As I look around blogland, I see a lot of bloggers are doing year end reviews so I thought I would do a review too. First off - due to my handy dandy spread sheet, these are the books I read this year and the grades.
| Author | Title | Genre | GR | Year |
| Ashley, Jennifer | The Madness Of Lord Ian MacKenzie | Historical | 5 | 2009 |
| Chase, Loretta | Don't Tempt Me | Historical | 5 | 2009 |
| Clare, Pamela | Ride The Fire | Colonial | 5 | 2005 |
| Hoag, Tami | Lucky's Lady | RS | 5 | 1992 |
| James, Judith | Highland Rebel | Historical | 5 | 2009 |
| Naughton, Elisabeth | Stolen Heat | RS | 5 | 2009 |
| Robb, JD | Naked In Death | RS | 5 | 1995 |
| Robb, JD | Purity In Death | RS | 5 | 2002 |
| Robb, JD | Portrait In Death | RS | 5 | 2003 |
| Sinclair, Linnea | Finders Keepers | SciFi Ro | 5 | 2005 |
| Weir, Theresa | One Fine Day | Contemp | 5 | 1994 |
| Weir, Theresa | American Dreamer | Contemp | 5 | 1997 |
| Weir, Theresa | Cool Shade | Contemp | 5 | 1998 |
| Blake, Toni | One Reckless Summer | Contemp | 4.75 | 2009 |
| Dare, Tessa | Goddess Of The Hunt | Historical | 4.75 | 2009 |
| Dare/Davis, Justine | Heart of the Hawk | Western | 4.75 | 1996 |
| Duran, Meredith | Bound By Your Touch | Historical | 4.75 | 2009 |
| Duran, Meredith | Written On Your Skin | Historical | 4.75 | 2009 |
| Granger, Jess | Beyond The Rain | SciFi | 4.75 | 2009 |
| Kayne, Stacey | Mountain Wild | Western | 4.75 | 2009 |
| Kleypas, Lisa | Tempt Me At Twilight | Historical | 4.75 | 2009 |
| Bittner, Rosanne | Ecstasy's Chains | Western | 4.5 | 1989 |
| Chance, Megan | The Way Home | Western | 4.5 | 1997 |
| Donovan, Susan | Knock Me Off My Feet | Contemp | 4.5 | 2002 |
| Duran, Meredith | The Duke Of Shadows | Historical | 4.5 | 2008 |
| Gray, Ava | Skin Game | RS | 4.5 | 2009 |
| Harper, Julia | For the Love of Pete | Contemp | 4.5 | 2009 |
| Higgins, Kristan | Too Good To Be True | Contemp | 4.5 | 2009 |
| Howard, Linda | Open Season | RS | 4.5 | 2002 |
| Liu, Marjorie M. | The Fire King | Paranormal | 4.5 | 2009 |
| Rawlins, Debbi | Once An Outlaw | Western | 4.5 | 2009 |
| Rice, Lisa Marie | Dangerous Passion | RS | 4.5 | 2009 |
| Robb, JD | Judgment In Death | RS | 4.5 | 2000 |
| Thomas, Jodi | The Tender Texan | Western | 4.5 | 1991 |
| Warren, Nancy | Under The Influence | Contemp | 4.5 | 2009 |
| Weir, Theresa | Forever | Contemp | 4.5 | 1991 |
| Weir, Theresa | Long Night Moon | Contemp | 4.5 | 1995 |
| Grey, Amelia | A Marquis To Marry | Historical | 4.25 | 2009 |
| Kayne, Stacey | Maverick Wild | Western | 4.25 | 2008 |
| St. John, Cheryl | Her Colorado Man | Western | 4.25 | 2009 |
| Cornelison, Beth | Healing Luke | Contemp | 4 | 2009 |
| Craig, Christie | Gotcha | Contemp | 4 | 2009 |
| Dee, Bonnie | The Countess Takes A Lover | Historical | 4 | 2009 |
| Fyffe, Caroline | Where The Wind Blows | Western | 4 | 2009 |
| Gaffney, Patricia | To Have And To Hold | Historical | 4 | 1995 |
| Goodman, Jo | Never Love A Lawman | Western | 4 | 2009 |
| Guhrke, Laura Lee | To Dream Again | Historical | 4 | 1995 |
| Hoyt, Elizabeth | To Beguile A Beast | Historical | 4 | 2009 |
| James, Julie | Practice Makes Perfect | Contemp | 4 | 2009 |
| Kelley, Karen | Earth Guys Are Easy | Comedy | 4 | 2009 |
| Kery, Beth | Wicked Burn | Erotica | 4 | 2008 |
