This year I read 56 books! 6 more books than last year. I read exactly 17,500 pages (I know because I kept track). Like usual, most of my free time is spent reading. There is not that many days during the year where I do not read at least a couple of pages. I think the longest span of me not reading was during Christmas break. For those 7 days I didn't pick up a book. I think the speed in which I can read is faster than it was last year, but I am still not that fast of a reader. I take my time and try to consciously comprehend everything that is being said. My favorite reading spot was probably on our couch or our bed. This year I read a wide variety of books and most notably I read some fantasy and science fiction. I also read my first Hemingway and Fitzgerald. My tastes are getting broader and I'm not just reading the "classics." I enjoy reading because it entertains me, gives me new perspectives, gets me in touch with artistic side, and shows me that there is beauty and good in the world. Dostoevesky in The Idiot (which I read this year) wrote that "beauty will save the world" and I am beginning to see what he meant. Novels can show life with realism and without sentimentality, and still show the beauty of human life and human hearts. But, sometimes novels just are pure entertainment without any hidden message and those are great too. There are so many reasons to read and that is why I read 56 books this year.
The Following portions of this blog show the obsessive parts of my personality.
This year I read three books which I have read previously:
The Picture of Dorian Gray
1776
To Kill A Mockingbird
This year I read two books twice in a row (as soon as I finished reading it, I started reading it again):
The Great Gatsby
The Metamorphosis
This year there were four books that I started reading but didn't finish:
Wolf Hall
Ragtime
Beyond Freedom and Dignity
Arrowsmith
*None of these unfinished books are counted towards my statistics.
First Graph:
This graph compares books I have read through the past 3 years.
*Included in non-fiction are self-help and philosophy. One self-help book in 2011; two self-help books and two philosophy books in 2012; 1 philosophy and 4 self-help books in 2013.
And the following graph shows the percentage of fiction to non-fiction.
Out of the 46 fiction books, 11 of those are Young Adult novels, most of which I read while at work.
I didn't read that much non-fiction this year and the ones I did read were a lot of self-help books, 3 of which were required reading for my college classes. This year I was a fictionholic. I think it's funny because I usually really like the non-fiction books that I read. For example, my average star rating of non-fiction books for this year was 4.1. 5 out of the 14 books that I gave a 5 star rating to were non-fiction. 5 out of the 10 non-fiction books were 5 stars. That's a good average. I don't read more non-fiction because they usually take me a lot longer to get through them than fiction books take me. And I have a problem with retaining the information in the non-fiction books a couple months after I have finished them.
Second Graph:
Graphs comparing the books I read in the century in which they were written:
2012
2013
No they are not the same graph. They are different even though they look almost identical. This shocked me. The only difference is that I read 6 more books from the 20th century during this year than I did last year. The oldest book I read was Plato's the Republic which was written around 380 B.C. The newest book I read was Visions of Glory as told by John Pontius which was published in 2012.
This year I was interested to know what my average star rating is for all the books I read. Of the 56 books I read this year 3.54 was the average rating I gave the book. That's a pretty good average. I was also interested to see which century had the highest average star rating. This is what I found:
B.C: 5 star (1 book)
19th Century: 3.11 star (9 books)
20th Century: 3.68 star (33 books)
21st Century: 3.38 star (13 books)
According to that the 20th century gives me the best shot at reading a book that I will enjoy. At the same time, the 20th century gives me the biggest sample size so it's not totally accurate.
Third Graph:
Next I wanted to see the overall breakdown of the ratings I gave each book:
14 books received 5 Stars, The Great Gatsby being counted twice
16 books received 4 Stars, The Metamorphosis being counted twice
3 books received 3.5 Stars
10 books received 3 Stars
11 books received 2 Stars
2 books received 1 Star
Over 50% of the books I read I really really enjoyed.
Fourth Graph:
Only 55 authors were counted towards this graph. The book Difficult Conversations was written by 2 males and one female so that book is the one not counted. Mark Twain, Cornellia Funke, Franz Kafka, F Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemingway were all counted twice. Both John Cristopher and Brandon Sanderson were counted three times each. Orson Scott Card was counted 4 times.
