Category Archives: Reading Stats

December 31, 2012 · 6:00 am

2012 Bookish Survey!

2012 book survey

Hi guys! So, now that’s it is ACTUALLY New Year’s Eve, I can do my end-of-year post about stuff that I read this year! It’s basically the same format as last year, and if you want to borrow it, feel free! Just come back here and leave me a link so I can check out your post :-)

Some preliminary questions…

How many books did you read in 2012?

87 books, and about 31,039 pages.

Did you accomplish your reading goals?

Not even a little bit. My goal was 130 books or 45,000 pages and I missed both goals pretty hugely.

Did you successfully complete any reading challenges?

I think the only one I kind of completed was Jenn’s Neil Gaiman Challenge, because I read 4 of his books this year. Other than that, no, I ended up dropping out of all of them because I made so little progress. I don’t think I’m going to do any challenges this year.

OK let’s get to the good stuff now!

1. Ten favorite reads of 2012?

  • Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku
  • In Search of the Multiverse by John Gribbin
  • Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
  • The Neanderthal Parallax trilogy by Robert J. Sawyer
  • The Nightside series by Simon R. Green
  • The Newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant
  • The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
  • A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
  • The Bungalow by Sarah Jio
  • Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Yeah… lots of series/trilogies this year…

2. Ten worst reads of 2012?

  • The Hunger Games Companion by Lois Gresh
  • Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
  • Why Does E=mc2? by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw
  • The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern
  • An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
  • Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple
  • Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer
  • How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
  • The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt
  • The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer

I just feel like a made a lot of enemies… if it’s any comfort to you, I actually had to look over my list of books read this year for the “worst” ones. Most of those didn’t come immediately to mind.

3. Favorite authors that you read for the first time this past year?

Simon R Green, I kind of love his Nightside series, and I love Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim books. Deborah Harkness was really good too.

4. Worst authors that you read for the first time this past year?

Huraki Murakami… Norwegian Wood was just too emo and weird for me. Also Lee Smolin, who wrote Three Roads to Quantum Gravity. He was really annoying with his biased-ness.

5. Favorite releases of 2012?

The Diviners by Libba Bray was SO GOOD, and I can’t wait for the next book. Also Ready Player One by Ernest Cline was fantastic.

6. Favorite re-reads of 2012?

The rest of the Outlander books, which I started re-reading in 2011. I love those books <3

7. Funniest book you read this year?

The Pirates! books by Gideon Defoe. They’re so goofy and perfect for a quick laugh.

8. Saddest book you read this year?

I always cry during Outlander books, at some point. Also, Maus was obviously really sad.

9. Book that made you want to throw it across the room?

Only a couple books really irked me this year, but none that bad.

10. Favorite non-fiction read this year?

In Search of the Multiverse by John Gribbin, hands down.

11. Favorite quotes of passages from books you read this year?

You know, I started a quotes journal this year for just this reason! But I’m too lazy to get up and find it right now.

12. Any new favorite bookish apps / websites / trends?

Ummm the use of GIF’s. I always liked them, and this year I finally learned out to USE them. Also, I discovered some fun bookish Tumblrs, such as Underground New York Public Library, Librarians Classified, and Librarian Problems.

13. Any regrets over “read” or “to-read” lists?

Obviously. I didn’t get to read nearly as many books was I wanted to this year, and I think I spent too much time forcing myself through some slower books, like A Feast For Crows.

14. Favorite challenges or goals in 2012?

The Neil Gaiman challenge. It’s the only one I really kept up with, lol.

15. How do you feel about your 2012 reading year?

Disappointed, and really eager to start 2013 and read a lot more!

 

Okay, now some bloggy-questions…

16. Favorite blogs you discovered this year?

I am absolutely sure that I’m forgetting some people, and I can’t remember how long I’ve been following some people, but here’s a couple. I don’t think I “discovered” as many blogs this year as I did last year. I need to branch out more.

Smash Attack Reads

Words For Worms

Coffee, Cookies, and Chili Peppers

 

17. Did you attend any real-life bookish events? (signings, BEA, National Book Fest, etc.)

Nope. I seriously need to save up the money to go to one in 2013! There’s just not much in my area – anything that takes place in New York is usually a lot closer to NYC, which is 8 hours away.

