May Reading Stats!

It's been a busy couple weekends, so I haven't had a chance to do many posts of late, but here are my stats for my May reading. It was a light reading month, as I decided to start rewatching Marvel movies, and so that's taken most of my relaxing at home time. I only managed 13 books this month. Not a horrible number, just nothing like last year's numbers, and the lowest so far this year.

Because I had so few books this month, it was harder to determine my top books, especially since several were rereads, which I do not include in my top books for the month, so it took me a while to figure these out. 

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde is far and away the best new book I finished in May. I wish I'd started these sooner when I was being told both by my ex and my mom about them. If you love books, this is a world you will adore. It's our world, but not. Literature has taken the place of god. And crime is very interesting. Many crimes are about fake literature. And people go around proselytizing about the person they believe was Shakespeare. In addition, for people like me who are Welsh? Wales is a republic, and people from England are generally not welcome. If any of that sounds good to you, I highly recommend this book, the first of a currently seven-book series, though an eighth is due next year.

The runners up for the month:

The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan, the third book in the Trials of Apollo series. I'm very much enjoying this one, aside from the main character, who needs to get slapped regularly. But then, he's a god, what does he know?

The Lost World by Michael Crichton, the sequel to Jurassic Park, and just as good as the first. If you've read the first, I highly recommend this one, too.

Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell, about a world where mechanics and magic exist in companionship, and where the land of elves is beginning to rise up against the old world. Wonderful weaving of our history with steampunk and fairy tale (in this instance, Cinderella).

The oldest book I read this month was a reread: The Cry from Beyond by Wendy and Richard Pini, the 7th book in the Elfquest series, which was published September 1, 1993 as a gathered volume. I've been slowly rereading these, and have discovered several that I don't have, so I will have to get my hands on them, if I can, though it seems at least one of them isn't really available at this time (the price I saw was almost $200), so I may have to read that one online.

The newest book was Jay's Gay Agenda by Jason June, which was published June 1, 2021. Cute book, though it felt like the writer hadn't done a great job of researching the area, because she called the school he attended in Seattle "Capitol Hill High School." Just...rang very false. 

Stats for the month:

Out of the 13 books I read this month, 7 were audio, three were E-Books, and three were physical. I finished three series, and DNFd one book that I just wasn't enjoying. My top three genres this month were Romance, Fantasy, and Sci Fi. Eight books were written by male authors, and eight were written by females. The main characters, eleven were male and seven were female main characters. Seven books had LGBT content, and four had non-white main characters. The audience split were four YA, and nine adult.

Since we're in Pride month, I think I will attempt to read only LGBT books this month. We'll see if I can manage it. I do have some already in progress, so I will finish them if I can, but at most of them are already LGBT, so I think I'll be okay.

My current and future reading:

Currently I am reading:

• City of Beasts (Eagle & Jaguar #1) by Isabel Allende (haven't actually started yet)
• The Tyrant's Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4) by Rick Riordan (haven't started yet)
• Jungle Heat by Bonnie Dee (10%)
• A Destiny of Dragons (Tales from Verania #2) by TJ Klune (11%)
• Saga (Saga #7) by Brian K Vaughan (no page numbers, but about 2/5th of the way through)

Only City of the Beasts doesn't have LGBT content, I believe. It's the second time I've gotten it from the library, so I really should try to finish it this time. Wish me luck!

After looking over my current list on Libby, I decided to dump them all in favor of Pride month, so I don't have anything there at the moment except for City of Beasts, and we'll see if I listen to that one. 

And my current holds:

• What Once Was Mine (Twisted Tales #12) by Liz Braswell
• Misrule (Malice #2) by Heather Walter

I suspended What Once Was Mine, because it's Disney, and we all know that means it's no good for Pride month. Misrule's three weeks out according to my app, so we'll see if I get that before the month ends.

Beyond that, we'll see what I get up to this month. Should be fun! 

2021 Reading Wrap-up

So, that was a year. Honestly, Reading is one of my top three things this year. All total, I managed 362 books this year. So many great books, both long and short. My longest book, according to Goodreads, was Lords of the Underworld collection 3 by Gina Showalter, with 1,340 pages. My shortest was a short from one of the series I was reading called Whybourne and Griffin, titled Fiction Isn't for Felines. My plan this year is to shoot for 200 books. We'll see if I get quite so high as last year, but my numbers definitely dropped after I got my new position at work last year, so I don't think I'll manage another 300 book year. We shall see.

