2006 in Books

Like the last couple of years, I've done a compiled list of reading for 2006, beginning with a list of books that were memorable, not necessarily for their Literary Quality.

Most Memorable (not necessarily best, but stuck in my head)

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, by Marina Lewycka
Misquoting Jesus, by Bart D. Ehrman
Which Brings Me to You, by Steve Almond and Julianna Baggott
A History of the English Language, by Michael Drout (on CD)

Best 5

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
Misquoting Jesus, by Bart D. Ehrman
Words, Words, Words, by David Crystal
The Nanny Diaries, by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus (on CD)

Least Memorable (otherwise known as "I read wha-at?")

We Interrupt This Broadcast, by Joe Garner
The Soul of Christianity, by Huston Smith

5 Books (or Authors) Best Forgotten

Out of Bounds, by Roy Simmons [nothing else is even close to this one]

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Now for the statistics for the year:

number of books read in 2006: 77
number of books read in 2005: 127
number of books read in 2004: 102
number of books read in 2003: 100
number of books read in 2002: 118
number of books read in 2001: 83
number of books read in 2000: 128
TOTAL : 735

average read per year, over seven years: 105
average read per month: 6.42 (over seven years: 8.75)
average read per week: 1.48 (over seven years: 2.02)

number read in worst month: 4--tie: April, May, June, and August (in 2005: 5--January and June; in 2004: 0--July)

number read in best month: 11--January (in 2005: 21--February; in 2004: 12--June)

number of fiction: 56 (in 2005: 74; in 2004: 61)
number of non-fiction: 21 (in 2005: 53; in 2004: 41)

number of female authors: 24
number of male authors: 33
[discrepancies are due to multiple books read by one author,individual books by multiple authors and edited books, which are not counted at all]
I never did a count for this last year