Once again, Jamie over at The Perpetual Page Turner has created her annual End of Year Book Survey and I thought I’d join in the fun! I skipped some and added some fun graphs to my stats at the beginning. Hope you enjoy!
2016 Reading Stats
Number Of Books You Read: 205
As I mention all the time, the unrated books are books I edited or proofread in 2016 (since I don’t review those due to the conflict of interest). There weren’t nearly as many books in that category this year as my editing work slowed way down. I had previously been editing for Booktrope and they went under at the beginning of the year—and I’ve been so busy with homeschooling this year that I really didn’t put a lot of effort into trying to find new clients. I’m hoping next year will pick up, but we’ll see.
With the lack of editing this year, my reading numbers were up. It also helped that I listened to audiobooks (22 of them!) and read manga this year.
Genres Read (And Other Various Stats):
For the fun of it, I thought I’d graph out the genres I read and the age ranges (YA, MG, etc). These graphs aren’t going to be exact because it’s sort of hard to chart genres (sometimes those can be hard to classify!) and all of my numbers seem low somehow so I know some books are unaccounted for—but these give a good general idea. I’ll try and track everything better next year!
Still mostly fantasy/sci-fi/paranormal, but then contemporary is close behind!
No surprise that it’s mostly YA.
I read a pretty even number of physical books and ebooks this year with some audiobooks thrown in!
A pretty wide variety here. 🙂
Best in Books
Click on the covers to be brought to my reviews!
1. Best Book You Read In 2016?
I wrote a TTT post on this the other day. But here are a few that stick out:
2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
Most other people loved this one, but I was not a fan:
3. Best series you started in 2016? Best Sequel of 2016? Best Series Ender of 2016?
4. Favorite new author you discovered in 2016?
I have to go with Anne Bishop, but I wrote a whole TTT post on New to Me Authors
5. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?
6. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
7. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2016?
I had to display this one in its full-size glory!
8. Most memorable character of 2016?
I know I’ve used this one a lot, but I think Meg Corbyn has to win this one for me.
9. Most beautifully written book read in 2016?
10. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2016 to finally read?
11. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2016?
The Mirror & the Maze was an 11 page novella. The Beauty of Darkness was 679 pages!
12. Favorite Book You Read in 2016 From An Author You’ve Read Previously
13. Best Book You Read In 2016 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:
14. Best 2016 debut you read?
15. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?
My Blogging/Bookish Life
1. Favorite review that you wrote in 2016?
This was something between a review and a discussion. I loved writing it and it was my top-viewed post of the year!
2. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog?
This was my most popular discussion of the year—and I really liked it too!
3. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?
BEA!
Looking Ahead
1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2016 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2017?
Um, I said this was a priority last year and I didn’t read it. Now I have the second book too. It’s a priority, I swear!
2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2017 (non-sequel)?
I chose this one somewhat on a whim from glancing through Goodreads, but I’m definitely excited about it!
3. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2017?
So many! Here are just a few that I found with a quick glance at Goodreads:
4. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2017?
I should probably have an answer for this one, but other than my reading challenges for the year, I’m trying not to stress too much about goals. What happens … happens. We shall see!
If you’d like to see my Goodreads Year in Books, click on the link!
And don’t forget to link your year-end wrap-ups to the Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up!
Did you write a 2016 wrap-up? Link me up in the comments! If not, tell me one of your favorite things about your blogging life in 2016.
There are SO many books in this survey that I need to read – Gemina, Three Dark Crowns, Scythe…I thought I was going to get to at least some of them this year, but I guess that didn’t happen. And it might be a good thing that you didn’t read Six of Crows earlier this year – I just read it this month, and I was really happy that I was able to read Crooked Kingdom right afterwards.
This is how I feel at the end of every year. No matter how many books I read, there are still TONS I missed that I really want to get to. Sigh. Can I just have a whole other 24 hours per day for reading and blogging only?
I like your philosophy here…what happens happens! I should probably start following that! Happy reads in 2017!
It’s the only way to stay sane!
Salt to the Sea was so good. I was lucky enough to snag the audiobook from my library. There was a narrator for each character and there was this point when I knew things would end all “happy ever after” and I was devastated!
Yeah, it’s not a happily ever after sort of book, but it IS amazing. 🙂
Very cool analysis. I’ll be looking at my best book and other reading posts this week.
