At this time of year, a lot of bloggers I read are talking about their reading from last year: numbers, favorites, and all that. I enjoy reading these posts, but haven't really wanted to dig deep on my own. I did get to thinking, though, about how much I read last year, which was a ton, I mean a ton, and decided to chart it to show what I mean. Yes, messing around in Excel is fun for me!
I started my books read spreadsheet in 2013, and over the years I have added (and removed) different things to track. Of course, date finished, title, and author have remained, but in 2013 I checked off these:
And things were added and removed until in 2025, it looked like this:
The category short/novella is one I added midway in 2024, as I was reading a bunch of shorts that I wanted to add to keep track of, but that felt kind of skimpy to count as a book (I don't track book size, but even so). So in the figure below, the 2024 and 2025 numbers are not counting those, to give a more true comparison.
I'm intentionally not showing the actual numbers, because that isn't my point. The point is, just look at how much life avoidance through reading I did last year! I'm somewhere between appalled/embarrassed and impressed.
I don't know that I want to break things down more than I do, but it's fun to think about what else I could track if I wanted.
* happy ending ✅
* cliffhanger (I could write a whole post about how much I hate them) ❌
* potato-chip read (enjoyable read but promptly forgotten) ✅ or keeper (must own to reread) 🎆🎇
What else do you or might you track?
These are great categories! I think I would be interested in knowing the year of publication, or at least if it was a current year book or a backlist book. I might also be interested in knowing if the book was a debut or part of a series. I don't really track much of this but I'm strongly considering trying it this year.
ReplyDeleteYeah, those are good! I don't read a ton of new books myself, but I do read some, and it might also be interesting to note how old the oldest book I read is. Maybe next year!
DeleteI've always wanted to be more organized about my reading and never am. I should at least keep track of Book Club books. I did a lot of reading in 2020 due to the height of the pandemic and not as much now. I'm more into mindless TV sometimes.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, that's what works! I used to throw a movie or TV show in the dvd player more often when I lived alone, but don't do that much these days.
DeleteHahahaha I saw a meme on Instagram that basically said "I'm reading three books a week to dissociate from the world" and I felt very seen. Although I wouldn't say I read significantly more in 2025, just a little more, I guess. I like your categories. I had a lot of potato chip books! I'm trying to DNF more, so hopefully I will have a lot of really great reads this year.
ReplyDeleteIt should open things up for them for sure. I DNF pretty easily these days. Doesn't mean it's a bad book, just not for me right now.
DeleteI track so much, including number of pages, source (like did I buy it or get it from the library), genre, recommendation source, publication year, author sex, number of hats, where the author is from. It's an addiction. Maybe I'm more into the stats than the reading? (No, no I am not.)
ReplyDeleteNot more than, but in addition to? And there's nothing wrong with that. Lean into doing the things that make you smile.
DeleteLike Engie, I track SO MANY THINGS when it comes to my reading. I have a very detailed spreadsheet and it makes me happy to track things like backlist vs new release, debut vs repeat author, types of diversity, etc.
ReplyDeleteMy highest reading year was 2020 and that involved a LOT of dissociation, so solidarity!
IYKYK
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