I find it interesting to look back at where my books come from, and how this changes from year to year. So far this year, it seems like I’m reading fewer e-books and more from various libraries. I’m also doing a bit better about reading the secondhand books I already own, but – like last year – the largest proportion of my reading is still review copies of new books.
Here are the statistics for the year so far, in both real numbers and percentages (not including the books I’m currently reading, DNFs and books I only skimmed BUT including picture books, which I don’t count towards my yearly total):
- Free print or e-copy from the publisher or author: 45 (28%)
- Public library: 42 (26%)
- Secondhand purchase: 29 (18%)
- Downloaded from NetGalley or Edelweiss: 27 (17%)
- University library: 8 (5%)
- Gifts: 5 (3%)
- Twitter giveaway win: 3 (2%)
- New (bargain) book purchase: 1 (0.5%)
- Kindle purchase: 1 (0.5%)
Bookish Beck = Rebecca Foster. American transplant to England. Freelance proofreader and book reviewer.
Bookish Beck 
Interesting. I did a quick analysis of my reading so far this year: local library 37%; Kindle 20%; hardcopy 13%; Netgalley (ebooks) 30%.
I think my library score isn’t truly representative of my reading over a whole year – I tend to borrow more books at the start of the year when I read prize shortlists.
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Interesting — I hadn’t thought to look at how the patterns change through the year. I’m trying to read more books I own through the summer (thanks to #20Books), but that may end up including some review books.
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My #20books challenge is also focused on books I own (particularly ones that I’ve had on my shelf for more than a year) so I expect my percentages will change a lot by the end of 2018.
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A quick Goodreads calculation tells me: 52 books read. 39 from the library, 6 bought used, 7 bought new! I’m just thrilled to have read 13 of my own books this year so far! Woohoo!
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That’s really great that 25% of your reads were books you owned! And then for the rest you supported the library. It’s a win-win 🙂
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I always find this fascinating. I do re-reading and get books as presents, from charity shops and as NetGalley reads most these days, still.
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I’ve been re-reading more this year than I had for a long time…perhaps the subject for an upcoming post!
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