2022 was a great reading year for me. I finished 114 books which is actually less than I read in 2021 when I read a staggering 129 books! But - in 2021 I was nursing a baby and reading during the middle of the night for much of the first 4-5 months of the year. So I am personally happy that I read fewer books in 2022 because that means I got more sleep!
When do you read?
Several people have asked how I read so many books given that I work full time and have young kids.
I don't always expect to be able to read 100+ books/year. But it's achievable in this stage of life because my kids go to bed by 7:30-8. It's also important to emphasize that reading is a huge part of my identity. I mean, I had a book-themed wedding (this post shows a lot of bookish wedding details)! I will always find time to read!
But from a logistics perspective, most of my reading happens from 8:30-9:30 each night. Once both boys are in bed, I watch a show or part of a show with Phil until 8:30 and then I head up to read. That might sound like I'm short-changing Phil, but we get a lot of time together since we drive to work together 3 days/week, and on days when we don't drive to work together, we are together from when he gets home at 5 until I go to bed at 8:30. Granted, I know that time around young kids is not exactly "quality" time, but we still talk around the boys. And 30 minutes of watching a show with him feels like the right amount. In the summer, we go for family walks after dinner and tend to have quality conversations during those walks. I much prefer that kind of quality time with him over watching a show. But this is not the season of year for post-dinner family walks!
Besides that chunk of time, I also read during nap times. And then I read while waiting in lines or at doctor appointments, etc. Since I do most of my reading on my kindle, I always have access to a book since I have the kindle ap on my phone.
Lastly, I read good books. I think the number 1 thing to help you read more is to find books you want to read. Do not slog through something you think you "should" read. I fully support abandoning books that you aren't feeling drawn to read. The more you love a book, the more drawn you will be to read it.
The stats
Here are some breakouts I find interesting:
High-level genre: Fiction = 69%; Non-fiction = 31%
Backlist (books not published in 2022) = 52%
Book format: 93% e-books; 4% hardcover; 2% paperback; 1% audiobook (I only listened to 1 audiobook. I choose podcasts over audiobooks!).
Book source: 110 out of 114 came from the library! Think of the money I saved! Which is why I always donate to our library each year. Plus we check out hundreds of picture books for the kids and spend an hour there nearly every Saturday morning. We heart the library. So much.
Top 4 genres: Contemporary Fiction (23%), Memoir/Essay (18%), Literary Fiction (17%), General Non-fiction (11%).
% of female authors: 85%!! Not at all surprised by this stat. I am far more drawn to female authors.
The ratings
5 stars = 22 books
4 stars = 56 books
3 stars = 33 books
2 stars = 3 books (I'll list them since there are so few. The Girl That Reads on the Metro, Matrix and Sea of Tranquility. I should have abandoned all 3 of these books.)
Average rating = 4.02 - this is excellent!!!
Reading cadence
I really ended with a bang in December, after a couple of quiet months.
What a year! I can't wait to see how my reading shapes up in 2023. I have found wonderful recommendation sources so I expect another year full of excellent reads!
"do not slog through books" - yes! I have a bad habit of finishing every book that I start, which is stupid, because what a waste of time. Sometimes I think "oh, but what if it gets better" and usually it doesn't! I'm working on more DNF if that's what I need to do!
ReplyDeleteI think you can get so much reading done in small increments - waiting at appointments, etc. - I used to just look at my phone, but now I always have a book with me.
So fun.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think your advice to read good books so "simple" but I think it's the number 1 issue people have with not reading as much as they'd like. Slogging through bad books is awful and I have gotten so much "better" at DNF books. I try to be selective before I start, but if I'm not into a book...I leave it (though tend to read the last chapter to at least find out how it ends).
And having received an e-reader at Christmas, I have jumped on that bandwagon. LOVE. IT.
I’ve been curious to know how many books by female authors I read this year. May be an interesting stat to add to your collection!
ReplyDeleteOoh, another blogger with a full time job and small kids! I feel like there aren't that many of us. I read around 100 books a year and I wholeheartedly agree with your advice. If I didn't read during small chunks of time during the day, I wouldn't get any reading done at all. Today I read for 20 minutes before work (ok fine I was late because of it), and will read while eating lunch, waiting for my daughter at dance class, and before bed. My kids don't take naps anymore (crying face).
