Monday, January 2, 2012

2011 Reading Stats, Goals and Favorites


I've had such a great holiday hanging with children and husband this past week and today husband went back to work and stepdaughter is driving back to Chicago.  It's quiet-making it a perfect time to write up my accomplishments for the past year.  I've had fun popping around and reading everyone else's finished goals. Now it is my turn.

The biggest news for me was actually making the 100 mark of books-making this goal was a huge accomplishment as last year I only made it to 86.  This challenge was hosted by Amy at My Overstuffed Bookshelf.  She hosts again but this time she's changed it up to 150 books and at that I have to bow out.  I struggled with 100, reading my last book on December 31st so I'll search for another or just use my Goodreads account to make my own.  I don't know what other challenges I'm going to take on but I did find this intriguing one on Roof Beam Reader; a TBR Pile Challenge-which is one that will fulfill my desire to get more organized and you only pick 12 books to finish.  I can do that.

In 2011 I read:

Elementary/Middle Grade Fiction: 48
Young Adult Fiction: 16
Adult Fiction: 23
Non-fiction: 13
Cookbooks: 8

Women Authors: 61
Male Authors: 18

Where I got them from:

Library: 54
Own/Borrowed: 39
ARC's: 4

15 were for my 3 book clubs
15 were historical fiction
26 were fantasty/science fiction

My favorites by age level:
(links are to my reviews)

Adult Fiction:

Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska 
Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese
Stiltsville by Susanna Daniel
The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman
A History of Love by Nicole Krauss (review soon)

Young Adult Fiction:

I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Elementary/Middle School:  
(this is a much harder catergory; I read many of these for work and love them, making this longer.)

The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez
The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Milo; Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze by Alan Silberberg
Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpoole
The Shadows/Spellbound by Jacqueline West
Little Klein by Anna Ylvisaker
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (review soon)
Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm
A Drowned Maiden's Tale by Laura Amy Schlitz (loved The Night Fairy last year)
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick (review soon)

Many of these were new authors to me and I especially appreciated discovering Jennifer Donnelly, Anna Ylvisaker and Nicole Krauss.  I enjoyed the fantasy worlds of Kristin Cashore and Jacqueline West. I'm so happy I've finally read both of Selznick's masterpieces!

I read massive amounts of Jennifer L. Holm for a class and adore her characters, even reading my first Babymouse!  What a fantastic year of reading I've had; click here or the tab at the top to see my full list.

What books do we have in common?  What books did you love this year?  What book did I love that you hated?

As I read over my full list a few titles kept pouting and poking their heads up at me so I leave these titles as honorable mentions because they are worth mentioning...

Ninth Ward by Jewell  Parker Rhodes
One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
The Kneebone Boy By Ellen Potter
The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas

7 comments:

Peppermint Ph.D. said...

I'm hoping to reach the 52 books in 2012...and am completely impressed with those of you who can make it to 100 :)

Belle Wong said...

Congratulations on reading 100 last year! I love reading your reading stats. I have a terrible time keeping track of what I've read, so I could never pull together a post like this one. Thanks for the link to the TBR challenge, too. Happy new year!

NatalieSap said...

Congratulations on making it to 100! I love that you included your favorites of the year - I should have done that too. And wow! How did you manage to read so much adult fiction?! That's impressive. Happy reading in 2012...

Anonymous said...

congratulations! with no real goal I made it to 99!! see my recap: http://wordsandpeace.com/2011/12/30/year-of-reading-2011/

JoAnn said...

Congratulations on meeting your 100 goal! I loved Cutting for Stone and The History of Love, keep hearing good things about Stiltsville, and plan to check out the other two :-)

Elaine said...

I only read 44 books this year - way less than usual. (But it was for a good reason...) Favorites:
1. Lit - Mary Karr
2. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot
3. Battle Hym of the Tiger Mother - Amy Chua
4. The Paris Wife - Paula McLain
5. My Korean Deli - Ben Ryder How
(I mostly read non-fiction.)

Jen at Introverted Reader said...

You have some excellent books on your list! I keep running into Cutting for Stone. I bought it but I haven't gotten to it yet. Hopefully soon. Happy reading in 2012!