Now that we’re fully halfway through 2020, it seemed like a good time to check in and see how I’ve been doing this year. I decided to do an overview/stats report because I thought I’d already done the Midyear Freakout Tag, though a search of my own blog reveals I have not (maybe I was thinking of the End of Year Tag).
But oh well, getting to analyze all my data is always fun. Even if this post is massively self-indulgent.
Stats are as of July 9, 2020.
First Half of 2020
[drawn from my Goodreads Year in Books + my books/blogging spreadsheet, heavily based on Kal @ Reader Voracious’s template]
- 209 books (66,777 pages) read; 51 books DNF’d
- Average rating: 3.59
- Shortest: Nevertheless, She Persisted: Flash Fiction Project (47 pages)
- Longest: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (1,316 pages)
- Most Popular: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (also read by 894,979 people)
- Least Popular: Nesting Beasts by Naiche Lizzette Parker (also read by 2 people)
- First Book of 2020: This Is How You Survive by Lana Rafaela Cindric [reread]
- Most Recent Read: When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors & asha bendele

I know the screenshot above isn’t super clear, and that was intentional — I didn’t want to make this post too long by listing out or separately showing each graph (and wasn’t sure anyone besides me would care), and you can probably get a clear enough view of the trends if you’re curious.
Here are my main takeaways/highlights:
- I have only read eight 5-star books so far this year, literally half of them rereads … but I’ve read thirty-eight 4.5-star books, so I may need to adjust the scale.
- As was the case last year, I read by far the most backlist books (176 so far), though for what it’s worth many of them are from 2019 and 2018. This is in large part because I draw readathon TBRs from my existing TBR, and also because I’m participating in #StartOnYourShelfathon.
- In second place, surprisingly, are rereads (39 so far).
- That June was my worst reading month, with my lowest read count (29 books + 11 DNFs) and lowest average rating (3.23) so far, was definitely a big surprise. And a disappointing break in the upwards trend, as least as far as read count.
- I’ve started tracking the number of new books I acquire and whether I’ve read them (the last two columns in the “per month” chart). It’s a lot higher than I thought it was — mostly due to freebies and promotions, plus also library ebooks — so I’ve really been pushing myself to slow down and read what I’ve already had for a while.
- Lately I’d been curious about my genre preferences, so I decided to track both my read count and DNF count for each.
- I knew I read but also DNF’d the most contemporary (42 read + 12 DNF = 78%) and fantasy (53 read + 19 DNF = 74%), but
- I actually had a surprising success rate with sci-fi (37 read + 4 DNF = 90%) and nonfiction (24 read + 6 DNF = 80%).
- There were also genres that I’m very selective about, so the few books I read, I enjoyed enough to finish, including mystery/thriller and poetry.
Second Half of 2020
- My 2020 on Goodreads “review” has been updated; I’ll update it again at the end of this year/beginning of next.
- I’ve been making good progress but have yet to complete my Reading Challenges, so those are ongoing. Though I may finish early, I don’t have plans to pick up any new ones … but I may join readathons and readalongs that pique my interest.
- Goodreads challenge: 209 / 300 (70%)
- Beat the Backlist Challenge: 157 / 200 (78.5%)
- Beat the Backlist Bingo: 68 / 80 prompts (85%)
- #StartOnYourShelfathon: 101 Read + 21 DNF
- 89 remaining on #SOYS TBR
- 90 on second #SOYS TBR, to start on if I finish the first set
- Year of the Asian 2020: 40 / 51 = Giant Panda badge
- Books and Tea Challenge: 10 / 12 prompts
- Since my senior year of college/uni starts in two months, I anticipate that my reading pace will slow down — considering I’m taking 19 credits and writing a senior thesis and applying for post-grad stuff — but maybe not by a ton, since my classes will be online-only like the second half of last semester.

This post is backdated.
- How does your year in books look so far?
- Do you track your reading stats, or do you let Goodreads (or another site/app) do the analysis for you?
- Will you be changing your approach to reading in the second half of the year, based on what you’ve learned (if anything) in the first half?
Congrats on having read 209 books, it seems pretty impossible to me haha.
I guess it makes sense that you DNF the most books from the genres you read most of.. but wow, sci-fi is doing good huh
All the best for reading for the rest of the year 🙂
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I am LOVING all of your charts!! They appeal to my super organised work-self!! 😂💕
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WOW. These are amazing stats!! Also I’m in absolute awe of the number of books you’re reading like wow. Good luck on your reading challenges!!
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i use kals spreadsheet and goodreads and my bulle tjournal to track my reading! 🙂 if they all match up then i know im on track
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I have read 60/100, and probably around 110 including re-reads of books!
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