Bookish Musings: My 2017 Bookish Stats

 
 

This post turned out to be fun when I did it last year, and people seemed to like it, so I figured I’d do it again! I mean, I kept track of the stats again, so why not put them to some use? And almost everyone likes graphs 😉

(If you’re wondering how I got all these stats, the answer is that I have a spreadsheet I fill in after I finish each book. So my numbers for some of these things probably aren’t perfect, but they’re close enough!)


General Stuff

Total Number of Books Read: 164 (There were some webcomics and things I wasn’t sure how to count, but close enough.)
Number of Rereads: 16
Number Reviewed (Full): 120
Number Reviewed (Mini): 28

I’m surprised I reread so much, but they were all good!

 

Book Length

Shortest Book: 47 pages – Starfighter Ch. 1 by Hamlet Machine (if you count webcomic chapters)
Longest Book: 514 pages – The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice
Average # of Pages Per Book: 265

I don’t much attention to page numbers while reading, but this is about what I would’ve guessed.

 

Release Year

2017 Release Year Pie Chart

2018: 1
2017: 72
2000-2016: 87
Before 2000: 4

I figured 2017 would have the highest number. Interesting that I read more books from previous years.

 

Publishers

2017 Publishers Pie Chart

Self-Published: 67
Big 5: 19
Other: 78

Not entirely sure I got these numbers right, but close enough! And this doesn’t surprise me.

 

Standalone/Series

2017 Standalone/Series Pie Chart

Standalone: 36
Series Book: 126
Incomplete Abandoned Webcomic: 2

I do always say I’m a series person—here’s the proof! Some of the series ones were those types of series that have different main characters in each book, which are not my favorite since that’s more like a standalone to me, but it was too complicated to try and separate those from the count. As for the webcomics, one of them wrote out an explanation for the rest of the story arc, so I at least got the complete story. The other one I had thought was completed, but it wasn’t, so that sucked.

 

Genres

2017 Genres Pie Chart

Fantasy Only: 126
Science Fiction Only: 34
Both: 4
Neither: 0

Wow, I actually went an entire year reading nothing but fantasy and sci-fi!

Here’s a little more detailed breakdown of the subgenres. (These are just my own classifications. I make no claims about how anyone else might classify any of these books.)

Paranormal/Urban Fantasy: 93
Historical Fantasy: 11
Paranormal Romance: 21
High Fantasy: 18
Fairy Tales & Folklore: 1
Mythology: 2
Metaphysical & Visionary: 1
Dystopian: 8
Post-Apocalyptic: 8
Cyberpunk: 3
Steampunk: 2
Sci-Fi Romance: 3
Space Opera: 10
Genetic Engineering: 1
Horror: 1
Western: 4
Holidays: 7
Classics: 1
Retellings(ish): 9
Young Adult: 19
New Adult: 11
LGBTQIA+: 82*
Graphic Novels: 26
Webcomics: 14

This looks about right. Paranormal/urban is my favorite, but I’ve also started liking historical and high fantasy in the past year or two. The most surprising number here is that I read 10 space operas. And 4 westerns lol. I tried SFF western for the first time this year and really liked it though! The other surprising numbers are graphic novels and webcomics. This was the first year I tried webcomics, and I also just read more comics in general it seems.

 

Ratings

2017 Ratings Pie Chart

5 Stars: 2
4.5 Stars: 14
4 Stars: 50
3.5 Stars: 47
3 Stars: 33
2.5 Stars: 8
2 Stars: 6
1.5 Stars: 2
1 Stars: 1
0.5 Stars: 0

I was hesitant to even include a chart with my ratings because I went through (and still am going through) a bit of a rating crisis. I don’t even know what my ratings mean anymore. But this is about what I would’ve guessed my chart would look like since I’m a little too nice sometimes and do give mostly 4 and 3.5 star ratings, a moderate amount of 3 stars, and significantly less for the upper and lower ratings.

 

POVs

2017 POV Type Pie Chart

1st Person: 52
3rd Person: 79
Both (Different for Different POV Characters): 7
N/A (Graphic Novels): 26

I don’t choose books based on POV, so these numbers could really be anything and they wouldn’t surprise me.

 

Protagonists’ Genders

2017 Protag Gender Pie Chart

Female: 45
Male: 110 (including one trans man)
Genderfluid/Non-Binary: 1
No Clear Protag: 8

I noticed I was reading about more male protags this year, but I do tend to like them more, so this isn’t surprising.

 

Protagonists’ Ages

2017 Protag Age Pie Chart

Child Protagonist: 2
Teen/Young Adult Protagonist: 31
Adult Protagonist: 116
Teen & Adult (story jumped forward in time): 1
Unknown/No Clear Protag: 14

I’m not surprised. I noticed that I started reading a lot less YA this year.

