I love that time of the year, with its reading statistics.
2012 was a fantastic reading year, with 89 books reads, and 17 listened to = 106, my highest ever, I believe [total of 2011 = 99].
Books read in 2012:
89 [83 in 2011]. That’s an average of 7.4/month
Total of 20,907 pages, which is an average of 57.27 pages/day
Books listened to in 2012:
17 [16 in 2011]. This is an average of 1.4/month.
Total of 11,536 mn [=192.26 hours] with an average of 31 mn/day.
I could add 3 books I translated.
In graphs, this is what it looks like:
My Favorites:
click on the covers to get to my reviews
Hard copies
Fiction Historical fiction Nonfiction
Ebooks
Fiction Historical fiction Nonfiction
Audio Books
Fiction Historical fiction Nonfiction
Favorite graphic book:
Favorite spiritual book:
Favorite book cover:
Books by the same author: 30 [19 in 2011]:
– 12 by Shakespeare, 4 by Dorothy Gilman, 3 by Kate Morton, 3 by Agatha Christie, 2 by Italo Calvino, 2 by Michelle Moran, 2 by Keigo Higashino, 2 by Fred Van Lente.
Re-Reads: 3 [4 in 2011] : Le Grand Meaulnes, Macbeth, Othello.
Oldest: As You Like It – 1599
Newest: Bruno and the Carol Singers- 12/1/2012
In translation: 16 [13 in 2011]
3 in original language: French
Other countries these books led me to: Albania, Algeria, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Lithuania, Maldives Islands, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Sicily, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Syria, Tanzania
Shortest: Bruno and the Carol Singers– 29 pages
Longest: Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian – 567 pages.
Longest audio: To The End of the Land, by David Grossman – 26:25 hours (581 pages)
Funniest: The Merry Wives of Windsor
Favorite characters of the year: Augustin Meaulnes, and Emily Pollifax
Which authors new to you in 2012 that you now want to read the entire works of?
Dorothy Gilman, Daphne du Maurier
Best title: And Then There Were None
Longest book title: In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and An American Family in Hitler’s Berlin
Shortest book title: Dusk
And now to a very fun wrap up. There are a lot of those online, but these are my favorites:
– When I was younger I was : Exploring the Universe
– People might be surprised to discover that I’m: Cleopatra’s Daughter
– I will never be: Gandhi
– At the end of a long day I need: The Summer of France
– Right now I’m feeling: Beauty for Ashes
– Someday I want to: (go) To The End of the Land
– At a party you’d find me: Beyond the Sky and the Earth
– I’ve never: Murder(ed) on the Orient Express
– I really don’t enjoy: Running n the Family
– In my next life I want to be: The Far Traveler
– If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Paris, my Sweet
– Your favorite form of transportation: Flight Behavior
– Your best friend is: The Black Count
– You and your friends are: Little Princes
– What’s the weather like: The Tempest
– Favorite time of day: Dusk
– If your life was : A Golden Age
– What is life to you: The Age of Miracles
– Your fear: The Death of Kings
– What is the best advice you have to give: As You Like It
– Thought for the Day: All For Love
– How I would like to die: Bird(s) of a Lesser Paradise
– My soul’s present condition: Illuminations
I began the day with Rebecca.
On my way to work I saw The Man in the Brown Suit
and walked by The Forgotten Garden
to avoid The Siren of Paris,
but I made sure to stop at The Secret Garden.
In the office, my boss said : Bring Up the Bodies !
and sent me to research The End of the Affair.
At lunch with Le Grand Meaulnes,
I noticed Spartacus
under The Bridge of San Luis Rey,
then went back to my desk Remembering Babylon.
Later, on the journey home, I bought A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax
because I have Invisible Cities;
then settling down for the evening, I picked up The Boy in the Suitcase
and studied Le Road Trip
before saying goodnight to The Orphan Master’s Son.
Now don’t tell me this is not fun! Have you tried with the titles of the books you read in 2012?
