Saturday, January 02, 2010

The Year in Review - The Books!




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:

Anny Cook said...

;( 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!

nath said...

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 :)

Kristie (J) said...

Anny & Nath - I fiddled with it a bit - hopefully you can see the whole thing now*g*.

Mary G said...

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.

orannia said...

I can see the whole list - thank you Kristie! And WOW - very oranized :)

Taja said...

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

Marg said...

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.

Hilcia said...

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. :)

nath said...

Can see it all now :D

Ouch, Ain't Too Proud to Beg was a DNF :( Shoot.

Lynn Spencer said...

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.

Wendy said...

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.

Katie Mack said...

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. ;)

Kristie (J) said...

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*.

Cheryl St.John said...

I am SO impressed at your reading prowess and your stat accounting.