18. Did you participate in any online bookish events? (readathons, readalongs, etc.)

Absolutely! I did Armchair BEA, readathons, and a TON of readalongs – The Grapes of Wrath, The Moonstone, The Graveyard Book, Married With Zombies, and more.

19. Blogging highlights of this year?

I had some fun author interactions on Twitter, but mostly things were relatively quiet.

20. What didn’t work for your blog this year?

Honestly, probably just me being too busy or tired. I had a second job for a while there, and then my grandma passed away. I got sick a few times, and work at my regular job was crazy because we keep losing temps. Just one thing after another. Also, I kind of fell out of the habit of doing my favorite memes… I stopped doing In My Mailbox because of all of the controversy at that blog, and I skip out on Top Ten Tuesday sometimes because if the topic is a repeat I don’t have much new to post about. I’m hoping to be a more active blogger this year, in every way – posting, commenting, participating in more events and memes, etc.

Looking ahead to 2013…

21. Do you have any reading goals in mind for 2013?

Of course. I want to read AT LEAST 100 books. I should be able to read more than that, I read 127 in 2010. I think I have to be more willing to DNF, too. Also, I really need to make an effort to read more of the books that I already own.

22. Are you participating in any 2013 reading challenges?

I think not. Well, with the exception that I think I’m going to join The Classics Club, but that’s a 5-year challenge, so it doesn’t really count for a certain year.

23. What 2013 new releases are you looking forward to?

Lots! But MAINLY I’m looking forward to Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, which will be the 8th Outlander book and hopefully to be released next fall.

24. What are some of your 2013 blogging goals or things you want to focus on?

I want to switch to self-hosting at WordPress.org instead of wordpress.com, and focus on just making my blog a fun, happy, bookish place for people to visit.

25. Are you ready to get 2013 started?

YES. I am SO gonna kick 2013′s ass. Who’s with me?!

 

~Sarah

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November 3, 2012 · 10:23 am

Book Riot’s Top 50 Books List

Hey ya’ll. So, we know that Where’d You Go, Bernadette? review wasn’t all that fascinating, PLUS it’s a Saturday and I’m at home, PLUS it’s my blog and I do what I want – so let’s do this!

Book Riot apparently had their readers vote and whatnot and came up with their own “Top 50 Books” list. And now they want to know how many you’ve read from said list! So count out how many you’ve read, and go here to enter your number.

And in the meantime, here’s what I’ve read from the list… I’ll bold them. And put a * next to ones that that I’ll explain at the bottom.

 

  1. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
  4. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
  5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  6. The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien*
  7. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  8. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
  9. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  10. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
  11. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  12. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
  13. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
  14. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
  15. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
  16. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
  17. The Stand by Stephen King
  18. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
  19. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  20. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
  21. Persuasion by Jane Austen
  22. The PIcture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  23. The Brothers Karamozov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  24. The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon**
  25. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
  26. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
  27. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
  28. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
  29. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
  30. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
  31. 1984 by George Orwell
  32. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  33. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
  34. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
  35. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
  36. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
  37. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams***
  38. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
  39. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
  40. Ulysses by James Joyce
  41. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
  42. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
  43. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
  44. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
  45. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
  46. Dune by Frank Herbert
  47. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
  48. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
  49. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
  50. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

* I’m reading the first LOTR book right now! Hooray! But because I’m only about halfway through the first book, I didn’t count it.

** Can I tell you how excited I am that the Outlander series is so high up on the list? SO EXCITED.

*** I’ve actually only read the first book, but I’m counting it. And I do plan to read the rest eventually. But I think it should “count” if you’ve only read the first book in a series, because at least you tried it!

 

So yeah, 24 total for me. 25 once I finish LOTR. And of course lots more are ones that I’ll read eventually.

What’s your number?

 

~Sarah

 

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December 31, 2011 · 1:00 am

2011 Bookish Questionnaire!

Hey ya’ll! So I know there’s been a ton of these posts lately, but I’m a little crazy and couldn’t bring myself to do a post like this until the year was ACTUALLY ending. And so since today is New Year’s Eve, let the nostalgic look back at my 2011 reading year begin! Feel free to steal the questions and/or little graphic thingy up top, and leave me links in the comments so that I can come check out your answers!

