It’s that time of the year again, when we take stock of the year (in this case, reading year) gone by and review it. And that’s exactly what I did last week, and thought I’d share it here with you guys.
Though to be honest, before I thought of sharing these stats with you, I had only done a cursory review of sorts. It’s only when I decided to share, that I dug deep & reviewed the genre split, the formats, and the authors I read. And it’s resulted in a few interesting revelations.
But let me first share the overall stats, and come to these revelations later.

In 2019, I had set a goal to read 52 books, basically a book a week. A relatively ambitious goal by my standards because I hadn’t ever read a book a week, and am very prone to falling into unexpected reading slumps throughout the year.
But be that as it may, I not only reached the goal but surpassed it. As of this writing I have read 55 books this year.
And the broad genre split is as follows –
Non Fiction – 20 Books
Contemporary Fiction – 18 Books
Mystery / Thrillers – 4 Books
Adult Fiction – 3 Books
Paranormal / Fantasy – 3 Books
Re-Read – 6 Books
DNF-ed – 1 Book
Though here I have to mention, that all the re-reads were in paranormal / fantasy genre, so I essentially read 9 books in the genre.
Moreover, by the time I wrote & published this post, I read two more books, both re-reads in the paranormal fantasy genre, which brings up the total to 11 books.
And bumps up my total books read so far this year to 57 books.
Non Fiction Books form the biggest chunk..
..and this was very intentional. Though I’d say it was only possible because of audiobooks.
And I say that because these days I have a hard time reading non-fiction in the print format. So audiobooks were a lifesaver. Especially because I found a lot of new favorite authors and books in this genre this year that I would love to re-read or rather re-listen.

Of the books I read, some of my favorites & ones I’d recommend to anyone and everyone are –
1. Becoming by Michelle Obama – A real, relatable & POWERFUL memoir!
2. Atomic Habits by James Clear – By FAR the BEST book on Habits!
3. We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Adichie – This must be made mandatory reading for all!
4. Dear Ijeawele by Chimamanda Adichie – Every single parent / guardian must read this one!
5. Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis – Got Goals to Chase Down? Read This!
Contemporary Fiction / Romances constitute the second biggest chunk..
This was totally expected, even though not necessarily intentional. As in, I did not mean to read a lot of these books, but I knew these books will form a sizeable chunk of my reading.
Mostly because I turn to this genre for comfort reads, whenever I am even remotely stressed. But also because a lot of my friends write books in this genre, so I consistently receive review copies.

Some of my favorite 2019 reads from this genre have been
1. The Bollywood Bride by Sonali Dev
2. Book Boyfriend by Claire Kinglsey
3. Pride, Prejudice & Other Flavors by Sonali Dev
4. Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
5. The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Science Fiction / Fantasy / Paranormal Books come in third..
This is the one category that kind of surprised me, in terms of how many books I read in this genre. And I know I mentioned I read only 3 new fantasy books, which isn’t a lot, but I re-read 8, and that counts, right?
Almost 20% of the total!! Which amazes me, because I usually avoid picking up new books in this genre, especially staying away from long fantasy series. Mostly because I am kinda-sorta intimidated by their size and the seemingly complex / new world I would need to familiarize myself with.
And yet.. some of my favorite books / series’ are long fantasy series’ like The Lunar Chronicles, and do I even need to mention Harry Potter again?
So maybe I need to re-think my stance on this? Because clearly when I do pick them up, I end up enjoying them AND re-reading these books.
Which is what I did this year btw, re-read The Lunar Chronicles & The Twilight Saga, bumping up the total number of fantasy / paranormal reads this year.

And now finally the rest of the books..
The stats show that I read 3 books in the Adult Fiction Genre, DNF-ed one Young Adult book, and read 4 Mystery / Thrillers. And while I have no opinion on the other genres, I somehow believed I read more than 4 mystery / thrillers in the year.
I don’t know why exactly. But I know this. This is the one genre I want to read more of next year. And I think it’s doable as I plan on cutting down on non-fiction books, and turning to podcasts to satisfy the non-fiction itch.
So fingers crossed it works out!

