As you know if you're reading this (more than likely; who knows how you found your way here), I keep statistics on what I read, watch, write, and run every year (and have for the past twenty years--see below for that long, long compilation). The statistics are below, and there are reflections below those, should you be interested in seeing what I think about my stats.
Statistics from 2022
Number of Books Read: 94
Number Read in the Bathroom: 5
Number Read on an Airplane: 5
Best Books I Read This Year (not necessarily published this year, of course): Foster, Small Things Like These, My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Fine: A Comic About Gender, Four Thousand Weeks, Batman: Earth One, vols. 1 and 2, Wintering, IN., Sabrina; Running While Black;
Worst Books I Read This Year: Semicolon, Manifesto, Batman: Rebirth, Book 2; Run and Hide; Acting Class; The Puzzler; Mecca;
Most Disappointing Books I Read This Year: South to America; The Puzzler; Semicolon; Manifesto; Batman: Rebirth, Book 2;
Average Read per Month: 7.75
Average Read per Week: 1.79
Number Read in Worst Month: 4 (June and November)
Number Read in Best Month: 13 (January and March)
Number/Percentage by Male Authors: 31 (33.7%)
Number/Percentage by Female Authors: 59 (64.1%)
Number/Percentage by Non-Binary Authors: 2 (2.2%; both graphic novels)
Number/Percentage by openly LGBTQ+ Authors: 12 (13%)
Number/Percentage that were anthologies (or published by more than one author): 2 (2.1%)
Number/Percentage by World (Non-American or British) Authors: 21 (22.8%)
Number/Percentage by American Racial/Ethnic Minorities: 28 (30.4%)
Number/Percentage by British Racial/Ethnic Minorities: 3 (3.3%)
Number/Percentage Translated Into English: 7 (7.5%)
Fiction as Percentage of Total: 32% (30)
Non-Fiction as Percentage of Total: 28.7% (27)
Poetry as Percentage of Total: 3.2% (3)
Drama as Percentage of Total: 0% (0)
Graphic Novels as Percentage of Total: 35.1% (33)
Number of Movies Watched: 33
Number/Percentage Watched in a Theater: 24
Number/Percentage Watched on an Airplane: 0
Number/Percentage Watched by Myself: 15
Number/Percentage Watched with Courtney: 13
Number/Percentage Watched with Steve: 4
Number/Percentage Watched with Courtney and her family: 1
Average Watched per Month: 2.75
Average Watched per Week: 0.63
Number Watched in Worst Month: 0 (June)
Number Watched in Best Month: 6 (July)
Fiction as Percentage of Total: 100% (33)
Non-Fiction (Documentaries) as Percentage of Total: 0% (0)
Best Movies I Saw This Year (not necessarily released this year or viewed for the first time): Don’t Look Up; Oscar-Nominated Shorts (Live Action); The Batman; The Last Dragon (in the theatre!!); Donnie Darko (in the theatre!!); Emergency; Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (in the theatre!!); Official Competition; Star Wars (in the theatre!!); The Empire Strikes Back (in the theatre!!); Ghostbusters (with the Nashville Symphony!!); Banshees of Inishirin; She Said; The Wonder; Glass Onion;
Worst Movies I Saw This Year: Funny Pages; Oscar-Nominated Shorts (Animated);
Most Disappointing Movies: Elvis; Thor: Love & Thunder; Nope;
Number of Academic Presentations: 1
Number of Academic Publications: 0
Number of Creative Publications: 10 (6 essays; 4 poems)
Number of Books Published: 0
Number of Readings: 0
Number of Book Reviews: 34
Number of Freelance Donation Letters and Press Releases: 9
Number of Races Run: 1 (Frostbite 10K; won age group with a 7:54 pace)
This year was definitely an interesting one from a statistical point of view. I’ve never had a year where I read more books than I watched movies, but, not only did I do so this year, I read almost three times as many movies as I watched. That was partly by design, but partly not. There weren’t as many good movies out this year (the after-effects of the pandemic shutdown), but I also just found myself wanting to read more books. Thus, I would think, “I should go see x” or “I wonder what’s on Netflix,” but then I would think, “I would rather read this book right now.” I’m glad for the development, but it was a bit unexpected. Of course, the job change had a good deal to do with this change, too. I just couldn’t read that many books when I was teaching 100ish students in writing-intensive classes most semesters. Now that I have a more manageable load, I could manage much better (as the word would imply). I also read a wider variety of books this year, though my poetry and drama categories suffered mightily. I’ll try to work on that next year. (Shout out to Nashville Public Library for having so many of these books I read and to the Belcourt for showing such great films--new and old).