Some preliminary questions…

How many books did you read in 2011?

116, and about 44,168 pages.

Did you accomplish your reading goals?

Nope – my goal was 130, and I didn’t quite focus on re-reading as much as I’d hoped.

Did you successfully complete any reading challenges?

I didn’t really do any challenges this year, except to read 130 books and over 44,225 pages (which would have at least beat last year’s stats). I did not succeed :-(

OK let’s get to the good stuff now!

1. Ten favorite reads of 2011?

  • The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons
  • Wicked by Gregory Maguire
  • The Postmortal by Drew Magary
  • Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
  • Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
  • Practical Jean by Trevor Cole
  • Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman
  • A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin
  • Inheritance trilogy by N.K. Jemisin (AKA The 100K trilogy)
  • Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

with notable mentions to the The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon, Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson, Emma by Jane Austen, and The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss.

2. Ten worst reads of 2011?

  • A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
  • The Magicians by Lev Grossman
  • The Summer Garden by Paullina Simons
  • The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
  • The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan
  • A Reliable Wife by Richard Goolrick
  • The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn
  • The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
  • Shopgirl by Steve Martin
  • The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

3. Favorite authors that you read for the first time this past year?

Jasper Fforde is definitely an exciting new author for me. I really like the Thursday Next series, and I’m looking forward to his other series as well. I’m also quite excited to read more of Libba Bray, Rainbow Rowell, Gregory Maguire, etc… basically every author I mentioned under my favorite reads for last year. A good chunk of them were debut or recently really publicized authors and I’m looking forward to more from them.

4. Worst authors that you read for the first time this past year?

Lev Grossman. The Magicians was a huge disappointment. Also Jennifer Egan. I’ll probably be avoiding both of them like the plague.

5. Favorite releases of 2011?

The Scottish Prisoner! I love the Outlander series, as well as the Lord John series, and the fact that Diana Gabaldon really meshed them together in this one was awesome. Flip This Zombie and Eat Slay Love by Jesse Petersen were quite exciting. Also The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin. As well as some of the newer authors I mentioned above.

6. Favorite re-reads of 2011?

Hmmm… I loved re-reading the Harry Potter books in the beginning of the year. They’re just awesome. I might even re-read them late next year, if the honeyman wants to read them with me :-) And Outlander! I love Outlander and I looooove re-reading them. Sadly I only re-read the first half of the series this year because I was trying to focus on other stuff too, so I’m going to re-read the rest of them in 2012.

7. Funniest book you read this year?

Domestic Violets had me cracking up, in a BIG way. Also the Cyanide and Happiness books, but since those are books of comic strips that’s kind of a given. ALSO Beauty Queens!!! It was hysterical and sarcastic and witty and awesome.

8. Saddest book you read this year?

I cried the most I think during my Outlander re-reads. I ALWAYS cry during at least the first three books. I also cried a lot during The Bronze Horseman and Tatiana and Alexander by Paullina Simons.

9. Book that made you want to throw it across the room?

The Summer Garden by Paullina Simons. She RUINED the end of Tatiana and Alexander’s epic love story.

10. Favorite non-fiction read this year?

I don’t think I have one… The only non-fiction books I read were memoirs. It would be a tie between Bossypants by Tina Fey and A Little Bit Wicked by Krisitin Chenoweth.

11. Favorite quotes of passages from books you read this year?

I can’t really remember at the moment… I really need to start writing them all down in one place!

12. Any new favorite bookish apps / websites / trends?

Yes! I am really enjoying the new bookish website Book Riot, although I can never see comments, nor do I see anywhere to comment on the articles. (Is this just me?)

Also, since I am now the proud owner of a Droid 3 I can actually talk about apps! LOL. I like the Goodreads app, although I can’t figure out how to see just the newest comments in a discussion thread, so that’s disappointing. I love the Book Catalogue app, and totally plan on spending a few days in January physically scanning ALL of the books I own into it. I’m also finding the Inkpad app really useful, for notating which books I want to look for next time I’m at the library, want to buy, and making other random lists as well..