Fifth Graph:
I did not have an ethnicity for two books' authors, Difficult Conversations and The How of Happiness. So only 54 books' authors were counted towards this graph.
59% of the books I read were written by American authors.
17% were written by English authors.
Sixth Graph:
I didn't know the age of four of the 56 books' authors, so only 52 books' authors are counted towards this.
It's interesting to me that 8 out of the 56 books were written by either a 32 year old or 40 year old.
The age group with the most books being published that I read this year was 40-49, with 18 authors falling in that category.
Youngest author at time book was published: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. She was only 19 years old!
Oldest author at time book was published: 1776 by David McCulluough and The Children of Men by P.D. James. They were 72 when those books were published.
Seventh Graph:
At the beginning of the year I started off reading like a mad man. In June and July I didn't read as much because I spent more of my free time studying for the GRE. By the beginning of August I was dying to start reading again.
Eighth Graph:
Interesting to know how many books per month but I also wanted to know how many pages per month.
In July I only read 3 books but those books almost hit the 2,000 page mark. Those books were the Mistborn series. In August I read more pages than in January. I told you I was dying to start reading again.
Exactly 17,500 pages
Average pages per book: 318
Book with the most amount of pages: The Well of Ascension, 763 (I read in July)
Book with the least amount of pages: In the Penal Colony, 35 (I read in January), which is a short story so it doesn't really count. So The Time Machine is the book with least amount sitting in at 56 pages (I read in March)
Ninth Graph:
I also wanted to break it down by average pages read per month.
Highest average per month: 67
Lowest average per month: 21
Average pages read per day over the course of the whole year: 48
Book that took the longest time to finish: Flourish. January 25-April 4. This was an average of 6 pages a day.
Book that took the shortest time to finish: My Side of the Mountain. December 16. 177 pages in that one day. But, that's a Young Adult book so that doesn't really count. So, The Picture of Dorian Gray took the shortest time to finish. January 26-27. It was an average of 106 pages a day.
Tenth Graph:
I wanted to see the comparison of how many books I read compared to movies I watched. I watched 85 movies this year and read 56 books. This is the breakdown by month.
There was a surge in May because I started taking an online college course that required me to watch certain movies and write papers on them. In December there was a surge because it was December and Christmas break!!
Overall, Caren and I went to a movie theater (drive-in theater counts also) 13 times this year. We saw 15 movies in those 13 outings (at drive-in theater we watched two movies both times we went).
Eleventh Graph:
Caren gave me this idea. It was a bit harder to identify this but I think it's fun.
Only 41 books are counted on this graph. I did not have a century for the other 15 books.
Note that there are no books taking place in the 21st century. The Autograph Man might have taken place in that century but I wasn't exactly sure and placed it under the 20th century.
44% were from 20th century
29% were from 19th century
22% were from the Future (anything past 2013)
Twelfth Graph (the last one):
This one was also difficult to identify
The Country in Which the Book Takes Place
13 books did not have an identifiable country.
Some of the books took place in more than one country so I just did which country the majority of the book took place in. For example, Atonement took place in both France and England but the majority in England, so I placed it under England, not France. Another example, Enders Game takes place in the United States but mostly in space, so Enders Game was put under the fantasy category.
Random Stuff:
Longest book title: Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West
Shortest book title: 1776
Best book title: This Side of Paradise
Books added to our library this year: At least 87, probably more. This is not even including children's books, which there was a ton we added.
Books I read from where:
Library: 7
Borrowed: 4
All the rest we own
I looked up exactly 1,070 words while reading. That is an average of one word every 16 pages. That is an average of 19 words a book, even though I didn't look up a word in 21 of the books I read. The book in which I had to look up the most words was This Side of Paradise, 143 words.
And last but not least, I read 14 more books than Caren this year!!!