| Levine, Elaine | Rachel And The Hired Gun | Western | 4 | 2009 |
| Potter, Patricia | Beloved Warrior | Historical | 4 | 2007 |
| Robb, JD | Ceremony In Death | RS | 4 | 1997 |
| Robb, JD | Survivor In Death | RS | 4 | 2005 |
| Robb, JD | Salvation In Death | RS | 4 | 2008 |
| Robb, JD | Promises In Death | RS | 4 | 2009 |
| Robb, JD | Kindred in Death | RS | 4 | 2009 |
| Singh, Nalini | Branded By Fire | Paranormal | 4 | 2009 |
| Kenyon, Sherrilyn | Born Of Night | SciFi | 3.9 | 2009 |
| Betts, Heidi | Tangled Up In Love | Contemp | 3.75 | 2009 |
| Hoyt, Elizabeth | To Desire A Devil | Historical | 3.75 | 2009 |
| Kauffman, Donna | The Great Scott | Contemp | 3.75 | 2009 |
| Rawlins, Debbi | Once A Rebel | Western | 3.75 | 2009 |
| Campbell, Anna | Captive Of Sin | Historical | 3.5 | 2009 |
| Donovan, Susan | The Girl Most Likely To | Contemp | 3.5 | 2009 |
| Kirk, Cindy | One Night Stand | Contemp | 3.5 | 2008 |
| Walker, Shiloh | Fragile | Contemp | 3.5 | 2009 |
| Montgomerie, Pamela | Sapphire Dream | Historical | 3 | 2009 |
| Warren, Nancy | Power Play | Contemp | 3 | 2009 |
| Dahl, Victoria | Talk Me Down | Contemp | 2.5 | 2009 |
| Donovan, Susan | Ain't To Proud To Beg | Contemp | DNF | 2009 |
| Gentry, Georgina | To Seduce A Texan | Western | DNF | 2009 |
| Higgins, Kristan | Fools Rush In | Contemp | DNF | 2006 |
| Noble, Cate | Dead Right | RS | DNF | 2009 |
| Thompson, Vicki Lewis | Over Hexed | Paranormal | DNF | 2007 |
| Welsh, Kate | Question Of Honor | Western | DNF | 2009 |
I'm not normally one for statistics, but since it's easy to get them - due to the handy dandy spread sheet, I'll include a few.
That makes for a total of 77 books. I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't read more this year. Since I either purchased or got for free 158 books published in 2009, and the actual number of books published that I read in 2009 was 48, that makes (lets see - this is math so I'll have to used the calculator) 110 books I didn't read - YIKES! And those are just 2009 numbers! I bought/got for free, a number of books published in previous years too!
I didn't add in this summary the first reads versus the rereads as it would be to wide and wouldn't fit in but I read 59 new books and (uh, oh - math again) 19 rereads. I think the reread total is higher but I didn't get around to entering all of them. I just reread Origin in Death for example and it's not in there.
This is a breakdown of the different genres
Contemporary: 22
Historical: 17
Romantic Suspense: 15
Western: 14
Paranormal: 3
Futuristic/Sci Fi: 3
Comedy: 1
Colonial: 1
Some of the categories are open for debate too. Wicked Burn by Beth Kerry I put in as Erotic Romance, but it could just as easily be under the Contemporary umbrella.
My DNF book total is actually a lot higher, but many of those DNF's are not definite DNF's. I'm willing to try them again in a different mood. But the ones I recorded here are books I know I'll never try again.
And I've just been doing a bit of recalculating and I have left some books off - Lauren Dane's Undercover for example, which I gave a 4.5 grade and would it be Erotic or SciFi Romance? It could be either. It's still a work in progress after all these years to define them. So this is only as good as the recorder (that would be me).