(I also play a lot of Words With Friends… my username is SarahMay227 if you wanna play!)

13. Any regrets over “read” or “to-read” lists?

Yeah, I definitely didn’t get to read as many of the books on my to-read list as I wanted to. I let the blogging-pressure get to me, and I started to feel guilty for re-reading so much – especially when some of those re-reads are quite long and would take me like a week to read.

14. Favorite challenges or goals in 2011?

I didn’t do any challenges, or reach my own little goals. Maybe I need the challenges to keep me motivated! LOL.

15. How do you feel about your 2011 reading year?

For some reason, kind of disappointed. It may have been the focus on re-reads. It meant that I had less time to read other books, plus I always felt guilty for re-reading because it would mean less new reviews to post. AND I didn’t even get to finish all of the re-reads I wanted to do. I also didn’t read many classics this year, which bums me out but I’m totally excited to rectify that this coming year. And I didn’t read more than I did last year, which is surprising. I’ve been having a hard time concentrating on reading when I have free time, especially at work. It’s either too busy, or so slow that I start to feel sleepy.

Okay, now some bloggy-questions…

16. Favorite blogs you discovered this year?

I discovered so many great blogs this year, and made some great blogger friends :-) I’m sure I’m accidentally leaving some awesome people out on here, mainly because I know I have a horrible memory and can’t remember exactly how long I’ve been following people’s blogs, lol. But to list a couple…

Booksessed 

What Red Read

Reading Rambo

 

17. Did you attend any real-life bookish events? (signings, BEA, National Book Fest, etc.)

Sadly, I did not. The only real bookish event I get to attend is the annual huge-ass book sale my local library has in the mall once a year. Hopefully I’ll be going to some more bookish / bloggish events this year!

18. Did you participate in any online bookish events? (readathons, readalongs, etc.)

Of course! I love love love readathons – the 24-hour ones, my own mini 12-hour ones (go sign up!), the week-long ones, etc.

19. Blogging highlights of this year?

Definitely my author interview with Bob Eckstein, whose book The History of the Snowman was one of the most enjoyable winter-time reads I read this year. I also had several exciting Twitter moments, when authors such as Diana Gabaldon, Trevor Cole, and Jesse Petersen interacted with me. YAY!

I’m also glad that I made the switch to WordPress. Sure, some stuff is a little harder to figure out than on Blogger, but overall the experience is much more enjoyable.

20. What didn’t work for your blog this year?

Not sure. Sometimes I feel all ambitious and want to do Big Things to get my traffic up, but I’ve also kind of accepted that my blog is just never going to be one where I get like over 100 views every day. Partly because I don’t really do ARC reviews, and partly because I’m a laid back blogger – the reason I never go through one of those “OMGbloggingistoohardI’mgoingtogiveitupforever” moments is because I read and blog what and when I want. If I made it stressful it would be less fun.

Besides, I’d rather have a handful of readers who comment and interact with me than hundreds of readers who just skim by me but never participate in discussions, polls, readathons, etc.

 

Looking ahead to 2012…

21. Do you have any reading goals in mind for 2012?

I do… I’m going to aim for 130 books read OR 45,000 pages read next year. Obviously if I read a bunch of chunky books that are like 1000 pages long, the number of books I read would be slightly less.

22. Are you participating in any 2012 reading challenges?

Yes! I am super excited to start them too. I’m doing the Back to the Classics Challenge, the Mixing It Up Challenge, the Neil Gaiman Challenge, and The League of Extraordinary Gentleman Challenge. You can see all my progress and the book reviews here.

23. What 2012 new releases are you looking forward to?

Ooooo a bunch already! Christopher Moore is coming out with a new book in April called Sacre Bleu. The Pioneer Woman is coming out with a new cookbook in March. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore will FINALLY be out in May! And there’s several others as well.

24. What are some of your 2012 blogging goals or things you want to focus on?

Well I’m going to talk about this more in tomorrow’s Sarah Sunday post, but there are a few things I’m going to change or tweak as far as blogging goes. I think it will all be good changes though, and I’m really looking forward to starting off 2012 with a clean slate and excited energy.

