As a general rule, I dislike posting my reading statistics. Almost every other book blogger I follow seems to read a minimum of a book a week, and many post reviews of several books per week. I fall woefully short of the adequate amount of reading required to be a credible book blogger, for several reasons.

The first is that I read fairly slowly. If I finish a 300-page book in a week, I have had a very good reading week. The second is that a significant percentage of the books I read are nonfiction books. Thirdly, when I read those books, I take notes as I read. That sounds like work to many people, but I genuinely enjoy doing it as it keeps me engaged in the book and note-taking helps cement the pertinent ideas permanently in my memory. Lastly, between homeschooling, homemaking, living life and preparing for the class I teach outside of our homeschooling time, I am not able to dedicate the time to reading that I would like.

The combination of above factors is probably an indication that I shouldn’t even have a book blog. Nevertheless, here I am, so I’m going to do the proper thing and post my stats for 2018, pitiful though they may be. On a positive note, when I went back through and tallied up the number of book reviews I wrote this year, it was indeed small, yet considerably more than I thought. Here goes:

• January– 4 books read and reviewed
• February– 3 books read and reviewed
• March- 0 books reviewed as I logged offline for Lent
• April– 6 books read and reviewed
• May– 6 books read and reviewed
• June– 2 books read and reviewed
• July– 7 books read and reviewed (summertime!)
• August– 2 books read and reviewed
• September– 5 books read and reviewed
• October– 1 book read and reviewed
• November– 2 books read and reviewed
• December– 3 books read and reviewed

The sum of the books read and reviewed is 41. Additionally, I estimated that I read 6-8 books that I chose not to review for various reasons, ranging from redundant and similar to another book, to the fact that they were classic literature assigned books that have been so widely read that I chose to skip a review, to the fact that in some instances, I just ran out of time.

Altogether, I read an estimated 48 books in 2018, which is far more than I thought I read, but short of my goal of 52 books, which would have made for one book per week. Obviously,  I have written far more than 41 posts in 2018, including posts on reading, the business of books, education, and various rabbit trail posts.

Well, that’s my wrap-up!

Here’s to a 2019 filled with a continued love of reading, learning, and living!

Happy New Year!