Happy New Year & welcome to 2020, friends! I am so excited to kick 2019 – and by extension it’s terrible decade – to the curb and focus on the bright and shiny new year. Before we jump feet first into the Roaring 20s (hopefully without the economic crash), I wanted to look at my year in reading.
2019 Books in Review
My tradition is to set my Goodreads Reading Challenge at one book per week, which I completed at the end of July with The Merciful Crow.
I read 91 books out of my goal of 52!Unlike last year, I decided to not up my goal because I was already stressing out so much about reading. I spent a lot of time in 2019 slumping and feeling guilty about not reading, so I didn’t want to add to that pressure.
I read 32,390 pages across 91 books in 2019!Surprisingly, my average rating for books in 2019 was 4.1! 😲 Which goes to show that I am getting a lot better at picking books that are more likely to be suited to my taste and setting them aside for when my mood is cooperative. Check out the rest of my Year in Books on Goodreads!
Reading Breakdown
We all know I like charts and data, so let’s dig a little deeper into the numbers to see how it breaks down. 📊 Like these charts? You can get these & more from my 2020 Book Blogger / Reader Spreadsheet Template!
Chart showing my reading by source/release. ARCs and Backlist/New are about even.Overall I am pretty pleased with the breakdown of ARCs and Backlist/New books this year! The bummer is that I bought a lot of 2019 books and haven’t read them yet. So oops? For 2020, I’m going to be tracking owned as a source and it is my hope that it makes up a big chunk of my reading!
Chart showing my reading by genre. SFF is by far my most read at combined 62.5%!It comes as no surprise that I read mostly Science Fiction & Fantasy in 2019. I love escaping into new worlds, but I found myself struggling with some burnout at the tail-end of the year. I picked up a handful of Contemporaries – which I never read, why? – and had a delightful time and it served for a palate cleanse. In 2020, I hope to branch out more consistently and be varied to avoid slumps and genre burnout.
Even though my reading wasn’t as much as I would have liked, I am pleased at how consistent I was in 2019! My averages are roughly the same from month to month and I still read a lot of books… and enjoyed most of them! That’s amazing! In 2020, I want to rebuild my daily habit of reading at least 15 minutes. The Bookly app reminder helps me a ton with this, and 15 minutes is nothing of a commitment if I am for sure not in the mood.
That was my statistical look at my reading in 2019! I hope you found these graphs as interesting as I do (and if you want them yourself, you can get them for free!). My favorite reads of 2019 will come probably next week, so stay tuned for that!
How was your 2019 in reading? Did you meet your goals? Do you have any goals for 2020 that you want to share? 💬 Let’s chat in the comments!
Let’s go on another adventure together!
I love seeing other people’s stats! Great post!
(www.evelynreads.com)
I’m also a SUCKER for other people’s statistics and charts! Thanks for reading and Happy New Year, Evelyn!
Happy new year!
Happy New Year, Kal! Looks like you had a fantastic year😁
Happy New Year, Tammy! Thanks so much for being an amazing part of my 2019 & I’m looking forward to another awesome year!
Hi Kal! That’s amazing that you’ve read 91 books this year! I liked how you’ve broken down your bookish stats. Fantasy has been my most-read genre last year too 🙂
Thank you, Sophie! It’s funny how perspective works, because all year I was chastising myself for not reading enough, and wound up reading 91 freaking books? Like how does that makes sense?!!?! Huzzah for fantasy, and Happy New Year!
I think it’s great you’re getting better at picking books that you’ll enjoy! My star rating average this year was also pretty high. Happy new year!
Thank you! There is something really satisfying about getting better at predicting good reads; happy to hear your average was high as well! Happy New Year, Katie!
91 BOOKSSS??? THAT’S AWESOME! As you already know, I’m a total sucker for your spreadsheets and graphs, so I loved seeing the stats breakdown of your reading! Happy New Year!
I KNOW I AM SO SURPRISED! 😭 91 books feels impossible with how much trouble I had reading last year. Happy New Year, Kat – I’m so happy you’re back!
I love seeing how other people’s reading years went. Even with a reading slump, it looks like you had a great reading year! I managed 67 out of 50 books, which is the best I’ve ever done. Hopefully 2020 will be another great year for reading. Happy New Year!
Congratulations on your best reading year ever, Kelly! THAT IS AMAZING! Happy New Year, and Happy reading!
Yay for stats! I’m such a stats nerd, so thank you for the spreadsheet!
Do you pay for the premium version of Bookly? I keep considering it, but I’m not convinced.
Stats nerds unite! I hope the spreadsheet serves you well, it has really changed my blogging & reading game.
I do have Bookly premium (I was gifted a lifetime subscription by the app for review), but I used the free version for about a month so I could adequately compare. If I’m being honest, the base app is sufficient. I love premium but I don’t think the additional features are really *necessary* if that makes sense.
Love all the graphs and stats!! I knew I should have consulted your wrap up before making my own lol! My post goes live tomorrow, and I hope it’s as easy to digest as yours was!! Can’t wait for your favorites post!
Also, I’m back! <3
WELCOME BACK, Taylor! I am so, so, so happy to see you back OMG! (and also for upcoming TVC squad read!)