In 2012, I participated in 25 Reading Challenges, 4 Read Alongs, and 3 Tours. see my recap here. The most fascinating reading challenge was Around the World in 52 countries.
***
And now to 2013:
I have signed up to only 12 Reading Challenges, 2 being challenges I started in 2012 and plan to finish this year!
I will take part in more virtual book Tours, already 4 are lined up, more to come I’m sure.
I’m excited to take part in the Proust Year, and will read the whole of A la recherche du temps perdu, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its publication. I’m also thrilled to start the challenge of reading one book per US State.
See this Google spreadsheet to see what titles I plan to read for what challenge – so far, only a few titles are listed, but that can give you great ideas of Challenges.
2012 was such an exciting year of reading for me, thanks to you other book bloggers, and all my readers who subscribed to this blog through email, google reader, wordpress, facebook, twitter, linkedin, pinterest, etc, and to all your comments! Thanks again for following this blog!
HAPPY NEW YEAR OF READING TO YOU!
Words And Peace 
Wow, that’s an impressive list of books in one year. I would have to give up work to read that many….. Like the Google spreadsheet idea of keeping track. For Italy, who are you thinking of? There is the series featuring the Sicilian detective that everyone is raving about which I think is Inspector Cavelleri. ….
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thanks. I actually did not give up work, but the TV! my husband and I spend 4-5 hours reading daily after supper. this is the only times when I read.
for Italy, I think I may read Lamberto, Lamberto, Lamberto, by Rodari: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12217784-lamberto-lamberto-lamberto, or some other books by Italo Calvino, whom I enjoy a lot.
Last year, I read:
If on a winter’s night a traveler, Italo Calvino
Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino
Spartacus, by Ben Kane.
you can find lots of other ideas with those who did that challenge in 2012:
http://libraryofcleanreads.blogspot.com/2011/12/i-love-italy-reading-challenge-2012_22.html.
I’m not familiar with this detective
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Wow now this is a year end wrap up! I am particularly impressed with all of the different countries your authors were from this past year. Here’s to a fabulous 2013!
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yes, I did the 52 countries challenge, though only manage to cover 40. it was really fun
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I love statics too, even thought of studying economy just for statics!
Happy New Year! And keep the charts coming 🙂
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yes statistics can really be fun, especially when paired with books, lol
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And what about statistic + books + lists? 😀
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too much fun 🙂 🙂
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Wow, that’s some statistics!
Nice to read from so many countries
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yes, it was neat. I’ll at least 12 more in 2013, and will start the equivalent for the US states
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Pie charts and graphs??! This is so awesome – I am seriously fangirling over this post!
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thanks, maybe you could try it for next year? it is so much fun, but only if you keep track as you read along each book, otherwise it’s too long to do at the end.
thanks for increasing my vocabulary, I had to check what ‘fangirling’ meant. too old I guess and grew up in France, so was not familiar with the word
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Wow , this is an impressive overview! I love the graphs – excellent work 🙂
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thanks, that’s just pure fun
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Charts! I love them! The date the book was published chart is awesome. I want to do one of those in the future, although I know it was skew absurdly towards 2010-2012. Happy reading and blogging in 2013!
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thanks! looking forward to your 2013 charts. more and m ore bloggers do this, it’s fun, all with their own originality
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I love that you kept track of hours – this gives a great perspective on how regular, small chunks of time can add up to a hefty total at year end.
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isn’t it? if you count the time you spend doing the dishes, etc – of course won’t work if you have a dishwasher, but am lucky enough not to have one, so great excuse to listen to audiobooks!
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What’s your preferred source for audiobooks? I’ve been relying on the free ones from LibriVox.
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I think I only listened to Lilith on Librivox, the narrator was awesome, like a professional.
I think my main source is my library, I can download directly from my library website; and sometimes I get audiobooks on CDs from there that I transfer to my ipod touch, easier for me to read.
another source is publishers, for instance you can ask Simon & Schuster audio, they send you a list and you can request up to 4 per month, that you have to review [I’m forwarding their last email to your gmail address].
of course, another fantastic program, the best actually, is: http://www.audiobookjukebox.com/
go and see. I received quite a few through them
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Fabulous – thanks so much!
