I finally finished my second annual Books and Reading Recap. I loved going through my lists last year and finding fun stats about the books I read, so it was very fun to do this again for 2008. I’m using the same information I posted last year, and added even more stats. (To see my 2007 Recap, click here).
To start, here are the 2008 reading goals I made last year and how I did with each:
- Read at least 71 books (one more than last year seems like a reasonable goal)
- Complete (I finished 87)
- Read David Copperfield
- Complete (However, I read the last 20 pages of it on Jan 1, 2009, so I can’t technically count it as a book read in 2008. I’m very happy I read it though, despite not finishing before the end of the year.)
- Read 3 Vonnegut books
- Complete (I read four – Armageddon in Retrospect & Mother Night, and re-read Slaughterhouse Five and A Man Without a Country)
- Complete (I read four – Armageddon in Retrospect & Mother Night, and re-read Slaughterhouse Five and A Man Without a Country)
- Visit 10 bookstores in the city that I haven’t been to yet
- Complete
- Attend at least 20 book events
- Incomplete (I only went to 9, the list is below)
2008 Books and Reading Recap
87 Books Read (for a complete list of books I read, click here to visit my Polysyllabic Spree list)
64 fiction
23 non-fiction
10 re-reads
34 by male authors
53 by female authors
63 books by authors who are still alive
24 books by authors who are now dead
62 different authors
42 new to me authors
16 library books
8 I borrowed, read, and bought after I read it
26,128 Pages Read (does not included unfinished books)
71.39 pages/day average
By Genre (some books may be in more than one category)
Essays – 5
Short Stories – 3
Kid’s Lit – 18
YA Lit – 9
Graphic Novels – 3
Memoir/Autobiography – 13
Books about Reading – 2
Classics – 20
Contemporary Fiction – 18
Published in:
2008 – 17
2007 – 18
2006 – 5
2005 – 7
2004 – 2
2003 – 3
2002 – 1
2001 – 1
1990s – 4
1980s – 5
1970s – 1
1960s – 4
1950s – 5
1940s – 2
1930s – 1
1920s – 1
1910s – 1
1900s – 1
19th Century – 7
Multiple Books Read by an author:
Jane Austen: 6
P. G. Wodehouse: 5
Kurt Vonnegut: 4
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor: 4
Stephenie Meyer: 4
L. M. Montgomery: 3
Libba Bray: 3
Lisa See: 2
J. D. Salinger: 2
Jeanne Birdsall: 2
Top Five Favorite Fiction books*
1. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
2. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
3. Nine Stories by J. D. Salinger
4. The Code of the Woosters by P. G. Wodehouse
5. Persuasion by Jane Austen
Top Five Favorite Non-Fiction Books*
1. Nothing to be Frightened of by Julian Barnes
2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
3. The Braindead Megaphone by George Saunders
4. At Large and At Small by Anne Fadiman
5. Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama
*I did not include any books I re-read this year when considering my favorites books read this year, since I figured it’s pretty much a given that books I re-read are favorites.
Favorite Book Covers (I selected these from the “books purchased” list too, not just “books read”)
I Capture the Castle
The Braindead Megaphone
I Was Told There’d Be Cake
State By State
My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead
Maps & Legends
Favorite Book Titles
I Capture the Castle
Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name
An Arsonist’s Guide to Writer’s Homes in New England
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Code of the Woosters
When You Are Engulfed in Flames
I Was Told There’d Be Cake
Books Purchased in 2008: 191 (oy – my goal was to buy less books. This is 41 more than 2007.)
The Year in Book Events: 9 Events
1. Geraldine Brooks, 1.9.08, Barnes and Noble Union Square, People of the Book
2. Jeffery Eugenides & George Saunders, 1.10.08, Barnes and Noble Lincoln Center, My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead
3. Vendela Vida, 1.17.08, Barnes and Noble Chelsea, Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name
4. Lisa See, 3.3.08, Barnes and Noble Tribeca, Peony in Love
5. Ben Karlin, 3.28.08, Barnes and Noble Tribeca, Things I’ve Learned From Women Who’ve Dumped Me
6. Caldecott/Newbery Even at Books of Wonder, 4.13.08
–Peter Sis, The Wall
–Jacquelene Woodson, Feathers
–Mo Willems, Knuffle Bunny Too
–Brian Selznick, The Invention of Hugo Cabret
–Laura Vaccaro Seeger, First the Egg
7. Junot Diaz, 9.4.08, Barnes and Noble Union Square, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
8. Stephen Shore, 9.9.08, Strand, Uncommon Places
9. Sarah Vowell, 10.8.08, Barnes and Noble Union Square, The Wordy Shipmates
A complete list of the books I purchased in 2008, broken down by month, can be found on my Polysyllabic Spree log.
Up next: 2009 Books & Reading goals
(note: I cannot get the font sizes to be anything besides wonky in this post – apologies!)
(This post was brought over from emilyw.vox.com. Click here for the original post and comments.)
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