2019 - 2020 Reading Stats
Some of you may remember that I record my reading year from
October 14 (my birthday) to October 13 of the next year. Then I typically give
a report on it. So, here is my reading report for October 2019 to October 2020.
I wasn’t particularly surprised that my number of read books
this year was down from last year, which was a record setting year for me with
129 completed books. I was somewhat surprised that it was much lower
than my typical average of 90 to 100 books read a year. I only finished 66
books this past year, which is my lowest number since 2001/2002.
I’m pretty sure I know the reasons why the number is down so
much. First, the Covid pandemic has taken its toll on me. It’s added
considerably to my workload at school, requiring both more time reassuring
students and much more time learning a whole new approach to teaching. I’m
still not satisfied with all my adjustments. Covid has also affected my mood,
although as an introvert I don’t think it’s caused me any kind of real
depression. But, when I do get a few minutes off I’ve often chosen mindless
video games over the cognitive involvement of reading. It’s a stress escape
behavior.
The second reason why my reading numbers is down, however, is
much more positive. I’ve completed three 74,000 word (roughly) novels in the
past year, and I’m proud of all of them. This has upped my nonfiction reading,
for research purposes, but a lot of that is on line or articles that don’t get
counted in my book totals. In addition, where I used to sit down in the evening
for an hour or two with a good book, I’m often returning to my computer these
days to finish my word count for the day—a necessary action to meet deadlines
and to work around my regular job hours.
As far as details go. My SF reading was up this year, with
12 books in that genre. It was my go to genre apparently. Perhaps another
escape since the books I wrote had nothing to do with SF. My westerns and
thrillers were at 9 each, which was well down from the 20+ in each last year.
The 5 nonfiction books I read were all research related. 2 of the 3 poetry
books I read were also research related.
The only other interesting thing is that last year, for the
first time, I started separating out “Men’s adventure Novels” as a genre. I had
5 then, and 5 more this year so that seems pretty stable. At any rate, thanks
for letting me indulge myself once more in “talkin’ about books.” Till next
year!
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