Five Years of Reading
I read 340 books in the last five years.
That’s 122 novels, 146 graphic novels, and 72 other.
My classifications have some ambiguity. The Iliad is a “novel”, but Her Smoke Rose Up Forever is not. Animal Man is counted as a single graphic novel, while 7 Soldiers is four.
The reason for making classifications is the very different way I approach these types of book. A novel takes two weeks to read on public transport, from beginning to end, and I am unlikely to return it once I reach the end. A graphic novel is read at bedtime and other opportunities in my domestic life, and will likely be returned to again and again. Of those I really like, a graphic novel is more likely to be bought than a novel (for initial reading, I borrow borrow borrow). The “other” classification was created because I didn’t really read much non-fiction, and wanted to keep track of it; other others duly accreted.
Here’s the breakdown by year:
| Read Total | Novels | Comics | Other | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 53 | 23 | 18 | 12 |
| 2005 | 61 | 28 | 24 | 9 |
| 2006 | 101 | 28 | 57 | 16 |
| 2007 | 62 | 22 | 22 | 18 |
| 2008 | 63 | 21 | 25 | 17 |
This is a remarkably stable reading pattern, more so than I would have expected. There’s a big spike of graphic novel reading in 2006. I think this was a combination of a) a run of releases I had to buy, b) an earnest attempt to widen my comic horizons, and c) joining a new library service that had a fantastic graphic novel collection.
Surprising to me, there’s a respectable amount of “other” being read there too. I further classified these into non-fiction, plays, short story collections, books of the Bible, epic poetry, and novellas. The interesting numbers were for non-fiction and plays:
| Other Total | Non-fiction | Plays | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 12 | 8 | 1 |
| 2005 | 9 | 7 | 1 |
| 2006 | 16 | 13 | 1 |
| 2007 | 18 | 7 | 6 |
| 2008 | 17 | 8 | 7 |
If you had asked me a few days ago how much non-fiction I read, I probably would have said, “one or two books a year,” but look how wrong I was! Looking over the list, I realise these sneak into both public transport and bedtime reading, but I guess they file into my head more as ideas than as texts.
The increase in plays in the last two years is due to a conscious decision, as I felt my literacy was severely lacking in this area.
An area I’ve never felt lacking: science fiction. This is what I read. This is how I think. Here’s how much of my reading it represents these days:
| Novels Total | SF Novels | Percent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 23 | 9 | 39% |
| 2005 | 28 | 12 | 42% |
| 2006 | 28 | 21 | 75% |
| 2007 | 22 | 10 | 45% |
| 2008 | 21 | 16 | 76% |
I’m surprised here that SF comprises less than half my reading in most years. Again, this isn’t my perception, but here I guess it’s because I always see the world through SF eyes. The question for five years’ time is: are 2004, 2005, and 2007 the norm, or are 2006 and 2008?
Finally, here’s the numbers on how I rated what I read:
| Really Liked |
Liked | Ok | Didn’t Like | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 28% | 26% | 26% | 18% |
| 2005 | 44% | 27% | 16% | 11% |
| 2006 | 31% | 28% | 22% | 16% |
| 2007 | 32% | 40% | 14% | 12% |
| 2008 | 31% | 31% | 33% | 3% |
Again, this is remarkably stable. Am I doing something right, or something wrong?
I really liked more things in 2005. I liked more things in 2007. I didnt like less things in 2008. In each case, the difference was token from things that in other years I thought were OK.
Looking at what I read these years, I can’t account for the changes. Do they fall within expected variation? Did I just get lucky? Did I fix on a better way of selecting books somehow? Something to think about.