I'm done pretending I'm going to update this blog monthly. I'll check in when I'm inspired and have something to say. Maybe that will happen more often if I actually have books on the shelves in the future.
Anyway, it's the first day of 2024 (how is that even possible, by the way?) so it's time to review my 2023 year in reading. I didn't read quite as many books as last year, but still a very respectable number. I think my number dipped for a few reasons. First of all, I started consistently working for pay last year in early October. Since then, I've been working 15 hours a week teaching preschool. That means that for 9 months of last year I simply had more time to read each week. Second, this year has included some personal challenges for me and sometimes I just haven't had the energy to read or even listen to a book. Third, I'm now on the second year of querying the book everyone (including published writers who read the manuscript) was so sure would be "the one" with nary an agent offer or book contract in sight, which has at times poisoned my desire to read other peoples' books. That last one is a pretty small factor. My lack of success with that book has completely sabotaged my own writing.
I've personally found that recording my reading makes it more meaningful to me, and this year I went a step further and bought myself a pretty journal to use as my reading log. It's not full, and should serve me for at least a couple more years.
First, let's make it clear that audiobooks count as reading. So my total number of "books read" includes both print and audio books. I'll get more granular with it below, just wanted to get that out of the way. My total number of books read is 153. That's only 58 less than 2022, not bad given the mitigating factors above.
First of all, 115 were print books while 38 were audio.
I read 140 books that were new to me and reread 13 books.
I read 124 of the books by myself and 29 with my twelve year old.
Most of the books, 149, were in English, but 3 were in Swedish and one was in Spanish.
Again, the majority of the books,131, were fiction while 22 were nonfiction.
Breaking it down by age group, I read:
6 picture books
4 chapter books
93 middle grade books
9 young adult bookss
and 41 adult books
Breaking the fiction down by genre, I read:
61 speculative books (these were mostly fantasy, but I've also lumped in paranormal, dystopian, and horror)
43 realistic fiction
15 mysteries
and, last but not least, 5 romances
That last breakdown I did was by format:
121 of the books were traditional prose format
28 were graphic (you might call them comics), including three graphic memoirs and a graphic history
3 were novels in verse
1 was a book of poetry
I've always been a big reader, but this is only the second year I've kept a reading log. I highly recommend it. Whether you read four books a year or four hundred, remembering what you read and taking some space to reflect on it can be really helpful. Despite my number of books read being fewer than last year, I know I read more books than average. Averaging it out, I read almost three books a week. Remember though that the majority of these books are written for children, which makes them quicker reads. Also, I normally have four books going at once: one print book I'm reading on my own, one print book I'm reading to my 12yo, one audiobook I'm listening to on my own and one audiobook I'm listening to with my 12yo. That gets me through books faster than I'd get through them if I took them one at a time. Whether your total number of books read in 2023 is much smaller than mine, much larger than mine, or about the same, if you read something you're a winner in my book.
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