My top book of the year was a close call, but I ended up going with Crooked Kingdom, the second in the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo. Though we have been told that there is a sequel coming, which I am very much looking forward to. Though this is the second of the duology, I enjoy it more than the first, though it's a close call. There's a lot to love in this book, including a spoiler I won't give up here, but I have to say my favorite pairing of the duology is Jesper and Wyland. I absolutely adore them, and I can't wait to see Wyland in the Shadow and Bone series when they finally add him, because I know he'll be a great addition.

My top ten genres of the year, in descending order:

1. Romance (281 books)
2. Fantasy (184 books - though this was divided with Urban Fantasy halfway through the year, so that changed some things)
3. Historical (107 books)
4. Supernatural (84 books)
5. Myth & Folklore (67 books)
6. Dystopia (57 books)
7. Sci Fi (45 books)
8. Mystery (45 books - more than I expected. Didn't help that I found an author that drew me in who did lots of mystery, though he wasn't the only one)
9. Contemporary (35 books - this is another that only got adopted halfway through the year, so it probably would have been a lot higher. We shall see how this year goes)
10. Steampunk (28 books - I definitely want to push this higher this year if I can)

Most read Authors of the year, again in descending order:

1. Jordan L Hawk (27 books - at least 3 different series here, but more, I think... Definitely a favorite author.)
2. JR Ward (19 books - all Black Dagger Brotherhood related. Wow.)
3. Josh Lanyon (12 books -  the Mystery author from above. Definitely a good writer, as Mystery is not my big favorite without something else to sell it to me.)
4. Sarah J Maas (11 books - Mostly one series, but a few others. I definitely have a preference of her series, but I'm looking forward to more.)
5. Anne Bishop (10 books - two separate series, but mostly Black Jewels. I'm caught up on both Black Jewels and Others now, and looking forward to more.)
6. Leigh Bardugo (10 books - nearly all Shadow & Bone aka Grishaverse series here. Definitely enjoying her Grishaverse)
7. Naomi Novik (9 books - a big mix here of her Tremiare series, but also a lot of her new stuff, singles as well as series. Looking forward to more of her Scholomancy series.)
8. Laurel K Hamilton (8 books - all Anita Blake)
9. Anne Rice (8 books - rereads of the Vampire Chronicles, but also finishing the Mayfair Witches, and a final sequel to the Beauty series. Mixed feelings about her passing this year. She had a great deal of talent, but at the same time, was very hard on her fans. It's hard to love a writer who does such damage to their fanbase. *gives a certain other too-well-known female author the side-eye*)
10. Tie:
1. Aiden Bates & Jill Haven (6 books - a few different series here, cute, if not great writing, definitely enough to keep drawing me in.)
2. Seanan McGuire (6 books - the entirety of the currently existing Wayward Children series, which I adore.)

So my big goal for 2021 was to finish at least some of the series I'd started. I probably started and finished more than I just finished, but I'm still very happy with how many series I finished for the year. According to my count, I finished 50 series. Not quite one a week, but not bad at all, really. The amount of books that covers is 192, though many of those were read before last year. I've included a few prequels or sequels for otherwise finished series in this list, too. I'll be curious to see what this ends up being like next year. Favorite series finished this year is probably the Grishaverse.

My reading for the coming year, I have decided to keep it loose and easy. Each time I choose a new book, I have a little board filled with prompts to help me figure out what to pick next. I'll definitely let you know how that goes. 

I have also decided to use a few prompts to see if I can expand my reading a little,  using challenges from Storygraph, which I am quite enjoying using, though I still use Goodreads as well. My current challenges are the A to Z challenge for both books and authors, an older books challenge of at least one per year until 2000, then one per decade through the 1900s, and one per century before that, though I doubt I'll get to much of those. I also am trying a sort of round the world challenge, and seeing how many US States, Canadian Provinces, and Countries of the world my stories are set in. Wish me luck!

So what are you planning to read this year?