MY FAVORITE! LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS!

If you aren’t a tremendous geek, it’s probably best if you look away now.

I read 205 books this year. Less than last year, but this is still only the second year I’ve broken the 200 mark.

Here the ridiculous chart I maintain solely for my amusement.

Those high points tended to be when I was sick, since when I’m ill generally all I want to do is lie on the sofa and read.

It is an utterly insane chart, which is why I find it so amusing.

Next up, the type of book.

Trade Paperback: 7
eBook: 148
Audio: 50
Total: 204
Multiple Formats: 46
Re-read: 94
% Re-Read: 46%

I listened to quite a few audio books this year–a quarter of the total. You can also see that I read almost no paper books–the ones I did read tended to be part of a series where I’ve gotten only part of the series as eBooks, and couldn’t find the books I still own only in paper on Overdrive.

I also had a LOT of re-reads this year, however, part of that is because I cannot listen to a fiction book for the first time. I can only listen to fiction I’ve already read. (This is mostly due to my rule that I have to be moving to listen to an audio book, either exercising or cleaning or cooking.)

I’d like to also note the “multiple formats” category. This is a story that I own in one or more formats, generally either paper and ebook or ebook and audiobook (although in some cases I own a book in all three formats).

This is mostly to point out my frustration of having to purchase an electronic copy of a book I already own as a paper book. I love re-reading books, but I am not going to pay $7.99 for an electronic copy of a book I already own a paper copy of. I’m just NOT. So it frustrates me that there is once again no way to get a cheaper eBook when I already own a paper copy.

Just a pet peeve.

Fantasy: 95
Mystery: 90
Romance: 72
YA: 12
Comic: 7

Genre-wise, things were relatively evenly split between fantasy and mystery. And no, that series is larger than the total number of books I read this year, because books often fall into two categories.

Male: 53
Female: 118
Joint + Anthology: 9
Initials: 12
Male Pseudonym: 13
Female Total: 70%

In finally, the apparently contentious topic of the gender of the author.

Including male pseudonyms and books published under initials (which can hide the gender of the author) 70% of the books I read were written by women.

If I ever get really bored, I’ll create a cross reference for gender by genre, but I have yet to feel that masochistic.

I like to point this out, however, because although I read quite a few romances this year, they account for only a quarter of the books I read. Which means that the other 35% of the books written by women were fantasies or mysteries.

So don’t even think about giving me that “there are no women writing good SFF” crap, because it is obviously false.

And there you have it! My year in books!

My favorite YA books of 2018
My favorite audio books of 2018
My favorite paranormal romance books of 2018
My favorite romance books of 2018
My favorite fantasy books of 2018
My favorite mystery books of 2018