I’ll definitely check out your post, I am sure you did amazing.
91 books is amazing, well done! Hope you have a great reading year this year.
Anika | chaptersofmay.com
Thank you Anika, I am really proud of myself given how challenging 2019 was! I hope you had a fantastic 2019 and an even better 2020.
Your spreadsheets and graphs always GIVE ME LIFE
Thank you so much, Kate! All the life to you because you are one of my favorite humans!
This is amazing! I need to go through my now complete 2019 spreadsheet and see the overall data. I also think I’m going to try out bookly for a bit!
I can’t wait to hear how your 2019 went overall! It was actually really surprising to see how well 2019 was statistically for me because I felt like it was 98% slump LOL. PERSPECTIVE IS WEIRD! And yes, give Bookly a try! The free version of the app is really fantastic and should be interesting to you.
Those are some sexy stats Kal, you know I love me some sexy stats! Glad to hear that your rating was a 4.1, I’d say it’s all about quality over quantity but you smashed it on both fronts I think!
Heck yes, all stats are sexy stats if I do say so myself! Thanks so much for stopping by – NICE TO SEE YOU! Why is your blog link not clickable from your comment?
Thank you for reminding me I need to do my stats blog post 🙈
Hahahaha! You’re welcome!
I wish you happy reading in 2020, Kaleena!
Thank you so much, Kayla! Happy New Year and happy reading in 2020!
For slumping in 2019, you did a great job reading over 90 books! I used your spreadsheet last year and adored it, I’m really looking forward to using it again this year!
I know, it was incredibly shocking when I saw the actual numbers and had to confront reality with how I perceived things to go! But I really did struggle with wanting to read a lot of the year… I just happened to devour books when in the mood, I guess. Ahhh, I am so glad the spreadsheet served you well, and happy 2020!
Happy new year, Kal! 2019 seems like an amazing reading year for you, so here’s for an even better one in 2020!
Happy New Year to you, Tasya! I hope 2020 treats you amazing; happy reading!
Sounds like a wonderful reading year Kat! <3
Thank you, Uma!
Happy new year, Kal! I’m so, so happy that your average rating has been so high in 2019. Here’s to hoping you’ll get to read some awesome reads all of 2020! 🙂
Happy New Year to you as well, Marie!!! I am honestly so confused about my average rating because I spent so much of the year feeling mostly meh, lol. What even is reality?!
Wow congrats on smashing your gr challenge!! I only just managed to complete mine by the end of December haha! (Also love your post format 😉)
Thank you so much, and happy reading in 2020!
I love those statistic charts! My genre one looks pretty similar because a majority of the books I read this year were fantasty. LOL. I hope 2020 is another great reading year for you!
Thank you, I am a ho for stats lol. ALL ZE FANTASY, Em! (But to avoid slumps I need to break up my reading better lol) Happy reading to you in 2020 as well!
I love seeing all these stats shared at the end of the year, and it looks like you had a pretty solid reading year! Good for you, getting better at picking books that you’re probably going to enjoy.
And that owned books feature on the new spreadsheet is going to be SO HANDY. I know my stats were about half and half backlist vs new/ARCs, but I filled out the sheet yesterday and discovered I have 65 books I own but haven’t read. Oops. 😳
STATS STATS STATS! The thing I love almost as much as BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS! I think a big reason for the high rating may also be my tendency to DNF things I am hating for the most part, and I don’t rate those. Oh well, still more quality!
The owned sheet is shaming me already. 65 isn’t too bad; I am at like 90 without adding my electronic books. Oops indeed.
I fell like it was a successful year of reading overall, I mean, like, you influenced my TBR SO MUCH and I’ve come to love so many books, so, I’m ever grateful for every single book you read!
I’ve got the POWAH! Honestly though, I am so happy our reading tastes are aligned and I’ve been able to bring so many books into your life WHERE THEY BELONG.
Are you doing another google sheets package for 2020 book bloggers? That was a lot of fun for me, as someone who isn’t so good at keeping track of stats and data and other things. Great post for 2019 though!
Yes, the 2020 template was release last month and here.
super!! I love your charts, I also have some on my yearly recaps: https://wordsandpeace.com/2020/01/02/year-of-reading-2019-part-2-statistics/
Thank you, and I will have to check out your recap as well! Happy reading!
Yeay stats. I love stats. It looks like you had a good reading year.
My stats are here: https://adancewithbooks.wordpress.com/2020/01/12/time-to-crunch-some-numbers-reading-statistics-2019/
Stats make me SO HAPPY! And I did have a pretty good reading year all things considered. I’ll check out your post now, and happy reading in 2020!
91 books! Kal, you are so incredible! Congrats on reading so many books! And that’s wonderful that you’ve improved on choosing books that you genuinely enjoy! A 4.1 rating is such a high average! Hopefully your 2020 reads will be just as enjoyable or maybe even more so! <3
Thank you so much, Kelly! It is so weird that all year I felt like I was behind or not reading enough or good books.. but then the statistics tell a total different story. How weird our brains are in distorting reality. Happy reading to YOU in 2020, love! xoxo