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A review by kasss
2016 on Goodreads by
(This year review was first posted to my blog in March 2017)
2016 started out pretty crappy so the only way was up, and up it went :D As every year, I set out to read 52 books and was already far ahead early in the year (42 books in July). My reading slowed down in the last quarter of the year as I was just too busy (busy having fun, mostly, no complaining there!). I still ended up reading 77 books.
As my personal revenge on the world, this year I have been reading almost exclusively books by and about women, LGBTQIA+ and PoC. When I was reading all the 'official' end-of-year lists by the big media, I regretted this not a bit. All lists, both international as well as national, are dominated by white men. I swear, I have yet to encounter a 'big' list that is made up of more than 30% women, for starters. How completely unimaginative and lazy.
Anyway! On to my reading stats!
Total # of books read: 77
- 2015: 63
- 2014: 87
- 2013: 53
- 2012: 59
- 2011: 21
I'm quite pleased, although 2016 included a lot of short stories, which feels like cheating... But whatever ;-)
By genre...
I won't go into each and every genre I read, but as for my go-to genres... (there is some overlap between the genres!)
- Classics: 14 (was 8 in 2015)
- Fantasy: 14 (was 21 in 2015)
- Japanese literature: 16 (was 16 in 2015)
- LGBT+: 23 (was 17 in 2015)
- Science fiction (including dystopia): 10 (was 9 in 2015)
- Young adult (& children's): 19 (was 25 in 2015)
No very significant changes compared to 2015, which is interesting!
By stars...
- 5 stars: 22
- 4 stars: 26
- 3 stars: 26
- 2 stars: 2
- 1 stars: 1
Pretty decent reading year, although in comparison more 3 star reads than the year before. This year my average rating was 3.8 stars, compared to 4 stars in 2015.
By gender...
# of women: 41
# of different books by women: 52
# of men: 20
# of different books by men: 27
No regrets.
By language...
Dutch: 9
English: 64
Japanese: 4
(Category added retroactively)
Most read authors...
Queen Rowling has been overthrown, and this year the prize goes to Patrick Ness with 7 books!
The second place is a shared one between J.K. Rowling and Floortje Zwigtman, both with 4 books.
Lots of authors that I've read two books of, so I'll stick with first and second place :)
Series...
I finished four series this year (two of which I also started this year):
- Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt (duology)
- Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness (trilogy of sorts)
- Een Groene Bloem by Floortje Zwigtman (trilogy)
- Remembrance of Earth’s Past by Liu Cixin (trilogy)
And finally... My Ten favourite books of 2016
#1 The Color Purple by Alice Walker
#2 [b:Death's End|25451264|Death's End (Remembrance of Earth’s Past #3)|Liu Cixin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1430330507l/25451264._SY75_.jpg|18520265] by Cixin Liu
#3 Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness
#4 [b:The Teahouse Fire|47633|The Teahouse Fire|Ellis Avery|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1439030547l/47633._SY75_.jpg|2489729] by Ellis Avery
#5 Twinkle Twinkle by Kaori Ekuni
#6 [b:Moxyland|3491640|Moxyland|Lauren Beukes|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328732006l/3491640._SY75_.jpg|3533237] by Lauren Beukes
#7 Een Groene Bloem series by Floortje Zwigtman
#8 [b:Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and The Story of a Return|3106983|Persepolis The Story of a Childhood and The Story of a Return|Marjane Satrapi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1466547436l/3106983._SY75_.jpg|13344769] by Marjane Satrapi
#9 Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood
#10 The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
2016 started out pretty crappy so the only way was up, and up it went :D As every year, I set out to read 52 books and was already far ahead early in the year (42 books in July). My reading slowed down in the last quarter of the year as I was just too busy (busy having fun, mostly, no complaining there!). I still ended up reading 77 books.
As my personal revenge on the world, this year I have been reading almost exclusively books by and about women, LGBTQIA+ and PoC. When I was reading all the 'official' end-of-year lists by the big media, I regretted this not a bit. All lists, both international as well as national, are dominated by white men. I swear, I have yet to encounter a 'big' list that is made up of more than 30% women, for starters. How completely unimaginative and lazy.
Anyway! On to my reading stats!
Total # of books read: 77
- 2015: 63
- 2014: 87
- 2013: 53
- 2012: 59
- 2011: 21
I'm quite pleased, although 2016 included a lot of short stories, which feels like cheating... But whatever ;-)
By genre...
I won't go into each and every genre I read, but as for my go-to genres... (there is some overlap between the genres!)
- Classics: 14 (was 8 in 2015)
- Fantasy: 14 (was 21 in 2015)
- Japanese literature: 16 (was 16 in 2015)
- LGBT+: 23 (was 17 in 2015)
- Science fiction (including dystopia): 10 (was 9 in 2015)
- Young adult (& children's): 19 (was 25 in 2015)
No very significant changes compared to 2015, which is interesting!
By stars...
- 5 stars: 22
- 4 stars: 26
- 3 stars: 26
- 2 stars: 2
- 1 stars: 1
Pretty decent reading year, although in comparison more 3 star reads than the year before. This year my average rating was 3.8 stars, compared to 4 stars in 2015.
By gender...
# of women: 41
# of different books by women: 52
# of men: 20
# of different books by men: 27
No regrets.
By language...
Dutch: 9
English: 64
Japanese: 4
(Category added retroactively)
Most read authors...
Queen Rowling has been overthrown, and this year the prize goes to Patrick Ness with 7 books!
The second place is a shared one between J.K. Rowling and Floortje Zwigtman, both with 4 books.
Lots of authors that I've read two books of, so I'll stick with first and second place :)
Series...
I finished four series this year (two of which I also started this year):
- Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt (duology)
- Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness (trilogy of sorts)
- Een Groene Bloem by Floortje Zwigtman (trilogy)
- Remembrance of Earth’s Past by Liu Cixin (trilogy)
And finally... My Ten favourite books of 2016
#1 The Color Purple by Alice Walker
#2 [b:Death's End|25451264|Death's End (Remembrance of Earth’s Past #3)|Liu Cixin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1430330507l/25451264._SY75_.jpg|18520265] by Cixin Liu
#3 Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness
#4 [b:The Teahouse Fire|47633|The Teahouse Fire|Ellis Avery|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1439030547l/47633._SY75_.jpg|2489729] by Ellis Avery
#5 Twinkle Twinkle by Kaori Ekuni
#6 [b:Moxyland|3491640|Moxyland|Lauren Beukes|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328732006l/3491640._SY75_.jpg|3533237] by Lauren Beukes
#7 Een Groene Bloem series by Floortje Zwigtman
#8 [b:Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and The Story of a Return|3106983|Persepolis The Story of a Childhood and The Story of a Return|Marjane Satrapi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1466547436l/3106983._SY75_.jpg|13344769] by Marjane Satrapi
#9 Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood
#10 The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall