I never got around to this survey in 2023, but unexpectedly, in 2024, I had the most prolific reading year of my adult life (checking back, I did read 89 books in 2019). Honestly, I would guess it's both because I was missing a personal laptop for parts of the year and also because there were a few weeks or months when I went mostly off social media. I'm going to enjoy basking in this glow because I don't know if it will ever happen again!
I also met most of my bookish goals for 2024 (more on that later), but for now I'd like to share the stats from the survey I've been using for over a decade (I think?!), which I modified from the discontinued book blog, Boston Bibliophile.
2024 Reading Stats
How many books read? 90
Fiction/nonfiction? 78 fiction, 8 nonfiction, 4 poetry
Female/male/nonbinary author ratio? 74 female, 13 male, 1 collection with writers of multiple genders, and 1 unknown
Writers of Color/Minority Writers? 13 books by writers of color, 14 Jewish writers (some writers are in both those categories)
Favorite book? Such a hard decision--I had so many 5-star reads this year...Deacon King Kong by James McBride and The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell were both standouts. I didn't think a book could be better than The Good Lord Bird but Deacon King Kong was so unexpectedly profound and the dialogue and voice are incandescent. The Marriage Portrait is so beautifully and deliberately overwritten; both of these books manage to show the sublime beauty in between the real terror of being alive. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir was similarly touching, plus entertaining, and it's a book that I've found to be almost universally appealing, even though it's hard sci fi.
Longest and shortest books?
Longest: Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo, 592 pages
Shortest: Altogether, One at a Time by E.L. Konigsburg, 79 pages
How many books from the library? At least 18--I think more but I didn't do a great job keeping track
Which countries did you go to through the page in your year of reading?
Israel, a sentient space station, a fantasy version of West Africa, a fantasy version of Imperial China, England, a spaceship, Renaissance Italy, Nantucket, western Europe, the U.S., Australia, and various fantasy worlds
Any translated books?
Yes, one from Japanese and one that had a story translated from Korean.
Most read author of the year, and how many books by that author?
I read five books by Megan Van Dyke--Captive of The Stolen Empire and the entire Fae King series plus a novella--safe to say I am a fan!
Any re-reads?
I re-read The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer, although I didn't count it toward my reading goal.
Which book wouldn’t you have read without someone’s specific recommendation?
I read a lot of books that I wouldn't have otherwise read for book clubs, including The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck and Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie, which are two I ended up liking..
Which author was new to you that you now want to read the entire works of?
Megan Van Dyke, obviously; also, Amanda Elliott--I adored I Love You a Latke
Which books are you annoyed you didn't read?
I wanted to finish The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, but I ended up finishing that in January 2025.
Did you read any books you have always been meaning to read?
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld and Deacon King Kong by James McBride are books I'd been meaning to read for a few years.
How many books did you read on your ereader?
At least 22, including all of the ebooks I reviewed for LibraryThing and all the romances I read from Kindle Unlimited
How many SFF books did you read?
32 books, including a lot of romantasy!
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