No fancy graphics and no astounding numbers – in fact, rather average numbers for me, these days – but anyway, here we go:

Total Number of Books Read:

68

– including rereads
– but excluding my current read, Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell (which is bound to take me all the way to the end of the year).

Rereads:

21

                         Including my annual Christmas revisitings:

                         Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol

                         Dorothy L. Sayers: The Nine Tailors

                         Arthur Conan Doyle: The Blue Carbuncle

                         Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot's Christmas

                                                 The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding

The Year's Top Reads

                    Sharon Maas: The Small Fortune of Dorothea Q.

                                         The Secret Life of Winnie Cox

                     J.R.R. Tolkien: The Hobbit (reread)

                     Val McDermid: The Skeleton Road

                     Hilary Mantel: A Place of Greater Safety

                     Stefan Zweig: Joseph Fouché

                     Andrew Nicoll: The Secret Life and Curious Death of Miss Jean Milne

                     Anaïs Nin: Henry and June

                     Michael Connelly: The Gods of Guilt

                     David Baldacci (ed.), Various Authors: Face-Off

                     Anthony Horowitz: Moriarty

                     Terry Pratchett: Hogfather (begun Dec. 2014)

Breakdown of Ratings:

  10

   10

   18

   23

   6

   1

Average Rating

Including Christmas rereads: 3,94

Excluding Christmas rereads: 3,87

Books Shelved as Favorites:

25 

Of these, new reads: 14

Rereads: 11 – including 5 Christmas rereads

Breakdown of Shelves:

(Note: Virtually all of my books are shelved in multiple ways)

Nobel Prize Winners: 1

1001 Books: 6

Classics: 46

Short Fiction: 37

Theatre: 3

Poetry: 2

Mysteries and Crime Fiction: 44

– American: 3

– British: 41

Fantasy: 2

Romance: 4

20th Century & Contemporary BritLlit: 16

20th Century & Contemporary America: 1

Canada & Canadian Literature: 1

Germany & German Literature: 1

France & French Literature: 5

Italy & Italian Literature: 1

Scotland: 6

Eastern Europe: 1

Russia: 2

California & Southwestern USA: 1

Down Under (= Oz & NZ): 1

Orient & Asia: 2

– India & Indian Subcontinent: 1

– Southeast Asia: 1

Africa: 1

Historical Fiction: 8

Key Historic / Period Elements or Setting (in contemporaneous fiction): 5

Nonfiction: 7

– History: 4

– Politics: 1

– Memoirs - Biographies - Letters - Diaries: 4

– Essays - Addresses - Lectures: 3

– Art & Architecture: 3

– Travel: 1

– Reference: 1

Humor - Comedy - Satire: 6

Children's & YA Literature: 1

Cats: 1

Anthologies: 1

So, not one of my most diverse and international reading years, it would appear – lots of classics, lots of mysteries and crime fiction, and predominantly British literature.  But on the plus side, in their vast majority good or even great reads, which ultimately is what's most important!

I've been very careful about keeping accurate stats this year, so only physical books are included and all measurements are checked. My "stack" of books read so far this year has almost grown taller than Emperor Napoleon. After that, I will struggle to surpass an ostrich.

I love LibraryThing's weird stats.

This year, I'm trying to make sure the data for each of the books I finish is as accurate as I can make it. On LibraryThing, that usually means double-checking the dimensions, which always seem to import from Amazon wrong. I also make sure the e-books I finish don't include physical data.

Here's the stack of things I've read so far this year: taller than a tennis net, shorter than a hobbit. Last year, my stack grew to be higher than Stonehenge, but I'm pretty sure my data was way off - from what I can tell, LibraryThing usually incorrectly records Amazon's height measurements as "thickness," resulting in stacks that are far taller than they should be.

Check out if you and your friends have the same reading taste. Now you can compare books with your friends on BookLikes. 

You’ve been asking about reading stats and book comparison, and here they are! Recently we’ve launched reading challenge statistics and now it’s time to explore if your BookLikes friends are keen on the same books as you are. The book comparison will also allow you to sneak a look at your new followers' shelves. 

New feature Compare Books can be found in the new tab, Apps, which presents now three features: Reading Lists, Reading Challenge and Compare Books. If you wish to update your challenge or create a list make sure to go to the new place in the menu, Apps.

You can compare your shelved books with any of your Followings or Followers, just type in a blog name or a username to see the results.

The Compare Books page is divided in the following sections:

• total number of books
• books in common
• book category compatibility 
• total number of reviews and ratings
• reviews and ratings in books in common

When you choose a blog to compare all data will be counted and presented on the page with the book details, reading status, rating stars and reviews.

We’ve polished up your Reading Challenge, now you can compare your annual goals, check which book was a page turner, and keep track of your reading history week by week. More reading stats are coming soon. 

You can find your Reading Challenge Page by click the headline of the reading challenge timeline visible on your Dashboard.

If you haven’t set up your goal for 2014 yet, there's still time. Go to Reading Challenge tab in Goodies, set your reading goal, and be prepared for the intensive 4 months of the reading pleasure.

Your new Reading Challenge page presents

several reading information:

1. Fast read & page count - you’ll always know how many pages have you read so far, and which book was a real page turner.

2. Your challenge books list presents your reading history with re-read dates, your rating stars, and links to the reviews. 

The list is updated according to the read dates, remember to fill up the Dates to make the book count to your challenge. You can easily update the dates on the Reading Challenge page. 

3. Reading chart allows you to keep track of your reading achievements per months and per weeks.

4. Reading Challenges Year by Year compares your goals and achievements in the particular years.

You can easily switch between the years - your reading challenge years are visible on the top of the page, at the bottom, and on the right.

Discover Reading Challenges of Other Bloggers

You can also check how other BookLikers are doing. There are several ways to check what others are reading in their Reading Challenges. 

1. Go to Reading Challenge tab in Goodies to view the most recent challenges and their reading history. Press view challenge books to go to Reading Challenge page. 

2. To view other's challenged books click the Reading Challenge widget on the blog.

Then you'll view the blogger's reading history:

Add Reading Challenge Widget to Your Blog

If you haven't added the widget to your blog yet, it's high time. It's a great way to show your reading goals, and share your reading history with your blog guests. 

To add widget to your BookLikes blog follow the steps:

1. go to Widget tab (in Goodies)

2. copy code for the Reading Challenge Widget

3. go to the customization tab (the link to the tab is right under the widget code)

4. paste the code in the Widget Area

5. save

The Reading Challenge Widget will be added to your blog. If you want to add other widgets (Shelf, Profile etc...) follow the same steps. You can add as many widgets in the Widget Area as you wish. 

If you wish to add the widget to your other webpage, copy/paste the HTML into your other website code. 

P.S. We love the idea of the book bricks. Click here to see more lovely DIY bookends and bookshelf accessories.