Monday, January 05, 2015

2014 Reading Tally

Total number: 151*.  20 of those were novellas.  There were also some comics this year, but I counted the volume as one book, so there were two comics volumes. 
Not as great as last year, but not the lowest.   Other year tallies have been higher and lower.
I read 115 different authors (which was helped by a few anthologies). 46 of those authors were new to me.  Maisey Yates was the author I read the most of this year with 12. I counted diverse books this year which is sort of a nebulous concept but I count those written by authors of color, and or featuring main characters either or color, featuring sexuality along the LBGBTQ spectrum, having neurodiversity, and or featuring main characters with disability (mental or physical). I ended up with 40 diverse titles, I'm going to try to beat that number this year.
100 books were part of a series***.
The oldest book was from 2005.  65 were from 2014.  And at least two of them had been lingering in the TBR pile since 2010.
December was my banner reading month with 21 titles (some of which had been started earlier). 
Romance remains my highest read category at 67.  There were 54 YA's (although some of those were romance also).  I also, for someone who is not a big MG fan, read 4 middle grade titles, which is as many non-fiction as I read also. 
And some books from this list that I just adored include:
Adi Alsaid's Let's Get Lost - a story of a young woman embarking on a strange road and some of the folks she meets along the way.
Alexis Hall's Glitterland - which I loved in spite of the use of dialect (it really is necessary to the story here), a story of a young man who meets a hot male model who seems so terribly wrong for him, and yet...
Courtney Milan's The Suffragete Scandal - the owner/publisher of a feminist newspaper finds she has made a dangerous enemy and this new man who has shown up to help may not be as helpful as he promises.  I confess I have read the whole series and it may read even better if you have done that, but oh, just a joy to read. 
Jeremy Whitley's Princeless Vol 1: Save Yourself was the first comics volume I read this year and an amazing modern twist on the princess in the tower stuff. 
Lauren Beukes' Zoo City is a fantasy set in South Africa in a world where a strange thing has afflicted criminal with animal partners and one such afflicted woman who takes a case to find a missing pop singer.
Rosie Claverton's Binary Witness was a recommendation I found on Twitter, for this mystery featuring a British agoraphobic coder who teams up with an ex-con to assist the police in tracking a serial murderer.
Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass was described in one review I saw as Game of Thrones meets "Glee" which I find hilarious but not quite accurate.  A former assassin sentenced to slavery is offered the opportunity to compete to become the King's Champion (which is a fancy way of saying King's personal assassin) for the very king that sentenced her to slavery.  Wonderful fantasy world and fast pacing. 
Sherry Thomas's My Beautiful Enemy has a wonderful prequel that covers the childhood of it's hero and heroine which might not seem necessary, and yet I read them in order so it's hard to say how much my prequel info impacted my super serious love for this story of these very star-crossed lovers. 

*I counted re-reads if I re-read the whole thing a didn't just skip to my favorite parts.
**I counted authors, not pen names, where possible. 
***Series is based on the book being part of a series, whether or not I read any others.