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!
For the last 2 years I’ve been doing this comparison post to check in with my reading. I always to month-to-month comparison for my Monthly Inventories but it’s interesting to reflect back on the entire year as a whole.
>> SERIESous Discussion: Where do my Books Come From?
I break things down like this:
- What I learned from last year (2018) and any changes I made for 2019
- My thoughts before I look at 2019’s numbers
- The actual numbers & their breakdown
- What I learned and moving forward
What I Learned From Last Year’s Post — and What I Did About It:
I learned a few things from my post last year:
- February was my most productive reading month
- I averaged 1 book less per month in 2018 than 2017
- 2018: 19 books/month; 2017: 20 books/month
- My DNF #s have increased exponentially since 2016
- I read less on my Kobo
In combination with my Discussion Post about Book Formats I Read in a Month, I started to do the following:
- Focused on reading more books I already own by
- Reducing holds at the library for non-audiobooks
- Creating specific reading challenges for owned books
- Requesting less ARCs
- Dedicated 4 months of the year to only read sequels
My Thoughts Before Looking at the Numbers:
Without a doubt, 2019 was a terrible reading year for me. I didn’t complete my Goodreads Challenge for the first time ever because life simply got in the way. Moving closer to work and reducing my commute time did nothing to improve my reading numbers like I thought.
>> SERIESous Discussion: How “Adulting” Changed my Reading Habits
I’d go days without picking up a book which would have shocked me 4 years ago. Gone were the days of getting up early just to fit a few chapters in. As a shift worker, I milk every minute of sleep I can get now. And if I’m lucky, I can fit in a chapter or two before sleep takes over for the night. So I know my numbers are not going to be stellar.
The Actual Results:
The Breakdown:
What does that all mean? I’ve summed it up here:
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total # Read | 260 | 240 | 229 | 173 |
| Monthly Avg | 22 | 20 | 19 | 15 |
| Total # DNF'd | 7 | 17 | 29 | 8 |
| # of Kobo Reading Hours | 400 | 404 | 79 | 144 |
My Thoughts After Looking at the Numbers:
Moving into a new home meant that most of my free time was spent getting the house (and yard) sorted. So I’m not shocked by these numbers. It was also my first year of being completely full time and one where I didn’t have the nicest rotation to follow. And I’d like to think my social life was more active than previously so that leads to less time reading.
Fun fact: I actually went 6 months into 2019 before I DNF’d my first book! I’ve been going through my TBR monthly and completing the Down The TBR Hole meme and removing books that I’m just not interested in throughout the whole year so maybe that has helped keep me satisfied with the books I do pick up.
The months I completed my Sequel Only months were February, June, September and November. And for the most part, I did see an increase in the number of titles I read for those months but it didn’t cause massive spikes.
Moving Forward:
I was much more realistic with my Goodreads Goal this year based on last year’s numbers. I’m realizing as I get older that there are other things that take precedence over reading.
I’m really curious to see how my formats read are impacted though. I seem to be reading a lot of audiobooks (which was a foreign concept to me merely a few years ago) and if I wasn’t, my numbers would be near what they are in a year.
>> Be on the lookout for an updated post next month where I look at what formats of books I read in a month!