I always think it’s fun to look back at the year and analyze it all. 🙂
I love so many of the books you’ve listed and the Red Winter cover is gorgeous! I don’t remember seeing it before now for some reason. Now I need to look into it for sure. 😉
Have a wonderful New Year!!
It’s an Indie, so you might not have seen it around. I should have listed it as a hidden gem (I skipped that one, since I’d just used this book). I agree that the cover is amazing!!
I still need to do a December/Year end post. This one was fun to read though! That’s awesome you read so many book this past year. 🙂
-Lauren
It’s fun to write year-end wrap-ups and look back on everything that happened throughout the year!
2015 books? WOAH! That’s amazing! I also love that you have read a variety of genres!
I meant, 205 books! haha 😀
Ha! Yeah, 2015 would be quite an accomplishment!!!
I’m getting a little better about reading more genres, but I should probably do better still!
oh great post. LOVE THE CHARTS!!! your books are all in my goals for 2017 🙂 I’m reading Me Before you now and already looking for glue to put the pieces of my heart together. CANNOT WAIT to read Diabolic! OMG all the hype about Diabolic is driving me insomniac LOL! Hopw 2017 is even better for you Nicole! 🙂
Me Before You did that to me too. I was a mess when I read it!
WHOA you read a LOT of books!!! That’s so impressive!! And what a wonderful collection of books, too 🙂 I’m dying to read most of them, lol 😉
Happy New Year!
Amy @ A Magical World Of Words
It was a great reading year!
I love posts with graphs. Sometimes I feel silly about obsessively tracking my reading statistics, but then I see that other people do it too. It looks like you had a good reading year.
I love seeing graphs in other people’s posts too, so I was excited to add more of them. It makes me want to track every little detail of my reading habits. 🙂
Congrats on an awesome year of reading and blogging! Looking forward to your adventures in 2017!
Thanks, Lisa! Hope all is going well for you and you have a wonderful 2017!
Cool! I love seeing all of your graphs! You do read a wide range of books, which is great. And it looks like 200 per year is a good steady pace for you. Happy New Year!
I always gravitate toward graphs. It makes me want to track even more details!
Clearly i need to get my hands on Written in Red.
And clearly YOU need to read Six of Crows! Sheesh!
I hope your 2017 reading and blogging life is as fascinating and productive as ever. You do such great work for the community with this blog, and I really appreciate you!
Aw, thank you so much Wendy! I really appreciate your kind words!
I had no idea The Beauty in Darkness was so long! I read it as an ebook and thought it took me longer than normal because I just couldn’t devote much time to it.
I was just thinking about you yesterday, Joycedale! Does it seem weird that I’m always excited to see non-bloggers visiting my blog? 🙂
As for your comment—I’ve had that happen too. Where I’m reading an ebook and I don’t realize how LONG it is. eBooks can be deceptive!!
Being excited about that completely makes sense.
I’m glad I was remembered. I didn’t realize how long it had been since I commented on anything until today. I do see read your posts in my email though, just haven’t been opening the browser.
Ebooks are so deceptive! It seems I read a 1005 pg book in 2016 and didn’t even know it lol.
Wow! 1005 pages! That’s funny that you didn’t even realize it was so long!!
You had such a fabulous reading year! WOW! And I love all of the graphs you made, it was fun looking at all of your stats!
Your post made me realize that I hope to pick up PS I Like You this year (cause Kasie Wests books are always smile inducing).
And YES to Hunted! Doesn’t it sound as though we’ll be completely captivated with the story?! I’m hoping that we both love, fingers crossed!
Kasie West is always good for a smile. I have two of her books on my Kindle for review and I’m itching to read them even though I have other books that are releasing sooner. I’ll probably cheat and sneak one in there. 🙂
I just read Three Dark Crowns and I loved it so much! It was awesome. Same for Crown’s Game. But now, I have two more series to keep up with. D’oh! Ready Player One was one of those that I did not expect to love as much as I did. I was preparing for a plane ride back to the States and I asked FB for book recommendations that would NOT make me cry. I have a habit of reading emotional books on public transportation. Go figure. Someone recommended that one and I bought it on a whim. I am so glad I did because I could not put it down. It was so good!
I totally agree about Ready Player One—it was a surprise to me! If you just read Three Dark Crowns, you should go read my Spoiler-Filled Discussion and tell me what you think of our predictions (mine and my commenters—Shannon had a good one).
