Too many statistics about books Rebecca's read.
Like last year, I made a list of categories for books that I wanted to read in 2022. Some categories were repeats from last year's list, and some were ones that I knew would lead me to books that I probably wouldn't read otherwise. I'll make a few changes to it, but I'm planning to use almost the same list for my 2023 book goals. For 2022, I read a book for every category on my list!
A book by an author I've never read before: Standing in the Light.
A book by two people: Fire With Fire.
A book from Goodwill/secondhand: Can I Get There by Candlelight?
A book over 400 pages: In the Woods.
A book published in the 1920s: To the Lighthouse.
A book published in the 1930s: Waterless Mountain.
A book Sara recommended: City of Girls.
A book set in a non-English-speaking country: The Tiger's Wife.
A book set in Texas: The Girl.
A book that's been made into a movie: The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
A book that's part of a series: Across the Puddingstone Dam.
A book translated from another language: The Japanese Lover.
A book under 100 pages: Josefina Learns a Lesson.
A childhood favorite: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
A nonfiction book: On Writing for Children and Other People.
A second book by an author I've read only once before: The Sleeper and the Spindle.
After I was done with the list, then I went to work on two different reading goals. With my adult audiobooks, I started rereading authors that I'd read before, and with my children's boks, I worked on reading books published in years that weren't on my list yet. I read a lot of older books and got several years crossed off my list. My adult rereads once again yielded some surprising results. Kazuo Ishiguro, for example, wrote one of my favorite books for 2020, but the second book I read by him was one of my worst for this year! Below is every book I read in 2022 (33 total, average year published 1986), divided into five categories like usual.
Excellent
A God in Ruins, by Kate Atkinson
In the Woods, by Tana French
Fire With Fire, by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian
An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones
Across the Puddingstone Dam, by Melissa Wiley
Above Average
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, by Joan Aiken
Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen
The Cabin Faced West, by Jean Fritz
City of Girls, by Elizabeth Gilbert
Wilde Lake, by Laura Lippman
The Tiger's Wife, by Téa Obreht
Standing in the Light, by Mary Pope Osborne
Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell
Average
Waterless Mountain, by Laura Adams Armer
Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt
The Indigo Girl, by Natasha Boyd
The Girl, by Robbie Branscum
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
On Writing for Children and Other People, by Julius Lester
Betsy-Tacy and Tib, by Maud Hart Lovelace.
The Fairacre Festival, by Miss Read
The Singing Tree, by Kate Seredy
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson
Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson
Josefina Learns a Lesson, by Valerie Tripp
Below Average
Can I Get There by Candlelight? by Jean Slaughter Doty
The Sleeper and the Spindle, by Neil Gaiman
The Talking Earth, by Jean Craighead George
The Bird Sisters, by Rebecca Rasmussen
Little House in Brookfield, by Maria D. Wilkes
Poor
The Japanese Lover, by Isabel Allende
The Buried Giant, by Kazuo Ishiguro
To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf
I think my list for 2023 will be pretty similar to this year's. I've been keeping a few authors/series in location for as long as I can; currently, I'm reading two a year of Little House, and one a year of American Girl, Jane Austen, Betsy-Tacy, Burn for Burn, Dear America, and Tana French. The Excel list where I keep track of all this is currently at 230 books, 155 authors, and it covers almost everything I've read 2013-present, plus several books that I own and read years ago. Below is a list of authors who appear on the list more than once, with their book quantity:
8: Maud Hart Lovelace, Ann M. Martin, Melissa Wiley.
6: Lois Lowry.
5: Tana French, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Valerie Tripp.
4: Kristin Cashore, Laura Lippman, Anna Quindlen.
3: Kate Atkinson, Jane Austen, Cathleen Schine.
2: 24 Authors.
And this is a breakdown of when the books on the list were published. Because I focused on older books this year, I was able to fill in my missing years from the '70s and '80s, and I now have at least one book published for every year from 2021-1968. I like the idea of using my children's books to focus on older stuff, and I've done this a lot in recent years.
Pre-1900: 4 books (3 by Jane Austen).
1900s: 1.
1910s: 1.
1920s: 1.
1930s: 2.
1940s: 7 (all Betsy-Tacy books).
1950s: 5.
1960s: 6.
1970s: 13.
1980s: 20.
1990s: 42.
2000s: 28.
2010s: 98.
2020s: 2.
I've reread one childhood favorite every year since 2019, and I hope to keep this category going indefinitely. 2019: Rabble Starkey. 2020: Watership Down. 2021: Pictures of Adam. 2022: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I've also read one book a year translated from another language since 2019. 2019: Becoming Gershona. 2020: The Wall. 2021: The Crow-Girl. 2022: The Japanese Lover.
And this is a breakdown of common words/things that appear in the book titles. I've always thought the results here were interesting. Occasionally I'll select books based on certain words in their titles.
8 titles containing the word girl: The Crow-Girl, City of Girls, Fangirl, The Girl, Golden Girls Forever, A Greyhound of a Girl, The Indigo Girl, The Lost Girls.
