Wednesday, January 09, 2008

2007 in Review

I love doing these wrap-ups! I keep track of all my reads on a spreadsheet (built by Rosario) and I have great fun looking at the results at the end of the year and analyzing them.

The Numbers

I read a total of 111 books in 2007, which is up a bit from 2006. Now, this includes the 30 books that I proofread (holy crap, that makes me tired just thinking about it). I have a strict no-blogging rule on books I'm paid to read; unless I had 100% good things to say about them (very rare), then I'd be biting the hand that fed me. And I like to eat. So you'll see no details on them, but I still like to add them to my stats.

Anyway, that's an average of about 9 a month, with a high in August (13) when I was blissfully unemployed and a low in September (6) when I was (of course) happily re-employed. ;) Total page count over 40,000, or about 110 pages a day. Twin's comment: "Good lord. You're such a dork." She loves me, she really does.

The Ratings
My average rating went up a little this year, to 6.9. Maybe I'm getting better at choosing books. Or maybe I'm getting soft.

My Favorite Reads of 2007

**I'm not going to link to my reviews, because that's just too much work. But you can find them all in the archives.**

10/10 (Perfection)
Re-reads:
Harry Potter 3 & 4
The Blue Castle, L.M. Montgomery (This was the only book I gave a 10 last year.)
A Civil Campaign, Lois McMaster Bujold (I originally gave this a 9 last year, but bumped it up on re-read.)

Only one new-to-me book got a 10:
The Windflower, Laura London (IMO, the best of classic romance. Not for everyone, though, as evidenced by my mother who read it on my rec and was a bit WTF?)

9/10 (Fangirl-worthy)
Re-reads:
Harry Potter 1-2, 5-6
Thornyhold, Mary Stewart

New reads:
Harry Potter 7
Memory, Lois McMaster Bujold
Devil's Cub, Georgette Heyer
Summers at Castle Auburn, Sharon Shinn

8/10 (Highly recommended)
Demon Angel and Demon Moon, Meljean Brook. (And I will make everyone jealous and say that I already got to read Demon Night [out in Feb.] and it's my favorite yet. Will definitely get a 9 when I review it.)
Season of Storms and Mariana, Susanna Kearsley
Beguilement, Lois McMaster Bujold
Reforming Lord Ragsdale and Marian's Christmas Wish, Carla Kelly
Games of Command, Linnea Sinclair
Not Quite a Lady and Knaves' Wager, Loretta Chase
No Humans Involved, Kelley Armstrong
Simply Love, Mary Balogh
High Noon, Nora Roberts
Countess Below Stairs, Eva Ibbotson
Mystic and Rider and Dark Moon Defender, Sharon Shinn
Bride of the MacHugh, Jan Cox Speas
Agnes and the Hitman, Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

Favorite new (or new-to-me) authors this year were Meljean Brook, Eloisa James, Eva Ibbotson, and Sharon Shinn.
A most excellent year. :)

6 comments:

nath said...

Great review of the year Jennie! and LOL, I think you're getting better at choosing books :)

Oh by the way, I finally found Season of Storms by Susanna Kearsley!!! :D and hurry and review Demon Night!!

Kate Diamond said...

Yay for Sharon Shinn and Eloisa James! Also... I'm so happy that you liked "The Blue Castle." That's been one of my comfort food books FOREVER.

Jennie said...

Nath--I think I am getting better at choosing books that will work for me. Because sometimes other people love stuff and I just don't get it. :)

I hope you like Season of Storms! And I hope it's not too light on the romance for you, but I really loved it. I'll review Demon Night soon--I wanted to wait until close to the on-sale date.

Kate--The Blue Castle is my absolute favorite comfort book too! It will always pick up my mood. :)

Anonymous said...

I'll echo the yay for Sharon Shinn and Eloisa James. Plus you introduced me to Eva Ibbotson as well :-)

I still think that if you love LM Montgomery's Blue Castle, you should try her Emily books - I know you said there was a reason why you haven't, but I can't quite remember what (unless I'm completely mixing you up with someone else, in which case, sorry!)

Apart from that, we appear to have remarkably similar taste in books :-)

Love your archives, btw - super-organised!

Jennie said...

Li--Yes, that was here we had the conversation about the Emily books. I haven't read them because I've heard they are a bit sad. But I'm sure I'll get to them someday.

And yay for Ibbotson! :)

Emmy said...

A Countess Below Stairs is amazing and so is Eva Ibbotson I love her books