Welcome to my 2023 reading stats post! It was a pretty good reading year. Much better than 2022. I finished 78 books and enjoyed the majority of them.
I tracked fewer stats last year than I normally do. I didn't bother with blog stats because nearly all of my traffic comes from Pinterest. My blog traffic graph would look like this:
I didn't bother with money graphs because I only bought 4 books in 2023. I spent around $70 on them. I don't need a graph for that.
Okay. Let's make graphs! I mostly make these graphs because I like to see how my reading changes from year to year. I don’t know how interesting the graphs will be to people who aren't me, but I decorated them for you! I even used a cottagecore color palette because that feels very 2023.
If you’re the kind of nerd who wants to know more about my reading year, check out my favorite books of 2023.
📉 2023 Reading Statistics 📈
2023 Quick Stats
Total number of books finished: 78
Total number of rereads: 2
Total pages read: 24,826
Average pages read per day: 68
Number of books given up on (DNF): 3
Number of pageviews the blog got in 2023: 358,019
Average number of pageviews per day: 980
Stats From Goodreads
Pie Charts From My Ridiculous Spreadsheets
Star Rating
 |
4 stars = above average
3 stars = average
2 stars = below average
DNF = did not finish. Quit to save my own sanity. |
Analysis: I read a bunch of classics last year, and I hated quite a few of them, but I didn't want to DNF because I enjoy being pretentious. Saying, "I read Moby-Dick" sounds fancier than saying, "I read 300 pages of Moby-Dick and got bored." A lot of my 1-star and 2-star books are classics that I suffered through for the sake of pretentiousness. I guess I'm committed to being that horrible person who starts every sentence with, "Well, actually . . ."
Genre
Analysis: I really like novels. Fiction is my thing. There's not much to say about this graph except I'd like to read more things that are not novels. There are tons of nonfiction books that I'm stoked about. Now I need to read them.
Publication Date
Analysis: I put myself on a book buying ban in August 2022. I wanted to read the books on my shelf instead of buying new ones. Most of the books I read last year were published in the 2010s because I've had them forever. I'm finally reading the books that everybody was raving about in 2017!
I read a lot more classics than I have in previous years. I read 0 books that were published in 2023 because I'm trying not to buy new books.
Target Audience
 |
| "Children" includes young adult books |
Analysis: I didn't log the infinity picture books I read to Baby Brooklyn last year. This graph would look a lot different if I counted picture books. As you can tell by the decorations on the graph, I'm a very serious grownup, so it's not surprising that I mostly pick up adult books for myself.
Publisher
Analysis: Penguin Random House has always been my favorite publisher. I have no idea why. Am I drawn to their books? Do they just publish a ton of stuff? Are they better at promoting their products than other publishers? Are their books easier to find? It’s a mystery. I don't know why I like them.
I read more books from small publishers than usual in 2023 because I read more classics and nonfiction. Most of those books came from university presses.
Book Source
Analysis: Where did all these books come from? I really think they breed on the shelves when I'm not looking. It was my goal in 2023 to read the books I own instead of acquiring new ones. That went great for the first few months of the year, but then the books on my shelf started to look unappealing. I didn't want to read any of them! So, I went to the library and worked on my other goal of reading classics. I think I did okay with both goals. I read a lot of classics. I started 2023 with 78 unread books on my shelf. I finished with 26 unread books. I got more books as gifts than I thought I would last year.
Do I Read Diversely?
Analysis: This graph looks vastly different than it has in previous years. I usually seek out books that meet my definition of diversity, so the "Yes" category is always bigger. In 2023, I read a ton of American classics. Those books seem to be written by white men, about white men, and for a white male target audience. Since the cast of classics isn't very diverse, they killed my graph!
My graph only tracks the presence of a diverse cast of characters. It doesn't track the accuracy of the representation. Here's how a book ends up in the "Yes" category:
It’s #OwnVoices
And/Or
It’s a work in translation
And/Or
It features a point-of-view character who is a member of a minority community
And/Or
It discusses issues that disproportionately impact minority communities
Author Birth Continent
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| Multiple = Two or more authors from different countries |
Analysis: Every year I say I'm going to fix this, and every year I don't. Why is it so hard for me to read books by people who aren't from North America? I need to try harder to find translated books. I think that's the problem. I'm too lazy to do the research.
Author Gender
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| Multiple = Two or more authors who are different genders |
Analysis: This graph looks so different from 2022. I mostly read female authors in 2022. In 2023, I mostly read male authors because of all the classics. I guess I need to find more classics written by women. Where are all the pretentious book girlies?
The 2023 Posts You Clicked The Most
Do you keep spreadsheets for the books you read?
This is such a fun post! I don't keep spreadsheets or keep stats of my reading (except the basics on Goodreads) myself, but I do love looking at pretty graphs :)
ReplyDeleteWow, what an interesting post. I will post my end of year book post tomorrow, but mostly am looking at the books I've read (which were overwhelmingly white North American men).
ReplyDeleteYou crack me up. Love the first graphic. The pictures are a nice touch on the graphs. I read a lot of books from Penguin Random House too. There are so many imprints under their umbrella. I also read a lot from Berkley. I like their books!
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy your stats posts. You definitely had a good reading year. :)
ReplyDeleteOmg not you struggling through classics till the very end out of sheer pretentiousness 😂 Honestly, I love it! You suffered through those books so every time you get the chance to say that you read Moby Dick, DO IT! You earned it! 😂
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness, I love the stats. I go way overboard with mine every year, bu I also like looking at other people's stats and seeing their numbers and how they've changed from previous years. I find it all so interesting. (Plus your graphs are super cute!)
