I've been looking back at 2011's reading resolutions. You may remember them: read more men, read more in translation, read more from the TBR. It suddenly occured to me to wonder whether, at this late stage, I've come even close to fulfilling any of them. This year has been a slow year for reading all round, with just 53 books read (as I type this; I may finish one or two others before New Year's Day). And it turns out - no big surprise here - that I have almost entirely failed to meet any of my resolution targets. Here is this year's statistical breakdown with some commentary:
Total books read: 52
Books by men: 17
Books by women: 35
I said I would read more books by men in 2011 and, in both number and percentage, I actually did. Last year I read 9 books by men out of over 60 in total (I'm still shocked by that!), a measly 14%. This year I read 17, almost double, out of a smaller overall total of 52, which equals 32%. Just under a third. So the gender gap has narrowed, but the disparity is still alive and kicking (and, let me be honest, if I'd read no non-fiction this year there would be six fewer eligible titles). My yearly Orange Prize challenge is the killer. 18 of the 52 books I read this year were from the prize longlist, ergo over a third of my reading was necessarily going to be by women. It's becoming apparent that the only way to truly overcome the problem is to cut loose from the Orange next year. I've been thinking about this for a while anyway, because when I'm reading so little giving over 3 months to a prescribed list of 20 books is too much. It's been a good five years but it's time to let the longlist drop I think and stick to the shortlist.
Fiction read: 44
Of the Fiction:
Novels: 43
Short story collections: 1
Novels Composed of Linked Short Stories: 0
Graphic novels: 0
Poetry: 1
Plays: 0
Diversity is clearly not my strong suit, and that's not for want of pleasure in plays or graphic novels or short stories. It's simply a matter of bias towards novels (and fat novels at that). To be fair to me the poetry stat under-represents my intake a little. I've only read one collection from cover to cover this year, but I've dipped in and out of many more (Alice Oswald, David Harsent, Don Paterson, Ted Hughes, Phillip Gross to name a few) without concertedly tackling them. Still, I want to have a better fictional diet.
Speculative/SF: 3
Historical (ie. set 30 years in the past from time of writing; not including flashbacks): 10
Crime/Thriller: 2
It's been a non-genre year. Again, the Orange Prize is partly to blame for this, and book groups too. But it's more that I haven't been reading a lot; my big reads (classic and contemporary) have been taking longer and there has been less and less room for genre in the interstices.
Most works by the same author: 2 (almost 3) George Mackay Brown
And I will be reading a lot more of him in the New Year too!
Nonfiction read: 7 (would be 10, if you count the three long-term NF books I have on the go)
Of the Nonfiction:
Essays: 0
Biography /Memoir: 3
History: 1
Literary Criticism: 1
Politics/World Affairs: 2
Non-fiction always takes me much longer to read, and this year I've been preoccupied with lots of work reading (policies and consultation documents on libraries and archives galore) that has got in the way of non-fiction time. So I'm not so disappointed in this stat as I might be. I want to read more non-fiction, like I want to read more of everything, but I recognise that it won't always be possible. I've also been working through John Reader's magisterial Africa: A Biography of a Continent, which is huge and in short chapters. These are quick to read in odd moments, which has suited me, but make the book seem interminable! And my project around Rachael M. Brownstein's book on heroines has continued, though slowly.
Books in translation: 4
Re-reads: 2
My second resolution was to read more in translation. Again I did improve: four in 2011 is better than the big fat none of 2010. Still, it's tragic that I didn't do better. I started off so well with Halldor Laxness' Independent People and then forgot all about my determination. The other three translated novels I read were Cheri by Colette, Pig Tales by Marie Darrieussecq and Portrait of the Mother as a Young Woman by Friedrich Christian Delius. The two re-reads were Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson, both of which I revisited for book groups.
Books that were written before 1900: 2
Books that were written after 2000: 11
Only two classics this year, but fat ones: Daniel Deronda by George Eliot and The Mysteries of Udolpho by Anne Radcliffe. I won't beat myself up about this too much, because a steady stream of 2-3 classics each year simply prolongs the pleasure of reading them over a lifetime. And I've started Nicholas Nickleby and that sort of counts as a third for this year's quota. Eleven books before 2000? Again, given the number of books read overall I don't think that's too bad. It could be better, but then couldn't everything?
Books from the TBR (acquired before 1/1/2011): 4
This is the stat that makes me feel slightly sick with myself. When I was looking over my list of read books I felt a mounting panic as I realised how many of them were new acquisitions. How could it be that I'd only read four (FOUR!) books acquired before 1/1/2011?! This is simply not acceptable, and not just from the point of view of my personal reading development. It has financial and psychological implications too. I must take some action before a) I'm completely overwhelmed, and b) I've invested hundreds more pounds in books I'll never ever read at this rate. Like any person with a compulsive habit I have to sort myself out next year, big time.
And after all that a new set of reading resolutions for 2012 will be coming soon...
~~Victoria~~