My 2007 Personal Reading Index

Inspired by this post on BookFinder.com, I present my own reading index for 2007.

Three years ago, I started keeping a list* of the books I read, inspired by Nick Hornby's book, The Polysyllabic Spree: A Hilarious and True Account of One Man's Struggle with the Monthly Tide of the Books He's Bought and the Books He's Been Meaning to Read. I don't write an essay about each book, as he did, but I note the title, author, and if it's a re-read, plus if I got the book from the library.

*Close to complete, but not 100% guaranteed. I recalled one book I read recently that wasn't on the list, oops. But I'm pretty good about writing these down.

I don't have data for all of the categories Anirvan used (obviously keeping a more detailed log than I do), but here's what I can tell you:

number of books read in 2007: 88
number of books read in 2006: 108
number of books read in 2005: 133 (starting in mid-January)

Well, that is a decline! What have I been doing with myself this year?

average read per month: 7.33
average read per week: 1.69
number read in worst month: 2 (October)
number read in best month: 12 (January)

Of the 88 I read this year, 40 were new and 48 re-reads. I got 26 from the library (and that number surprises me, I would have guessed higher, since I feel like I go to the library a lot, though there are sometimes books that I decide not to finish, which thus don't make the list, and I don't list books I've listened to, which frequently come from the library, and I Must Stop This Sentence!).

books by male authors: 15
books by female authors: 71
(anthologies: 2)

I wasn't going to do this one, but then I got curious, and my, what a surprise! I didn't have any sense that I was so out of gender balance. By the way, one book was written by two men, and a couple by two women, but I counted each as one, not two (counting the book, not the authors).

In general, I'm just rather surprised that it's under a hundred total.

Thinking this over, I believe it does help illustrate one thing. A few years ago, I joined eHarmony, and one of the initial questions I always chose to send to potential matches was about how many books they had read in the last year. If they chose "0-10", I closed the match right away, which one of my friends tactfully indicated might be a wee bit closed-minded of me. I think my feelings were, there could easily be a great guy who doesn't read books, but I can't believe he and I would suit each other. And really, look at these numbers. Do you think that a non-reader would understand how I spend my time? I'm all surprised that my total for 2007 dipped into double-digits, and I should meet someone who is a "0-10"? I just doubt it. Call me closed-minded if you will.

Anyone else have a count, or an estimate?