It’s that time again: here’s your official bibliographing reading analysis for 2010. As always, the analysis is unscientific and extremely subjective. Enjoy!
First, some original publication dates. Compared with last year I’ve got way less 18th century (sadsies) but way more 19th. Melville helped there, but so did all those Russians.
Next, country of origin. Unlike last year, this time Great Britain beats out the USA for top billing. I have less of a long tail but the Russians do give me at least one substantial entry from the non-Anglo world.
I actually have a bit less of a tilt this year in favor of male authors, though they still win handily over females. Sorry ladies. Will Laura Ingalls Wilder totally skew these stats next year?
And once more, the grand finale of bibliographing charts: the themes! In a radical departure from all precedent, Gardening has taken the lead! How’s that, you ask? Well, my extremely rigorous methodology for thematic categorization seemed to imply that most mysteries were in fact a form of gardening—sorting out the weeds from the flowers, if you will, in all those English villages (and elsewhere). Once again, Men & Women surprises me by beating out Sex & Death, but Grail Quests have fallen behind. Dreaming remains in last place, but clearly a critical component of my reading.
Happy New Year to you all!
OK, those themes are amazing. Is there overlap amongst the categories? I really, really love the idea that all the reading available in the world fits into those five categories.
That scatter graph is pretty fascinating too. You kept quite an even distribution time-wise throughout the year; there’s no really obvious clumps. How consistent of you! :-)
The first time I did the charts, I allowed overlap in themes. When I did them again at the end of last year, I switched to allowing only one theme per book, and noted that “I went through the list as quickly as possible and tried not to dither over the decisions.” I did the same thing this year. The results are thus “contaminated” by the snap-judgment factor, but the themes are so ridiculous and subjective anyway that I think that just fits in with the whole concept.
I love your charts!
Fascinating breakdown! Happy New Year!
I think Grail Quests would win if I made a list like this, but it would never come close to being as awesome as yours, so I won’t even try. I’ll just continue to enjoy your most excellent charts.
It also looks like there are a lot of books from the 1920s-30s. Is it just my tired mind? It makes for a cool looking graph, either way…
Biblibio—Yes, the 20s/30s were a bit heavy around these parts last year, between Woolf in Winter, Parade’s End (which I counted here as four novels, because it is), and also Agatha Christie. Raymond Chandler also beefed up the first half of the 20th century.
I love the first chart you have, with the publication years! I love charts in general. Such a fun way to track reading over a year.
I always love your charts. LOL about gardening, how clever! I tend to read more male authors, too, and not sorry for it. Just the way the interests go. Happy new year, Nicole!