 

Romance

2017 Romance Type Pie Chart

This has some overlap because of love triangles and menages and whatnot.

Romance: 111
Established Relationship: 17
Sex but no Romance: 4
No Sex or Romance: 24

I’m just surprised that I read so many books with no romance.

 

Mental Illnesses & Physical Disabilities

Note: I try to only categorize books as having disability if it affects the main character or the the love interest.

Mental Illness: 27
Depression/Anxiety: 7
Panic Attacks: 7
PTSD: 9
Alcohol Addiction: 1
Drug Addiction: 2
Pyromania: 1
Rape Trauma Syndrome: 1
Schizophrenia: 1
OCD: 3
Sociopathy: 1
Selective Mutism: 1
Eating Disorder: 1
Other Mental Illness: 3

Physical Disability: 21
Amputation/Prosthetic: 4
Blindness: 1
Deafness: 1
Scars/Physical Differences: 5
Epilepsy: 2
Scoliosis: 1
Diabetes: 1
Asthma: 1
Headaches/Migraines: 1
One Eye: 1
Limp/Cane/Crutches: 1
Huntington’s Disease: 1
Mutism: 1

This breakdown is kind of interesting. I like that I read about a fairly wide variety of different disabilities.

 

Non-Human Creatures

Note: I try to only categorize books as having a supernatural creature if the creature is the main character, the love interest, the antagonist, or, in some cases, a super important side character.

Vampires: 32
Incubi/Succubi: 5
Witches: 10
Mancers/Mages: 11
Gods: 2
Aliens: 2
Zombies: 4
Shifters: 13
Ghosts/Spirits: 9
Demons: 16
Angels: 4
Faeries/Fae: 12
Dragons: 4
Reapers: 3
Psychics/Telepaths: 3
Empaths: 1
Elves: 7
Androids/Cyborgs: 6
Orcs: 1
Nymphs: 1
Centaurs: 1
Mummies: 1
Gargoyles: 2
Berserkers: 1
Other: 21

Vampires being the most read is no surprise. But it is surprising that my second most read about creature is shifters since I don’t even like those very much.

 

Settings

USA: 102
Alternate USA: 1
Canada: 2
England: 5
Wales: 1
France: 4
China: 1
Nepal: 1
Space/Other Planets: 15
Other Realms (Including Faerie): 18
Fantasy Lands: 22
Afterlife/Underworld/Heaven/Hell: 5
Unknown: 8

I’m kind of disappointed I read so few books set in countries outside the US. I’m also surprised that I read so many set in fantasy lands since I didn’t used to read much high fantasy.

 
 
 
 

Talk to me!

How many books did you read in 2017?
Did you also read a lot of sci-fi/fantasy?
Would you say you read about more male or more female protagonists?
What paranormal creature did you read about most?

 
 
[shared_counts]
 
 
 

Your Thoughts

 

54 thoughts on “Bookish Musings: My 2017 Bookish Stats

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  1. Greg

    Nice graphs. 🙂 And 16 re- reads. Wow that’s pretty awesome. You keep WAY better track of your reading stats than I do, so this is kinda fun to see your breakdown. 10 space operas too! I’m not sure but I don’t think I read that many of those- probably not even close. Somehow I got to reading a lot of psychological thrillers this year- I’m hoping to read way more SF/F in ’18.

    Interesting to see the disability and nonhumans numbers too. You had an impressive year!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yeah, idk, I just like keeping track of the stats. I’m surprised at 10 space operas! I feel like you read at least a few though! But yes, I do feel like there were a lot of psychological thrillers talked about on your blog. Good luck with reading more SFF next year!

  2. L

    I rarely find the time to re-read books, but I love to! I have so many favorites, and then I see something new and shiny and poof! I’m on to something else, lol. My Bookish Resolution for 2018 will be to re-read more books.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Rereading can be great! But I agree, sometimes it’s hard when you have all these other new books out there that you want to read and so little time…

  3. chucklesthescot

    I only really count genre, M or F author, series and stand-alone. I mostly read Indie and self published so I didn’t bother with a pie chart on that. I decided to avoid ratings as they mean different things on Goodreads and Amazon, and I use half stars on what goes on my blog, so that stat would be a bit confused! I read 201 this year, mostly apocalypse, horror and zombies! I don’t count the M/F split for MCs so I have no idea on that-things like Game of Thrones have multiple POVs!

    1. Kristen Burns

      It’s interesting not just seeing stats but also learning what different things different people keep track of. Yeah, ratings are… frustrating. As for the M/F MCs, I do it by protag, even if there’s more than one POV. But that’s why I have that “no clear protag” slice, sometimes there’s just a whole bunch! Doesn’t surprise me that you read mostly apoc, horror, and zombies since that’s what I always see on your blog!