List of all the books I read:
5 star books: 14, gatsby counted twice
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Republic
The Great Gatsby
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Atonement
Undaunted Courage
The Phantom Tollbooth
Speaker for the Dead
The Glass Castle
The Outsiders
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Autobiography of Malcom X
1776
4 star books: 16, metamorphosis counted twice
The Metamorphosis
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Difficult Conversations
The How of Happiness
Howl’s Moving Castle
The White Mountains
The City of Gold and Lead
The Red Badge of Courage
O Pioneers!
Tarzan of the Apes
Night
The Help
Bridge to Terabithia
The Confessions of Nat Turner
Dealing with Dragons
3.5 star books: 3
Mistborn
The Well of Ascension
Enders Game
3 star books: 10
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
This Side of Paradise
Inkspell
A Study in Scarlet
The Phantom of the Opera
The Time Machine
The Hero of Ages
Enders Shadow
The Autograph Man
Healing the Shame that Binds You
2 star books: 11
In the Penal Colony
The American
Inkdeath
The Pool of Fire
Xenocide
The Idiot
The Children of Men
Dubliners
Dracula
Visions of Glory
My Side of the Mountain
1 star books: 2
The Sun Also Rises
Flourish
Awards:
Best Fiction:
The Great Gatsby, Atonement, or For Whom the Bell Tolls. All three are exceptional works of fiction. The Great Gatsby was mysterious, poetic, and symbolic. I read it twice. Atonement was beautiful and passionate. Two stories were beautifully combined into one. For Whom the Bell Tolls didn’t mince words and was plot-driven. All three I will read again. All three I love. But, the winner goes to....For Whom the Bell Tolls. Every scene is vivid and I was attached to each of the characters. The story had a classic plot structure with perfect build up, climax, and denouement. Great story.
Best Non-Fiction:
Undaunted Courage was fascinating. Stephen Ambrose did a wonderful job weaving in first-hand narrative from journals and diaries with his own insights. Meriwether Lewis is a fascinating person who was a pioneer, celebrity, and at the end of his life despondent. Ultimately, the trek West was incredible and this book gives it due justice.
Best Personal Account:
Wow. This is between two choices. The Autobiography of Malcom X was informative. His life shaped the history of the United States. The Glass Castle was hilarious. The Glass Castle probably has a higher re-read value but The Autobiography wins this one. It had so much more detail and I learned about one of the greatest martyrs of the past century. From Malcom's own mouth I learned of his struggles, his freak devotion, and his humanity.
Best Young Adult:
The Phantom Tollbooth. So witty and clever. Jokes upon jokes upon jokes. Such an original story. I really really enjoyed reading this book and I laughed out loud several times.
Best Short Story:
Counterparts is probably the best short story. It's in the Dubliners collection. I also liked Araby, Eveline, Two Gallants, and A little Cloud in that collection.
Most Epic:
Mistborn series. Those books are epic. A small team of unsatisfied citizens hatch a plot to kill the immortal Lord Ruler. I read somewhere that this book reminded them of Oceans Eleven or the Italian Job and I think that fits these books perfectly. The book is filled with magic and totally epic fight scenes. It takes three books to discover the key to the continuous unravelling plot.
Most Surprising:
Speaker for the Dead was a super surprising book. It was nothing like Ender's Game or Ender's Shadow, which I read previously. Speaker for the Dead put a whole new spin on the series and went in the opposite direction. It was full of ethical dilemmas and focused on the characters and their relationships. I was surprised by the books plot, concept, and was surprised by how much I liked it.
Most Disappointing:
The Sun Also Rises or The Idiot. I heard everywhere how great The Sun Also Rises was but to me it was nothing. That being said, I had a much higher expectation for The Idiot, because The Brothers Karamazov is one of my all time favorite books. I expected so much but I was vastly disappointed so The Idiot takes this award.
Worst Book:
Flourish. Nothing from this book is salvageable. Martin Seligman is so pedantic and his writing is too wordy. I would use the pages of this book as toilet paper before I would read it again, and the pages are not soft.
