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2020 End of Year Book Survey + Reading Stats

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on January 6, 2021 | 0 Comments

The end of year survey was created by Jamie @ The Perpetual Page-Turner

Past surveys

(Wow, I didn’t realize I’d been doing it every year for my whole blogging career!)

2020 Reading stats

Number of books read: 68
Number of re-reads: 16
Number of DNFs: 29
Number of audiobooks: 24 finished, 15 DNFed
Most read genre: High Fantasy (every single year lol)

Best in Books

As always, I’m excluding re-reads!

1. Best book you read all year?
Okay, this is super hard this year! I’m going to give it a three-way tie: Aurora Burning, Night of the Dragon, and The Ten Thousand Doors of January!

2. Book you were excited about & thought you were going to love more but didn’t?
Off the top of my head, Seven Deadly Shadows. I was SUPER excited for it because it’s Asian Fantasy (my fave subgenre!) and I really enjoyed Courtney’s other book, Pitch Dark. Sadly it was just a letdown for me.

A couple that I was super excited for that I DNFed are Star Daughter and Forest of Souls :(

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?
The Ten Thousand Doors of January! I picked it up because of the hype and everyone was raving about it, but I don’t like Historical so I didn’t have super high hopes. It ended up blowing me away!

4. Book you “pushed” the most people to read?
Always the Lotus War trilogy by Jay Kristoff!

5. Best series you started? Best sequel of the year? Best series ender?
Series: The Honors series by Rachel Caine
Sequel: Aurora Burning
Series ender: Night of the Dragon

6. Favorite new author you discovered?
Alix E. Harrow

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?
A Man Called Ove

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
Hmm, either Aurora Burning or Hold Back the Tide

9. Book you read that you are most likely to re-read in the next year?
Night of the Dragon, I want to listen to the audio!

*side note: I said Aurora Rising last year and I actually did re-read it, via audio!

10. Favorite cover of a book you read this year?
House of Dragons by Jessica Cluess

11. Most memorable character of the year?
Saydii from Aurora Burning

12. Most beautifully written book you read?
The Ten Thousand Doors of January, hands down!

13. Most thought-provoking / life-changing book you read?
This is always hard for me, as I don’t usually read those kinds of books. I guess Ten Thousand Doors?

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL this year to finally read?
Golden Compass

15. Favorite passage/quote from a book you read?

“To live in the hearts we leave behind is to never die.”

-Jay Kristoff, Darkdawn

“Life is meant to be felt. Else why live? Valleys make the mountains.”

-Pierce Brown, Dark Age

16. Shortest & longest book you read?
Shortest: Memento novella (82 pages)
Longest: Malice by John Gwynne (672 pages)

17. Book that shocked you the most?
Aurora Burning. There’s a bomb dropped about a character’s family that BLEW ME AWAY. I so did not see it coming, even though I really should have!

18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)
Tyler Jones and Saydii >.>

19. Favorite non-romantic relationship of the year?
Nadim & Zara from the Honors series by Rachel Caine

20. Favorite book you read from an author you’ve read previously?
Tie between Aurora Burning and Night of the Dragon

21. Best book you read that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else/peer pressure/bookstagram:
The Ten Thousand Doors of January

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read?
Probably still Kal from the Aurora Cycle (my pick from last year)

23. Best 2020 debut you read?
Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko

24. Best worldbuilding/most vivid setting you read?
Ten Thousand Doors!

25. Book that put a smile on your face/was the most fun to read?
Last year it was Serpent & Dove, this year it’s Blood & Honey – they are laugh out loud funny!

26. Book that made you cry (or nearly cry)?
Night of the Dragon

27. Hidden gem of the year?
Hold Back the Tide by Melinda Salisbury!

28. Book that crushed your soul?
The only thing that came close was Night of the Dragon

29. Most unique book you read?
Hold Back the Tide, the Honors trilogy, Ten Thousand Doors

30. Book that made you the most angry (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?
Goddess in the Machine was positively infuriating! The awful language had me so frustrated that I wanted to rage quit by halfway through the book.

Blogging & bookish life

1. New favorite book blog you discovered?
I don’t think I found any new ones :(

2. Favorite review that you wrote?
Goddess in the Machine (you know I love writing the ranty ones lol)

3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog?
Free Reading Resources for Social Distancing
Book Buddy = Organization Obsession!

4. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?
I didn’t, because COVID sucks and YALLfest was cancelled *cries* I’m seriously so bummed. It would have been my 8th year going. And I won’t be able to go next year, either, because I’ll be on my honeymoon :(

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life?
Wow, 2020 sucked. I got nothin’ for this.

7. Most popular post on your blog (whether it be by comments or views)?
Books I Predict Will Be 5 Stars – with a whopping 4 comments. Wow, that’s sad.

8. Post you wished got a little more love?
Signs You’re Book Obsessed

9. Best bookish discovery (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?
Book Buddy!!! Best way to keep track of books I own!

10. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of the year?
I re-read 10 books for my Re-read Challenge, got 5 bingos on my Reading Bingo (almost a coverall) and all 12 of my recommendations for 12 recs from 12 friends on Instagram; but unfortunately I had to lower my Goodreads challenge goal to make it :(

Looking ahead

1. One book you didn’t get to last year but will be your #1 priority this year?
The Iron Raven by Julie Kagawa

2. Book release you are most anticipating (non-debut)?
Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

3. 2021 debut you are most anticipating?
Son of the Storm by Suvi Davies Okungbowa

4. Series ending/sequel you are most anticipating?
Aurora Cycle #3

5. One thing you hope to accomplish or do in your reading/blogging life?
I would really love to read 100 books! I haven’t reached 100 since 2013. I wanted to last year but was 2 books short >:(

6. A 2021 release you’ve already read & recommend to everyone:
We Free the Stars!

A closer look at my 2020 stats

Pie charts made with Canva!

Rating stats

SO. MANY. DNFS. I also had a lot of 5 star books this year because I re-read so many favorites, but sadly only 5 of those were new reads :(

Genre stats

I actually branched out a little more in 2020! I’ve been saying for a couple years that I wanted to, but I always end up reading 90% sci-fi and fantasy and not much else. The non sci-fi and fantasy actually made up nearly 1/3 of my books for the year! I’m so proud of myself!

Format stats

I’m still doing fairly well at not accepting too many review obligations so my ARCs/eARCs were fairly low! I lot of the paper ARCs were from YALLfest, too. It’s freeing not to have as many obligations and to just be able to read what I want to!