YetiStomper: Mid-Year Review

So far this year, I've managed to read 27 books although 7 of which were graphic novels.

Here's a few interesting stats about my reading habits the last 6 months.

Science Fiction: 7
Fantasy: 9
Non-Fiction: 2
Star Wars Books: 3
Short Story Anthologies: 2
Young Adult Books: 3
Fiction Writers I Hadn't Read Before: 8
Books over 500 pages: 7
Graphic Novels: 7
Male Authors: 15
Female Authors: 4

My goal for this year was to average at least 50 pages a day or about 1 full length novel a week. I've found this is about as aggressive as I can be while maintaining a full-time job and a social life. Without graphic novels I am stand at 20 books, 6 off from the pace at the half way mark. However, I might still be there in terms of page count since I made an effort to get through some of the doorstopping tomes that had been taunting me from the Reading Pile particularly Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell as well as the mammoth (and classic) Bone omnibus.

I managed a decent mix between Fantasy and SF with Fantasy getting a little boost from the two Fantasy trilogies I read (Power/Voices/Gifts and The First Law) versus only Star Wars (3 books) adding to the SF side of things. If you count series as a single book it's a 1:1 ratio so I'm happy with the blend of SF and Fantasy along with some non-fiction and graphic novels. It helps to avoid getting too burnt out with a specific genre or sub-genre. I recommend keeping it fresh by balancing "heavy" reading with faster "popcorn" reads and not to try too many new authors back to back to avoid the potential of several "misses" in a row.

I managed to sample a portion of Short Fiction with the 2 anthologies but I'd still like to be better read in that subsection of genre fiction. I'm also a little disappointed in the ratio of male to female authors. You could say my reading habits are sexist but honestly I never even thought about it until now.

I also managed to read 8 fiction authors I never have before.

-Paolo Bacigalupi
-Joe Abercrombie
-Stephenie Meyer
-Jose Saramago
-Bryan Lee O' Malley
-Susanna Clarke
-Bernard Beckett
-China Mieville

Out of those 8 I would say Abercrombie, Bacigalupi, Mieville and Beckett are the ones I would be most likely to read again although I will have to finish the Scott Pilgrim series whenever the concluding volume hits stores.

Favorite Read of the Year: The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. I know the books didn't come out this year but it doesn't stop Abercrombie's debut trilogy from being the most enjoyable and entrancing thing I pulled off the shelf this year. I absolutely tore through them at least a 100 page a day pace. Such a fun, fresh, and face paced take on the genre really revitalized my opinion of Fantasy, which was somewhat jaded after watching so many long series drag on forever only to end poorly.


Goals for the 2nd Half of 2009
-Continue to read at a 50+ page a day pace
-Read at least 3 more short fiction anthologies
-Read Shadows of the Wind
-Read at least 3 more Hugo/Nebula winners
-Tackle Y: The Last Man (10 Graphic Novels)

So 6 months into 2009, how many (and what kind of) books have you read? What are your reading related goals for the rest of the year?