and stats about readers’ habits, and now we’re curious about what Riot readers have been up to and how your reading patterns compare with the reading community at large. Bust out your spreadsheets, … Continued

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The last month brought us a flurry of surveys and stats about readers’ habits, and now we’re curious about what Riot readers have been up to and how your reading patterns compare with the reading community at large. Bust out your spreadsheets, scroll through your Goodreads records, and break down your book nerd habits with this month’s reader poll. Responses will accepted through Wednesday, February 12, 2014, and we’ll publish the results the following week for you to check out!

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Who Are Your Favorite Writers of Color? http://bookriot.com/2014/01/07/favorite-writers-color/ http://bookriot.com/2014/01/07/favorite-writers-color/#comments Tue, 07 Jan 2014 15:45:28 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=60702 In a recent post, the folks at Lee & Low Books called renewed attention to the persistent issue of diversity (or rather, the lack thereof) on the New York Times bestsellers list. Of 124 authors who made the top 10 in 2012, … Continued

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In a recent post, the folks at Lee & Low Books called renewed attention to the persistent issue of diversity (or rather, the lack thereof) on the New York Times bestsellers list. Of 124 authors who made the top 10 in 2012, only 3 were people of color, and none were African American. These numbers are appalling and unjustifiable. So we here at the Riot are making a concerted effort to read and cover more books by people of color, and we want to hear from you. Who are your favorite writers of color?

Share your favorites in the survey below by the end of the day this Sunday, January 12th, and we’ll publish the results next week.

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Friday Open Thread: December 13th, 2013 http://bookriot.com/2013/12/13/friday-open-thread-december-13th-2013/ http://bookriot.com/2013/12/13/friday-open-thread-december-13th-2013/#comments Fri, 13 Dec 2013 19:30:14 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=59945 It’s Friday afternoon. Let’s chat! Jason Segel was cast to play David Foster Wallace in an upcoming movie, and I don’t know what to think about that. I’ve only read some of his essay collections, and I don’t know nearly … Continued

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It’s Friday afternoon. Let’s chat!

Jason Segel was cast to play David Foster Wallace in an upcoming movie, and I don’t know what to think about that. I’ve only read some of his essay collections, and I don’t know nearly enough about the man himself to have much of an opinion. The internet seems split. What’s your take?

Also, Toni Morrison and Junot Diaz hung out together last night at the New York Public Library, and it’s pretty rad. Start the video at the 40-minute mark.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What’s on your bookish mind today?

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Friday Open Thread: December 6, 2013 http://bookriot.com/2013/12/06/friday-open-thread-december-6-2013/ http://bookriot.com/2013/12/06/friday-open-thread-december-6-2013/#comments Fri, 06 Dec 2013 18:30:11 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=59624 It’s been a while since we did open threads, so we thought we’d bring ‘em back and see what y’all feel like talking about. There’s been a lot to choose from lately! Amazon announced its octocopters/drones/crazy delivery robots from the … Continued

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micIt’s been a while since we did open threads, so we thought we’d bring ‘em back and see what y’all feel like talking about. There’s been a lot to choose from lately! Amazon announced its octocopters/drones/crazy delivery robots from the future, and the end-of-year Best Books season is in full swing. Catching Fire just came out, and The Hobbit part 2 is coming soon, and, well, there’s never really a shortage of bookish news to discuss. So we’re turning this one over to you.

It’s Friday afternoon. Let’s chat. What’s on your mind this week?

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What Are the Best Books of 2013? http://bookriot.com/2013/12/04/best-books-2013/ http://bookriot.com/2013/12/04/best-books-2013/#comments Wed, 04 Dec 2013 15:45:08 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=58596 Here at Riot HQ, we’re hard at work on our list of the best books of the year. And by “hard at work,” I mean we’re duking it out over who gets to write about which widely loved titles. But we … Continued

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Here at Riot HQ, we’re hard at work on our list of the best books of the year. And by “hard at work,” I mean we’re duking it out over who gets to write about which widely loved titles. But we don’t just want to tell you what we loved, we want to hear from you too! So it will come as no surprise that in this month’s reader poll, we’re asking you to pick the best books of 2013. It was a good year indeed, so we’re letting you pick 3.

A few guidelines:

  1. The book must have been first published in 2013.
  2. There is no restriction on genres, publishers, formats, etc.
  3. Enter each title only once. Repeat entries by the same user will be deleted and only the first entry will be counted.
  4. Play by the honor code. This isn’t a promotional opportunity; please don’t attempt to use it as one.

