JANUARY 2021 UPDATE
I'm going to update on the last day of the month since I have time today, and don't see myself finishing another book before tomorrow.
Overall I think I did great this month with volume and enjoyment, but not all the goals. Spent a little bit of extra money compared to some months due to series and other tidbits.
Book count is higher due to being in a big reading mood and reading a lot of series binges of books easy to get through, many of them under 300 pages. Page count does not include books I read on, but did not finish, such as 25% of the Stand, some of 2 audio, etc. I don't pay much attention to page count, so I don't feel like counting pages of non-finished works as well as tracking all the other stuff.
- Read Count - 32
- Page Count of finished - 8,741
- Most read Genre: Urban Fantasy
- Re-Read Just 1, Arc - 1
- Money Spent on books (not all read) and services: 61.82
- Primary source was Amazon (80%), mainly series instead of stand-a-lones.
Majority was indie and self-published at 75%. Besides Urban Fantasy, read a drama and some mysteries, and a few romance.
Diversity Stats - None: 59%; Foreign: 3%; Mental Illness 3%; Combo 6%; Disability 25%; LGBTQ 3%. For romance books only - Straight is 88.9% and LGBT is 7.4%, with one reverse harem.
Age group is 95% Adult with one Middle Grade
Country setting is mainly, as always, with United States at 65%, with 25% in the United Kingdom, 1 in Scotland, 5% marked as unknown
Services Goals -
To not let KU dominate reading, failed that in January. I did have success on second goal to use rental services enough to make cost worth it - Used KU and Scribd enough to justify expense.
Kindle Unlimited: 18 (justified expense)
Scribd: 3 (justified expense)
Audio: 4
E-Book: 26
Paperback: 2
Author Goals -
I did finish one Perry Mason novel by Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Cautious Croquette. I have the goal of finishing 8 of these this year. I previously listened on Audio via Scribd but have a few paperbacks purchased to read and re-read.
I did not meet other author goals; however, I have been re-reading The Stand as my Stephen King goal and am currently at 25%. I also am still working on The Rage by F. Paul Wilson.
Genre Specific Goals -
Did not meet any goals or make progress
Other Goals Listed -
Did not meet any of these goals or make progress
Thoughts on books read
I read a lot of Helen Harper through some series, one purchasable and the rest on KU. I got annoyed at several books but they are like chips you cannot stop consuming until the series is complete. 3 series total and easy reads. I am taking a break from Helen Harper for now other than the original series I read by her, Firebrand, which is the most enjoyable and the only one still in progress of the three series I read (Firebrand, Bo Blackman, Blood Destiny). The next book in the Firebrand series does not have a release date, but the series has spawned a spin-off series that I'm looking forward to. I believe it may be a trilogy. The release date is early February, pre-ordered this one.
I started the year binge reading an Urban Fantasy series by Lindsay Buroker (Death Before Dragons and Secrets of the Sword), and read the first 8 in the series. There is one final book in this series being released in 2021, Secrets of the Sword III, which I am looking forward to. It's set to be released February 2021, I have pre-ordered.
With audio I did the Middle Grade book for a challenge on Twitter - Nightbooks by J.A. White. I also finished The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley - both were good audio. I listened to The Woman on the Orient Express by Lindsay J Ashford for 75% of the book, then read the rest of it. The narrator is fine but the story was dragging on and I can read quicker than listen, was ready to be done with it. The other Audio was radio stories, Vincent Price Present Volume 4 - it was 2 hours and very fun, I plan to continue with these fun releases on Scribd.