One development I am glad to see is that I continue to read more minority authors (whether I’m defining that by gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, language, race/ethnicity). I’m also glad that that development is now happening naturally, as I don’t look at those markers when I’m selecting works (save for when I’m reading quite specifically about those backgrounds). Those are simply the types of books that interest me now.
One other change, in the book world, is that I’ve begun writing book reviews on a regular basis. That change forces me to think through the books as I’m reading them to see what I want to say about them. It also makes me feel like I’m a bit more involved in the conversation that is the literary world. I don’t know how many people read those reviews or how many people read books I review, but I know that a few people do, and that’s enough for me right now.
Not surprisingly, my number of academic publications and presentations has continued to drop, though I do still have one article floating around out there (I submitted it about three years ago, but they’ve had editorial changes, and there was the pandemic, of course). I didn’t do much creative writing throughout most of the year, which leads to fewer publications, of course, but that has changed near the end of the year. Thus, I’m hoping to see that category increase next year. I also did some freelance volunteer writing work, which I greatly enjoyed. I got to learn a good deal about a variety of small organizations doing good work, then help them with some writing. If you’re curious about doing that type of writing, check out Catchafire.
Running was a challenge this year, which was especially frustrating after last year went so well. I had a hamstring injury that I just couldn’t get diagnosed correctly. Once I did, roughly halfway through the year, I was able to start running again. I’ve built back up to a decent fitness level, but certainly not where I was last year. I was glad to sneak in one race this year, though it was a more challenging course than I was hoping for. Still, it was good just to be able to go out there and run hard. I’ll keep working in the coming year, as long as I stay healthy, and see where the running goes.
Number of Books Read: 94
Number Read in the Bathroom: 5
Number Read on an Airplane: 5
Best Books I Read This Year (not necessarily published this year, of course): Foster, Small Things Like These, My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Fine: A Comic About Gender, Four Thousand Weeks, Batman: Earth One, vols. 1 and 2, Wintering, IN., Sabrina; Running While Black;
Worst Books I Read This Year: Semicolon, Manifesto, Batman: Rebirth, Book 2; Run and Hide; Acting Class; The Puzzler; Mecca;
Most Disappointing Books I Read This Year: South to America; The Puzzler; Semicolon; Manifesto; Batman: Rebirth, Book 2;
Average Read per Month: 7.75
Average Read per Week: 1.79
Number Read in Worst Month: 4 (June and November)
Number Read in Best Month: 13 (January and March)
Number/Percentage by Male Authors: 31 (33.7%)
Number/Percentage by Female Authors: 59 (64.1%)
Number/Percentage by Non-Binary Authors: 2 (2.2%; both graphic novels)
Number/Percentage by openly LGBTQ+ Authors: 12 (13%)
Number/Percentage that were anthologies (or published by more than one author): 2 (2.1%)
Number/Percentage by World (Non-American or British) Authors: 21 (22.8%)
Number/Percentage by American Racial/Ethnic Minorities: 28 (30.4%)
Number/Percentage by British Racial/Ethnic Minorities: 3 (3.3%)
Number/Percentage Translated Into English: 7 (7.5%)
Fiction as Percentage of Total: 32% (30)
Non-Fiction as Percentage of Total: 28.7% (27)
Poetry as Percentage of Total: 3.2% (3)
Drama as Percentage of Total: 0% (0)
Graphic Novels as Percentage of Total: 35.1% (33)
Number of Movies Watched: 33
Number/Percentage Watched in a Theater: 24
Number/Percentage Watched on an Airplane: 0
Number/Percentage Watched by Myself: 15
Number/Percentage Watched with Courtney: 13
Number/Percentage Watched with Steve: 4
Number/Percentage Watched with Courtney and her family: 1
Average Watched per Month: 2.75
Average Watched per Week: 0.63
Number Watched in Worst Month: 0 (June)
Number Watched in Best Month: 6 (July)
Fiction as Percentage of Total: 100% (33)
Non-Fiction (Documentaries) as Percentage of Total: 0% (0)
