2009 Stats and memorable events (both good and bad)

Before we get too much further into 2010 I really should do my reading wrap up post for 2009.

Here are the stats:

Books Read -  153  (29 less than last year)

Library Books - 127 (83% of all books read)

Books I Own Read - 26 (of which 16 were books I owned at the start of the year)

Books Aquired during 2009 - 74 (TBR pile continues to grow rapidly)

Books by Australia Authors - 13 (Better than I thought but not as good as last year)

New to me authors - 50

Best reading months - March and August, when I read 17 books in each month

Worst reading month - January, when I read only 8 books.

No. of rereads - 3 (very surprised at that one. Normally I don't ever reread)

No. of DNFs - 1

Average Grade - 4.111

No. of pages read - 58522

Challenges participated in - 20


Genres 


Historical Fiction - 34 (no surprises there)
Mystery - 23 (some of those had a historical setting but were counted as mysteries)
Young Adult - 22 (that one surprised me a little)
Literary Fiction - 8
Fantasy/Sci-fi -8
Urban Fantasy - 6
Chick-Lit - 5
Non-Fiction - 1
Graphic Novel - 1
Classic - 1 (need to do better)
Romance - 44 in total (of which 23 were historical romance, 10 were contemporary romance (thanks mainly to Nora Roberts because I don't often read that many other contemporary romance authors), 9 paranormal romances, 1 romantic suspense and 1 erotica).



Best books of the year - The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, The Swan Maiden by Jules Watson, and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Worst book of the year - The Fool's Tale by Nicole Galland

Overall 2009 was a pretty good year personally, with some big highlights, but also a series of unfortunate events that is still ongoing (I think). Looks like I am going to have to change my locks on my house again.

I thought it might be fun to have a look at each month to see what happened (that I blogged about at least)

January - The most overwhelming thing about January was that it was HOT! Very hot. So far we have had a pretty cool start to 2010...thank goodness. I did find my new favourite recipe featuring prawns and the barbecue - quintessentially Aussie apparently. Oh, and I had to buy a new DVD player because Richard broke the last one.

February - This was a month of huge contrasts emotionally. On the low side, we watched in horror as the Victorian bushfires claimed more than 170 lives, with thousands of homes lost. I have been up to the bushfire area a few times since, most recently in November, and it still is very emotional driving through those areas. On the plus side, I got to go to the inaugural Australian Romance Readers Convention (ARRC)! I had a fantastic time, and got to hear many authors speak, and meet people who I had only known from online before! Can't wait for the next one.

March - The highlight for March was definitely going to the Sound Relief concert, which was held to raise funds for the Bushfire victims, and flood victims in other parts of Australia. You can read about my day here, and see some videos of the musical performances at The Written World.

April - My son played his first game of Aussie Rules Football, which was an exciting moment in our house. That event coincided with the first of Dewey's Read-a-thon's for the year, which was notable mainly because I started it 24 hours early, which was a little embarrassing. Not quite bad as doing the same thing again in October though!

May - This month was when my security issues started, and I ended up having to change all the locks in my house. I think that I am still having issues with this. On New Year's Eve my son's account on the computer was on, and I noticed something flashing. Turns out that it was my main suspects MSN account. I have no idea when he was in my house, but he hasn't been on my computer for months while I have been here so now I am wondering if he now has a copy of my housekeys. The other issue I had in May was that I had internet woes, so there wasn't much posting. The one good thing was a weekend away with the girls, which I don't think I ever got around to blogging about.

June - My internet issues were resolved, I went to see Pink, who was awesome in concert, and I started cohosting Library Loot.

July - I got out of bed on a Monday morning in July and decided to go to Perth to visit my family. Two days later I was there! I never do that kind of impulsive thing, and it was good! I am glad that I went.

August - I was offered a new job in August!

September - After nearly of ten years of working for the same employer, I left my job in September. It was emotional, but it was a relief because I had not been happy there for a while, and the one and a half hour commute each was just too much! I also fitted in a quick trip to Adelaide to see friends I haven't seen for years. Good times. I also joined Twitter this month, after resisting for so long because it was going to be too big a time suck. It is, but I am so glad I did it as it has definitely improved the way we can communicate with other book bloggers. I was also incredibly honoured to be nominated for Best Romance Blog as part of BBAW.

October - Started the new job. Got new glasses. Had car trouble, again. Had an awesome day out at the races.

November - Went away for a crafting weekend (another post that is basically written but never got posted!) and came home to find that I had had more security issues. More locks replaced, and a window replaced. Announced the Terry Pratchett challenge (you can still sign up here). Over at Historical Tapestry we announced the ABCs of Historical Fiction which is an ongoing event.

December - We kicked off the 2009 Virtual Advent Tour over on a separate blog. I was in Perth again, this time for a major family event - my grandfather's 100th birthday.

One thing that I was hoping to be able to say that I did better at this year was weight loss. I started a new regime back in April and did a really good job at sticking at it for quite a while and ended up losing over 15kgs. Over the last couple of months though I have not been very good, so I have started to put some of it back on. I am still 10kgs lighter than I was at the beginning of the year, but I really need to get back on the diet bandwagon and try and lose some more this year.