Still loving the RPO love here, I’m so happy you enjoyed that book as much as I did Nicole^^ I’m kicking myself for not diving into GEMINA as soon as it arrived. I was struggling through a slump and worried that it would affect my feelings about it but now I KNOW I NEED to read it ASAP! Loved reading your survey xxxxx
Sometimes it’s better to wait if you’re not in the right frame of mind to read a certain book, though. You probably made the right choice. But, yeah, you need to get to it now. 🙂
What a great year in reading you had, Nicole! I’ve seen so many raves for Written In Red. I rarely go for urban fantasy but I’m tempted to give it a try. I definitely want to read Salt to the Sea but I’m going to have to recover from my current read (From Sand and Ash) before I tackle more WW II-era fiction. The Crown’s Game and The Problem with Forever were both two of my favorites. And P.S. I Like You was so adorable. Loved it. And I’m so excited for Long Way Home! Only a couple more weeks to wait.
Written in Red doesn’t seem like typical urban fantasy to me. I don’t dislike the genre, but it’s not my favorite—but The Others series is just plain amazing!
I’m so impressed by how many books you’ve read this year! The cover to that Red Winter book is gorgeous. I’ll have to check it out. Also I love the graphs! The nerd in me is going nuts.
C.J.
I always love seeing graphs on other people’s blogs. They just make us feel so organized, right? So in control. 🙂
The cover for Red Winter is stunning! Wow!
I love your stats! I went a little nuts the first time I discovered that section of Goodreads. 😉
Happy reading in 2017!
I agree that Red Winter is gorgeous!
It seems that you’ve had a great year in reading and blogging, Nicole! I hope this year will pick up for you in terms of editing clients, and that it may be a great year in general! 😀
Thanks, Cilla. I just had an editing inquiry yesterday and another possibility on the horizon as well, so I’m hopeful the editing will pick up. I haven’t been focusing much on trying to get new clients, though because it’s always such a delicate balance of making sure I’m not overbooking myself.
I loved Three Dark Crowns too and I love the pie graphs.
Thanks! There’s something about a good graph. They’re just kind of irresistible.
I added Written in Red to my TBR this year, but want to wait until all the books release because otherwise I forget what happened. Annoying but it took long enough to learn the lesson! I can tell you loved it though, so I do look forward to starting the series, whenever that may be. So glad you got round to Jellicoe Road in 2016 – it’s my favourite book and I love seeing readers discover it!
Yeah, I’m not sure how many books are planned for the series. I definitely get the problem with forgetting though. Lately I feel like I forget the plot of every book—even those I love!
I love the pie charts! I decided to do a Goodreads challenge for the first time in 2017 so we’ll see how I do. So far so good I think. I just finished Faith in Every Footstep yesterday and loved it. I want to read Scythe, but after the first two chapters I chickened out. I will try again though because the writing is fabulous. My favorite books of 2016 were The Serpent King for YA and The Last Cherry Blossom for middle grade.
Well, now I’m curious—what about Scythe made you chicken out? The death? The social themes? I want to know! LOL! 🙂
The Reaper invited himself in for dinner, but I got past that (that was the easy part I guess). But then when he “borrowed” their knife and the lady next door was dead, well it was night time and dark and too quiet….I was afraid of gorey details of deaths as the new recruits learn their craft. Can you help me with this? Feeling like a wimp here…as Donkey says in Shrek “I need a hug.” I am intrigued by the social issues and that’s why I really want to read this book, but I also know my limits.
Okay, now I’m trying to remember if anything was described—I do think later in the book there were a few parts where things got pretty dicey, so if you’re sensitive to that, you might need to skip this one—or at least read it during the day! Actually, this was one of my few complaints about the book—not that things were described, but just that I didn’t understand why a society that has to resort to killing to handle the population would use knives and other violent forms of death. Wouldn’t there be much more humane options? But the weird backwards thinking was sort of part of the point, I think. Shusterman is great at making me think …
That last point you made is why I will try this again. I love books that make me think and bring out emotions even anger or frustration. Thank you for your thoughtful responses. I am grateful. Also thanks for the heads up on dicey parts. It would not be as emotional if he chose more humane methods.
Yes, I think you’re right that it would be a much less emotional book if the methods of killing were more tame.
Congrats on a good year! Reading 205 books is amazing, hopefully you can beat that number this year 🙂
I love the cover of Red Winter as well, I got approved for that book a while back but I just haven’t had enough time to read it yet. Wishing you the best of luck this year 🙂
Oh, I hope you find time to read it—it’s a great book!!