ReplyDeleteI think it's tough to find books you'll enjoy without spoiling the books too much. One of the reasons I have historically not listened to book podcasts is because I feel like they usually do an overview of the plot and then I'm essentially spoiled. I like to go into a book without any preconceptions about it, so that means I end up with a fair number of books that are just "meh," although I DNF with reckless abandon. I do understand that some people spend more time curating their TBR lists than I do, but I think that if I just read books I think I'll like, I'll miss out on some great books (like The Firekeeper's Daughter, which I read just because it fit a prompt on a reading challenge I was doing, and I ended up adoring). So, I guess what I'm saying is that my star average is lower than yours, but I think it's because I want the highs of my 5-stars to be really high and unexpected.
ReplyDeleteLove these stats-- so interesting to break it down like this. For me, the biggest stumbling block is giving up on a book, even though I know you are right-- reading good books is key to hitting reading goals.
ReplyDeleteI love the statistics and the details about how you find time to read! And hooray for giving up on books you don't like -- even though I find it disappointing when that happens, I do it with wild abandon because there are SO MANY BOOKS that I want to read,
ReplyDeleteHow do you keep track of all these statistics? It's very possible you already posted about that and I have just forgotten, and I'm sorry if so.
great tips! I think having the kindle to read everywhere is super convenient. I'll try to do that too, hopefully I'll get back into reading this year.
ReplyDeleteNerd alert! I love this and I want to be like you, so I think I am going to do this and I will report back (or post! it is so fun!) My questions to you would be...what has changed over the years? Do you read more non-fiction now etc.? The other question is how many did you abandon and when you abandon, do you rate them? I sometimes rate them as one star and tag as not-finished because I do want to make sure I remember and even count them since they were partially read!
ReplyDeleteLastly, I think you mentioned in a previous post, but...you use Excel to track? I definitely have some tags on GR so can check on year of publication, female/male and whether or not it was an audiobook but for the other categories I am assuming you use Excel?
Love the breakdown of stats!! I track a lot of random things, but I do not track this detailed of stats surrounding my reading- or any stats, besides basically the name, when I started it and when I finished it. But I read a fraction of the books you do. We've talked about this so many times, but I just don't have the same consistent "built in" times for reading you do. I listened to an older podcast with Anne Bogel and LVK yesterday (first time ever listening to What Should I Read Next!) from 2018 I think, about "types of readers"- and they were discussing how one big component of being a frequent reader is to have those built in times. Unfortunately, Ivan often doesn't get home until after 6, and our evenings are scattered with running kids around many times or other things like that... by the time the kids go to bed it's usually between 9-10! It's VERY difficult to get them to bed before that point, at these ages. So that means it's usually at least 9:30 before Ivan and I can settle down to chat or watch a show! And as is, this pushes my bedtime later into the 10:30 range... so, yeah. I suppose I could brush him off and just go read instead, but that doesn't feel very nice! :) Many times our weekends are going in opposite directions, too, so I do like to get at least some time with him each day, ideally. Oh well! I'm always looking for little windows that I could build consistent reading in, but I'm not sure it's really possible so long as I'm also trying to fit in walks, exercise, blogging, etc... only so many things one can do! :)
ReplyDeleteI just finished a book that I didn't love. It was good enough, but pretty slow at the beginning. I'm glad I didn't give up, it was worth sticking through to the end. However, I will say that I would definitely have read it more quickly had it been more engaging from the get go!
ReplyDeleteYou are a super power library user! That's amazing that such a huge majority of your books came from the library. That used to be me as well, but then I discovered how much I enjoy owning books and buying books. It's like a secondary hobby for me, haha.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I do think it's important to know what you like to read and not fall into the trap of reading what you think you should be reading. I read a ton of romance and "brain candy" type books because that's what makes me happy!
I love how you do your stats. I've broken things down by genre but not by percentage. That's an interesting thing to do. Why is listing and doing this so satisfying? Is it geeky? I don't know --but I love doing it and I love seeing others'!
ReplyDeleteI am super-impressed how much reading you still get done with all your responsibilities! Amazing.
ReplyDeleteMost of my books came from the library too! I think I only read non - library books that were book club books I either purchased or had been gifted.
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