That’s right, perhaps for the first time in my life this bookworm is loving me some stats!!!
Last year, inspired by a fellow book worm, I decided to log all my books not only in Goodread, but also in a separate Google Form which allowed me to track more detailed statistical information around the books I read. Things such as: author’s gender, author’s race, fiction/non-fiction, genre, etc.
The most interesting of those tallies you can view below:
I realize those are not the crispiest (pun intended) pie charts ever, but I think you get the idea. Over these past few years it has become increasingly important to me to be intentional about what books I purchase and read, which is made easier when I track this kind of information.
Though 2020 was a year like no other, in regards to my reading, I was not surprised by the percentage of women I read, nor the breakdown between fiction and nonfiction, but I was a little shocked that 53.5% of my reading was still written by white authors. While bemoaning this particular stat, my husband replied, “but think of what that would have been even four years ago.” And of course he was right.
Four years ago? That number would have been much closer to 100%, somewhere between 95-99% for sure. So, progress has been made and I will be watching these stats again through 2021 trying to increase my percentage of BIPOC authors (be on the lookout on my strategy for this particular goal) and perhaps move the needle on that nonfiction closer to 40%…but honestly fiction is just too good ;).
2020 reading is officially closed, but here comes 2021 and I am looking forward to all it has to offer. I hope you are as well 🙂
Happy reading everyone!
P.S. If anyone would like a copy of the Google Form I use for this tracking I would be happy to share. Just let me know!