Best Movies I Saw This Year (not necessarily released this year or viewed for the first time): Don’t Look Up; Oscar-Nominated Shorts (Live Action); The Batman; The Last Dragon (in the theatre!!); Donnie Darko (in the theatre!!); Emergency; Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (in the theatre!!); Official Competition; Star Wars (in the theatre!!); The Empire Strikes Back (in the theatre!!); Ghostbusters (with the Nashville Symphony!!); Banshees of Inishirin; She Said; The Wonder; Glass Onion;
Worst Movies I Saw This Year: Funny Pages; Oscar-Nominated Shorts (Animated);
Most Disappointing Movies: Elvis; Thor: Love & Thunder; Nope;
Number of Academic Presentations: 1
Number of Academic Publications: 0
Number of Creative Publications: 10 (6 essays; 4 poems)
Number of Books Published: 0
Number of Readings: 0
Number of Book Reviews: 34
Number of Freelance Donation Letters and Press Releases: 9
Number of Races Run: 1 (Frostbite 10K; won age group with a 7:54 pace)
This year was definitely an interesting one from a statistical point of view. I’ve never had a year where I read more books than I watched movies, but, not only did I do so this year, I read almost three times as many movies as I watched. That was partly by design, but partly not. There weren’t as many good movies out this year (the after-effects of the pandemic shutdown), but I also just found myself wanting to read more books. Thus, I would think, “I should go see x” or “I wonder what’s on Netflix,” but then I would think, “I would rather read this book right now.” I’m glad for the development, but it was a bit unexpected. Of course, the job change had a good deal to do with this change, too. I just couldn’t read that many books when I was teaching 100ish students in writing-intensive classes most semesters. Now that I have a more manageable load, I could manage much better (as the word would imply). I also read a wider variety of books this year, though my poetry and drama categories suffered mightily. I’ll try to work on that next year. (Shout out to Nashville Public Library for having so many of these books I read and to the Belcourt for showing such great films--new and old).
One development I am glad to see is that I continue to read more minority authors (whether I’m defining that by gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, language, race/ethnicity). I’m also glad that that development is now happening naturally, as I don’t look at those markers when I’m selecting works (save for when I’m reading quite specifically about those backgrounds). Those are simply the types of books that interest me now.
One other change, in the book world, is that I’ve begun writing book reviews on a regular basis. That change forces me to think through the books as I’m reading them to see what I want to say about them. It also makes me feel like I’m a bit more involved in the conversation that is the literary world. I don’t know how many people read those reviews or how many people read books I review, but I know that a few people do, and that’s enough for me right now.
Not surprisingly, my number of academic publications and presentations has continued to drop, though I do still have one article floating around out there (I submitted it about three years ago, but they’ve had editorial changes, and there was the pandemic, of course). I didn’t do much creative writing throughout most of the year, which leads to fewer publications, of course, but that has changed near the end of the year. Thus, I’m hoping to see that category increase next year. I also did some freelance volunteer writing work, which I greatly enjoyed. I got to learn a good deal about a variety of small organizations doing good work, then help them with some writing. If you’re curious about doing that type of writing, check out Catchafire.
Running was a challenge this year, which was especially frustrating after last year went so well. I had a hamstring injury that I just couldn’t get diagnosed correctly. Once I did, roughly halfway through the year, I was able to start running again. I’ve built back up to a decent fitness level, but certainly not where I was last year. I was glad to sneak in one race this year, though it was a more challenging course than I was hoping for. Still, it was good just to be able to go out there and run hard. I’ll keep working in the coming year, as long as I stay healthy, and see where the running goes.