25. Are you ready to get 2012 started?

Yes!!!

OK, so that’s pretty much my bookish wrap-up survey of the year! Here’s to another happy year filled with love, laughter, and reading!

~Sarah

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August 29, 2011 · 8:50 am

In lack of a real post…

So, I’m still reading Sense & Sensibility, and I’m hoping to finish it tonight. But I wanted to do a post, so here we are :)

A little while ago NPR posted a list of the Top 100 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Novels. Which was very interesting, and then I saw this post here on What Red Read and thought to steal her idea and do essentially the same post. (Shame on me, I know.) So, here’s the list – the ones I’ve read are in bold, and the one’s that I’ve already had on my TBR have * next to them.

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien *
2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams *
3. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert *
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin
6. 1984, by George Orwell
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov *
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley *
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson
15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley *
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick *
22. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
25. The Stand, by Stephen King
26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury *
28. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess *
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells *
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne *
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells *
40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings
42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley *
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White *
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
49. Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
54. World War Z, by Max Brooks *
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle *
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote In God’s Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke *
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson *
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb *
70. The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore
74. Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi
75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
77. The Kushiel’s Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin *
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury *
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde
83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge *
94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

Only 17 out of 100. I suck. However there was some talk about creating a challenge out of this list, and I think I’m going to challenge myself to read at least 10 more books off of this list next year.

Also – How is Harry Potter not on this list? I know it’s YA, but it’s still solid fantasy writing and plenty of the books on this list are read by young kids for school.

And speaking of YA… I found this list on My Head is Full of Books and decided to post it here too. This is a list of the 100 Most Popular YA Books, though I don’t know where that criteria comes from… and there’s a couple books of this list that I think count as adult fiction, not YA. But anyways, same as before, the ones I’ve read are bolded and the ones I’ve had on my TBR have * next to them.

