Happy Friday!
I have a fairly short, but very fun post today, inspired by this one right here by Liesl Brunner on her website. She recently shared a whole bunch of stats about the books that she owned, and I thought it looked like such an interesting experiment that I couldn’t help but join in. Thanks, Liesl!
What will we be doing? Well, exploring my bookshelf!
Like Liesl, I went through and counted all of the books I own, divided them into various categories, and entered all the stats into pie charts just for your viewing pleasure, haha.
How many books do I own?
Turns out, it’s 167! This surprised me a bit, but I’m not sure whether I was expecting to own more or less. For years, I just raided the library and my parents’ bookshelves, and it’s only been in the past couple of years that I’ve started accumulating my own collection (mostly from local thrift stores and charity shops, which is why so many of my books are older).
I do have a few books on my shelves that I’ve read and either don’t agree with, or don’t enjoy, so I’ll be thinning them out at some point. But…I haven’t gotten that far yet, haha.
Fiction vs Non-Fiction
I have 66 fiction books, and 101 non-fiction books. As you can tell, for a long time, I was in a non-fiction kick. Recently though, I’ve started emphasizing fiction a bit more, as I notice I’m more motivated to write my own stories when I read others’.
Books By Genre
I have eight distinct genres that I sorted my books into: fantasy, memoir, historical, dystopian, sci-fi, contemporary, Christian (meaning non-fiction Christian books), and uncategorized (anything else – recipe books, writing books, crochet pattern books, etc.)
Fantasy: 14 books
Memoir: 14 books
Historical: 18 books
Dystopian: 19 books
Sci-Fi: 2 books
Contemporary: 10 books
Christian (non-fiction): 61 books
Uncategorized: 40 books
I wasn’t super surprised by these stats actually, as I really like dystopian and historical fiction, read a lot of non-fiction Christian books, and am pretty even on most other genres. Except for poor science fiction, haha. Nothing against it, but it’s usually not my preference.
Books by Target Audience
It seems I’m fairly well-rounded between YA, middle grade, and adult, which I didn’t expect. Uncategorized refers to any books that don’t have a well-established target audience, either because they’re meant for numerous audiences, or are too old to tell.
I had 24 middle grade books, 39 YA books, 26 adult books, and 79 uncategorized.
Books by Classic Status
My lack of classics is disturbing, haha. Only 16 of my books are classics – books that would be considered timeless – with the other 151 books being non-classics.
Paperback vs Hardcover
Again, I was surprised by this! I didn’t expect to have nearly so many hardcovers. I’m guessing I have the thrift shop to thank for that, as it makes hardcovers far cheaper than they are when you order them new. I personally don’t mind them being scuffed if I’m getting them for far less. Still more paperbacks though, which makes sense.
I have 102 paperback books, and 65 hardcover.
My Bookshelf
You’d think that if I’m doing a blog post on my bookshelf, I would have straightened it up and made it look super neat and aesthetic, like the book blogger I aspire to be one day.
But truthfully, though it’s on my to-do list, I didn’t have the time before I wanted to share this post, and I decided to just go for it. After all, I think we all have messy bookshelves sometimes, right?
I try to always be real on my blog, so here’s a very real picture of my current bookshelf:
Now, quick disclaimer that I don’t recommend all of these books. I actually plan to thin a few of them out (especially some on the bottom shelves), as there are some that I either don’t agree with, or didn’t enjoy and know that I’ll never read again. So if you have any questions about any of them, just ask, and I’ll be more than happy to share my thoughts!
This was such a fun experiment! Thank you again for inspiring me, Liesl!
What does your bookshelf look like? Do you read more fiction or non-fiction? Do you have a favorite genre? Are most of your books softcover, hardcover – or are you a more digital reader? I’d love to find out more about your favorite books, so feel free to join in, or share your own stats in the comments!
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This is so fun! I think I’ll have to join this tag 😉
I just read your post! Thank you so much for reading, and for joining in! 🙂
I saw a few titles I recognized on your bookshelf! (Fawkes, A Time to Die, Dust & Shadow) Good books. =)
I’m curious, what are the ten contemporary fiction books you have? I’m always on the lookout for good YA contemporary books. 😉
I agree, those are great book! 🙂
As for the ten contemporary books, let’s see… 1) The Fault in Our Stars, 2) Wonder, 3) Unblemished, 4) The Shadowy Horses, 5) The River at Night, 5) I’ll Be Your Blue Sky, 6) Claire of the Sea Light, 7) Beyond the Bright Sea, 8) The Kite Runner, 8) The Help, 9) The Heartland series, 10) Bridge to Terabithia.
Some of these seem like a stretch, haha, but as far as I can tell, they’re all considered contemporary. Now, I do have to say, I haven’t read more than half of these yet, so can’t recommend them all, but those are the ones I have. I don’t read much contemporary, so I’m so bad at finding good ones 😉 Sorry!
Ooh, thank you! Which ones have you read and would recommend? 🙂
Okay, let’s see…out of the ones I’ve read and definitely would recommend, I’d say Beyond the Bright Sea (a clean, MG read with touching themes), Bridge to Terabithia (MG with a grittier/not necessarily Christian tone but deep themes) and Wonder (again, MG I think, but with some really powerful messages). The Heartland series is good if you like horses (but it’s been a few years since I read it, so I can’t vouch for all of it). I’ve also read and really liked The Help, The Kite Runner, and The Fault in Our Stars, but those do have some content that I’d recommend looking into to see if it’s something you’re comfortable with 🙂 The rest of them I either haven’t read yet (ex. Unblemished, but I’ve heard it’s good!), or can’t recommend (ex. The River at Night, due to lots of language/content and flat writing). I hope that helps? 🙂
I think your bookshelf looks great!! 😀 Ooh, have you read Fawkes yet? That’s on my TBR. 😉
Thank you! 😀 Ooh, yes I have (I’m so glad you asked XD). It’s so good! I really enjoyed the mix of historical fiction and fantasy – and then add in the Christian themes and it was just *chef’s kiss*. I’d love to know what you think of it after you read it!
Ah, that’s awesome!! I am SO excited to read it – and I’ll let you know what I thought of it once I read it! 😉
Awesome, thank you! 😉
Ahhh I’m honored to have inspired you!! Your bookshelves look awesome!
Thank you so much! This was really fun to do! 🙂