I am not sure why I picked these particular categories other than they interested me the most and I felt it important to figure out my reading habits and preferences as in:
Am I reading more men than women? Or vice versa?
52% Male, 48% Female. Not bad really. I like that fact it was this close without me making any conscious decision to read one over another. Nice.
Am I too harsh or lenient when rating what I read?
Average rating given was 4 Stars, and this is how it broke down:
1 Star Rating = 4%
2 Star Rating = 4%
3 Star Rating = 24%
4 Star Rating = 24%
5 Star Rating = 44%
In looking at this, I’m either lucky in that I usually get very good books to read, or I’m more lenient than I should be. Something I will have to look at next year. However, I must give credit to all the wonderful book bloggers I follow as many of the stories I read were previously reviewed and recommended.
Am I well rounded in my reading, as in American authors versus those from other countries?
52% American
28% Irish/Scottish/British (Most of those were Irish)
12% Canadian
8 % Hispanic
Interesting. I had already planned to read more Latin American and Spanish authors in addition to reading more Canadian writing of course – especially after being introduced to writers such as Alice Munro and Carol Shields.
What genre do I tend to read most?
36% Historical Fiction
24% Short Stories
24% Contemporary Fiction
16% Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Young Adult
00% Non-Fiction
No surprises here. I already knew that Historical Fiction is my favorite. But one of the reasons I made it a point to do this, was to see where I may wish to venture next….to broaden my reading horizons as it were.
I do plan on reading one non-fiction book next year, but unless it gets a heck of a recommendation from someone, I don’t think I will be going out of my way to read more.
I have read some fantasy and found I do like the “darker” side. So I will be reading several books next year about vampires. We’ll see how that goes.
Yes, there are no romances. Not a one. However, there were plenty of love stories: The Time Traveler’s Wife, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, The Shadow of the Wind, Twilight among just a few.
But a true romance novel? Hmm. I have no idea. But I tend never to say never when it comes to reading. I will always be willing to give it a go – but again, only if I get a great recommendation from someone I trust.
Well that’s it. My year in review.
So how did you do? Did you spot a trend? Or was any of the above a consideration to you when chosing books to read?
Either way, I hope you had a great reading year, and may your next be even better!
I’m not sure if I could spot a trend in my reading or not. I’m all over the place. I tend to be really easy to please when it comes to books and like you I’m going to work on that. Part of my problem is that I don’t think I’m really “thinking” about the meaning behind the words. I’m going to try to delve into the what the author is trying to convey harder in 2009.
Happy New Year!
I was pleasantly surprised that my male to female author ratio was so close as well. I didn’t do so well with variety of nationality this year though.
I enjoyed reading your reading stats, J.C. It’s always fun to see what other people’s reading patterns are.
I hope you have a great New Year!
Cool stats, I find finding trends like these so interesting! Happy New Year!
Nice summation! I need to do something similar with my own reading from last year. I know one of my definite weaknesses last year was the classics. I’m working on getting to that this year. I hope your new year is going pretty good thus far!