  4. Laura

    Wow, I love this idea of looking at your reading stats and making graphs! I imagine it’s really interesting to look back on and easily see what exactly you’ve been reading this year.
    I’m definitely having a bit of a ratings crisis myself though at the moment. Seeing stuff like this though always makes me think I’m way too generous with my star ratings:. I only read about 60 books this year, and I gave way, way more than 2 books a five star! I think if I really enjoyed it at the time I immediately go off and give it a 5 star rating, and then when I reflect back on the book after a while I’m like, “did that really deserve 5 stars?” I’m definitely going to have to look at my rating system in 2018!
    Otherwise I think a lot of my stats would look like yours: I read mostly fantasy (but also with a lot of historical fiction and YA), although I’ve branched out a bit this year. And I read mostly series too.
    Great post! 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! It’s fun because sometimes the stats are surprising.

      I mean, I’m not generous with 5 stars, but I’m generous with 4 stars. I feel like I give that a lot to book that I kind of enjoyed but weren’t that impressive, which isn’t fair to the book that do impress me, but whatever. People should just pay more attention to our reviews than our ratings anyway lol, and I guess it’s not a bad thing to be nice?

      Yay for someone who shares my love of fantasy and series!

  5. Angela

    Interesting stats! About half my reads this year were 2017 releases, so it looks like we both had a good mix of new and backlist titles. When I look back on my ratings for the year, I only had a couple higher than 4 stars. Goodreads says my average rating for the year was 3.5, which sounds exactly right.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! Yeah, I think half and half is a pretty good mix for new and backlist books. I didn’t think to look at my average rating, but I should’ve! 3.5 sounds about right for me too, just thinking about it.

  6. Cristina @ Girl in the Pages

    This is so detailed and interesting! I also found that I read way more backlist books than 2017 releases this year- I found it nice to step away from the “hyped” titles and really focus on reading what I wanted to read, when I wanted to read it. I also love how detailed you get with the breakdown of the sub genres you read! I’d love to more about the spreadsheet you use! 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! Yes, it’s nice when you get to read backlisted books without the stress of ARCs and hype sometimes. My spreadsheet isn’t that exciting lol. I just list the books in a column on the left, and then I have a column for genres, a column for protag gender, etc. And then it’s easy to use filters to get the numbers at the end of the year 🙂

  7. Karen

    I read 219 books this year. I don’t keep super detailed records but I know that almost all of them were romances. It was just the kind of year that I didn’t want to read anything other than happy happy romances & escape from reality lol

    I can feel a shift though and I’m sure my 2018 reading will not be as prolific and will be more varied. I also had stopped reading series for the past few years but I would like to do a few binge reads and definitely re-reads – which I used to do a LOT but haven’t since blogging.

    For What It’s Worth

    1. Kristen Burns

      WOW you did great with reading! And I totally don’t blame you for just read happy romances. It was definitely that kind of year lol. Lately I’ve been more in the mood for light stuff too, which is weird for me.

      It’s weird how our reading habits are constantly changing. But as long as we’re reading at all, it’s all good 🙂

  8. Amber Elise @ Du Livre

    This is a beautiful post, I started tracking my reading habits but I think I gave up on my excel in May.

    That’s great that you read a good deal of blacklists, I did a pretty terrible job of that this year and want to amend that for 2018.

    And I’m sure 98% of my reads were fantasy, it was good year for fantasy titles!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yeah, I think I might track a few less things next year.

      I’m surprised I read so many backlist, but I’m happy with the balance.

      Yay glad you read so much fantasy too!

  9. Annemieke

    I love your reading stats. I stopped keeping track of genre since it is mostly fantasy anyway haha.
    It is hard to find book set outside of the USA or even Europe. 🙁 They just don’t get the same attention.
    So many 2017 releases!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! Lol I still think it’s interesting seeing how much fantasy vs. sci-fi I read, and I like seeing the subgenres. It *is* hard finding books outside the US, and especially outside of US and Europe.

  10. Karen Blue

    I love, love this post! I can’t imagine trying to figure out all of my stats and then posting them, but this is fantastic. It is so interesting to see what you read divided into all these categories. Thanks for sharing!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! It’s fairly easy to put together the post since all the info is already in my spreadsheet and I just use filters to get the numbers 🙂 It is interesting to see how it all breaks down though!

  11. Ethan

    It looks like you read quite the variety of books this year! I’m particularly pleased to see the number of self-published works you reviewed. Thanks for featuring so many of them! Happy New Year to you and your family!

  12. Zeee @ I Heart Romance & YA

    Wow, you are more detailed than I am! Mine is scheduled to post tomorrow and I have broken it down to be as specific as possible, but not as much as you did yours! I LOVE this!

    I have read 143 books so far and I don’t think I will finish any until the new year 🙂

  13. sjhigbee

    What a fabulously thorough recap on your reading stats for the year – it is a great resource. I’ll certainly be checking out your spreadsheet as I need to get far more organised about systematically visiting other bloggers in the coming year – thank you for sharing it. In the meantime, I wish you a healthy, peaceful 2018 and let’s home that politically, it is a much better one.