Overall:
I meant to read 52 Books, completed 57 so far, and am on track to get to 60 books this year, so I can safely say, at-least in terms of numbers I had a great reading year.
That being said, I have to also admit that this number was only possible because out of the 57 books I read this year, I heard 37 of them on audio. Which is my preferred as well as practical choice of format these days.
But on the flip side, this meant that I did not read as many physical books at all. I read only 3 paperbacks, which is a shockingly low number. And I read the remaining 17 books on my Kindle.
Going forward, I want to read more physical books, and I’ll try to do that. Because in an ideal world I would like to read more versus listen more.
But we live in the real world, where I know audiobooks are still going to be the dominant format for me, even if I bump up the number of physical books I read.
And even though that statistic bothers me a bit, I guess books are books are books, and formats are not as important because it’s the words that hold the power.
Though speaking of being happy with the reading stats, there is one area that has pleasantly surprised me.
I reviewed the authors I read in 2019, in terms of how many were new-to-me vs old favorites, and I realized that I read 27 new-to-me authors vs 11 authors whom I was familiar with. And I have to say this is one ratio that makes me happy, even though it was not an intentional decision.
Looking Forward to 2020..
At the moment I have decided against setting a reading goal for the next year. Not even a number goal really, at-least not an aggressive one.
Because in 2020, I have pretty aggressive goals in other areas of my life, and don’t need to add another goal post here.
All I truly need is a relatively relaxing, and rewarding reading year. And I hope 2020 proves to be just such a year.
That being said, I have still gone ahead and decided on a Goodreads number goal, because well, it’s just a habit at this point, and I have a hard time breaking patterns.
But I have planned on a really small goal of 24 books, which is no challenge at all (for me anyway).
How about you? Have you set reading goals for 2020? What is your number goal? Do share!
Oh and are you on Goodreads? If yes, do share a link to your profile, as I am always looking to connect with fellow readers & book nerds.
You read more non-fiction books in 2019 too! Same here. I mostly read non-fiction last year for some reason. I loved Atomic Habits too. I was trying to beat 2018 in terms of number of books, but somehow 2019 wasn’t such a great year for me in terms of reading. I also read some chunkier books I guess. Hope you have a great reading year 2020!
I think non-fiction is an integral part of my reading life now. It always constitutes at-least 25% of my reading. And sometimes close to 40%. I guess it’s mostly because of my obsession with productivity / time management & personal development lit.
Have a great reading year, A. And an all around fantastic 2020!
57 books in a year is not mean feat. Great work and as always I love your reviews. I received your “Bookmarked” newsletter, am so excited with your plans. Happy New Year!
Gayathri recently posted…Book reviews: Why don’t they get much engagement?
Thank you so much Gayathri. So glad to hear that!
Shanaya Tales recently posted…The Lunar Chronicles – Where Futuristic Sci-Fi Meets Classic Fairy Tales.
That’s a very interesting list, I’ll have to check out your top Romance reads. Also, congrats on beating your reading goal so soundly! And I wholeheartedly understand why you don’t want to make it challenging in 2020. If you have a lot of other things to deal with that take a lot of focus, you don’t need the unnecessary pressure of a reading goal. Reading chalenges should only be fun π
Eline @ Lovely Audiobooks recently posted…The Monthly Book Blogger Link-Up
Totally agree. Reading should always be fun. Always. And sometimes setting aggressive reading goals is fun.
2020 is not that kind of year for me. Hence the step back. Or the attempt to take a step back anyway.
Because I have already gone through 3 books in the past 6 days, so we’ll have to see what this step back actually means. π
Shanaya Tales recently posted…My 2019 Reading Recap – Genre / Authors / Formats
I’m going to be referring to your lists for several months. I see several on here that are on my TBR and several that I have read and loved.
Congratulations on reaching and exceeding your reading goal! Btw, which book is that in between Becoming and I Know How She Does It in your first graphic?
Athira recently posted…Happy New Year! My First Book of 2020
Thank you. And wishing you a wonderful reading year 2020 as well. π
The book is The Perils of Being Moderately Famous by Soha Ali Khan. Her memoir of sorts.
Shanaya Tales recently posted…My 2019 Reading Recap – Genre / Authors / Formats
Congratulations Shantala .. and that’s an awesome recap of th year . I am still to get into the nonfiction reading groove as well as onto audio books. Both are yet to hold my attention for long.
I ventured into reading Indian Writing in English in 2019 and was taken by surprise by some of the books.
This year as well I would focus on a few more Indian authors and maybe venture more into paranormal genre
I definitely need to read more Indian authors, and I have made a list of authors to check out (based on your recommendations), so looking forward to that in 2020. π
Shanaya Tales recently posted…My 2019 Reading Recap – Genre / Authors / Formats
Congrats on making your goal! My goal for reading last year was simpler: just READ MORE. I love to read, but I had let streaming and internet distract me. So I added it to my Google Calendar personal goals to remind me to read something every day. I usually read for pleasure when I go to bed. I did improve my reading in 2019, but I would love to up my game as you have done and commit to a specific number of books. One per week seems reasonable. I also really like your idea of shifting the NF interests to audio or podcasts.
Read more is a great goal. It’s been my goal for years. No matter what my number goal was, my main goal has been to read more books than I read in the past year.
That being said, I have a dramatically contradictory reading goal for 2020, which is reading less. Well that’s not technically my goal, to read less, I mean. But to read more intentionally, more leisurely, which is going to result in reading less.
Though I still am hooked onto audiobooks, and I get through them pretty fast, so will have to wait & watch how less is my less. π
Shanaya Tales recently posted…My 2019 Reading Recap – Genre / Authors / Formats
What an awesome post Shaan! However did you manage to migrate the Goodreads page to your blog? Thats pretty impressive and I totally love it.
Your analysis and breakdown of your reading is stupendous and I am greatly in love with this post.
I just couldnt get into the audiobooks and so have no clue how you manage to “read” through that and so much. My attention wanders a lot when I do it. But I have decided to opt for Kindle more this year as I have been emptying out my shelves of physical books. I will be keeping only a few and the rest I am giving away to clear space.
I havent set a Good reads number yet but have set out a 24 book reading challenge with Soumya for 2020 – do hope to see you there for the 20 or 24 section!! I would just love to peep into whatever you are reading as your book choices are truly good!!
Wish you all the best with all your 2020 goals and wishes for Christmas and New years!!! XOXO
Shalzmojo recently posted…#BookReview-Tin Man by Sarah Winman
Oh I simply took a screenshot of the goodreads page & added the image here and linked back.
And thank you so much for the wishes, Shalz. I hope you have an amazing holiday season too, and a wonderful new year ahead.
And as always, happy reading!
Shanaya Tales recently posted…My 2019 Reading Recap – Genre / Authors / Formats
That’s more than a book a week! Very well done!
Damyanti Biswas recently posted…What Small Good Thing have You Seen in this Big, Dark World?
Thank you so much, D. π
Woa that’s a big list ? kudos to you for smashing your reading goals. I really need to get started with audio books. I too feel that in a realistic world that would be more feasible even though I love a physical copy of the book.
Rajlakshmi recently posted…Musings under a dystopian sun
It is more realistic and practical. And once you get used to it, it’s addictive!!