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20 Books You Love to Give as Gifts http://bookriot.com/2013/12/03/20-books-love-give-gifts/ http://bookriot.com/2013/12/03/20-books-love-give-gifts/#comments Tue, 03 Dec 2013 15:00:25 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=59416 In honor of the most wonderful time of the year, we used our latest reader poll to ask about your favorite books to give as gifts. 315 Riot readers answered the call, sharing 534 unique titles. Here are the top 20 … Continued

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In honor of the most wonderful time of the year, we used our latest reader poll to ask about your favorite books to give as gifts. 315 Riot readers answered the call, sharing 534 unique titles. Here are the top 20 selections. (View the full data set.)

This is an interesting mix of classics, modern classics, contemporary hits, and children’s books. To me, the sleeper/surprise is Ready Player One. What do you think? Did your favorites make it?

  1. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (20 votes)
  2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (19 votes)
  3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (11)
  4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (9)
  5. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (8)
  6. The Little Prince by Antoine de Sainte Exupery (8)
  7. Oh, The Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss (8)
  8. Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed (8)
  9. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (7)
  10. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (7)
  11. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (6)
  12. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (6)
  13. The Giving Tree Shel Silverstein (6)
  14. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (6)
  15. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (6)
  16. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (6)
  17. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (6)
  18. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (6)
  19. The Secret History by Donna Tartt (6)
  20. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (6)

We thought it’d be fun to compare these results with the books that made the list of Riot readers’ favorite novels. Here’s how they connect (and thanks to fellow Rioter Minh for the diagram!):

Favorite Gifts Venn

Check out other Riot polls:

The 25 Most-Hated Books (by Book Riot Readers)

19 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read FOREVER

20 Books You Pretend to Have Read

Top 10 Books You’re Embarrassed to Admit You’ve Read

20 Most-Loved Literary Characters

Are These the 13 Most Underrated Books?

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What Are Your Favorite Books to Give as Gifts? http://bookriot.com/2013/11/11/favorite-books-give-gifts/ http://bookriot.com/2013/11/11/favorite-books-give-gifts/#comments Mon, 11 Nov 2013 15:00:26 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=58595 Holiday gift-giving time is almost upon us, so in this month’s Riot reader survey, we want to know about the books you most love to give as gifts, the ones that mean the world to you and that you’ve given so … Continued

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Holiday gift-giving time is almost upon us, so in this month’s Riot reader survey, we want to know about the books you most love to give as gifts, the ones that mean the world to you and that you’ve given so many times that you should just order them in bulk. We know it’s a tall order, so we’ve left room for you to pick three. Share your answers by midnight this Sunday, November 17th. We’ll tally up the top picks and post them in a few weeks.

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What Are the Most Underrated Books? http://bookriot.com/2013/10/15/underrated-books/ http://bookriot.com/2013/10/15/underrated-books/#comments Tue, 15 Oct 2013 14:00:36 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=57573 You’ve told us all about your favorite novels and your most-hated books in previous polls, and now we want to talk about the books we don’t talk about enough. What do you think are the most underrated books? You know, the ones you adore and … Continued

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You’ve told us all about your favorite novels and your most-hated books in previous polls, and now we want to talk about the books we don’t talk about enough. What do you think are the most underrated books? You know, the ones you adore and just can’t understand why they aren’t more famous/beloved/bestselling?

Every reader has a few of these, so we’ve made room for you to pick three. Complete the form with your responses by midnight next Monday, October 21st, then we’ll crunch the data and come back with the top results.

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What Is Your Comfort Reading? http://bookriot.com/2013/04/25/what-is-your-comfort-reading/ http://bookriot.com/2013/04/25/what-is-your-comfort-reading/#comments Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:30:11 +0000 http://bookriot.com/?p=45245 After the sickening news from Boston, I find myself in a room with no books, and thus climbing the walls. After dozens of grim news reports, a bitter drip of blog updates and messages, I can’t help but want one … Continued

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After the sickening news from Boston, I find myself in a room with no books, and thus climbing the walls.

After dozens of grim news reports, a bitter drip of blog updates and messages, I can’t help but want one of my comfort reads. A book I know well—something that helps restore perspective and hope. I don’t turn to the “good book” but I usually turn to my good books.

Even if just for a few minutes at the end of such a day, these comforting books give me a necessary sanity check and measure of stability. Sure, there’s an element of escapism, but more often, I’m consoled by authors who size up humanity and find something to root for.

The book doesn’t necessarily have a happy ending, but I want to hear a voice of reason. I need a reminder of our capacity for strength, beauty, and tolerance. And I want to read a printed book, not something on a screen, because at these moments, the screen crawls with bad news.

Often I turn to a few key pages of Middlemarch or Persuasion. Or to a Mitchell: David or Joseph. Sometimes to Anthony Lane’s profile of the British adventurer Patrick Leigh Fermor, who had a “dangerous mixture of sophistication and recklessness” (said the high school that kicked him out) and fought Nazis on Crete. Graham Greene or Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie—brilliant writers, but not today. Maybe I should try a book on polar explorers?

Do you turn to books for comfort or distraction when bad news hits? And if so, what do you read?

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