2008 Reading Year in Review
Total books read: 56
(Total authors: 52)
Authors read more than once:
Nick Bantock (3), Haruki Murakami (2), Colleen Gleason (2)
New-to-me authors: 36
New-To-Me Authors I Most Want to Read Again: Cormac McCarthy, Nick Bantock, Simon Van Booy, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Stef Penney, Laurent Gaudé, Charles de Lint, William R. Potter, Jennifer Cody Epstein
By gender:
Male authors: 32
Female authors: 24
By nationality:
USA - 24
England - 13
Japan - 6
Canada - 6
France - 2
Belgium - 1
Germany - 1
Scotland - 1
Sudan - 1
Sweden - 1
Books in translation: 11
Award winners: 14
Fiction: 48
Non-Fiction: 7
Classics: 7
Poetry: 1
Challenge reads: 45
Review copies: 6
Published in 2008: 10
Acquired in 2008: 22
Acquired previous to 2008 (aka TBR): 29
Borrowed from the library: 5
Total books in: 86
Total books out: 18
Challenges joined: 14 (4 carry over into 2009)
Challenges completed: 8 (2 incomplete)
Total pages: 13, 669
Average pages per book: 244
Longest book: 529 pages (A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens)
Shortest book: 42 pages (Griffin & Sabine by Nick Bantock)
Oldest book: Tales of Moonlight and Rain by Akinari Ueda (originally published in 1776)
Best of 2008 (Highest-Rated): The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Best graphic novel: Maus I & II by Art Spiegelman
Best Non-Fiction, or Most Eye-Opening: The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari
Most amusing: How to Be a Canadian by Will Ferguson and Ian Ferguson (Will Ferguson 2 years in a row!)
Most Surprising, or I didn't think I'd like it but I really did!: The Road by Cormac McCarthy, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Best setting, or the place(s) I most wish to visit because of reading about it in a book this year: the Yorkshire Moors (Wuthering Heights), France, especially Grasse (Perfume)
Most disappointing: Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino
Complete list of all books read in 2008 here, or see link in sidebar.
14 witty remarks:
Great stats, Nat! It looks like you had a wondermous year!
I enjoyed reading your stats! You had a new one that I've never seen before - Authors read more than once. I like that. I hope your 2009 reads produce great results. :)
Hey! Happy New Year!:) I was just drafting my 2008 review post and I love your format.. so I am going to steal yours.. hope you don't mind! You;ve read some great books last year.. am adding quite a few to my wishlist..:)
I'm glad you like the Road so much. I'm making it my mission to read SOMETHING by McCarthy this year.
And I definitely agree with you about the Yorkshire Moors. I loved the descriptions of the area in the book :)
Your "longest book" stat made me go back and look at my 2008 list ... I read 5 books over 700 pages. How mental is that? :)
And I am with you on wanting to visit the Yorkshire moors. Every time I read Wuthering Heights, I imagine myself there.
I finished the first Maus this morning and I am working my way through the second one now. They are great, huh? I also liked The Road. See, this is why I need to keep a list of what I read, I totally left that off my best of list!
Hi Nat :)))))))))))) I am back for good, new laptop and DSL with service at my new home. It took some doing to connect due to the fact that I now live in the woods, nice but the houses are far appart and it is harder to get the service. The guy was trying this morning to connect me, it took for ever, I could have kissed him when he was able to connect me, there was a chance he would not be able. I am addicted to the net :) but really I missed you and all my friends. I have to go visit them now.
Happy to be back ;)
Andi - Course I always wish I could read more but I did have a pretty good year. :)
Joy - Thanks! I hope 2009 is a great reading year for you too! :)
Ramya - Happy New Year to you too! Of course I don't mind. I'm always snitching ideas for stats from others too. :)
saveophelia - The Road was my first by McCarthy but I hope to read something else by him this year.
Kristen M. - That's great though. Last year I kind of stayed away from long books and have quite a few that I really should try to read sometime soon.
Kailana - I'm a bit obsessive about keeping track of what I read, but I do enjoy looking back. Glad to hear you enjoyed Maus.
Sylvie - Yay!! It's good to see you back online! I so know what you mean about being addicted! :)
I love your stats! And some of your favourites were mine too. I should keep track of how many of the books I read are for challenges this year...should be interesting :P
What a wonderful wrap-up. I like how you listed the countries too!
You managed to fit in a lot of reading last year, Nat, not to mention it looks like you read a wide variety.
Maus is a great graphic novel set. And both of your highest rated books are ones I hope to read eventually.
Nymeth - Thanks. I always have fun compiling the stats at the end of the year. :)
Iliana - I'm sure I've mentioned before that I wish I'd read more international fiction last year but there's always this year to try again. :)
Wendy - I never seem to read as much as I'd like but it was a pretty good mix last year. I hope you enjoy The Road and Kafka on the Shore whenever you get to them.
You had a good year in '08 reading-wise. I really like how you broke it all down.
--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric
Anna - Thanks. I always have fun figuring out the numbers at the end of the year.
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