I did not do semi-monthly or monthly posts about the books I read in 2014 as I have done in years past. But I did keep track of my reads by month, rating the books on a 1 to 5 scale.
Today, as I finished and recorded the first book read in 2015, I got curious about last year's readings. This is what I found: I read 104 books in 2014, which averages two books a week. I read the highest number of books in November. That might have had something to do with the early, bitter, cold snap we had. I read the least number of books in the months of April and May, only four each of those two months. April's lack of reads I can account for - we were on vacation from the 1st until the 12th. But May? I have no clue.
Zero number of books rated a 1. That is probably because if a book is that bad I don't continue reading it. I used to. I always felt like either the book was going to get better or I felt obligated to finish it just because I had begun reading it. Now, I give myself permission to quit reading - there are too many good books out there that I will never have time to read without spending time on bad ones.
Two books rated a 1.5. One the first in a new series of "cute" mysteries. I already read enough of those without beginning another series. The second a book that received 3 and 4 ratings on Goodreads. When my ratings differ this much I always figure I missed something. This author had a previous book which was made into a movie and won a best supporting actress nomination for one of its actors.
Five ratings and 2 ratings tied with eight books apiece. 3.5 rated had 10 books while 11 books garnered ratings of 2.5. A rating of 4.5 was granted to 17 books; while 20 received a 3.0 from me. A whopping 28 books received 4.0's. I think I read some pretty good books.
The majority of my 5 rated books are by favorite authors - Louise Penny, Anita Shreve, Anna Quindlen, Sarah Addison Allen, Tiffany Baker and Jacqueline Winspear. But two new-to-me authors received 5's: Therese Walsh for The Moon Sisters and Gabrielle Zevin for The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.
I'm such an arbitrary rater - subject matter or story setting alone can tip me up or down in a rating. I've discovered a few new writers I enjoy and want to read more of their books, I've been riveted by books by old revered authors like Alice Hoffman (Blue Diary) and Ian McEwan (The Children Act) two very thought provoking books.
2015's first book of the year is by a new-to-me author. The book received a 3 rating, but the part of it which struck me the most was a quoted passage from Joseph Brodsky's collection of essays, On Grief and Reason. Perhaps I should return to blogging about the books I read?
Two a week? And here I was so proud of getting two a month done!
ReplyDeleteI, for one, vote for you to resume writing about your reads--at least, the ones you particularly like. I get good recommendations from you!