What a great year of reading this was. I was energized by the fabulous books and authors and fellow bloggers. I discovered my reading sweet spot: historical nonfiction. I branched out and tried some fiction (even a sci fi book), re-read a few beloved books, and pushed myself to “meet” bloggers by commenting on their posts. It was a year of growth and discovery, and I can’t wait for 2015!
So,
without further ado, the recap:
Books read: 81
Memoirs:
20
Biographies:
10
Nonfiction:
27
Fiction:
7
Poetry:
4
Decorating,
Photography & Art: 4
Cookbooks:
4
Children’s
& YA: 5
Children’s Picture Books: 81
Five Star Books: 21
Rereads: 4
New-to-me authors: 55
Didn’t finish: 7
Over 400 pages: 11 (I think)
Released in 2014: 24
Subjects I’m Burned Out On
JFK and
FDR.Memoirs, because it’s getting harder and harder to find a really good one.
Parenting.
War. I think. I do keep buying books about it, though.
Would I alter any book ratings?
A lot
of the 4-star books should have been 3-star; and a lot of the 3-star probably
should have been 2-star. Maybe I need to switch to a 3-star rating system:
great, average, bad.What I learned this reading year
1. A year of nonfiction reading is like curating an odd little museum. The exhibits are wide-ranging and interconnected.
2. There is some good fiction out there. Who knew? Well, everyone but me.
3. Middle grade readers can be a hoot to read.
4. Biographies are often better than memoirs. I find this fascinating.
5. There’s some law of the TBR that it will always be unmanageably large.
6. The way to cull books is to take everything off the bookcase, scramble them, and go through them one by one.
7. Once you get behind on writing book reviews, it’s nearly impossible to catch up.
8. I still don’t know how to rate what I read. Every book feels like at least a 4-star book after I read it, but over time, I realize what was a 3-star book.
9. I learned how to call it quits with a book—even one I really wanted to like.
10. Commenting on blogs is a blast!
Amount spent on books this year
$2,237.62.
Should I even admit that to you guys? It’s obvious I prefer owning to borrowing.
2014 Book events, challenges, etc.
Presidents’ Day Reading
Challenge (hosted by Nonfictionado) Bout of Books Read-a-Thon (May)
Bout of Books Read-a-Thon (August)
Nonfiction November
also regularly linked up with Top Ten Tuesday and Friday Finds
Stay tuned for a load of
other end-of-year posts, including my Top Ten of 2014 & book awards, and 2015
reading/blogging resolutions.
I totally agree with you on #7 and #8. I've thought about not rating what I read, but I do like it as a baseline, although my initial feelings often change with time.
ReplyDeleteI've sometimes wondered if using a 3-star scale would make things much easier. Because really, to me, a book boils down to being bad, good, or great.
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