Hello everyone,
Happy New Year! I hope 2024 turns out to be a special and rewarding year for you ✨
Before we can look ahead, I must reflect on my 2023 reads one more time with my annual Goodreads Challenge Summary and Stats.
And the news is not good. For the first time since I started participating in the challenge in 2018, I failed to reach my target!! While not something to be upset about and certainly not worth putting any pressure on myself for, I do take pride in meeting the objectives I set for myself.
In any case, I only just came up short. My target at the start of 2023 was 55 books, and I ended up finishing 53. I had two other books on the go at the end of the year, but did not have the time to finish them. Let’s just say I missed out on a technicality ;)
Time has been the main barrier to my reading over the past year or two. As my to-read pile increases, there are greater demands on my time which makes it hard to read for as many hours as I would like. But hey, quality over quantity, right?!
Speaking of which, I read some fantastic books in 2023. Off the top of my head, there were not many which I seriously did not enjoy. I also kept up my record of reading lots of different genres, and I discovered some wonderful new authors along the way too.
So for this post, I am looking back on all the books I read in 2023 and have compiled some interesting statistics relating to them, which provide a useful insight into my current reading habits and preferences.
Books Read Per Month
January: 5
February: 3
March: 3
April: 4
May: 5
June: 5
July: 4
August: 4
September: 6
October: 4
November: 4
December: 6
On the surface, these stats suggest that my reading was quite solid for most of the year, but at the time it just did not feel that way. February and March were really slow going, and I think the reason why I peaked in September was that I had one or two reads carried over from the end of August.
December definitely bodes well for 2024, though. I am really happy with my total of six books there, so hopefully that means I have found a good reading routine!
Ratings
⭐ – 2
⭐.5 – 0
⭐⭐– 2
⭐⭐.5 – 1
⭐⭐⭐ – 7
⭐⭐⭐.5 – 11
⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 15
⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 – 7
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 7
Average rating: ⭐⭐⭐.74
Well, this average rating definitely suggests that quality is better than quantity! It is actually the highest average rating I have ever had in my six years of documenting my reading, and represents a massive jump from my 2022 average rating of 3.56. Success!
It is true that I read some wonderful books in 2023. Despite my rather chaotic reading routines, I found myself absorbed in lots of great stories. I read more five-star books than in 2022 (5), and although there was the odd disappointment with two books I handed just one solitary star, those were more than made up for by the rest.
I had high hopes for my 2023 reads when the year began, and it seems that my optimism was not misplaced! Hopefully 2024 can be just as good, or even better. If my unread pile is anything to go by, then I am in with a chance!
Genres Read
Crime: 3
Mystery: 10
Thriller: 10
Fantasy: 6
Historical Fiction: 8
Young Adult: 1
Mythological Fiction: 1
Horror: 1
General/Contemporary Fiction: 8
Dystopian Fiction: 2
Non-fiction: 3
A wide range of genres, not quite as many as 2022 but still something I am very happy with. The numbers are a bit more evenly spread too, with fewer historical fiction novels read and more contemporary ones. I went through a real ‘Gothic novel’ phase at the start of the year, but still managed to keep a good variety going. The totals for crime, thrillers, and fantasy are unchanged.
It must be stressed that a lot of the genres overlap, for example some of the books I have included in the mystery or thriller categories are marketed towards a young adult audience. I have just chosen the genre that I feel each book applies to the most 🙂
Formats
Paperback – 25
Hardback – 16
E-book – 9
Audiobook – 3
Paperbacks will always be my favourite format, although I do like to go for hardbacks for particularly pretty covers or for consistency. I am hoping to read more e-books in 2024, while I still struggle with audiobooks. Compared to 2022, I have read more hardbacks and several less audiobooks.
Other Stats
Standalone: 34
Series: 19
New-to-me authors: 21
These stats surprise me. Though similar to 2022, I thought I had read a lot more books that were part of series!
Pages read: 19,543
Average length: 369 pagesBooks written by BIPOC authors: 8
Books with LGBTQIA+ representation: 15
Buddy reads: 12
I find the pages read and average length totals a bit misleading, as Goodreads does not have accurate page statistics for audiobooks, and different editions have different page counts.
As for the other stats there, I have mixed feelings. The amount of books written by BIPOC authors is too low for my liking so that is something to improve on in 2024. However, the number of books with LGBTQIA+ representation increased. The total of 12 buddy reads is good too, and is what I would see as par for a calendar year.
How did you get on with your reading challenge? Do you have any interesting reading stats from 2022? Let me know in the comments!
Happy reading :)
Stephen Reads Books 