14 comments:
;( The post is too wide for my screen so I can't see the totals, but it sounds like you had a good year!
Happy New Year! May you have another!
As Anny said, we can't see it all :(
I think you did good, Kristie :D Most important is that you read and you enjoy :)
It's interesting to see that the genre you've read the most is contemporary :D and there were very few paranormal in there as well :)
Your spreadsheet sure is handy :)
Anny & Nath - I fiddled with it a bit - hopefully you can see the whole thing now*g*.
Awesome list Kristie.
I am surprised that Contemps number more than Historicals because I associate you with historicals more. Shows that you are well-rounded in your reading.
I can see the whole list - thank you Kristie! And WOW - very oranized :)
Love your spreadsheet! You are a very good recorder. :)
And you reminded me that I have a couple of rereads in my total number of books read 2009, too. So my actual number of books I read for the first time is even less than I thought. LOL
I love my spreadsheets! So geeky, I know, but what can I say! LOL!!
It is scary how many more books come into the house than we actually get to read. I think the number of unread books in my house (not counting the pile of library books) grew by about 60 books this year.
That's a great list of books read KristieJ, and that's a handy spreadsheet! I love seeing all those contemps in there... must look up the ones I didn't read this year. :)
Can see it all now :D
Ouch, Ain't Too Proud to Beg was a DNF :( Shoot.
Love the spreadsheet! I admire your organization. I keep my review reading organized, but don't keep such good records on my non-review reads. Visual bookshelf on FB helps, though.
I tend to "tag" my books with more than one description. So for something like the Lauren Dane book, under "genre" on my spreadsheet, I'll have:
E/R, FUT
Which is Wendy Code for Erotic Romance, Futuristic.
Another example would be historical romances. I read the Stacey Kayne book this year as well and I think that's coded:
HIS, WE
Which in Wendy Code means Historical Western.
I read 90+ books this year - so when I do my reading recap on my blog (Ummmm, hopefully soon), I'll break down all my "tags." Since books get multiple tags, it will add up to more than 90 - but it helps give me a better feel on what I've read.
In my database I get very specific by genre/subgenre (e.g. Erotic Romantic Suspense, or European Historical Romance), but when I wrote my recap post, I just lumped them into the broad categories.
Like others I'm a bit surprised to see your contemp reads outnumber your historicals, although I'm not surprised about what percentage westerns make up of those. ;)
Mary: I was surprised to when I did the totals. I think this is the first time I read more contemps then historicals!!
Orannia: I LOVE my spreadsheet. And it's still a work in progress. Just now I added another column - month read - since I've seen other bloggers break down their reads by month and I couldn't do that.
Taja: *g* But that doesn't change the number of books read - if anything it might increase the number - and I'm all about increasing totals heh heh heh
Marg: Isn't it scary though!! So far this year I'm ahead though!! I've read two books and haven't bought any new ones in weeks it seems! Now - if only I can keep this up I might actually make a dent in the TBR pile.
And aren't spreadsheets a wonderful thing??
Hilcia: And here I am thinking it's rather a sad total - lol. My best year was 2006 when I read 106 books and I've been trying to match that total since!
Nath: Ouch indeed!! I didn't like that I didn't like it. I want to love all her books since the ones I do love, I really love!
Lynn: I LOVE Excel and never get to use it at work. And it's the 'if you don't use it, you lose it' thing. This way, I don't think I'll ever lose my Excel skills!!
Wendy: *laughing* It's tempting to give them more tags. I know some of them are really tagged correctly. All the In Death books for example - I tagged them RS, but they could also fall under other categories too. And a Harlequin Western Historical isn't really the same as a MM Western Historical. But I tried to make it as concise as I could.
Katie: As I said to Mary, I was surprised too. I think part of it is the age thing. I'm finding it more and more difficult to read about the sweet young things in many historicals, knowing they are too young for even my own sons now!! And I find the heroines in Contemporaries are older and for the most part less innocent and more suitable to my advancing years - heh heh heh
And one of my challenges for 2010 is to read even MORE Westerns *g*.
I am SO impressed at your reading prowess and your stat accounting.
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