resetting current year goal back to 75

Total Books Read = 122
Average Books Read Per Month = 10
Best Reading Month = July 15 or April 14
Worst Reading Month = Jan or Nov

Total Pages Read = 29,419
Average Pages Per Book = 241
Average Pages Read Per Day = 81

Total Chunksters (400+ pages) Read = 14

Genres
Total Adult Fiction Books Read = 36
Lighter Contemporary Fic = 5
Total YA Fiction Books Read = 6
Children’s = 4
Total Memoir Books Read = 12
Total Nonfiction Books Read = 24
Short Story Collection = 1
Poetry = 8
Mystery/Thriller = 2
Translated = 5
Fantasy = 5
SciFi = 9
Historical Fiction = 8
Cookbooks = 2
Adventure = 1
Business = 2
Graphical = 1

Formats
Total Audio Books “Read” = 29
Total Ebooks Read = 28
Total Hardcover Books = 26
Tradeback/Paperback = 39

Ratings
★★★★★ = 37
★★★★ = 57
★★★ = 21
★★ = 6
★ =

Authors
Total Books By Women = 77
Total Books By Men = 45
Total Books by New-to-Me Authors = 72
Repeat Authors = 26
Total Books by Authors of Color = 33

Miscellaneous
Total Graphic Novels Read = 0
Total Books Reread = 0
Total “Classics” Read = 15
Total Books Read for Book Club = 6

Oldest book: The Epic Gilgamesh
Longest book: 856 JS&MN
Shortest book: 18 Pumpkin Pie

Longest book title: A Bound Woman Is a Dangerous Thing: The Incarceration of African American Women from Harriet Tubman to Sandra Bland

Shortest book title: Jack

Debuts: 17
On List of Books to Read Before You Die: 4
Book to Movie: 3, Book to Play: 1, Book to TV Miniseries: 1

Books with Pie: 58

Care’s 2021 Pie in Lit Award goes to…. The Resisters!

I read more books than I ever have in one calendar year. Yet, I didn’t have any standout amazing reading experiences. BUT WAIT! I do NOT mean to say I didn’t have a great reading year because I did! I had many tremendous 4 & 5 star reads and if I were to really look at the list, some of those fives would drop to 4 and some of those 4s would elevate to a 5 and so I’m NOT going to look.

I’m going with what I set when I recorded in my spreadsheet and blog. I did pretty good on blogging reviews this year, though that last few months were a disappointment. That’s OK, it’ll be OK. Get back up if you fall down; no need to dither/dather over spilt milk and attempt to go back in time to fix. Nope.

I can’t think of how to do a top 5 or even a top 10 so I’m following Melissa’s example over at Avid Reader:

Best Books You Read In 2021

♦ Classics — One True Thing by Anna Quindlen 1994
Historical Fiction — The Cold Millions by Jess Walter and Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch by Rivka Galchen
Mystery — Swann -or- Long Bright River
Literary Fiction — Top 3: The Promise by Damon Galgut, Luster by Raven Leilani, Oh William by Elizabeth Strout
Nonfiction —These Precious Days by Ann Patchett
Fantasy —The Spindle Splintered by Alix Harrow
Poetry – It Shouldn’t Have Been Beautiful – Lia Purpura and Jeanne Griggs Postcard Poems!
Science Fiction — Martha Wells Murderbot Series
YA — Alone with the Stars by David Graham

♦ Books You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t? The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki, Skippy Dies/Paul Murray and Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

♦ Most surprising (in a good way) book you read? Stephen Florida. It is a DEBUT.

♦ Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read? n/a

♦ Best series you started in 2021? Murderbot

♦ Favorite new author you discovered in 2021? Anna Quindlen and Raven Leilani

♦ Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone? (I can’t think of anything to fit this…)

♦ Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year? I can’t think of anything to fit this either. The most memorable “unputdownable” book that comes to mind is the opposite of action-packed! Whereabouts by Lahiri

♦ Book You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year? Goodness, um NONE? Maybe These Precious Days. I rarely reread and certainly not so quick in time. (OK, that isn’t quite true… I read Milkman twice in the same year and I read Duchess Goldblatt, twice in the same year, too! #shrug)

♦ Favorite cover of a book you read in 2021? Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch or Euphoria by Lily King or The Resistors by Gish Jen

♦ Most memorable character of 2021? Narrator of My Year of Rest and Relaxation or Narrator in The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison or Konstance in Cloud Cuckoo Land .

♦ Most beautifully written book read in 2021? The Soul of Kindness by Elizabeth Taylor

♦ Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2021? Did That Just Happen?!

♦ Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2021 to finally read? Oranges are Not the Only Fruit (and Anne Frank and Housekeeping and Fun Home and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell) (And Alice in Wonderland.)

♦ Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2021?

♦ Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2021? You’re My Little Pumpkin Pie (18 pages) by Natalie Marshal and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (865 pages) by Susanna Clarke

♦ Book That Shocked You The Most? Effin Birds by Aaron Reynolds (LOL)

♦ Favorite Couple? Caroline & Tom Donohoe in The Radium Girls. True love.

♦ Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship of The Year? Murderbot and ART?

♦ Favorite Book You Read in 2021 From an Author You’ve Read Previously? The Green Mile by SK, These Precious Days by AP

♦ Best Book You Read In 2021 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else? Yoga Pant Nation maybe. Or… wait for it. Murderbot!

♦ Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2021? no idea. I can’t keep answering with Murderbot, can I?

