2014, in some numbers, & 2015, in some plans

So, 133 books total.

Let's break it down a few ways. First, target age.

• 0 children's books (that I recorded anyway - I pick up children's books at bookstores all the time and read them, but I never write them down)
• 41 middle grade books
• 39 young adult books (these last two are fairly arbitrary distinctions, based on my feelings about who they are aimed at)
• 25 adult books (and again, adult in that they are written for adults - get your mind out of the gutter!)
• 28 classics (this is not a target age, but I couldn't place Shakespeare or Rudolfo Anaya or Chinua Achebe - everyone should read these)

I feel pretty good about those numbers - a far more even distribution than I expected. That classics number was helped enormously by a lot of Shakespeare, but I'd like to keep it high in 2015, even when I've finished up my Shakespeare re-read (5 left, if I'm remembering correctly).

Next, genre. These numbers won't add up - some books defy genre and others drag in more than one.

• 22 realistic fiction
• 13-ish historical fiction
• 20-ish fantasy novels, 12 sci-fi, and about 5 that kind of fit in here (supernatural/paranormal/surrealism/magical realism, that sort of thing)
• 9 mysteries
• 13 graphic novels
• 5 verse novels
• 22 plays (all Shakespeare, as you might expect - I should try to broaden my dramatic horizons in the coming year)
• 8 biographies/autobiographies/memoirs
• 9 other kinds of nonfiction

Again, these aren't bad. I should probably read a little more nonfiction. And some plays and poetry wouldn't be a terrible idea.

So...2015. I don't want to set a total number goal right now. I'll probably strive to beat 133 because I can't help myself, but I don't want to avoid especially long or especially challenging books because they'll slow me down. I might start a second 40-book challenge for the second half of the school year (I passed 40 on the first one long ago and I filled in all the required boxes over this break). It keeps me digging into different genres. I've also been looking at the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. Not a bad idea.