books, stats

January Stats

Books read this month: 31 *

New books: 19

Re-reads: 12 (all audiobooks)

Books from the to-read pile: 5

NetGalley books read: 2

Kindle Unlimited read: 8

Ebooks: 4

Audiobooks: 12

Non-fiction books: 1

Favourite Book: Paradise Problem (although the final part of the Fangirl Manga was also really good)

Most read author: excluding the Ngaio Marsh and Kerry Greenwood audiobooks, Diane Mott Davidson and Vicki Delany with two each.

Books bought: Five books and three ebooks

Books read in 2025: 31

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 760

A very busy month in real life, and a set of stats held up by the fact that it’s the start of the new year and audiobook relistens count to the total again. Relatively restrained on the purchasing front – mostly helped by the fact that a lot of what I wanted to read was in Kindle Unlimited.

Bonus picture: my favourite sign from my visit to Bookends at the start of the month

*includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – including this month!

books, stats

December Stats

Books read this month: 38*

New books: 28

Re-reads: 10 (all audiobooks)

Books from the to-read pile: 6

NetGalley books read: 0

Kindle Unlimited read: 18

Ebooks: 4

Audiobooks: 10

Non-fiction books: 3

Favourite book this month: Cure for the Common Breakup or Christmas is All Around

Most read author: Kerry Greenwood because all 10 of those audiobooks were Miss Fisher mysteries and no other author got on the list more than once because there were a lot of states to tick off…

Books bought: 2 preorders, 6 ebooks, 1 book. Most of the six were to fill in missing states, although Kindle Unlimited did a lot of that work for me.

Books read in 2024: 413

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 756

A month spent frantically ticking off the missing states in the 50 states challenge because that was infinitely more achievable than the idea of me carrying around physical books the whole month to try and finish that challenge, or in fact buying the kindle versions of books on the shelf to do it that way (because that is Defeating The Point). But I got there in the end, and the full list of what ticked off what is coming up in the next few days. All in all, a pretty good year in reading – 413 is my highest ever total, but I’m under no illusions that that’s because of the sheer number of cozy crime novella series I’ve read this year. But I couldn’t have completed the 50 states without them this year, so goodness knows what I’ll do next year if I do it again. I will try and pace myself better if I do it again – the mad dash in December isn’t a lot of fun and it meant I didn’t finish any NetGalley books last month because they didn’t fit the missing states. I need to work on that. I think I have done better at keeping my requests there down, but I always say that and I’m not sure it’s true. Anyway: here’s to a fresh start and a fresh slate in January!

Bonus picture: Goodreads tells me over 100k pages last year. Wowzers.

*includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – including 7 this month!

books, stats

November Stats

Books read this month: 39*

New books: 32

Re-reads: 7 (all audiobooks)

Books from the to-read pile: 8

NetGalley books read: 5

Kindle Unlimited read: 9

Ebooks: 10

Audiobooks: 7

Non-fiction books: 1

Favourite book this month: Rivals or The Rom-Commers

Most read author: Simon Brett because of the Fetherings binge plus Charles Paris re-listen

Books bought: we will continue to not talk about it, although I did have a clear out of the bookshelves so that has improved things a little despite the amount incoming..

Books read in 2024: 375

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 741

Genuinely a really solid month in reading, mostly, but not entirely down to the holiday. I’m still quite a long way short of my 50 states though, and a fair few books short on the beat the to-read pile challenge in my journal, so I’m not sure I can complete both of them this year. Doesn’t mean I won’t try though…

Bonus picture: After writing about Avenue Q, this is from the night after that Q concert – with two of the stars, Jon Robyns and Simon Lipkin doing a late night show together in the West End. It was also wonderful.

*includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – including 6 this month!

books, stats

October Stats

Books read this month: 31*

New books: 20

Re-reads: 11 (6 audiobooks)

Books from the to-read pile: 4

NetGalley books read: 2

Kindle Unlimited read: 8

Ebooks: 5

Audiobooks: 6

Non-fiction books: 2

Favourite book this month: Probably A Dark and Stormy Murder

Most read author: Charlaine Harris, with the Lily Bard reread

Books bought: moving on….

Books read in 2024: 336

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 754

A pretty solid month by figures, but still more than I’d like in novellas rather than actual books because that means it’s not reducing either the physical TBR pile or the Netgalley list. Still in the main they’re coming via KU so at least it means I’m getting value out of that membership!

Bonus picture: is it wrong to be proud of a cake?! Any way, I made this and I was so…

*includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – including 7 this month!

books, stats

September Stats

Books read this month: 36* which seems like more than I was expecting!