ReplyDelete"Also Pinterest, but brown" made me laugh so loud I woke up the cat.
And WOW congrats on the restraint of only buying four???? books??? I struggle with not buying four books per *week*. (and I'm p. sure I failed that this year) That might be the most successful book-buying ban I've ever seen. Also congrats on actually reading so many from your shelf instead of just fully pivoting to the library. No comment on where I might have gotten that idea from.
Anyway, I love other people's graphs, so between the wonderful graphics and the data I am in love with this post. It's especially cool that you tracked publisher; I tried that once and was just overwhelmed because it felt like every book I read was a different imprint, and between mergers and sales I couldn't figure out who the main publisher traced back to.
And finally -- thank you so much for the how-to post! I will definitely use that next year; I've been stumbling my way through with ChartGo and it's fine, but I've been on the lookout for something nicer to try.
LOL @ your pinterest graph. I enjoy graph stats. I've finally started trying to keep better track with a spreadsheet this year. We'll see how it goes :)
ReplyDeleteI love these nerdy stats! You had a great year. I'm surprised you read more male than female authors -- that's a bit unusual for a fiction reader but good. Fiction rules. I posted my stats too but I didn't use the great graphs that you have. Looks nice.
ReplyDeleteHow fun! I also have a bunch of nonfiction books I'm really interested in reading this year. I think you did a great job reading from your shelves, if it was more than 50%!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun and interesting year-end wrap-up! I love your gorgeous pie charts. I'm glad you explained why you finished reading so many 1 and 2 star books because I was asking myself exactly that question - ha ha. Sorry you disliked so many classics. For more women & diverse classics, try Toni Morrison, the Brontes, Pearl Buck (white author but some non-white main characters), Virginia Woolf, Mary Shelley, George Elliot - lots of great options besides the old white guys! I read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston last year and loved it! Hope you read some more great books in 2024!
ReplyDeleteSue
Book By Book
Those charts were fun! And congrats on reading 78 books last year. I wish you more 4- and 5-star reads in 2024 though. :D
ReplyDeleteIt's always fun to see posts about reading stats. I do like your graphs, they are wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI love your graphs! I had plans to make spreadsheets and make graphs in 2022, I think, but that completely fell by the wayside. Hats off to you for sticking with it!
ReplyDeleteYou know how I love graphs. End of year wrap-up posts are some of my favorites!
ReplyDeleteLovely post and I love the graphs and stats. I'm very impressed that you trudge through so many 1 and 2 star books - if it's clear it isn't going to be at least a 3 star read, then I'm done - usually by the 20% mark. But then, I'm a lot older than you and I'm very conscious that I have far more books than time to read them, so I don't see the point of reading something I'm not enjoying:)).
ReplyDeleteI love your graphs. I don't do much with stats or anything with graphs and my reading, but enjoy seeing how others do it!
ReplyDeleteI came to this post for the sake of your ego, but stayed because I love your graphs and breakdowns! I've used Canva forever but never thought of making graphs. I'm also really bad at tracking reading stats info in general. I'm so impressed that you only bought 4 books in 2023 and that you stuck so well to your goal of reading books you already have. It's my goal for this year to read books I own, and I am not off to a good start, although to be fair, the new books thus far have been from the library, so I haven't bought anything new yet!
ReplyDeleteCool charts!
ReplyDeleteMine are dull: https://wordsandpeace.com/2024/01/02/year-of-reading-2023-part-2-statistics/
I tried doing some charts with a spreadsheet one year, but I couldn't keep up with the spreadsheet. Then I started using StoryGraph this past year like I use Goodreads, and it makes a lot of charts and graphs for me! I love all the work you put into this post. I'm in awe that you only bought 4 books too! To be fair, a lot of times the books I actually buy are ones I've already read and I just want them on my shelves, lol. I did a challenge for myself about 10 years ago to read more classics and then I hit one that I couldn't get through. I'm all about the DNFs these days. I did hit the age of 50 in 2022, so I don't feel as bad doing that now. Love this post! Here is my 2023 wrap-up.
ReplyDeletehttps://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2024/01/01/the-looooong-and-the-short-of-it-december-end-of-2023-wrap-up-post-and-looking-forward-to-2024/
I love graphs!! Thanks for sharing - if I had more patience I would like to make myself a post like this :)
ReplyDeleteI love it. I don't think I would ever take the time to do this and it is fabulous!
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental
I am hear for your awesome graphs. :-) These are awesome, AJ! I think one of the few years in the last decade or so that I read over 100 books was when I counted all the picture books I read with my daughter. I keep track of a lot of the same stats, although it's been awhile since I did a thorough breakdown. This was a fun post. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteLove, love, love all the graphics. I need to spend some time figuring out how to set my books into graphs. Do you give tutorials on Learn Share (or whatever it is called)? I also have a graph. Mine is about ranking books into tiers. Let's discuss ranking books
ReplyDeleteOmg your graphics are adorable! I downloaded a "basic" spreadsheet from a blogger who says this sheet is for lazy people. I will give it a try! I am so curious and I do love a graphic! Anyway I am so impressed because legit all but a couple of my books were from 2023. I had ONE from 2022 I think, and the others.... were 2024. Oops? Dude I am shocked you have no Australian authors! I feel about the classics being ugh. This is why I do not bother. If I ever do graphs, they will probably have REALLY stupid categories so be warned. Much like your "Pinterest" and "Pinterest, but Brown" bwahah, which I LOVE.
ReplyDelete