Monday, July 13, 2015

Mid-Year Book Statistics

Hello everyone!  I decided that since we are now halfway through the year I was going to make an update on my mid-year reading statistics.  I'm a bit of a nerd so I love stats and charts and percentages and I would love to share some interesting things I've found in my reading.

As of today, I have read 41 books, and I am 7 books ahead on my goodreads goal, which is 55 books.

Age Range

YA: 22   54%
Adult: 18   44%
MG: 1   2%

I'm pretty okay with these percentages.  I would like to get my adult books up to 50% but I do enjoy YA so if I don't get to that, I will be okay with that.

Genre Breakdown

Dystopian: 1   2%
Literary Fiction: 5   12%
Contemporary: 10   24%
Fantasy: 14   34%
Memoir: 2   5%
Paranormal: 3   7%
Historical Fiction: 2    
Science Fiction: 2   5%  
Nonfiction: 2   5%

I will say that I am very surprised by how many contemporaries I've read this year.  I'd like to reduce the percentage of contemporaries I've read and increase the number of sci-fi and literary fiction for the rest of the year.

POC vs Non-POC*

POC: 6   20%
Non-POC: 24   80%

This is actually extremely embarrassing.  I am aware that it's certainly better than what it is for a lot of other people, but considering the fact that I have been actively trying to read diversely this year, this is something that I am ashamed of.  However, I have recently made a huge list of not only books by people of color but also their nationality, which consists primarily of people of color.  For my goal, I'd definitely like to get this up to at least 40% people of color.

* - out of 30

Nationality of Author*

USA: 23   77%
Jamaica: 1   3%
Nigeria: 1   3%
Canada: 1   3%
UK: 3   10%
Spain: 1   3%

Again, as with the POC stats, this is extremely embarrassing for me.  Only 22% of the books that I have read this year are from countries that are not the US and only 9% are from countries that I consider to be diverse, since I don't feel that the UK and Canada should count as diverse.  I'm going to work really hard for the rest of the year to remedy this, particularly by reading African, Asian, and South American authors.

* - out of 30

Format Breakdown:

ebooks: 23   56%
audiobooks: 2   5%  
paperbacks: 8   19%
hardcovers: 8   19%

I am happy to see that I'm using my Nook, but I do wish that I would read more physical books from both my public library and my personal library.  However, I do find that I read ebooks much faster than physical books, so that may be a part of the reason why my ebook count is so much higher.

Ebook Format Breakdown:

owned ebooks: 2   9%
Overdrive ebooks: 15   55%
eARCs: 6   26%

This was just out of curiosity.  I'd like to read more of the ebooks that I own because I own a lot, but if I don't, it doesn't matter.

Owned Books vs Library Books

Owned Books: 22   54%
Library Books: 19   46%

I'm very happy with this pretty much 50/50 statistic.  I'm glad to see I'm both using my library and reading the books I'm buying and receiving.

*Note: I'm counting eARCs as books that I own since they are my property and I do not have to return them to any establishment.

Average Number of Pages: 392

I'm happy to keep this hovering between 400 and 500 pages.  I'll read some more longer books to bump this up a bit, but I'm not too worried about this stat.

Publishing Year Breakdown:

2015: 14   34%
2014: 12   29%
2013: 6   15%
2012: 2   5%
2011: 2   5%
2008: 1   2%
2007: 1   2%
2006: 1   2%
1991: 1   2%
1989:  1   2%

This is cool with me.  I want to read some classics to get some books in the 1800s, but I know that I read primarily new releases and I feel comfortable with that.

Number of Rereads: 4   10%

Number of Diverse Books: 11   27%

This isn't great, but it is certainly better than my nationality percentages, which tells me that I'm reading a lot of diverse authors and books about diverse people and situations from the US, which is great.  I'd like to get up to 40%, which I honestly don't think will be a struggle.

Male vs Female Authors

Male Authors: 7   17%
Female Authors: 34   83%

Unique Authors: 30
Unique Male Authors: 3   10%
Unique Female Authors: 27   90%

So obviously I terribly neglect the male authors, which to be perfectly honest, doesn't bother me that much.  If I can read more books by male authors then I will, but I'm definitely focusing more on diversity than gender.

Okay, that's the end of my statistics.  I hope you found some of these interesting, and feel free to let me know in the comments what your statistics are if you calculated them, and what your opinions are on reading diversely.

Thanks for reading!
Amber