Reading Statistics

It may be surprising if you know me to find that I post all the books that I read on Shelfari. Shelfari is a website that tracks reading lists and offers information about books, rather like Goodreads or Library Thing. I recognize that this means my personal information and reading habits are shared with "big data," particularly in the years since Amazon purchased Shelfari. Even the least astute amateur statistician can look at the chart below and see the year that I started using Shelfari. Coincidentally the year I started grad school in Information Science? The reason that some books are backdated is that if I reread a book, I assign a second date with the year I first read it. If you keep in mind that my specialization in grad school was teen lit, then it makes sense that I took the opportunity to reread favorites from my own teen years. 

If you look at the bottom of this chart, you'll see that it tracks your reading pace for the year. Can I say that I'm almost always behind because I catch up on reading during the Christmas break at the end of the year, and thus I generally find this number quite stressful, even though it's *completely* arbitrary and meaningless.I'm only ahead right now because I had three mostly complete books that I finished on New Year's Day, and then read on a 7 hour flight across the country.

 So, as a consolation prize for offering information about my reading habits, I'm able to see statistics about them. Since the last book I bought for myself was ....ummmm....ummmm...I support libraries....not memorable, at least I know that they are not influencing my purchasing habits. I'm aware that the comparison of my reading patterns to those of a group that voluntarily signed up for a book tracking website gives me no additional information about the reading patterns of Americans as a whole. That said, I'm a little surprised about the alignment between my reading and the group's.

Are the less popular categories lower because less is published, and less is publicized, in those fields? I was surprised that romance and thriller were lower for me at first. I'm betting that this categorizes in one field. I don't usually read mass-market paperback thriller or romance. I find those themes in adult and teen fiction. So it's a bit limiting if each book is only allowed one category.

Finally, getting to the point that inspired this the other day, I can see my own rating patterns over time and within genres. For instance, I may think that I like travel books, but of the 20 that I've read, only 1 received a 5. (It was Behind the Beautiful Forevers. When I picked it up, I didn't realize that it wasn't a fictionalized account of true events. It's devastating in it's treatment of Indian poverty throughout recent industrialization.) Proportionally, there should only be 2 5-star books, but there aren't that many 4's either. 

Since I read a lot, I'm not surprised that most books are 3's. If you don't particularly inspire me and you aren't particularly memorable, automatic 3. 4's and 2's swing one way or the other. Some books get 5's because they are enjoyable, and others because I think they are well-written and I learned a lot. It's hard to get a 1. Are there typos or incorrect "facts?" Is it just too pompous to be taken seriously? You don't want to be a 1. (As I look through the list, I'm groaning in remembrance of 13 of the 14. The final was the first book in a trashy teen series that I devour from the Catonsville library every time I go home to see my parents. It's not particularly literary, but I forgot that there was ever a point when I wasn't entertained by it. Memory, thy fickle friend.)

Though it's been helpful to me personally and professionally, in no way am I pushing this or other book tracking services. I'm probably asked for book recommendations more than the average person. If you're searching online after this anyway, the site is Shelfari. If you're on the site, find me, and we can follow each other.