♦ Best 2021 debut you read? Luster by Raven Leilani

♦ Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year? The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

♦ Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read? Murderbot

♦ Book That Made You Cry in 2021? These Precious Days

♦ Hidden Gem Of The Year? The Tenth Muse by Catherine Chung (probably the book that had the least chatter in my world…)

♦ Book That Crushed Your Soul? The Trees by Percival Everett

♦ Most Unique Book You Read In 2021? Several People Are Typing! by Calvin Kasulke

♦ Book That Made You the Maddest? Detransition, Baby (that so many people argued about Torrey Peters being eligible for the Womens Lit Prize)

♦ Best Audiobook? Cloud Cuckoo Land / Anthony Doerr and Black Gold by Theresa Edwards

♦ Best Book to Film Adaptation? One True Thing & Housekeeping

Copyright © 2007-2022. Care’s Online Book Club aka Care’s Books and Pie. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care from Care’s Online Book Club aka BkClubCare. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

I read 102 books.

Total pages 14,320. Hours ~124

Female/Male: 51/49

Fiction/Non: 78/24

New to Me Authors: 91 / Repeat Authors: 11

This year, I read my 6th Shirley Jackson. I read a 5th book by Elizabeth Strout. Four authors, I read for the 3rd time: James McBride, Wallace Stegner, Drew Rozell, and Toni Morrison. The rereads included an author that was both a first for the year and then read it with my ears for its second intake: Becoming Duchess Goldblatt. I reread The Sellout for the TOB Super Rooster and I read two poetry collections by Billy Collins. I read 4 authors for the second time: read another by Ta-Nehisi Coates but the second was fiction. I read the next in a series to catch my second by Hilary Mantel. Michael Pollan’s Caffeine was my second of his.

Classics: didn’t have the patience to figure this out; oldest book The Picture of Dorian Gray 1890. Only 2 books published before 1900. Books published in 2019 = 20, in 2020 = 23.

Shortest book: Not figuring this out because I read so many poetry collections that were < 100 pages and plenty of novellas, and I couldn’t decide how to handle exceptions to not. Plus I read a lot of kids books.

Longest book: Ducks, Newburyport at 1020 pages. Took me months.

Longest Audiobook: Ok, here’s where I admit that I didn’t keep track this year. And more truth is that last year, I created my track sheet in December! So, it is just not going to happen where I present all the stats and show pretty pie graphs. Maybe 2021. Maybe.

The longest audiobook was likely We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry, at 14 hours and 44 minutes. And it was too long. Fun! but too long. Not typical that I didn’t have any chunkster audiobooks! You might suggest it would be lack of a commute and thus no listening while driving time? But I rarely listened to my audiobooks on commute to work. Not sure…

LIke last year, I took advantage of Audible’s monthly freebies quite often.

This is last year’s pie chart just because this post needs some color. LOL

Comparing… THIS YEAR, I upped my 5 star givings to 34%! Four stars were given to 33 %, three stars to 38%, and 4% got 2 stars. No ratings of 1 star.

Which is interesting… Because I don’t feel like I had a really tremendous feel-good reading year. Maybe this actually supports that I can’t quickly think of my top reads? Too many?

Favorite poetry: Mad With Yellow by Lisa J. Starr

I didn’t do any readalongs. I didn’t do any reading projects. (Tho, @Bybee might think different?)

WAIT! not true. My poetry was a personal reading project and it was wonderful. I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams to read a poem every day. Did it change my life? Maybe. Maybe…

I did do the Super Rooster and am quite pleased with myself.

My blogging could be described as “fits of bursts”; I’m okay with what I managed to post.

I finished the What’s in a Name 2020 Challenge earlier than usual. All good.

I read 4 (2 to completion) books in 2020that were on the 1001 Books To Read Before You Die: Tender is the Night, Club Dumas, Cry the Beloved Country, Treasure Island.

My first time to read 100+ books but I feel like I cheated, to be honest. Yea, yea, I know that the book police ain’t out to get me or anything but the challenge to make it doesn’t sit right with me. I honestly have taken that last 3 weeks off. I can feel it in my brain that I’m not reading — yet I can’t seem to sit and READ. It’s such the weirdest thing.

Hoping the flip of the calendar page, will truly bring a renewed motivation and thrill with reading. But yowza, I hate to DNF.

Finally, PIE:

and, drumroll please for the 2020 Pie in Literature Award, the WINNER of my best book with pie for this year is Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman!

The fact that it’s important not to despair though when you’ve got pies in the oven, …, the fact that you have to have mercy on your pies, be there for your pies, and in return they will be good dutiful pies and serve you, …

Honorable Mentions: Oh, goodness. I read so many more pie-themed books this year! I read a pie cookbook (wait, I do that every year, don’t I?). I sought out pie-themed books, truth.

I hail Ladybird, Collected (and NO – not just because it mimics Ducks with that comma) but because I want everyone to read it and have it get picked up for national distribution. Please visit HERE or HERE to get your copy.

I bring to your attention to We Ride Upon Sticks – some good pie mentions; make me smile just to think on. And well, sure, of COURSE: Summer of a Thousand Pies, Enemy Pie, and Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe.

Finally, the pies I made yesterday and today!

Harvey Wallbanger Pie for Dad’s birthday and the Spinach Ham Gouda Quiche made today for Happy New Year!!

Be kind, be readin’, give me a book rec. Let’s chat this year, yes?

It’s no small thing, feeling that we matter, that we couldn’t just be any diner and it couldn’t just be any pie. – Ladybird, Collected

pieratingsml

Review 2019

Copyright © 2007-2019. Care’s Online Book Club. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care from Care’s Online Book Club. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.