Dec 31, 2014

2014 book numbers

Not that I obsess about stats- I don't even think about it most of the year, and this time didn't keep a tally sheet- so it's a bit tedious to count up the numbers. But it's still nice to see how things ebb and flow, how my reading habits change over the years. I'm following same pattern as 2013 and 2012 (in terms of what I count/look at) here. Please note- numbers don't always match up to the total because some books are in more than one category, and that's just how it is.

Total books read- 105

Fiction- 36
Non-fiction- 69

non-fiction breakdown
Art- 8
Gardening- 5
J Non-fiction- 6
Memoirs- 15
Nature- 5
Animals- 55
Other- 10

fiction breakdown
YA- 7
Historical Fiction- 15
Fantasy- 3
J Fiction- 8
Picture books- 28 
Animals in Fic- 23
Baby books- 6

other formats
Short stories- 2
Graphic novels- 1
Ebooks- 6

sources
Owned- 59
Library- 69
Review copies- 3
Borrowed from a friend- 2

other numbers
Abandoned books- 13
Re-reads- 1

This year I didn't include picture books in the general tally (that feels more honest). And I read far more of them to my kid than the mere 28 I blogged about. So of course the numbers aren't perfect, but you get a general idea.

Places I visited in books this year: various South American and African countries (notably the Amazon jungle, Zululand and Somalia), rural Italy, Northumberland, several remote mountain peaks including Everest, Afghanistan, Holland, Poland and the South Pacific.

Great books? It seems none of the fiction really stood out for me this year (I'm still leaning heavy into non-fiction reading). The best all-around fish book (lots of those!) was The Simple Guide to Freshwater Fishkeeping, the most stunning art/photography book was The Life and Love of Cats and my favorite picture books were Extra Yarn, The Curious Garden and The Squirrel Wife (I'd add all those to my kids' collection if I find them).

Yeah, not so exciting I know. How was your reading year?

6 comments:

Trish said...

My 2014 wasn't terribly exciting either. Boo! Hope we both have great 2015! ;) and so impressed by how much nonfiction you read. Happy new year Jeane!

Stefanie said...

A good reading year! I am really impressed with the balance between books you owned and books from the library. I hardly read any books I owned but that still did;t keep my from buying a few more now and then! Happy New Year!

Jenny @ Reading the End said...

2013 was such a stellar reading year that I guess it's no surprise 2014 was a little bit of a disappointment by comparison. I only read three or four new books that I truly loved, and although I TRULY love them and am so psyched to have them in my life, I did want more awesomeness. I'm hoping for lots of 5-star reads in 2015.

I'm leaning nonfiction recently too! I sometimes struggle with writing reviews for them, though, and even when I love them, I often don't get excited about them in the same way I do about fiction. So I want to get a little bit back to my fiction roots this year.

Christina said...

I hope 2015 has a few more memorable reads for you, although I tend to look to you for nonfiction books so I can see how you have more memorable reads from that category.

Congrats on reading nearly 45% of all your books read from your owned collection. That's an accomplishment I'm sure many (myself included) would love to hit.

Susan said...

You read 105 books!!! congratulations, Jeane. That's a lot of non-fiction read, though following your blog I know how many animal books you've been reading this year. It's interesting that your favourite books are all non-fiction, too. You read more library books than owned, too! I'm using my library more this year, with me off work, it's better if I get them this way (far cheaper), for now. So far I have 40 + books requested so we'll see how that goes.

I wish for you a happy 2015 year in reading, Jeanne.

Jeane said...

Trish- Thanks. I seem to be reading more nonfiction every year. Maybe because that's what's mainly on my shelves. Happy New Year to you too!

Stefanie- I've really been trying to get through all the unread books I have- at least get it down to one bookcase. I made a little progress- there are no longer piles on the floor! But then I start to feel guilty about not using the wonderful library...

Jenny- I felt kind of sad that when I looked through the books I'd marked "Loved It!" not a single one was fiction!

Christina- I'm glad to inspire someone on the nonfiction reads! Not sure why nothing much stood out to me- perhaps because I was tired and somewhat distracted when I wrote my end-of-the-year post!

Susan- I always read a lot of animal books, I don't think that will ever change :)

You have forty books on request! Wow. I don't think I've ever asked for more than ten items at once- I wouldn't know what to do with them all when they come available!
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