Because I read so many books this year, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at what I read this year, and how it all added up. And because I’m doing anything possible to procrastinate working on my thesis, I decided to spend three days making an infographic. It’s my first one, so I hope it turned out okay. I think this is a really fun way too look at how I read this year, and what I can improve on for 2017 – keep scrolling, because I included some comments under all the graphics!
I also wanted to mention that today is the two-year anniversary of my first post on this blog! I’m so happy with how this blog has evolved and so thankful for all of you. And, in case you missed it, I’m hosting a giveaway on Twitter! Tomorrow is the last day to enter, so be sure to check it out!

I think the two biggest things I want to work on next year are reading more nonfiction and reading more diverse books. I did exceed my goal of in terms of nonfiction reading – which was one a month – but I would like to get that ratio up a bit. And I didn’t read nearly as many diverse books as I had hoped, and that’s completely on me. I didn’t really start paying attention to diversity until midway through the year, but it’s definitely something I am conscious about now, and will continue to educate myself about. I do also want to read more female (and genderqueer) authors, because I definitely tend toward reading male authors for some reason. I did try to fix that this year, but there were still a few more males than females in there. I want to focus on female and person of color authors next year.
Other than that, I think I’m pretty happy with how my reading year went. I read a wide variety of genres (including a few I’d never read before), really enjoyed most of the books I picked up, and read more than I have ever before. I also completed seven reading challenges (or I will have as soon as I finish Little Women later today – which is included in this infographic). Overall, I’d say this was a highly successful reading year!
Notes:
I did not include female characters or authors in the diverse books, unless they were diverse in some way. The feminist books include books with obvious feminist themes or messages.
Diversity – as I’ve defined it above – refers generally to ethnicity or sexual orientation. I am still educating myself about this topic, but if you’d like to know which books I included, feel free to ask.
If the numbers don’t add up, that’s because I counted different books differently, and there are more books here than on my Goodreads challenge because of rereads. (Also I suck at math.)
That was an awesome way of looking at your reading 🙂 I’ve been recording my years reading in an excel spreadsheet because I’m going to create pie charts for all the different categories I tracked! I’m hoping it looks as good as yours!! ❤
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Thanks! I actually used excel to create all of the pie charts because it was a lot easier. I had a lot of fun putting this together, and it definitely helped me spot things I want to work on.
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This is such a cool way to look back on your reading year! I love the infographic!
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Thanks!
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Wow, nice graphics!
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Thanks!
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Nicely done! I’d be hopeless trying to put something like this together 😛
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Haha thanks! I used to do graphic design in high school and a bit for my last job, so any chance I can (and have the time to) do it for fun, I enjoy.
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The graphics for this post are fantastic!!
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Thank you! They took me way too long haha
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WOW. I wish I could do something like this!
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It wasn’t THAT difficult. I used excel for the pie charts 🙂
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Happy blog-iversary! I love the graphs, you did an amazing job, makes me want to try one out with my books for the year. I tried to read more diverse books as well this year- I would strongly recommend trying out ‘In the Country We Love: My Family Divided’ by Diane Guerrero (one of my favorites this year). And one that really made me re-think my views was ‘Invisible Man Got the Whole World Watching’ by Mychal Denzel Smith. Great job and happy readings!
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Thanks you! And thanks for the recommendations! I’ve heard of the first one (mostly because I love Orange is the New Black), but not the second. They both sound great – I added them to my TBR.
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Pretty sweet info graphic! Now get that thesis done. 😂 Happy blogoversary!
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Hahahaha thanks! It’s getting there (and I’ll be so happy when it’s done!)
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Whoah, that’s so cool! I love this. I see you read a lot of historical fiction this year, any recommendations? 🙂
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Thank you! I loved All The Light We Cannot See, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August (which has a bit of a magical element to it), The Color Purple, The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore, and Habibi by Craig Thompson (which is a really beautiful graphic novel). There were so many good ones!
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Thank you so much! I’ll be checking them out. From all of those, I’ve only read The Color Purple and I loved it 😀
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Wow, what a year of reading you’ve had! Love the infographic – I’m getting the idea to do something similar for next year 🙂
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Thanks! It was such a fun way to wrap up the year. I’m hoping I come close to this next year haha
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This is a gorgeous representation of your stats! I love it! I just did simple pie charts on mine, but maybe next year mine can be a fraction as beautiful as yours ❤
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Thank you! I went a little overboard, but I love how it turned out.
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Just a small question, because I’m curious, do you count Spanish/Portuguese lit as diverse? 🙂
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I didn’t happen to read any this year, but I think I would include it. In my mind, diversity includes anything that is different than the American model of the straight, white, cisgender person, which is highly overrepresented in my opinion (and this is coming from a straight, white, cisgender person). In my quest to read more diversely, I definitely include books from countries and cultures I’m unfamiliar with, and that would include Spanish/Portuguese lit.
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Thank you! I wasn’t sure, I wanted to include them too but I have been looking for second opinions! Then my year has two more diverse books in it and that’s not horrible 🙂 Thank you!!!
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No problem! That is definitely not a bad thing 🙂
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Ah glad you had a great reading year! With many more to come
-Stay inspired!
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Thank you!
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this looks like it must have taken you forever! its so cool, love it. Glad someone reads as much as me!
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Thank you! (It did take forever haha)
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That is 3 days well spent on that infographic. I’ve never really sat and thought about how many female/male/genderfluid authors I read. I think I need to go look that up, it could be interesting.
http://literaryweaponry.com
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Thanks! It was definitely interesting to see my reading habits laid out like this.
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This is such a cool infographic. I just use pages to keep track of my reading habits, I’ve found that Goodreads can do with some improvement. Anyhow, very inspiring!
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Thanks! Yes, I do think Goodreads could use a few improvements. I keep track there, but use a notebook for more detailed tracking.
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I could help you with your goal of reading more nonfiction books!
I post reviews over nonfiction books twice a week on my blog, and it would be awesome if you checked it out.
thewrightread.com
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Love this! It’s funny, I stumbled upon your post while also procrastinating work on my thesis…
I love historical fiction and tend to stick to that genre, but seeing this makes me want to try out some books I typically wouldn’t go for. Thanks!
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Thanks! That is funny! I love historical fiction, too, but I really enjoy reading as many different genres as I can.
Good luck with your thesis!
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Thank you! You too!
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