Best Series:
Mistborn or Enders Game. Speaker for the Dead was a great book in the Enders Game series and Enders Game itself was enjoyable. But, Mistborn gets it because it creates a whole new world, with new creatures, and new magic. Both series held my interest but by the time I finished Xenocide in the Enders Game series, I had no desire to read anymore. The Hero of Ages put a good end to the Mistborn trilogy and all three books were enjoyable.
Favorite Book Cover of a Book I Read:
Most Memorable/Favorite Character:
Kelsier from Mistborn was a stud. He was a little mysterious, rebellious but good natured, likable, and humorous. Tom Sawyer is just flat out funny and reminds of being a kid. Jay Gatsby used the term "old sport" which makes him cool. Atticus Finch is the great patriarch of Jem and Scout. He's an ordinary guy but his moral principals guide him and he sets a great example. Ender Wiggins is a genius with a tormented soul. He has feelings of hate and love, revenge, and anguish--all human feelings that we can relate to. Sherlock Holmes is eccentric and is the master of deduction. His brilliant mind and weird personality makes A Study in Scarlett what it is. Robert Jordan is an American dynamiter who voluntarily fights to oppose the Fascist regime in Spain. He is taciturn, action-oriented, and duty-bound. He makes a great soldier. With so many to choose from, it is hard to pick just one. This was only just the beginning of likable characters also. So the most memorable character is Kelsier. He is just a memorable kind of guy. My favorite character goest to Robert Jordan. I liked him. A normal guy who does his best and sacrifices a lot.
Most Beautifully Written:
The Great Gatsby or Atonement are both written so well but Atonement gets this award. Ian McEwan has such beautiful prose that drew me to the book like a moth to a light. Even when the story was not progressing, I was still so enthralled by the writing that I didn't want to stop reading. McEwan has a way of turning the ordinary into extraordinary. He is a great story teller.
Greatest Impact on Me:
Probably the Mistborn series. This series was kind of like a gateway drug. It opened my mind to other genres, such as fantasy, and it made me more apt to reading books that aren't considered classics. Also, it seemed like my creative juices started flowing more after I read this series-I started thinking about all the different possibilities of new worlds and new and fantastic creatures-even though I didn't do anything with these creative juices.
Best Book I Read based Solely Upon a Recommendation From Someone Else:
Either the Mistborn series which was recommended to me by Caren who had it recommended to her or Dealing With Dragons which was recommended to me by Caren also. Mistborn wins yet another one! Mistborn wins this one because we own Dealing With Dragons and I probably would have ended up reading that eventually anyways.
Book That I Could Not Put Down:
The Help. All of my free time went to reading this book. Even though I had seen the movie, I of course forgot what happened in it. I put everything else aside when I started reading this book and finished it very quickly. It was a super fast paced novel dealing with serious racial issues.
Book That I Had to Talk With Someone Else About:
This is turning into the Mistborn Awards because Mistborn takes the cake on this one. Especially the first one, The Final Empire. I talked Carens ear off about this book. It was fun though because she had just finished reading it also. I specifically remember talking to her about the allomantic powers that allows someone to "pull" and "push." I talked with her about what I would do if I had those powers and how hard it would be to gage a proper "push."
Most Fun to Read for Pure Entertainment:
Tarzan of the Apes was like a popcorn movie. Fast paced, action and adventure. I didn't have to think but could just sit back and enjoy Tarzan kick some gorilla butt.
Books that Made Me Tear Up:
Atonement at the end of part 1. For Whom the Bell Tolls at the end of the book.
Most Underrated Book:
Dealing With Dragons because no one ever mentions that book when talking about good young adult novels. I would take that book any day over The Hunger Games. It is fun and puts a twist on princesses and dragons. I don't think it's just a girl book either.
Funniest Book:
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or The Glass Castle. I think Tom Sawyer gets this award because it had me smiling most of the book.
Most Challenging Book to Get Through:
Wolf Hall was really challenging and that's why I couldn't finish it. For the majority of the book I couldn't tell which "he" was talking. "He" was used instead of saying the characters name. It frustrated me so much and I had to re-read things too many times to start enjoying the novel.
