2014 Breakdown of Books + 2015 Reading Goals

2014 was a so-so reading year for me. It was a year of trying new outlets, and subsequently I read quite a bit that I did not enjoy. There were a lot of books (perhaps 10) that I did not finish and so I have not included them in my list, including Revolutionary Road, The Elegance of the Hedgehog and Atonement. I also did not count poetry anthologies as I didn't read any cover to cover. Because of schoolwork, my reading time has been stunted and so there were a few months of this year where I did not finish a single book, and some where I read four or five.

Here is a breakdown of what I read:

-This year, I completed 27 books.

(Missing: The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides and The Dead by James Joyce (adapted into play by Frank McGuinness)

-Of these: 2 were plays.
                 2 were classical novels (Ancient Greek)
                 1 was nonfiction

-66% of the authors I read were male. 33% were female. 0% was transgender or non-binary.

-1 book was written by a LGBTQ author (of which I am aware).

-Every book I read this year was by an author I had never read before – excluding the second Jane Austen novel I read.

-48% of the books I read were by authors from the continent of North America.

-52% were European – 26% were British, 11% were Irish and 15% were other European nationalities

- Two books were written BC.
Four were published in the 19th century.
Ten were published in the 20th century.
Eleven were published the 21st century.

-Zero of the books I read were borrowed or from a library.

-The poets I read mainly were: Robert Browning, Sylvia Plath and W.B. Yeats.


Overall, though I read significantly less of them, I preferred the books written by women which I read in 2014.

After compiling these statistics, I am surprised at the amount of 21st century novels I read this year. My interest in classics has increased tenfold in the past few months and I think 2015 will be a year of classics and modern classics.

My Top 5 Books read this year were:
1. Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
2. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
3. Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
4. The Odyssey – Homer
5. Women – Charles Bukowski

2015 Reading goals. 
-Complete Pop Sugar Book Challenge. (see tab)
-Read more Irish literature.
-Read a collection of shorts stories.
-Read more women.
-Read 40 books.
-Read more Greek myths.