 
1. Alex Finn – Beastly
2. Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones
3. Ally Carter – Callagher Girls (1, 2, 3, 4)
4. Ally Condie – Matched
5. Alyson Noel – The Immortals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
6. Anastasia Hopcus – Shadow Hills
7. Angie Sage – Septimus Heap (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
8. Ann Brashares – The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (1, 2, 3, 4)
9. Anna Godbersen – Luxe (1, 2, 3, 4)
10. Anthony Horowitz – Alex Rider (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
11. Aprilynne Pike – Wings (1, 2, 3)
12. Becca Fitzpatrick – Hush, Hush (1, 2)
13. Brandon Mull – Fablehaven (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
14. Brian Selznick – The Invention of Hugo Cabret
15. Cassandra Clare – The Mortal Instruments (1, 2, 3, 4)
16. Carrie Jones – Need (1, 2, 3)
17. Carrie Ryan – The Forest of Hands and Teeth (1, 2, 3, 4)
18. Christopher Paolini – Inheritance (1, 2, 3, 4)
19. Cinda Williams Chima – The Heir Chronicles (1, 2, 3)
20. Colleen Houck – Tigers Saga (1, 2)
21. Cornelia Funke – Inkheart (1, 2, 3) *
22. Ellen Hopkins – Impulse
23. Eoin Colfer – Artemis Fowl (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
24. Faraaz Kazi – Truly, Madly, Deeply
25. Frank Beddor – The Looking Glass Wars (1, 2, 3) *
26. Gabrielle Zevin – Elsewhere
27. Gail Carson Levine – Fairest
28. Holly Black – Tithe (1, 2, 3)
29. J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
30. James Dashner – The Maze Runner (1, 2)
31. James Patterson – Maximum Ride (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
32. Jay Asher – Thirteen Reasons Why
33. Jeanne DuPrau – Books of Ember (1, 2, 3, 4)
34. Jeff Kinney – Diary of a Wimpy Kid (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
35. John Boyne – The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
36. John Green – An Abundance of Katherines
37. John Green – Looking for Alaska
38. John Green – Papper Towns
39. Jonathan Stroud – Bartimaeus (1, 2, 3, 4) *
40. Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl – Caster Chronicles (1, 2)
41. Kelley Armstrong – Darkest Powers (1, 2, 3)
42. Kristin Cashore – The Seven Kingdoms (1, 2)
43. Lauren Kate – Fallen (1, 2, 3)
44. Lemony Snicket – Series of Unfortunate Events (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13) *
45. Libba Bray – Gemma Doyle (1, 2, 3) *
46. Lisa McMann – Dream Catcher (1, 2, 3)
47. Louise Rennison – Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
48. M.T. Anderson – Feed
49. Maggie Stiefvater – The Wolves of Mercy Falls (1, 2, 3)
50. Margaret Peterson Haddix – Shadow Children (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
51. Maria V. Snyder – Study (1, 2, 3)
52. Markus Zusak – The Book Thief
53. Markus Zusak – I am the Messenger
54. Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
55. Mary Ting – Crossroads
56. Maureen Johnson – Little Blue Envelope (1, 2)
57. Meg Cabot – All-American Girl (1, 2)
58. Meg Cabot – The Mediator (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
59. Meg Cabot – The Princess Diaries (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
60. Meg Rosoff – How I live now
61. Megan McCafferty – Jessica Darling (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
62. Megan Whalen Turner – The Queen’s Thief (1, 2, 3, 4)
63. Melina Marchetta – On the Jellicoe Road
64. Melissa de la Cruz – Blue Bloods (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
65. Melissa Marr – Wicked Lovely (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
66. Michael Grant – Gone (1, 2, 3, 4)
67. Nancy Farmer – The House of the Scorpion
68. Neal Shusterman – Unwind
69. Neil Gaiman – Coraline
70. Neil Gaiman – Stardust
71. Neil Gaiman – The Graveyard Book
72. P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast – House of Night (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 )
73. Philip Pullman – His Dark Materials (1, 2, 3)
74. Rachel Caine – The Morganville Vampires (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
75. Rachel Cohn & David Levithan – Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
76. Richelle Mead – Vampire Academy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
77. Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Olympians (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
78. Rom LcO’Feer – Somewhere carnal over 40 winks
79. S.L. Naeole – Grace (1, 2, 3, 4)
80. Sabrina Bryan & Julia DeVillers – Princess of Gossip
81. Sarah Dessen – Along for the Ride
82. Sarah Dessen – Lock and Key
83. Sarah Dessen – The Truth about Forever
84. Sara Shepard – Pretty Little Liars (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
85. Scott Westerfeld – Leviathan (1, 2)
86. Scott Westerfeld – Uglies (1, 2, 3) *
87. Shannon Hale – Books of a Thousand Days
88. Shannon Hale – Princess Academy
89. Shannon Hale – The Books of Bayern (1, 2, 3, 4)
90. Sherman Alexie & Ellen Forney – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian *
91. Simone Elkeles – Perfect Chemistry (1, 2, 3)
92. Stephanie Meyer – The Host
93. Stephanie Meyer – Twilight Saga (1, 2, 3, 4)
94. Sue Monk Kidd – The Secret Life of Bees
95. Susan Beth Pfeffer – Last Survivors (1, 2, 3)
96. Suzanne Collins – Hunger Games (1, 2, 3)
97. Suzanne Collins – Underland Chronicles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
98. Terry Pratchett – Tiffany Aching (1, 2, 3, 4)
99. Tonya Hurley – Ghost Girl (1, 2, 3)
100. Wendelin Van Draanen – Flipped

So 13 out of 100 – I just counted series as 1, and I counted ones that maybe I only read the 1st book the series, cause hey at least I tried it. I think this list is flawed though – there’s a lot of classic YA missing, plus some YA that I’ve been hearing about constantly but isn’t on here. But at least it’s fun to see what I’ve read off of these lists.

Anyone have anymore giant lists for me to compare with my reading habits?

And how many have you read off of these lists? (More than me I bet.)

I’ll be back hopefully late tonight or early tomorrow with a review post, and tomorrow’s Top Ten Tuesday post.

~Sarah

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July 4, 2011 · 10:38 am

>Mid-Year Reading Stats, and other stuff

>

First, Happy 4th of July! Hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday today :-)

In other news… I decided to post my reading stats for the first half of the year. Honestly, they’re not where I wanna be. So I’m hoping to get super-amounts of reading done during the rest of the year. Honestly, I’m only about 5 to 10 books behind where I’d like to be… Ideally, I want to read 130 books this year.

