2017 By the Books

I read 196 books in 2017...thanks to library school and my job at a children's literature center (helloooo, picture books!). A Land of Permanent Goodbyes will be #197 if I finish it this weekend, but all stats are pre-completion. Here's a breakdown of what I read (using my Goodreads account as my source):

Total Number of Books Read: 196
Total Pages Read: 35,603
Shortest Book: Ghost Poems by Daisy Wallace (30 pages)
Longest Book: The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (637 pages)
Average Rating: 3.8 stars
Most Popular (according to Goodreads): The Help by Kathryn Stockett (read by over 2 million)
Least Popular (according to Goodreads): The Long Island by Drew Beckmeyer (it doesn't actually come out until 2018...)
Highest Rated (by Goodreads): Refugee by Alan Gratz (4.66 stars)
Highest Rated (by me): There were a lot of 5-star books this year, I'm happy to say!
Re-reads: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (very excited for the film adaptation), Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (doesn't quite hold up), Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein (definitely holds up), The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss (it's complicated)
Series I Finally Finished: The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud
Women Authors: 55% (108/196)
Authors of Color/Minority Authors: 40% (78/196)
Translations/Bilingual: After a very brief scroll through my list, I think about 12 of the books were either translated into English, included bilingual text, or were foreign language titles altogether. Several others were written by non-American writers in English.
Most Popular Author (according to my list): Margarita Engle (Forest World, Drum Dream Girl, Bravo!, and Miguel's Brave Knight). Jason Reynolds and Carole Boston Weatherford tied for second with three books each.
Audiobooks: 11, and I can pretty safely say that I am not a good listener...I much prefer reading text. If I have to listen, please let it be a comedy book (Yes Please was delightful) or a book featuring music (Solo and Echo had several musical moments).
Fantasy: 18
Horror: 3
Comedy: 9
Mystery: 10
Non-fiction: 53
Non-fiction for adults: 27
Biggest Surprise: All These Wonders (a collection of stories told on various Moth stages) gave me life. Miles Morales is hilarious and important. Out of Wonder is unbelievably beautiful. Greenglass House (and the follow-up, Ghosts of Greenglass House) is so. much. fun.
Biggest Letdown: On the whole, I was disappointed by self-help books this year (lesson learned, I guess?), but the biggest letdown was The Arrow Finds Its Mark (a collection of "found" poetry). It had extreme potential to be innovative and original, sure to be beloved by this found poet, but it lacked creativity and design.
Still Thinking About: the beauty of some of the picture books and graphic novels I read this year. It was an amazing year for illustrators! Also, lots of WOW moments in YA fiction, novelizations of comic books, and historical fiction with plenty of heart.
Something I Learned (about reading): Something I've known, but that was reaffirmed for me this year is that representation matters. I read a lot of "window" books this year (as opposed to "mirrors"), and I loved it. I can only imagine how affirming it is for non white/straight/English-speaking/etc kids and adults to see their lives in the books they read, and I'm excited to continue exploring a wide range of narratives from a wide range of authors.
Goal For 2018: Keep on keeping on.

Extra: 2016 By the Books