New books: 29

Re-reads: 7 (all audiobooks)

Books from the to-read pile: 13

NetGalley books read: 4

Kindle Unlimited read: 8

Ebooks: 4

Audiobooks: 7

Non-fiction books: 5

Favourite book this month: Kingmaker or the Masquerades of Spring

Most read author: Sheila Connolly – four in the Fundraising the Dead series

Books bought: still not counting, because Kuala Lumpur was… book heavy

Books read in 2024: 305

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 747

A pretty solid month I’m going to say helped a fair bit by those long haul flights right at the start. And now we enter the last quarter of the year heading towards the festive season and all the Christmas books…

Bonus picture: Worrals goes East may have been a terrible book, but it did push me over the 200 book mark for the year. Time to up the target!

*includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – including 4 this month!

books, stats

August Stats

Books read this month: 29*

New books: 29

Re-reads: 2 (all audiobooks)

Books from the to-read pile: 9

NetGalley books read: 3

Kindle Unlimited read: 15

Ebooks: 0

Audiobooks: 2

Non-fiction books: 0

Favourite book this month: probably Let’s Play Dead by Sheila Connelly, given that I went and bought the first book and third book in the series straight after I finished it and have read the first one already!

Most read author: Patti Benning

Books bought: not counting…

Books read in 2024: 269

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 742

A very bookish month because of Book Con, even if the stats would seem to belie that. Onwards to September and the rush of new books for the autumn!

Bonus picture: I said I went to Kiss Me Kate again… it’s definitely my favourite show of the summer so have another picture!

*includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – including this month!

books, stats

July Stats

Books read this month: 32*

New books: 25

Re-reads: 7 (all audiobooks)

Books from the to-read pile: 3

NetGalley books read: 5

Kindle Unlimited read: 16

Ebooks: 1

Audiobooks: 7

Non-fiction books: 1

Favourite book this month: Do Me a Favour

Most read author: Probably Patti Benning again, because I read a bunch at the start of the month, but Hugh Morrison coming up fast behind at the end of the month

Books bought: One book-book, two ebooks and a preorder

Books read in 2024: 240

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 740

A pretty solid month in reading, although ending slower than it started. I was binging through one author at the start of the month, and moved on to mini-binges on a couple of others as we moved through. Not enough Netgalley reading done, which is all pretty standard stuff for me.

Bonus picture: Another picture from the Barbican Conservatory before Kiss Me Kate

*includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – including this month!

books, stats

June Stats

Books read this month: 36*

New books: 31

Re-reads: 5 (all audiobooks)

Books from the to-read pile: 12

NetGalley books read: 3

Kindle Unlimited read: 12

Ebooks: 4

Audiobooks: 5

Non-fiction books: 3

Favourite book this month: The Comfort of Ghosts

Most read author: Patti Benning

Books bought: Three book-books, four ebooks and two pre-orders

Books read in 2024: 208

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 736

A pretty solid month of reading all in all. Not as much from the NetGalley list as I should have done, but more from the to-read pile than some months so swings and roundabouts.

Bonus picture: Regents Park on a summer evening. Lovely stuff.

*includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – including 2 this month!

books, stats

May Stats

Books read this month: 31*

New books: 22

Re-reads: 9 (all audiobooks)

Books from the to-read pile: 2

NetGalley books read: 3

Kindle Unlimited read: 14

Ebooks: 3

Audiobooks: 9

Non-fiction books: 0

Favourite book this month: really hard to pick between Mona of the Manor, You Should Be So Lucky and The Winner Bakes It All

Most read author: Margery Allingham because of the ebooks

Books bought: 5 books and 6 ebooks and one preorder

Books read in 2024: 171

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 740

I’m going to call this the month of Kindle Unlimited, because it’s true really. I’ve read so much from there this month for various reasons, but it’s really justified its subscription price.

Bonus picture: another Lagos picture. Not that you can really tell!

*includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – including 8 this month!

books, stats

March Stats

Books read this month: 33*

New books: 24

Re-reads: 9 (all audiobooks)

Books from the to-read pile: 8

NetGalley books read: 2

Kindle Unlimited read: 12

Ebooks: 2

Audiobooks: 9

Non-fiction books: 2

Favourite book this month: When Grumpy Met Sunshine, I think.

Most read author: Ngaio Marsh or Patti Benning – not sure which gets more on the page count – there are more Patti Bennings but they are all 100 pages or so, the Alleyn books are longer

Books bought: 10 books across ebooks and physical books and three pre-orders

Books read in 2024: 107

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 740

The Patti Benning novellas are just so easy to read and there are so many of them that it’s easy just to go straight on from one to the next and ignore the other stuff on the pile. Still I guess it means that I’m getting value for money out of my Kindle Unlimited subscription right?

Bonus picture: two books behind on the beat-the-to-read pile bookshelf, but I’m still confident…

*includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – including 13 this month! All those Patti Benning novellas plus one graphic novel.