Back in 2016, I posted my first “benchmark” post about reaching 400 book reviews on this site. I’ve written one every 100th book since, and whether people read them or not, they’re helpful for me to both reflect and recalibrate.

The Death of Woman Wang by Jonathan D. Spence (1978) was my 1,100th posted review, giving me an average of 6.5 reviews monthly reviews since I began this blog more than a decade ago. I’ve really stepped up my reading/reviewing game since COVID forced us to evacuate our home in Asia, but it’s been slipping recently with ministry changes and another international move! Hopefully my brain will settle down again soon.

Since I enjoy statistics and have been tracking my reading since the beginning, I share here my breakdowns by decade thus far:

Some Things I Notice

1. I don’t rush to read new releases. I read what strikes my fancy, no matter how old it is. Few new (a.k.a. untried) books do that for me, so don’t be surprised that you don’t see me riding any bandwagons.
   
2. I’ve finally read at least 10 books per decade since 1901, though there are still eight years missing from the 20th century: 1901, 1914, 1916, 1924, 1925, 1927, 1928, and 1930. Again, if you’ve got any recommendations of must-reads from these years, let me know in the comments below!
   
3. The midpoint for my reading is the year 2000. My gut tells me that I enjoy reading the pre-2000 books more than the post-2000. I would have re-read my posts and rate every book to be sure, but I’ll just trust my gut for now.
   
4. I’ve read more non-fiction than fiction for each decade since 2001, and I’ve done the exact opposite for every decade before that. I guess this implies that I don’t think stories are as well-written as they used to be, but also that reality is getting more interesting!

Some Extra Stats

This blog has also continued to grow in readership, which has been a blessing to me.

1. These 1,100 book reviews (plus a few articles) total over 850k published words. That’s crazy talk. That’s War and Peace plus Ulysses! That’s also the entire Harry Potter series minus The Order of the Phoenix (Rowlings’ longest installment). When you write bit by bit like I do, I guess it really adds up!
   
2. Although I’ve written some pretty long, scholastic reviews, I’ve also written some short-and-sweet critiques. My average word count is about 775 per review, which is about 5-6 minutes of reading time. Thus, if you wanted to read my entire blog, you’d only need about 3 days and 22 hours of nonstop reading to finish it. So, get after it!
   
3. I’ve had 315,000 visitors to the page—which almost equals 4 sell-out crowds in Lambeau Field (81,441). These readers only read an average of 1.2 posts per visit, though, so more people need to stop and explore. I encourage them to do so!

OK, that’s enough stats for now. Hope you enjoy these little respites like I do.

If you’re not tracking your own reading, I have to ask, why not? I began tracking when I was 29 years old, and even then, it felt like I started too late. But 12 years later, I’m so glad I began when I did, because that’s 12 years of data and learning and records that have kept me a sharp, discerning, and well-entertained reader. Hopefully a halfway decent reviewer as well, but I’ll leave that for the critics to decide.

Until the next 100…

©2024 E.T.

See Also…

• 400th Book Review
• 500th Book Review
• 600th Book Review
• 700th Book Review
• 800th Book Review
• 900th Book Review
• 1,000th Book Review