Before I let you know who won the contest, I am going to regale you with some fancy statistics from my 100 Book Challenge. I had so much fun maintaining the excel spreadsheet that I have to share its results.
Hardcover Books: 22%
Paperback Books: 78%
Fiction: 98%
Non-fiction: 2% (I'm sure my FIL is cringing with that one!)
And the genre breakdowns - now, this is not as cut and dry as the above categories - because you could have books that might be short stories and mysteries - or fantasy and romance all rolled up in one book. So, if a given book had multiple genre elements, I categorized them that way.
Urban Fantasy: 39%
Romance: 63%
Science Fiction: 7%
Historical Fiction: 5%
Short Stories: 10%
Mysteries: 13%
Fantasy: 11%
Futuristic: 10%
Paranormal: 6%
Werewolf: 7%
Vampire: 19%
Erotica: 13%
Comedy: 13%
Young Adult: 4%
Graphic Novels: 4%
Male Authors: 13%
Female Authors: 87%
Books borrowed from my friend Teri: 11%
Books borrowed from my local library: 57%
(This statistic is made sadder by the fact that our local libraries have cut 1.5 days from their open schedule and have frozen all new book buying as cost-cutting measures.)
And the drumroll, please...
In 2008, I read 112 books!
The winner of my little contest is my younger sister, Jaime, who was so close with a guess of 113. Email me and let me know how you want your $20 in book funds, and I will send it up to you.
Some more fun statistics -
Total Pages Read: 36,656 pages
Average book length: 327 pages
Most prolific month: October (I'm not sure why, however) with 14 books
Least prolific month: April (due to work and tax season) with 6 books
Most books read by one author (This ended up being a tie.)
- J. R. Ward - 6 books
- Lora Leigh - 6 books
- Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb - 5 books
- Sherrilyn Kenyon - 4 books
- MaryJanice Davidson - 4 books
- Erin McCarthy - 3 books
- Patricia Briggs - 3 books
- Gena Showalter - 3 books
- Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
- From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
- The Host by Stephenie Meyer
- Tribute by Nora Roberts
- The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
- The Scourge of God by S.M. Stirling
- The Stone Gods by Jeannette Winterson
- Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris
- Tangled Webs by Anne Bishop
- Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich
- Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
- Lucinda, Darkly by Sunny
- Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner (way to rip my heart out of my chest, Ms. Weiner!)
- The Field Guide (Spiderwick Chronicles Book 1) by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi at 107 pages
- Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon at 728 pages
I have since learned that there is a blog, J. Kaye's Book Blog, that is organizing a group challenge for 2009, and I encourage you all to try. I won't say reading 100 books in a year was an easy process - it was a challenge, after all - but think of all those books you have always wanted to read that you could catch up on!
How fun. Congratulations on your successful challenge.
ReplyDeleteCongrats Joey, for being the over acheiver that you are, and to Jaime for having that horseshoe stuck up your you-know-what!
ReplyDeleteI am in awe. You rock! When you get a chance, I'd love to see that list - bmlindeen (at) gmail (dot) com.
ReplyDeleteHee hee!!! Your geeky nerdness in breaking it down amuses me to no end!! I love it!
ReplyDeleteHmmm...now I'm wondering if I should keep track of the books I read a little more closely. But I'm with you--it would double if I counted the books I read with Chunky ;-)
Yeah for me.... What do you mean by book funds? How about you find me a copy of Neil Gailmans American Gods ( I have the first one but I believe there is a second.) Andrew would know!!!
ReplyDeletethe last comment was me, Jaimes!!!
ReplyDeleteCarl says you can do better with the non-fiction percentage. Tell me this though... were the NF ones knitting books?? Tell the truth Joey!
ReplyDeleteOh wow! That is awesome! I love romance too, but didn't get to read much in 2008. Maybe I can change this in 2009. :)
ReplyDeleteI am in for 09! Care to share you spreadsheet layout? I am all about spreedsheets. Just thought I might learn from your wisdom:)
ReplyDeleteCool. Wow. That's a big honkin' number. There was a time and a place when I could have done that; now I'm just happy for the few I get to plow through!!
ReplyDeleteCongratufrigginlations!!! :-)
Wow, that's fantastic! Lack of non-fiction notwithstanding, you did great!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to you! That's a lot of reading!!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! I would love a copy of the list of you get a chance. I enjoy reading your book reviews and have picked up several books based on your feedback. I have enjoyed every single one of them! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteJo, you're an awesome reader !
ReplyDeleteI'd love your spreadsheet - maybe I'll keep track of my books this year too :0) I'm trying to read 20.
discoknits (at) gmail (dot) com
Thanks :0)
that is pretty awesome
ReplyDeleteive read some of the ones on your list of favourites and i agree :)
http://www.azitaknits.blogspot.com