Reading Statistics - 2013
Statistics:
(+) more than last year, (-) less than last year
Total number of books: 150 (-)
Total number of pages: 34.932 (-)
Average number of pages per book: 233 (- ... but only by one page!)
Average number of pages a day: 96 (-)
# Rereads: 32 (-)
Books in Danish: 11 (-)
Ebooks Read: 75 (+)
Audio Books Read: 23 (-)
Library Books Read: 0 (-)
ARCs read: 17 (+)
# Books on my Shelves by End of Year (not counting e-books and audiobooks): 1018 (+)
# TBR: 166 (+)
Genres:
Childrens Fiction: 7% (+)
Young Adult Fiction: 3% (-)
Young Adult Sci-fi/Dystopian: 11% (+)
Young Adult Fantasy/Paranormal: 12% (+)
Historical fiction: 3% (-)
Christian Fiction: 0% (-)
Fiction: 6% (=)
Sci-fi/Fantasy: 29% (+)
Chick-lit: 2% (-)
The Classics: 3% (+)
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense: 8% (+)
Non-fiction: 4% (+)
Memoir/Autobiography/Biography: 4% (-)
Poetry/Short-stories/Essays: 8% (+)
The +/- compares percentage rise/fall compared to 2012.
A list of all books I've read this year can be found at Goodreads.com. My 2013 shelf is here
Three Authors That I Fell in Love With This Year:
- Mira Grant. I would NOT have thought I'd be interested in zombie novels, but apparently when it's more a dystopian novel that happens to feature zombies, than a zombie novel in its own right, I'm more than fine with it :) "Newsflesh" caught my interest completely, and I still wish there were more books in the series.
- Debora Geary. No surprise there ;) Her books are some of the best comfort books I have ever read, and while I'll happily admit there's no real plot, they're just so heartwarming and character-driven that it doesn't bother me in the slightest. She's a new all-time favourite.
- Deborah Harkness. Meyer's Twilight meets Gabaldon's Outlander and since I love both, this was all good :) I'm eagerly awaiting the third book in her trilogy which should be out next year.
Best New Series:
See above ;) "Newsflesh", "A Modern Witch" and "All Souls Trilogy"
Abandoned Books
Forgot a couple in my last list. I DID think 4 was a very low number!
- The Rape of Nanking (abandoned for good)
- Laura - The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder (abandoned for now)
- The Penderwicks - Jeanne Birdsall (abandoned... can't quite decide)
Awards:
Best classic-I-should-have-read-earlier: Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper. Such a sweet story :)
Most Thought-Provoking Young Adult Novel: Unwind by Neal Shusterman. It was deeply disturbing, but it did make me think.
Best Retelling of a Legend/Fairy Tale: Don't think there were any this year.
Biggest Tear-Jerker: A Modern Witch by Debora Geary. Not in the convensional way though. They were mostly happy tears or tears because I was touched.
The Book is Better Than the Movie Award / The Movie is Better Than the Book Award: I've seen a huge number of movie adaptions this year: "Life of Pi", "Catching Fire", "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", "The Host", "Eat, Pray, Love", "The Hunger Games", the first three Narnia movies, "Breaking Dawn part 2", "The Princess Bride", "Fried Green Tomatoes"... and that's only counting the ones where I've actually read the book as well.
None of them were a huge disappointment compared to the book, but I think "The Princess Bride" is the only one where I'd actually say that the movie is better.
Epic that Completely Captured my Attention: The All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness.
Worst Book That Everybody Raved About: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. This came SO highly recommended, and I ended up having to force myself to finish it, because I got bored and just didn't care for the characters at all. I just don't get the hype.
Best Children's Book: "Bjerget vågner" by Sigbjørn Mostue. A Scandinavian fantasy in the good old tradition of Astrid Lindgren. I really enjoyed it.
Best Memoir: Changing Gears by Nancy Sathre-Vogel... but I might be biased. I've been waiting for this memoir to come out ever since I discovered her blog!
Most Surprising Book: Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh. I'd never cared for the blog, so I didn't have high hopes for the book either, but I ended up LOVING it!
Most Amazing Prose Award: Stolen by Lucy Christopher. Despite the horrible (as in "devastating", not as in "bad") plot, she still made me long to visit Australia again. I don't know if that was her attention, but she succeeded.
Best Book I Would Never Have Read If Somebody Online Hadn't Told Me To: A Modern Witch -- my dear friend dichroic recommended this to me awhile back. Took me far too long to pick it up, but I had no idea what a treasure I would find. I should have known better - dichroic very, VERY seldom steers me wrong. It's become a fast favourite in my entire family.
Honourable mentions to Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein which eattheolives raved about, and His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik which esc_key recommended to me years ago.
Best / Most Memorable Book Cover: None stand out.
Book I can't believe I waited until now to finally read: Considering that it's been several years since dichroic first recommended A Modern Witch to me, I guess this belongs here as well ;)
Best Travel Book: Absolutely Changing Gears by Nancy Sathre-Vogel. I really want to reread that one sometime soon :)
Worst Ending: Border Wedding by Amanda Scott. Giving reasons would result in spoilers, but send me a message if you want to know (or read my review on GoodReads).
Biggest Disappointment: The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers. I've loved every other book I've read by Walter Moers, but this one was slow to start and then - much like the latest "Game of Thrones" apparently - ended up being just the first half of a series! Guess this one could have belonged under "Worst Ending" as well, come to think of it.
Most Unusual Narrator: When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman. This is one of those rare books where I have no idea why I enjoyed it, but I did.
Best Paranormal for Grownups: All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness
Book That Made Me Want to Take Up Writing Ten-Page Letters: None stand out.
