Annual Recap & Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy Birthday To Me!

My blog is a chronicle of what I read from one birthday to the next so today is also the start of a new year on my blog - woohoo! I started tracking my annual reads when I turned 30 ... today I turn 32, so that means two years of book stats (although it is not yet my 2nd blogiversary).

This past year has been a pretty good one. Today I'll recap my 31st year in books and later this week I'll recap some of the big events of the year.

(In case you're wondering, yes, that is the exact cake I would choose for my birthday if I were planning it myself. I'm not a big cake fan but chocolate chip cookie cakes are my absolute favorite!)


Before I begin though ...

I want to say thank you to all of my wonderful readers - both those who've been around a while and those who are new here. Blogging wouldn't be the fun thing it is without people to read my posts, and I appreciate each and every one of you whether you comment or not.


*** Favorite Books ***

I'm starting with this because I really don't think most of you are interested in my reading stats - they are more for my own knowledge. But I DO think that you might like to know which books really kept my attention this year ...

I recently looked over all my reviews from the past 12 months and came up with a list of favorites. It was an interesting process because these are not necessarily the books I would have picked at the end of each month. Rather they are ones that have stuck with me throughout the year for one reason or another; when I saw these titles on my list of reviewed books, they jumped out at me. I'm grouping them by genre but I hope you'll check them all out (links take you to my reviews).

- HISTORICAL FICTION -

• People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks (audio) -I wanted to start listening again as soon as it finished
  
• Sword Song, by Bernard Cornwell (audio) - this is the latest in the Saxon Chronicles series and it was fantastic
  
• The Last Queen, by CW Gortner -this author is new to me but I've recommended this book to just about everyone, and so far everyone is agreeing with me that it is really good
  
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows- this one truly does deserve the hype it got - even my Gram, who lived in England during WWII, enjoyed it
  
• A Thread of Grace, by Mary Doria Russell - this wasn't an "easy" read but the work I put into it was definitely worth it
  

- NON-FICTION -

• The Lost Men, by Kelly Tyler-Lewis - I'm fascinated with polar exploration and this story was new to me and incredibly fascinating
  
• The Horse Boy, by Rupert Isaacson (audio) - Kiddo and the autistic boy in this book are very close in age, so this book hit me rather hard
  
• Golden Boy, by Martin Booth - an entertaining memoir that gave me a clue of the life my dad lived as a child
  

- FANTASY -

• A Companion to Wolves, by Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear - this book had detailed world and character development and approached tough topics head-on
  

And now for the stats ...

My goal for this year was to get through at least 100 books in some form or another. With 70 paper books and 33 audio books I definitely met that goal.


*** Books - 70 (21,349 pages) ***

Based on those numbers, I read about about 6 books each month with an average of 305 pages each. That turns into about 1,780 pages per month, or about 60 pages a day.


*** Audio Books - 33 (402.9 hours) ***

That is just under 17 days of audio book hours. Again according to my numbers, the average audio book was about 12 hours long and I listened to an average of just under 3 books each month (or just under 30 minutes each day).


*** Short Stories - 3 (48 pages) ***

Not much to say about these ... I read them for a challenge but they didn't stick with me. I did read two short story collections as well; they were good but I'm still not a short story fan.


*** Mom & Son Book Club ***

Kiddo and I reviewed 3 books this year: one, two, and three. We read other shorter books as well but we didn't review those. I hope that we can do better this coming year!


*** DNF (Did Not Finish) - 12 ***

I gave up on 12 books this year. Reasons for not finishing include: didn't like, wasn't what I expected, got bored, and the book was just that bad. One DNF per month is a pretty good average I think. If there were more, I'd be worried ...


*** New TBR (To Be Read) Titles - 177 ***

Of those 177 additions to my TBR list, I read or listened to 20 titles this year.


*** Kiddo's TBR titles - 16 ***

Kiddo and I read one of those books this year.


*** Other Stats/Facts ***

I was going to recap my challenges here but I've decided to save that until the end of the calendar year as that is when most of them actually conclude.



That's all for now ... but I'll be back with more posts soon, after I've enjoyed my birthday. :)