christianreader | Statistics and Awards

Crossposted to my own journal, so apologies to those who get it twice.

Statistics:
Total number of books: 191 (53 less than last year? Where did I go wrong?)
Total number of pages: 54.071 (7000 less than last year, so I can't even claim it's because I read longer books.)
Average number of pages per book: ~283 (...even though I did - 40 pages longer on average).
Average number of pages a day: ~148
Rereads: 21%

Genres: (%)
Young Adult Fiction - 9.4
Young Adult Sci-fi/Fantasy - 25.7 (I blame my job at Tellerup for this)
Fiction - 14.1
Sci-fi/Fantasy - 16.8
Chick-lit - 5.2
The Classics - 4.2
Mystery/Psychologial Thriller - 7.3
Non-fiction/Biography - 8.9
Poetry/Short-stories - 2.6
Christian Fiction - 5.8

A list of all books I've read this year (all that've been published yet anyway) can be found here

Three Authors That I Fell in Love With This Year:
Robin Hobb
Walter Moers
Jussi Adler-Olsen

Best New Series:
The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb

Ten Most Enjoyed Fiction (not counting rereads):
In no particular order - I couldn't make a top 10
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer
The Giver - Lois Lowry
Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
Enchantment - Orson Scott Card
Flaskepost fra P - Jussi Adler-Olsen
A Mango-Shaped Space - Wendy Mass
Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hobb
The Year of Plenty - Rebecca Brammer
Dronningeofret - Hanne-Vibeke Holst
The City of Dreaming Books - Walter Moers

Ten Least Enjoyed:
Listed from least bad to I-want-to-burn-this-book-to-prevent-others-from-reading-it bad
Addition - Toni Jordan
The Way of the Heart: Desert Spirituality and Contemporary Ministry - Henri Nouwen
The Power of a Praying Wife - Stormie Omartian
Pet Semetary - Stephen King
Everything is Fine - Ann Dee Ellis
Reunion - Fred Uhlman
Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading - Maureen Corrigan
A Game of Thrones - George R.R. Martin
The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling
Deadly Angel - Fred Rosen

Books I Couldn't Finish
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - too disturbing and too boring at the same time. I got about half-way through and then put it down with no desire of picking it up again.
The Cider House Rules by John Irving - I haven't completely given up on it yet. This just wasn't the right time for me to read it.
The Place of the Lion by Charles Walter Williams - 1/4 of the way through and I was still utterly uninterested in the plot. Life is too short for such books.

Books I'm Currently Reading
The Girl on the Swing by Richard Adams
Be Angry But Don't Blow It by Lisa Bevere
Do You Think I'm Beautiful? by Angela Thomas
Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger

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Awards:

Best classic-I-should-have-read-earlier: Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. I had no idea how charming and humours it was. Dark too! although I don't think children really notice that.

Most Thought-Provoking Young Adult Novel: The Giver by Lois Lowry.

Best Non-Fiction: This is difficult, but probably The Atheistic Devotional by Leif Andersen. But... Didn't I Pray Enough also by him runs a close second. If I should choose a book that has actually been published in English it would have to be Julie & Julia by Julie Powell.

Best Reimagining of a Legend/Fairy Tale: Enchantment by Orson Scott Card. Very interesting retelling of Sleeping Beauty.

The Book is Better Than the Movie Award: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. The movie isn't horrible, but it definitely doesn't live up to the expectations set by the book and the radio play.

Epic that Completely Captured my Attention: The Pillars of Earth Ken Follett. I was hesitant to start because it was SO LONG and SO HEAVY, but wow! The Farseeker Trilogy by Robin Hobb runs a close second.

Worst Book That Everybody Raved About: A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. Best fantasy ever? Really?

Best Atmosphere in a Novel: The Year of Plenty by Rebecca Brammer. I almost felt like I was reading a new LIW book! :-)

Best Memoir: Julie & Julia by Julie Powell. Very amusing.

Most Surprising Book: The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers. I stumbled across this while in NYC and loved the cover, but couldn't make my mind up to buy it. When I came home I couldn't get it out of my mind, so I got it out of the library and loved it so much more than I'd ever expected to!

Best Book I Would Never Have Read If Somebody Online Hadn't Told Me To: A tie between Knife by R.J. Anderson and A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass. Both brilliant for very different reasons.

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Happy 2010!