6 titles containing the word sister: The Bird Sisters, Nantucket Sisters, Sister Golden Hair, Sisterhood Everlasting, Sisterland, Summer Sisters.
A book by an author I've never read before: Standing in the Light.
A book by two people: Fire With Fire.
A book from Goodwill/secondhand: Can I Get There by Candlelight?
A book over 400 pages: In the Woods.
A book published in the 1920s: To the Lighthouse.
A book published in the 1930s: Waterless Mountain.
A book Sara recommended: City of Girls.
A book set in a non-English-speaking country: The Tiger's Wife.
A book set in Texas: The Girl.
A book that's been made into a movie: The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
A book that's part of a series: Across the Puddingstone Dam.
A book translated from another language: The Japanese Lover.
A book under 100 pages: Josefina Learns a Lesson.
A childhood favorite: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
A nonfiction book: On Writing for Children and Other People.
A second book by an author I've read only once before: The Sleeper and the Spindle.
After I was done with the list, then I went to work on two different reading goals. With my adult audiobooks, I started rereading authors that I'd read before, and with my children's boks, I worked on reading books published in years that weren't on my list yet. I read a lot of older books and got several years crossed off my list. My adult rereads once again yielded some surprising results. Kazuo Ishiguro, for example, wrote one of my favorite books for 2020, but the second book I read by him was one of my worst for this year! Below is every book I read in 2022 (33 total, average year published 1986), divided into five categories like usual.
Excellent
A God in Ruins, by Kate Atkinson
In the Woods, by Tana French
Fire With Fire, by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian
An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones
Across the Puddingstone Dam, by Melissa Wiley
Above Average
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, by Joan Aiken
Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen
The Cabin Faced West, by Jean Fritz
City of Girls, by Elizabeth Gilbert
Wilde Lake, by Laura Lippman
The Tiger's Wife, by Téa Obreht
Standing in the Light, by Mary Pope Osborne
Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell
Average
Waterless Mountain, by Laura Adams Armer
Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt
The Indigo Girl, by Natasha Boyd
The Girl, by Robbie Branscum
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
On Writing for Children and Other People, by Julius Lester
Betsy-Tacy and Tib, by Maud Hart Lovelace.
The Fairacre Festival, by Miss Read
The Singing Tree, by Kate Seredy
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson
Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson
Josefina Learns a Lesson, by Valerie Tripp
Below Average
Can I Get There by Candlelight? by Jean Slaughter Doty
The Sleeper and the Spindle, by Neil Gaiman
The Talking Earth, by Jean Craighead George
The Bird Sisters, by Rebecca Rasmussen
Little House in Brookfield, by Maria D. Wilkes
Poor
The Japanese Lover, by Isabel Allende
The Buried Giant, by Kazuo Ishiguro
To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf
I think my list for 2023 will be pretty similar to this year's. I've been keeping a few authors/series in location for as long as I can; currently, I'm reading two a year of Little House, and one a year of American Girl, Jane Austen, Betsy-Tacy, Burn for Burn, Dear America, and Tana French. The Excel list where I keep track of all this is currently at 230 books, 155 authors, and it covers almost everything I've read 2013-present, plus several books that I own and read years ago. Below is a list of authors who appear on the list more than once, with their book quantity:
8: Maud Hart Lovelace, Ann M. Martin, Melissa Wiley.
6: Lois Lowry.
5: Tana French, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Valerie Tripp.
4: Kristin Cashore, Laura Lippman, Anna Quindlen.
3: Kate Atkinson, Jane Austen, Cathleen Schine.
2: 24 Authors.
And this is a breakdown of when the books on the list were published. Because I focused on older books this year, I was able to fill in my missing years from the '70s and '80s, and I now have at least one book published for every year from 2021-1968. I like the idea of using my children's books to focus on older stuff, and I've done this a lot in recent years.
Pre-1900: 4 books (3 by Jane Austen).
1900s: 1.
1910s: 1.
1920s: 1.
1930s: 2.
1940s: 7 (all Betsy-Tacy books).
1950s: 5.
1960s: 6.
1970s: 13.
1980s: 20.
1990s: 42.
2000s: 28.
2010s: 98.
2020s: 2.
I've reread one childhood favorite every year since 2019, and I hope to keep this category going indefinitely. 2019: Rabble Starkey. 2020: Watership Down. 2021: Pictures of Adam. 2022: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I've also read one book a year translated from another language since 2019. 2019: Becoming Gershona. 2020: The Wall. 2021: The Crow-Girl. 2022: The Japanese Lover.
And this is a breakdown of common words/things that appear in the book titles. I've always thought the results here were interesting. Occasionally I'll select books based on certain words in their titles.
8 titles containing the word girl: The Crow-Girl, City of Girls, Fangirl, The Girl, Golden Girls Forever, A Greyhound of a Girl, The Indigo Girl, The Lost Girls.
6 titles containing the word sister: The Bird Sisters, Nantucket Sisters, Sister Golden Hair, Sisterhood Everlasting, Sisterland, Summer Sisters.