2009: Mid-Year Report (TSS)

The first half of the year is almost over, and I know I won’t finish any more books this month because I’ll be really busy for the next few days.  So I thought I’d go ahead and post my mid-year report because I’m a kind of a stats and numbers geek.

Overall, I’m happy with my reading for the first half of 2009, but there are some areas that I’d like to work on in the latter half of 2009.  The items in blue are the stats I’m excited about, and the ones in red are the ones I want to work on.

I am happy that I read 55 books, BUT, only 12,489 pages?  I usually like to read about 30,000 pages in a year so that’s way below target.  I read quite a few Newbery winners and other kids’ books so that’s why the total number of pages are low.  The stats I’m happiest with are that 55% of my books were from non-Americans and 25% were originally in other languages.  I like to keep it at least 50/50 American/non-American so I was very happy with 55%. And I won’t be too surprised if my 25% translated works even goes up in the second half.  I have some German and Japanese reading to do soon.

As far as the other figures go, I aim to go no greater than a 40/60 split either way on female/male authors; and although I think 71% is way too high a figure for books published in the 2000’s, the main reason for it is the Countdown Challenge, so I’m allowing myself a little leeway there.

My favorite book of the year so far was The Houskeeper and the Professor, and my least favorite was either X-Kai- Vol. 2 or Yarrow.

At the end of the books read are the challenges I’ve completed.

• 55 books
• 12,489 pages (way short of around 15,000 goal)
• Average:  227 pp per book (kind of pathetic!)
• 23 female authors; 32 male authors (42%/58% split)
• 39 books (71%) were published in 2000-2009; 16 books (29%) were published pre-2000
• American/non-American author ratio:  25/30 or 45%/55%
• Number of pages in book:
  • under 200: 23 (42%)
  • 200-399: 30 (55%)
  • 400-599: 2 (4%)
• Books in translation 14/55 books for 25%:
  • Japanese (4)
  • Spanish (4)
  • French (2)
  • German (1)
  • Polish (1)
  • Portuguese (1)
  • Yiddish (1)

January (8 books, 1742 pp.)

1. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson (2006, 368 pp.)
2. The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker (2009, 341 pp.)
3. The Houskeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa (2009, 180 pp.)
4. Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda (1924, 1969 for English translation, 80 pp.)
5. Thousand Cranes by Yasanuri Kawabata (1952, 147 pp.)
6. Fear and Trembling by Amelie Nothomb (1999, 2001 for the English translation, 132 pp)
7. X-Kai- Vol. 2 by Asami Tohjoh (2000, English translation 2006; 200 pp.)
8. Fugitive Pieces by Ann Michaels (1996, 294 pp.)

February (9 books, 1842 pp.)

1. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (2006, 352 pp.)
2. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (1988, 1993 for the English translation; 105 pp.)
3. The Reader by Bernard Schlink (1995, 1997 for the English translation; 224 pages)
4. Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith (2001, 227 pp.)
5. So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba (1980-81, 90 pp.)
6. The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith (2002, 191 pp.)
7. Solaris by Stanislaw Lem (1961, 204 pp.)
8. A Tale of Two Gardens by Octavio Paz (various copyrights, 111 pp.)
9. Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors (2004, 344 pp.)

March (10 books, 1924 pp.)

1. The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith (2004, 198 pp.)
2. The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry (2008, 174 pp.)
3. The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton (2008, 288 pp.)
4. Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary (1983, 133 pp.)
5. A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (2001, 152 pp.)
6. Kira Kira by Cynthia Kadohata (2004, 244 pp.)
7. The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho (2006, 205 pp.)
8. The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman (1995, 122 pp.)
9. Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer (1966, 90 pp.)
10. Q & A by Vikas Swarup (2005, 318 pp.)

April (11 books, 2513 pp.)

1. Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars (1970, 144 pp.)
2. Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi (2002, 297 pp.)
3. Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry (1940, 128 pp.)
4. Finn by Jon Clinch (2007, 304 pp.)
5. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates (1961, 355 pp.)
6. Petropolis by Anya Ulinich (2007, 324pp.)
7. Natasha and Other Stories by David Bezmozgis (2004, 147 pp)
8. In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith (2004, 233pp.)
9. All the Living by C.E. Morgan (2009, 208 pp.)
10. Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo (2009, 270 pp.)
11. The House of Paper by Carlos Maria Dominguez (2005 for Eng. trans., 103 pp.)

First Half:  55 books, 12489 pp; average of 227 pages per book (kind of sad, really!)

Challenges Completed

• Canadian Challenge II COMPLETE
• Once Upon a Time III — COMPLETE
• Lost in Translation – COMPLETE
• Library Reading Challenge — COMPLETE
• Audiobooks Challenge — COMPLETE
• Young Adult Challenge — COMPLETE
• Latin American Reading Challenge — COMPLETE
• Jewish Literature Challenge– COMPLETE
• Book Awards II — COMPLETE
• 1% Well-Read Challenge — COMPLETE
• Japanese Literature Challenge — COMPLETE