Number of books read
163
This is not a bad number, but honestly, I'm a bit disappointed. My goal was 205 books and I'm quite far from it. Of course, there were some extenuating circumstances such as hectic traveling, the concussion and of course, the dreaded reading slumps, Sigh. As usual though, this number does not include mangas and the re-reads, so I did read more.... but still.
So this year's goal is still 205 books and hopefully, I'll be able to make it :)
Number of books bought
126
In-store = 70
Online = 33
E-Books = 23
The key this year has been to be patient and wait for promotions to buy the print books. Hardcovers and trade-size books were almost all bought online. Even the paperbacks I could wait for were purchased online :) However, mostly, I attribute my change in habits to starting to read more e-books.
And one of the most interesting numbers as always is to find out how much I've saved: 461.28$ Isn't it a great number? LOL. And that number is actually very similar to last year, but for less books, so that means per book, I've saved more :)
Goal for this year is to continue this trend. Perhaps I'll buy more books, but as long as I keep saving as much money and also, a positive ratio of books read and books bought, well, I'm happy :)
Oh and another number I'm really, really proud about is that out of those 126 books, I read 100 books! That's 79% of the books I bought that I read... See, when I say that I run after new releases and that I don't know what to read when I don't have any books to buy, I'm not kidding LOL.
What did I read?
Contemporary = 41
Historical = 33 (Regency = 29, Western = 2, Americana = 1, Medieval/Highlands = 1)
Urban Fantasy = 20
Category romance = 17 (Contemporary = 16, Historical = 1)
YA = 17 (Contemporary = 11, Fantasy = 3, UF = 3)
Romantic Suspense = 11
Mystery/Thriller/Cosy Mystery = 10
Paranormal romance = 9
Steampunk = 3
Chick-lit/Women's Fiction = 3
Erotica = 2
Fiction = 1
The winner genre this year was contemporary romance! Woohoo! I just love contemporary romance, although I have to say, I was surprised I was able to find as much LOL. Then again, small-town romances are all the rage right now. I was too lazy to put last year's numbers, but my reading has been pretty consistent number-wise. For example, for contemporary romance, urban fantasy, romantic suspense, paranoral , fiction and erotica, the numbers are off by only 1 or 2 books in comparison to last year. The genres that have taken the biggest hits were historical romance and YA and they pretty much account for the -31 books differential. I have to say, last year, I overdose a bit on historical romance as well ^_^; I really started reading historical romance a few years ago because it's the most popular genre in the romance market... However, I feel like last year, I was more discriminating - reading favorite authors and books with blurbs that really appealed to me instead of reading everything regency. Same thing for YA.
The genre that saw the biggest increase in number was category romance and that's mostly because I wanted to read more books with contemporary settings and also because I glommed Ms Mayberry a bit :)
What will happen this year? Well I guess it depends on what will be coming out :)
Who published them?
1. Penguin (Berkley, NAL, ROC, Putnam, etc.) = 47
2. Harlequin (HQN Books, Mira, SuperRomance, Carina Press, etc.) = 28
3. Kensington = 15
4. Macmillan (St. Martin's Press, etc.), Harpercollins Publisher and Simon & Schuster = 13
7. Random House Publishing = 11
8. Hyperion/Scholastic = 7
9. Self-published = 5
10. Grand Central Publishing, Subterranean Press = 4
12. Headline = 2
13. Sourcebooks = 1
Top 2 publishers are still the same as the past years, Penguin - mostly Berkley - and Harlequin. What can I say, they are indeed my favorite publishers, I like the authors they have and the stories. I have to say though, I've read a lot less Mira than in the past... I guess this Harlequin line is going through some changes. Also, the authors they have don't appeal as much :(
The new player for me the past year was Kensington. In 2011, I read 8 of their books. so in 2012, it's almost double. The main reason is because they now have under their wings some of my favorite authors such as Victoria Alexander, Kate Angell and Laura Florand :) I also think they are publishing more straight contemporary romance :)
The publishing house that is most puzzling to me is Grand Central Publishing. For some reasons, I love Grand Central Publishing - I think it's because they used to house Karen Rose - however, when I look at the number of books I've read from them in 2012 and even 2011, well it's really not a lot. I like them as a whole, but it feels they are not releasing a lot of books.
It's also funny that some publishing houses I read exclusively because of certain authors such as Subterranean Press = Kelley Armstrong, Headline = Karen Rose...
When were they published?
2013 = 2
2012 = 125 (76.7%)
2011 = 13
2010 = 12
2009 = 2
2008 = 3
2007 = 3
2005 = 1
before 2000 = 2
Does that number surprise you? To me, not really. I mean, it makes sense. I buy mostly new releases and read about 79% of them, so it makes sense that most of them were released in 2012 :) I start reading romance in about 2000 and I'm very attached to this style of romance. The previous styles from the 80s and 90s don't suit me much, so that explains why I don't read a lot of books published prior to 2000 unless I'm glomming an author. However, I think I need to start clearing my TBR pile, so I'm going to try to do better and read older books in 2013.
How did I enjoy the books I read?
A = 9 (A+ = 0, A = 2, A- = 7)
B = 93 (B+ = 19, B = 45, B- = 29)
C = 54 (C+ = 23, C = 24, C- = 7)
D = 6
E = 1
More As than last year, yay! :) You guys keep saying that I'm a tough grader, but really... although I agree that I don't easily give out As, but still, most of the books I do enjoy.
Last year, I also changed the way I graded books and I do like my new system... So I'm going to continue that way this year :)
Did I share my thoughts with you?
Full reviews = 70
Week-End's Minis = 36
Mini-reviews from Monthly Reads posts = 25
This gives a grand total of 131 reviews. That means I have 32 books left to review. Most of them are from the last three months of the 2012. I don't really know if I'll get to review them all, but I'll try :) Otherwise, I have to say I'm pretty happy with the number because I know I wasn't the most consistent blogger in 2012. And I think that the Week-End's Minis was my best idea in 2012 for the blog and that's what allowed me to stay on top of things. Now I just need to get back in the routine :)
Random Numbers
New Authors to me = 26
It seems I was a lot less adventurous in 2012. I stuck a lot with authors that I knew and also, as I mentioned earlier, I was more discriminating. Also, most authors that were new to me in 2012 weren't debut authors.
Books part of a series = 121
Okay, this number remains astonishing. Seriously!! Where are the stand-alones? :) I should try to break down this number and see how many series it makes :P
***
And there it is, 2012 in numbers for me :) What do you think? Overall, I'm happy with the numbers, but as I said, I do wish I've read more. Then again, there's always this year and the next and the next... Books aren't going anywhere right?