Had Potential But Failed:
Probably either Dracula or The Children of Men. Dracula starts out awesome but after about 40 pages it goes downhill fast. That first portion of the book takes place in Dracula's castle in Transylvania and it's exciting. How will Jonathan escape? What's going to happen? But that figures itself out too soon with the majority of the novel taking place in England with a bunch of boring conversations. The Children of Men simply has an awesome premise. The human race is going to become extinct because people can't have children anymore. What's to be done? Is there a way to solve the problem? The problem with the book is that it moves so slow and ultimately leaves the reader unsatisfied. I thought there was so much potential with such an awesome premise but somehow the novel drudges on. Anyways, Dracula takes this award because it's freaking Dracula and it's supposed to be good and it could've been better.
Favorite Quotes:
“This is what relationships are: stage shows that run and run until all the life is drained from them and only the gestures remain.”
-The Autograph Man
(I found this interesting and can see how this can happen to people)
“He remained buried within himself, lost in some troubled reverie which contrasted suddenly and puzzlingly with his happy mood”
-The Confessions of Nat Turner
(I can relate with this one)
“But before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”
-To Kill a Mockingbird
“[Courage][is] when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.”
-To Kill a Mockingbird
(I wished the kids I work with understood this)
“We can experience nothing but the present moment, live in no other second of time, and to understand this is as close as we can get to eternal life.”
-The Children of Men
“But as soon as he felt the first chinks in his faith, he lost all incentive to fight and opened the door to death.”
-Night
(This quote shows the power of faith)
“It’s better to be unhappy, but to know, than to be happy and live...as a fool.”
-The Idiot
“Sympathy always cleared his mind, and ridicule was poison to him.”
-O Pioneers!
(I can relate to this one also)
“Now she felt the magnitude of Pipo’s loss. The mutilated corpse on the hillside was not his death, it was merely his death’s debris. Death itself was the empty place in her life. Pipo had been a rock in a storm, so solid and strong that she and Libo, sheltered together in his lee, had not even known the storm existed. Now he was gone, and the storm had them, would carry them whatever way it would.”
-Speaker for the Dead
“No human being, when you understand his desires, is worthless. No one's life is nothing. Even the most evil of men and women, if you understand their hearts, had some generous act that redeems them, at least a little, from their sins.”
-Speaker for the Dead
“And yet...even if you had been right, it would only have been by accident. A broken clock is right two times a day.”
-Enders Shadow
(this just makes me laugh)
“At times he regarded the wounded soldier in an envious way. He conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy. He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage.”
-The Red Badge of Courage
“Expect everything...and the unexpected never happens.”
-The Phantom Tollbooth
“As he and his unhappy thoughts hurried along (for while he was never anxious to be where he was going , he liked to get there as quickly as possible) it seemed a great wonder that the world, which was so large, could sometimes feel so small and empty.”
-The Phantom Tollbooth
(I can relate to this one)
“The most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what’s in between.”
-The Phantom Tollbooth
(I wish I could be more like this)
“It wasn’t only wickedness and scheming that made people unhappy, it was confusion and misunderstanding; above all, it was the failure to grasp the simple truth that other people are as real as you.”
-Atonement
“A person is, among all else, a material thing, easily torn and not easily mended.”
-Atonement
“People are proud only when they have something to lose, and humble when they have something to gain.”
-The American
“What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is, what can you make people believe that you have done.”
-A Study in Scarlett
“Feelings are too powerful to remain peacefully bottled.” -Difficult Conversations
“It doesn’t matter if its’ fair or reasonable or rational. What matters is that it is there.” -Difficult Conversations
“If you are always wondering if you’ve got a headache or are feeling giddy, and blaming your philosophical studies for it, you will always be prevented from exercising and proving your talents. You’ll always think you’re ill, and never stop worrying about your health.”
-The Republic
“Reserving judgement is a matter of infinite hope.”
-The Great Gatsby
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
-The Great Gatsby
“There is luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves, we feel that no one else has a right to blame us. It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.”
-The Picture of Dorian Gray
-The Phantom Tollbooth
And with that last quote I will end this blog. Until next year.
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