First 10 Years of My Reading Log
I have been logging the books I have read for ten years. This post will summarise what I've been reading and how that has changed over the last ten years.
My reading log so far contains ten posts, covering the years 2014-2023. You can see a summary of all of the posts in the table below. The idea for writing a summary of the books I’ve read over a year I shamelessly stole from Alex in Leeds a proper book blogger based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The blog has gone unfortunately.
The Past
| Year | Books Read | Non-fiction | Fiction | Fantasy | Sci-fi | (Auto-)Biography |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
| 2015 | 12 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| 2016 | 13 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
| 2017 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| 2018 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 2019 | 17 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
| 2020 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2022 | 15 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 2023 | 13 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Total Books Read | 125 | 57 | 68 | 16 | 28 | 16 |
| Average Books Per Year | 12.5 | 5.7 | 6.8 | 1.6 | 2.8 | 1.6 |
The thing that sticks out at first glance is I’ve only averaged 12.5 book per year over the last ten years meaning I read slightly over one book per month. I find that extremely disappointing.
I really enjoy reading, so why am I managing to find so little time for it?
The second thing that sticks out is the movement from reading primarily fiction over to reading primarily non-fiction. I’m not sure if reading more non-fiction is age related or not. I did pass the dreaded 50 mark half way through the decade I’ve been logging my reading habits. I’ve managed to stem the flow last year because I deliberately chose more fiction. I need to monitor my non-fiction reading and steer myself back towards fiction as necessary.
On the whole, I have found the process of logging my book reading to be very useful. Being able to monitor my book reading, I can fine tune my reading much better so that I get a much better balance of reading material. Without any doubt I have read many more fantasy novels by monitoring my reading. Up until creating this reading log, I had read a few Terry Pratchett novels and that’s about it. I am happy to report that I have broadened my fantasy reading quite considerably, discovering some great writers like Neil Gaiman and N. K. Jemisin.
The Future
Hopefully I can find some more time to read in the next ten years. I guess my TV watching time is likely to be the chief source of extra reading time. The main problem is that TV time is when I get to socialise with my partner so I need to be careful. Reading in front of the TV might work but I may end up neither socialising with my partner very well and being distracted from my reading by the TV.
Another goal is to read contemporary books hot off the press. Reading the classics is fine, but I really want to read the most up-to-date books tackling early 21st century issues.
This goal is probably in direct conflict with my desire to read more contemporary books, so I better not over do it. I want to read all of the Hugo Awards and Nebula winning novels over the next ten years. So long as I pace myself and tick off a few per year, I should be okay. I’ve created a Hugo Award winners goal tracking page and a Nebula Award winners goal tracking page so I can track my progress.
In addition, I would like to write mini reviews of the books I read. I doubt I’ll review all of the books, but I think it would be good for my reading to review at least a few of the books I’ve read. The reviews will be short, about the typical length of a review on Goodreads.
Conclusion
I can recommend logging your reading, even if you don’t blog about it. Being able to track the books you’ve read can help you point yourself towards a more balanced set of books.