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you are welcome
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Thanks for these links. I used to use live icon but found the quality was too patchy and the narrators voices were awful. So now I borrow from the library or buy as a subscription from Audible since the library tends to be mostly crime stuff
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wow, I feel so fortunate to have so many great audio choices from my public library
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Loved reading this with all the fun visuals!!! I’ve been eyeing a few of those titles in your best of lists. Can’t wait to eventually get to them!
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thanks!
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I love how you broke your reading down by author’s nationality. Happy reading in 2013. 😉
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That was exceptional for this year, with so many countries visited. Happy reading year as well.
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Great Stats. I would like to read “Little Princes” too. Reading 30% of non-fictions is a great thing. I hope to emulate that next year. Have a good 2013!
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Thanks. yes Little Princes is amazing, but watch out, you may want to pack for Nepal right away!
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Yes, I possibly would want to pack for Nepal right away! lol 🙂
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you will see why…
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Happy New Year Emma!
I thought The Forgotten Garden was a wonderful audio book and I loved Little Princes also.
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Happy New Year, yes great books!
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Thanks for the info about the Italian challenge – will keep an eye on that
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ok
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Love those charts and graphs! I am no where near that organized. I only know number of pages read because goodreads tells me so.
I’m almost finished with Flight Behavior and it’s already one of my favorites for the new year.
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wow, I’m glad you begin 2013 so well, with Kingsolver!
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You’ve had a great year of reading! It’s great how much you keep track of too – I should get better organized, I love those sorts of statistics, but I’ve fallen behind on recording everything this year.
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it’s easier if you enter the date after each book you finish
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What an extensive round up! You got through a lot last year 🙂
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yes, that was a fun reading year
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Wow, all of Proust plus all that other stuff? You have a great year of reading ahead. I love your pie charts and graphs too! How fun.
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well, I know it will take me more than a year to do the 50 States, but that’s ok
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Wow!!!! That is impressive.. Love the graphs.
Happy New Year and Happy Reading.
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thanks, happy new year to you too!
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I loved looking at your elaborate stats. It looks like you’ve have an excellent 2012. Congrats
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thanks. yes, it was amazing
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I mentioned this when you commented on my blog but that’s awesome how you recapped and reviewed your year in reading! Pie charts and everything 😀 Looks like you had an awesome 2012 in reading, hope it continues into 2013.
Interesting that you mentioned the Proust Year thing, I have a number of his books waiting to be read on my eReader; never read any of his works before, might consider looking in to that for this year 😉
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thanks.
go have a look at the Goodreads Proust group, they have broken down his 7 books into pages per week, to be able to read all his work in 1 year. really cool, with fantastic discussion every Sunday: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/75460-2013-the-year-of-reading-proust. Proust’s master work, In Search of Lost Time, is made up of 7 long novels
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I would love to get to Black Count this year. I really liked the other book I read by Tom Reiss. I’m glad it was a favorite of yours!
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wow, thanks for the recommendation! Looks like I stupidly never paid attention to any other possible book by him. just read the synopsis of the Orientalist, really intriguing! so now on my TBR!
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Holy wow, talk about by the numbers! Do you keep stats throughout the year, or wait until the end to compile and dissect everything?
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thanks.
I add to my stat sheet after each book, otherwise it’s insane at the end of the year.
I do a recap after each month, for my monthly wrap-up post [see for instance the yellow lines at the end of January on this sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqZIzZFqfnNxdHlYSHNPOS03NFRvWE1tTEhjS1cxLWc
this is how it already looks for 2013: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqZIzZFqfnNxdEtqa2JVOEoxSGR1UE1JMjBSSmdYcFE
feel free to use this chart and edit it to your liking
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2012 was a great reading year for you. I love the graphics as well.
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thanks, yes that was quite a fun reading year
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