2015: Some Numbers and Thoughts

So aside from my Best Books I Read in 2015 post, where I discussed (you guessed it!) the best books I read in 2015, I wanted to also spend some time giving a closer look at any trends in my reading, and some stats about what kind of books I'm reading and consuming. As a general introduction, here's a handy screenshot from my Goodreads about the books I read in 2015:

A few quick thoughts based off of the above photo:

• I'm happy that I read 93 books. It's the most I've read in years, and it is always my dream to get back to the way I was in elementary through high school where I would a couple hundred books a year. I did have a lot less commitments, responsibilities, and work, but still! I'd love to at least get close to that. So this year, I've decided to try and get to 100 books, but since I'm competitive, I want to definitely go over that.
• I only made it to 93 because I read 20 graphic novels, and 4 manga. I did make a conscious effort to read more graphic novels, but it definitely bolstered my reading...
• Reading graphic novels also contributed to my average page length of 254 pages. I did feel myself gravitating towards shorter books this year - I think it is partly the pressure of wanting to reach my Goodreads goal, and partly because I've been stressed. I want to try and read longer novels this year. I love, love getting lost in a long novel, but sometimes the emotional investment/toll scares me. Like when I began reading Cloud Atlas, I knew the pain would be prolonged. 

Other Business: General Numbers

1. I read 53 books by women, and 40 books by men. Not bad, but I was hoping to read about 70-80% women. 
2. To the best of my knowledge, I read 40 books by POC. Also, not bad, but I was hoping to do better.
3. The books I read were overwhelmingly American and British, but considering I'm American, and can only read in English, this was kind of bound to happen. 

Other Business: Genre Specifics

1. I read 13 books of poetry. Typically, I read more poetry, but I was feeling the novel much more this past year.
2. I read 6 books of non-fiction. Truly amazing, considering it is really hard for me to read non-fiction. I'm still trying to read more.
3. I read 20 graphic novels and 4 manga. Graphic novels and manga are different!
4. And finally, I read 51 books of fiction. 
5. I read 4 books by Roberto Bolaño. Roberto Bolaño's works are one of the great loves of my life. His books are a genre unto themselves, for me. I'm excited to read more Bolaño in 2016.

Other Business: Problems

When I began planning for this post, I thought I would get much more specific about an author's nationality, really trying to chart where everyone was from. Whether they were American, non-American, white, non-white, woman or man, and it was honestly overwhelming. These categories are too dichotomous, and it felt unnecessary to try and fit everyone into it. Here are a couple problems I ran into, that made me second-guess this:

• The graphic novel Saga, is written by a man, and drawn and colored by a woman. Do I count these to my ticks for women or men or both?
• I read two books of poetry by Li-Young Lee, and he is an American citizen, but was born in Indonesia. Do I give a tick to America or Indonesia? Do I make a category for 'hyphenated Americans'? Do I even like the term 'hyphenated Americans'? 

That's when I gave up on these categories, and decided that further trying to categorize authors was just confining them and their work. 

So yeah, that's a little bit about the books I read in 2015. I'm very excited for another year of reading, and of this blog. This blog helps me to remember how vital books are to me. Thank you for reading!