  14. Wattle

    I prefer male protagonists as well, I can’t quite put my finger on why though…I do worry it’s some form of internalised sexism, but it just could be because they’re more interesting lol

    Your stats are so wide ranging and interesting. I’m almost inspired to give something like this a whirl…almost 😛

    1. Kristen Burns

      Oh gosh, I sometimes wonder if it’s internalized sexism too. But I think it’s at least partly that authors are under so much pressure to write “strong female characters” that they often end up writing them with less emotion and complexity.

      Thanks! Lol yeah it’s something you have to keep up or you forget everything from the previous books and it becomes a lot of work.

  15. Lola

    I plan to do a similar post to this as well, as this is the first year I kept track of everything with a spreadsheet. I wanted to wait till the end of the year before I started writing the post.

    I feel like this post does give a good feel for the type of books you read. I am not surprised you read about so many disabilities. That’s nice you did so many re-reads. I hope to make time for a re-read now and then as well, although I usually don’t have much of an urge to re-read books, i do want to do re-reads now and then.

    I also read mostly series, I probably will have a similar pie chart, maybe skewed a bit more toward series as I read very few standalones this year. It is neat how most of these stats fit what you thought you read, but it’s still nice to see the actual stats like this.

    Nice you only read sci-fi and fantasy. I never would be able to stick to only two genres, but I definitely also have genres I read more than others. That rating chart does show you enjoyed most of the books you read this year.

    I also read a lot of adult books this year, but I am curious how exactly the percentages will end up. I didn’t realize you read so many books without romance this year. I also tracked the country were the book took place. It sure seems a lot of books are set in the USA., although it’s nice you also read about some other countries.

    1. Kristen Burns

      I look forward to seeing your stats 🙂 I waited as late as possible while still being in 2017 (not that there’s anything wrong with doing the post in 2018, I just like to use the end of Dec to do my wrap-up posts), so I knew I wouldn’t be finishing anymore books.

      I guess rereading is like everything else as a mood reader. Sometimes we’re in the mood for it, sometimes we’re not!

      Yay series! And yeah, it’s cool seeing the actual stats to see if you were right or wrong about what you thought.

      Idk, I’ve developed some strange aversion to anything that’s not SFF in at least a small way. I like it though, so I have no issue reading just those genres. I know most people like to read more genres than that though.

      I didn’t realize I read so many books without romance either lol. There are a lot of books set in the US. Maybe next year I’ll find more set in other countries!

  16. Dragonfly @ Our Familiarium

    yay stats and charts! LOVE. I’m dying to read Anne Rice but that’s why I don.t They are too long. Maybe next year? new year new me? 🙂 I knew series would be BIG but I am surprised to see you read less than 50% self-published and mostly adult, For some reason I thought they were more YA+NA

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yeah the Anne Rice books take a while, but that’s one of the reasons I’m trying to not worry about numbers this year. I don’t want to be discouraged from reading them! Self pub was less than 50%, but that other big chunk is indie pubs and self-pub authors forming groups to pub and stuff like that, so never fear, my love, I can still be your favorite indie/self-pub blogger 😉 But nope, I didn’t read much YA this year! Some of the adult might’ve been NA. I don’t keep very good track of that lol.

  17. Olivia Roach

    I actually find these stats really interesting! Which surprises me because I don’t usually enjoy stats posts, but you focus on stats that I don’t see often. I’m not surprised how many fantasy books you read! I also was surprised that most of your main characters were male – personally I feel like for me the majority of them are female. And then it was intirguing how balanced your 3.5 and 4 ratings are (a good thing!), how balanced your 2000-2016 year published books are with new releases – another good thing, and how balanced your self-published and other publisher books are. You basically slayed reading last year!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! I’m not surprised by how many fantasy books I read either, haha. I think this is the first year I’ve read about more male MCs. I’m also happy that my release years and publishers were pretty balanced 🙂

  18. The Orangutan Librarian

    I *love* graphs so much!! This was so awesome to read!! 😀 That was cool to see the release date as well. And I think it’s awesome that you read sci fi and fantasy this year- I mostly did too!! 😀 And it’s good to see you didn’t have too many negative ratings, cos it means you’re not picking up too many books you hate- but it makes sense to mostly have ratings in the middle. Great wrap up!!

  19. Becky @ A Fool's Ingenuity

    I always find your stats posts really interesting. I love seeing folks putting the books they’ve read into graphs and charts and basically making it a visual thing. You read a whole lot it’s impressive. The number of different things you keep track of is crazy. I basically keep track of books, page number and publish date. And authors. I don’t know POV and everything like that. It does making it interesting to asses your books, though.