2009 was the first year I started tracking my book reading by month and book purchases by year, and it was quite enlightening to see how many books I read during that year. I didn’t think to capture a mid-year tally for 2010 but seeing many of you recall your reading list at the halfway mark has gotten me excited to see how my reading count has changed from last year. So here goes,
| On Reading |
The change is 18.3%↓ from prior year but I’m happy – and quite surprise – that I averaged about 16 books a month. Sadly though, only 8 were books from the 2009 & Prior Years’ TBR pile which means less than 10% dent! I need to do better than this!
| On Buying |
Majority of my readings are from books I purchased on my own. Books I won from a giveaway or ebook freebies are not included in the book count above. Even excluding those books, the net change in purchases is 45.8%↑. Not hard to guess that I love to book shop!
| On Favorites |
I’m not going to list favorite books read because there are so many to choose from the list of awesome authors I read. Instead I’ll just recount author and series I’ve really enjoyed so far:
Goodness, all 4 authors and series I’ve listed are new-to-me authors for this year AND Urban Fantasy books. To my biggest surprise, I had found myself wanting to read Young Adult Urban Fantasy books and the two authors I decided on entertained me above and beyond my expectations of reading the YA genre.
Elizabeth Jennings is Lisa Marie Rice’s alter ego and the two books by her that I’ve read and greatly enjoyed was Homecoming and Pursuit, which are, respectively, Contemporary Romance and Romantic Suspense. 
Homecoming is a soothing read, featuring a sweet romance in a utopic environment while Pursuit grabs your attention and entrances you with a suspenseful plot, sexual pulls, and emotional connection between two survivors. I love the treasure I found with EJ’s writing and look forward to gaining the rest of her backlist and future releases.
| On Honorable Mention |
Though not quite a favorite series but still enjoyable, I’ve alternated the past several months glomming Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld and Kay Hooper’s Bishop/Special Crimes Unit series. Between the two authors, I’ve read 21 books so that says something of my enjoyment if there ever was any question!
…
I did good on the first half of 2010 – great pick of new and old authors, books, series, and genres. I can’t wait to see (and hope) that the 2nd half of the year will be just as great or even better!
Hilcia
July 12, 2010
Wow Tabitha, great reading for the year! It seems as if you’re venturing into unknown waters, and that’s wonderful.
It’s going to be tough for you to choose favorites at the end of the year. That happened to me last year too. I read so many new authors and whole series I was overwhelmed at year’s end. This year I’m trying to choose them as I go along. Let’s see if that works. LOL!
Leslie
July 12, 2010
So many good books! I’ve got the Jennifer Estep on the tbr pile and I need to try Kelly Armstrong. It’s hard to keep up when there’s so many good books coming out every month.
Tabitha
July 13, 2010
Hilcia – I’m definitely venturing into a lot of unknowns this year, mainly paranormals. Lol.
You got it, I don’t know how I’m going to pick favorites at the end of the year. I’m hoping that this mid year recall will help jog my memory some if I forgot what I read at the first half of the year, hehe!
Leslie – Estep and Armstrong are really great authors. Get moving on them! j/k. I agree that it’s hard to keep up in reading; there’s just so many great authors and books out there! We can only take it one day and savor one book at time! 🙂
nath
July 16, 2010
Those are some great numbers, Tabitha… even if it’s lower than last year… and LOL, you definitively have time to catch up 😀
I’m so glad, because I’m taking credit for Kelley Armstrong, Kay Hooper and you finally breaking down and reading YA!
Muahaha 😛
Tabitha
July 21, 2010
Nath, I’m so sorry, I overlooked your comment here!
You definitely should take credit for KA and KH. Thanks to you, I had many, many hours of enjoyable reading already and no doubt many more to come!