2020 Statistics
For these statistics I'll be using my reading log and The Story Graph, but not Goodreads. My log includes articles and book chapters that I've read for my studies, but Goodreads only has cover-to-cover books. The Story Graph has some interesting stuff like pace and more details about genre that I don't have in my log. My log also has comparisons for 2019 and 2020.
In 2020, I read a total of 75 items plus four that I didn't finish. Of all 79, these include 40 novels, 16 essay collections, eight novellas, seven nonfiction monographs, seven short stories, and one poem. That makes a total of 56 fiction and 23 nonfiction. Considering how much of the year I spent not studying, this doesn't surprise me.
My best reading months were January with 14 books, and March with 13; my worst reading months were June and July with one book each. This is very much not surprising either for obvious worldwide pandemic reasons. This gave me an average of 6.25 books a month.
The longest book I started was The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton at 834 pages, but the longest book I finished was A Companion to the Archaeology of the Roman Republic edited by Jane de Rose Evans. My most common length was less than 100 pages, with 18 items falling in that category; this does however include all the journals articles I read. After that, the most common length is between 200 and 300 pages, with 17 books. Considering how much I adore long books, this is a little surprising, but I have been focusing on shorter works.
Of all the items I read, the majority were for university, with 21 items. After that, my most commonly read genre was science fiction at 18, and historical fiction at 16. I'm fine with that, and I'm happy that I read so much science fiction. This year I found my love again of historical fiction, so I'm not shocked that it was so common.
Across all items, I logged a total of 21,271 pages, with an average book length of 269 pages. I read an average of 226 pages a day, and each book took on average 1.3 days to read. I'm really not surprised at this; I do tend to read books in one sitting as much as I can, even longer books.
There are more statistics on my reading log if you want to take a look!
2021 Goals
This is the big one. I am putting myself on a book buying ban.
This year I logged on Goodreads almost every book I own, and it comes to a shockingly high number. Bearing in mind that this is not every book I own, but I have logged 2,421 books. As such, I am not allowed to get any new books unless I have finished five books. I do have some exceptions to this, but ultimately these are my 2021 rules:
- For every five books finished, I may get one new book.
- This new book may be from a library, Kobo VIP points, or purchased.
- If the book is a bundle, collection, or omnibus, I must wait until I have finished enough books to buy it. For example, if the book contains a trilogy, I must have finished 15 books, five books for each in the bundle.
- The only exceptions are books that I need for my degree.
- This may involve buying books, getting them from the university library, or from a public library.
- I do not need to finish five books to get a book I need for my degree, I can get them at any time.
- Finished books I need for my degree will count towards the five for getting a new book.
- I do not need to buy a book after reading five. I may wish to "bank" the ability to buy.
- If I am reading a bundle, collection, or omnibus, I count each individual item in the set as one book. For example, if a trilogy is all in one book, I will count it as three books complete.
- Articles and short pieces I need to read for university will count towards the five books. I will be basing this count on my reading log, rather than my Goodreads total. Any article I count towards this absolutely must be for my degree.
- I am allowed to reread books, but not count them twice if I reread them in the same year.
- If I read a translated work, I can read different translations without it counting as a reread. For example, I might read Emily Wilson's translation of the Odyssey as well as the Loeb Classical Library version which is translated by A.T. Murray, and these will count as two separate reads.
- If a book is split across multiple volumes, I will count each volume as a book if I am reading it as such. For example, returning to the Loeb Classical Library version of the Odyssey, it is in two parts so I'll count that as two books. Some books like Les Miserables by Victor Hugo have multiple volumes, but are collected in one book, so it would be counted as one book.
There will be more details about the books I plan to read through the year, but I'll save those for the next post. I don't have a set number of books I want to read, I merely want to get the number of books I own and haven't read to go down. I feel more than a little overwhelmed at the sheer number right now, so I hope that focusing on lowering the number will help.
This turned out to be a longer post than I expected originally, but I hope it all makes sense.
How was 2020 as a reading year for you? What are your goals for 2021?
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