SERIESous Discussions: Every once and awhile I will post my random ramblings about a bookish or blogging topic. Feel free to join in by making a comment below or linking back!
Last year, I was inspired to put this post together by the fabulous Cristina @ Girl in the Pages. She created this amazing post looking at her reading habits by month and I got curious about my own. So, I compared my 2016 and 2017 reading years to each other and I thought it would be fun to add my 2018 reading stats to the mix.
>> SERIESous Discussion: Where do my Books Come From?
What I Learned From Last Year’s Post — and What I Did About It:
I learned a few things from my post last year:
- August is my most productive reading month
- I averaged less books per month in 2017 than 2016
- 2017: 20 books/month ; 2016: 22 books/month
In combination with my Discussion Post about Book Formats I Read in a Month, I started to do the following:
- Started an Excel sheet to track what books I read in a month (in addition to Goodreads)
- Break down: Books, ARCs, Audiobooks, DNFs & Novellas
- Started editing “edition type” on Goodreads
- Break down: Kindle, eBook, Hardcover, Audio, etc
My Thoughts Before Looking at the Numbers:
Last year was the first year in 8 years that I haven’t been in school for any of it. I’ve just been working at my job and trying to have a social life. So I’m really curious to see how my reading habits have changed…because I certainly think that they have!
>> SERIESous Discussion: How “Adulting” Changed my Reading Habits
While I only read 11 books less in 2018 than 2017, it felt like I read a whole lot less. I’ve said in many times in my recap posts for the last few months but there were times in 2018 I didn’t pick up a book at all. It’s all thanks to audiobooks that my numbers were as strong as they were — something I will investigate in my follow-up post to “Book Formats per Month”.
The Actual Results:
The Breakdown:
What does that all mean? I’ve summed it up here:
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total # Read | 260 | 240 | 229 |
| Monthly Avg | 22 | 20 | 19 |
| Total # DNF'd | 7 | 17 | 29 |
| # of Kobo Reading Hours | 400 | 404 | 79 |
My Thoughts After Looking at the Numbers:
Nothing really shocked me here when I look at the breakdown; with the exception of my Kobo reading hours. But when I think about it, it makes sense. I read a lot of ARCs last year and I read those on my Kindle. I’ve also significantly reduced the number of books I get from my library (which are read on my Kobo) in an effort to read books I already own. And I also DNF’d a lot of titles from my Kobo last year.
Which brings me to the DNF numbers. Again, I’m not shocked by this increase. My reading preferences and tolerances as a reader have changed a lot over the last three years. What I liked (and bought) years ago isn’t necessarily what I enjoy now and I think my DNF numbers for 2018 reflect that.
Moving Forward:
Again, it will be interesting to see how the results for 2019 compare to 2018. I now have a more consistent schedule for work so I do have more free time. But with that comes more social calls and trips as well which doesn’t always equal more reading time. I recently moved closer to work so my commute (and audiobook time) has decreased significantly; however, in theory, I have more time to read physical books. We will see if that all pans out…
>> Be on the lookout for an updated post next month where I look at what formats of books I read in a month!