So here’s how the first six months of this year have gone…

January: 13 books read, 5502 pages
February: 10 books read, 4407 pages
March: 8 books read, 4195 pages
April: 13 books read, 4631 pages
May: 8 books read, 3349 pages
June: 6 books read, 2825 pages

Total books read: 58
Pages read: 24,909

Broken down my genre…
Classics: 2
Comic: 1
Fantasy: 7
Historical Fiction: 4
Non-fiction: 3
Poetry: 2
Romance: 6
Sci-fi: 1
YA: 13
General fiction: 19

And here’s my thoughts…

  • Stupid June. I was pretty busy in June… my little brother graduated, and we threw a baby shower for my little sister Amanda who is supposed to have her baby at the end of July.
  • OK, so it wasn’t just that I was busy in June… I’ve been relying on DVD’s at work to keep me awake, because I don’t get enough sleep beforehand. But work is a huge chunk of my reading time, so I gotta cut that mess out and start sleeping right so I can read more. Plus I did more crocheting/sewing this month than usual. Which is awesome, but means less reading.
  • January was awesomesauce. Partly because I was re-reading the Harry Potter series in the beginning of the year, and I flew through those.
  • Also, 8 of those YA books were Harry Potter books. So if you don’t count those (because they’re amazing and should have their own genre), my YA count is actually only like 5.
  • Fiction is all of the books that don’t really fit into my other categories…
  • I need to read more classics, sci-fi, and non-fiction.
  • I didn’t list it, but 12 of those books were re-reads. But since my goal this year was to kind of focus on re-reads, that’s okay.
  • I’m sick of these bullets.

SO, that’s my reading info for the first half of this year. OH also, I’ve accrued 108 books so far this year, and spent $532.86 on books. Crap, that’s a lot when you really look at it. Kind of regretting starting that “book purchases” spreadsheet now…

ALSO, because this is one long-ass post and I’m too lazy to do a seperate post….
The Summer Mini-Readathon is only SIX days away! Yup, it’s on this Sunday. I can’t wait!
I’m a big one for preparing. I have most of the challenges figured out, so lately I’ve been planning out my snacks / drinks / books!
Food stuff:
Probably just waffles & coffee for breakfast.
Homestyle popcorn as some point. Because it’s delicious and perfect snacking-while-reading food.
I’m thinking soup & bread for lunch. If I have the A/C on. I really, really like to read while I eat soup. I have no clue why.
Deviled eggs, if I’m not too lazy to make them. Because they’re SO GOOD.
Not sure about dinner… maybe I can ask the honeyman to make a pizza. That way I don’t have to worry about cooking :-)
Oh, and that coffee I mentioned earlier? There will be coffee all day. Because I love coffee.
And near the evening… probably wine, or some amaretto sours.
THE BOOKS:
Definitely, Maybe by Heather Webber (a short-story that I’ll be reading on Kindle-for-PC)
Shambling With the Stars by Jesse Petersen (a short-story that I’ll be reading on Kindle-for-PC)
Into the Dead by Jesse Petersen (a ARC of nine short stories that Jesse sent to me for review, also reading on the computer)
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran (might re-read if I get outside at all that day)
Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand (one of the poll-winners for this month!)
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray (other poll-winner, I have it on hold at the library, hopefully it comes soon)
Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (might start re-reading this by the end of the readathon)
1776 by David McCullough (actually currently reading this, so I’m hoping to get a couple chapters in during the readathon. Trying to celebrate Independence Day and up my non-fiction numbers all at the same time)
Obviously that list is way too long. But I like to have options ready! I never know what I’ll feel like reading next. And I fully expect to read those three short-story novellas right away, hopefully they’ll only take a couple hours.
*Also, I linked to the books where I could in case you were interested in them. I linked to Amazon (mostly out of laziness), but I don’t get anything from Amazon for doing so. It just seemed easiest.

So, are you getting ready for the readathon? Books picked out? Food all planned? Tell me about it!

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