Hands-Down Best Book I Have Read All Year Do you really need to ask? ;)
(+) more than last year, (-) less than last year
Total number of books: 150 (-)
Total number of pages: 34.932 (-)
Average number of pages per book: 233 (- ... but only by one page!)
Average number of pages a day: 96 (-)
# Rereads: 32 (-)
Books in Danish: 11 (-)
Ebooks Read: 75 (+)
Audio Books Read: 23 (-)
Library Books Read: 0 (-)
ARCs read: 17 (+)
# Books on my Shelves by End of Year (not counting e-books and audiobooks): 1018 (+)
# TBR: 166 (+)
Genres:
Childrens Fiction: 7% (+)
Young Adult Fiction: 3% (-)
Young Adult Sci-fi/Dystopian: 11% (+)
Young Adult Fantasy/Paranormal: 12% (+)
Historical fiction: 3% (-)
Christian Fiction: 0% (-)
Fiction: 6% (=)
Sci-fi/Fantasy: 29% (+)
Chick-lit: 2% (-)
The Classics: 3% (+)
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense: 8% (+)
Non-fiction: 4% (+)
Memoir/Autobiography/Biography: 4% (-)
Poetry/Short-stories/Essays: 8% (+)
The +/- compares percentage rise/fall compared to 2012.
A list of all books I've read this year can be found at Goodreads.com. My 2013 shelf is here
Three Authors That I Fell in Love With This Year:
- Mira Grant. I would NOT have thought I'd be interested in zombie novels, but apparently when it's more a dystopian novel that happens to feature zombies, than a zombie novel in its own right, I'm more than fine with it :) "Newsflesh" caught my interest completely, and I still wish there were more books in the series.
- Debora Geary. No surprise there ;) Her books are some of the best comfort books I have ever read, and while I'll happily admit there's no real plot, they're just so heartwarming and character-driven that it doesn't bother me in the slightest. She's a new all-time favourite.
- Deborah Harkness. Meyer's Twilight meets Gabaldon's Outlander and since I love both, this was all good :) I'm eagerly awaiting the third book in her trilogy which should be out next year.
Best New Series:
See above ;) "Newsflesh", "A Modern Witch" and "All Souls Trilogy"
Abandoned Books
Forgot a couple in my last list. I DID think 4 was a very low number!
- The Rape of Nanking (abandoned for good)
- Laura - The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder (abandoned for now)
- The Penderwicks - Jeanne Birdsall (abandoned... can't quite decide)
Awards:
Best classic-I-should-have-read-earlier: Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper. Such a sweet story :)
Most Thought-Provoking Young Adult Novel: Unwind by Neal Shusterman. It was deeply disturbing, but it did make me think.
Best Retelling of a Legend/Fairy Tale: Don't think there were any this year.
Biggest Tear-Jerker: A Modern Witch by Debora Geary. Not in the convensional way though. They were mostly happy tears or tears because I was touched.
The Book is Better Than the Movie Award / The Movie is Better Than the Book Award: I've seen a huge number of movie adaptions this year: "Life of Pi", "Catching Fire", "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", "The Host", "Eat, Pray, Love", "The Hunger Games", the first three Narnia movies, "Breaking Dawn part 2", "The Princess Bride", "Fried Green Tomatoes"... and that's only counting the ones where I've actually read the book as well.
None of them were a huge disappointment compared to the book, but I think "The Princess Bride" is the only one where I'd actually say that the movie is better.
Epic that Completely Captured my Attention: The All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness.
Worst Book That Everybody Raved About: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. This came SO highly recommended, and I ended up having to force myself to finish it, because I got bored and just didn't care for the characters at all. I just don't get the hype.
Best Children's Book: "Bjerget vågner" by Sigbjørn Mostue. A Scandinavian fantasy in the good old tradition of Astrid Lindgren. I really enjoyed it.
Best Memoir: Changing Gears by Nancy Sathre-Vogel... but I might be biased. I've been waiting for this memoir to come out ever since I discovered her blog!
Most Surprising Book: Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh. I'd never cared for the blog, so I didn't have high hopes for the book either, but I ended up LOVING it!
Most Amazing Prose Award: Stolen by Lucy Christopher. Despite the horrible (as in "devastating", not as in "bad") plot, she still made me long to visit Australia again. I don't know if that was her attention, but she succeeded.
Best Book I Would Never Have Read If Somebody Online Hadn't Told Me To: A Modern Witch -- my dear friend dichroic recommended this to me awhile back. Took me far too long to pick it up, but I had no idea what a treasure I would find. I should have known better - dichroic very, VERY seldom steers me wrong. It's become a fast favourite in my entire family.
Honourable mentions to Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein which eattheolives raved about, and His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik which esc_key recommended to me years ago.
Best / Most Memorable Book Cover: None stand out.
Book I can't believe I waited until now to finally read: Considering that it's been several years since dichroic first recommended A Modern Witch to me, I guess this belongs here as well ;)
Best Travel Book: Absolutely Changing Gears by Nancy Sathre-Vogel. I really want to reread that one sometime soon :)
Worst Ending: Border Wedding by Amanda Scott. Giving reasons would result in spoilers, but send me a message if you want to know (or read my review on GoodReads).
Biggest Disappointment: The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers. I've loved every other book I've read by Walter Moers, but this one was slow to start and then - much like the latest "Game of Thrones" apparently - ended up being just the first half of a series! Guess this one could have belonged under "Worst Ending" as well, come to think of it.
Most Unusual Narrator: When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman. This is one of those rare books where I have no idea why I enjoyed it, but I did.
Best Paranormal for Grownups: All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness
Book That Made Me Want to Take Up Writing Ten-Page Letters: None stand out.
Hands-Down Best Book I Have Read All Year Do you really need to ask? ;)