My 2012-2013 Reading List Wrap-Up

This is just going to be talking about books. And maybe some math. If that's not your thing, come back later in the week when I hope to have a little more sewing/quilting/crafting progress to share. 

Some background:
In October of 2010, prompted by a very disappointing surprise cliff-hanger ending to a book I'd enjoyed up until that part, I started keeping track of the books I completed reading throughout that year. What I had intended to be a fairly simple list of title, author, and a short note or reaction quickly turned into a series of spoiler-filled summaries, and paragraphs of reactions. Later I started rating books on a 1-5 scale mostly based off my enjoyment and feelings immediately upon finishing the book. 

In the year between October 15, 2012 and October 14, 2013 I completed reading 85 books - which was about 28,767 pages (not including pages of sources, citations, or previews for other books). 

Of those 85 books: 

• 43 would probably be considered Young Adult
• 7 would probably be categorized as Romance (only)
• 10 featured zombies or the equivalent undead type creatures
• 7 were fairy tale retellings 
• 4 were non-fiction
• 4 were graphic novels
• 4 were repeats from previous years (all from the 2010-2011 year actually)
• 12 were written, co-written, or edited by Mercedes Lackey (and none of them were re-reads since I started tracking in October of 2010). 
• 5 were written by Cherie Priest
• I also read multiple books from Julia Quinn, Robin LaFevers, Cassandra Clare, Kendare Blake, Jonathan Maberry, and Julie Campbell. 

Mathematically, I averaged just over 7 books per month.
The highest finishes by month happened in: January and February (9 each), March and April (8 each), and July (10). It's no surprise to me that these were the months where I spent the most time traveling or otherwise with less access to sewing machines and internet. 
The lowest finishes by month happened in: October (1 in the 2012 half month, 4 in the 2013 half month). 

My average rating was 3.5 - and despite giving out four 5 ratings, this year I didn't give any 1's. 

Looking back on the year, I'd say the standout titles were:

• "The Summer Prince" by Alaya Dawn Johnson
• "Bible, Gender, Sexuality" by James V Brownson
• "Scarlet" by Marissa Meyer
• "Vessel" by Sarah Beth Durst
• "Fire & Ash" by Jonathan Maberry
• "Below Stairs" by Margaret Powell
• "The Next Best Thing" by Jennifer Weiner
• "The She-Hulk Diaries" by Marta Acosta
• "Dark Triumph" by Robin LaFevers

This list doesn't include all the books I gave a '5' rating, but is mostly made up of the titles I find myself still thinking about even months after reading. I think that's probably a better determination of what's really caught my attention and gave me something to think on than a ranking I give immediately after reading. 

I have several books 'in progress' that I'm hoping to wrap up relatively soon. October being a half-month is a little bit of a motivator to get some of these finished at last. These include the third book in the Game of Thrones series (which I've been working on all year), three books that I'm reading aloud with my husband, and at least three more books I've started for my own enjoyment! 

As usual, this is probably far more interesting to me than anyone else, but I always look forward to getting to spend a few minutes wrapping up a years worth of reading. I may have started this whole process with the idea of keeping track of what I read - and which authors are worth going back to - but I've found the entire thing has improved my enjoyment of reading as a whole. I can't say I'm a better reader now than I was before, but spending an average of an hour thinking about each book while I recap it and react to it has made me more aware and more selective about what I find worth talking about or suggesting to others.  

Although I don't plan to change much going forward into my 2013-2014 reading year, I am going to push myself to finish more books this year. Not to have more books read at the end of the year, but to push a little harder to finish books I start but find difficult, dull, or want out of for any other reason. While this freedom to quit made for more fun and relaxing reading overall for the last couple years, in this coming year I'd like to get back to pushing myself a bit more to finish things that don't immediately seem worth the effort. 

Anyway - here's to a new reading year, and to all the books on my 'coming soon' list that are that much closer to falling into my eager hands!