With yesterday’s post, my site hit another milestone—1,300 original book reviews since 2010!
It’s taken me almost one year to hit this “Baker’s Dozen” benchmark since 1,200, which is about right, since I always try to read at least 100 books per year. I don’t always review the books I read—I don’t count the Bible or most Bible commentaries, for example—so recently pushing myself to review 100 books annually ensures that I read at least that much.
Whenever I write a milestone post like this, I like to analyze the stats of my work, so bear with me as I nerd out for a bit.
Overall, Fiction (53%) Beats Nonfiction (47%)
I’ve got a feeling that this is a newer trend for me. I began this site by posting mostly the Christian-nonfiction books I was reading in seminary—books like Share Jesus Without Fear (1997) and Four Views on Hell (1997). I wanted a repository for all these papers I was writing and thought, “Guess I’ll start blogging!”
I also accessed free books from Christian publishers in exchange for honest reviews—books like Scars of a Chef (2011) and The Quotable Chesterton (2011)—so those early years were very nonfiction-heavy.
Lately, though, I’ve just been hankering for good novels, and I’ve been finding them! Rifles for Watie (1957) and The Mark of the Horse Lord (1965) are two recent ones that come mind. In fact, this year’s numbers (so far) are more lopsided than the total count, with Fiction (57%) beating Nonfiction (43%).
Overall, My Reviews Favor Books Published between 2001-2020 (45%)
I track my reading by decade, so here’s some points that jump out.
- I’ve reviewed at least 11 books from every decade beginning with 1891-1900.
- I’ve reviewed at least 100 books per decade for the five decades covering 1971-2020.
- I’ve reviewed 275 books published from 2011-2020 and 311 books published from 2001-2010.
Despite all these high numbers, the 1960s remain my favorite decade to read, even though I’ve only written 77 reviews. There’s just something about that generation for whom WWII was a memory, the Cold War was a harsh reality, and the oddballs of the 1970s hadn’t yet taken changed the cultural landscape. So much quality literature coming from that era—books like When the Legends Die (1963) and The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1966). Wow, what great writing!
Overall, Secular (61%) Beats Christian (39%)
At the top of every page on my site, you’ll see this tagline:
Book Reviews from a Christian Perspective
This means that I write book reviews from a Christian perspective, not that I only review Christian books.
I hope that’s not been confusing to my readers, who might wonder, “Why is Elliot spending his time on Contact (1985) or Ghost Stories from Bhutan (2025)?” I read such things because I enjoy reading them. I review them because I’ve read them; and when I do, I share opinions from a Christian perspective, from my biblical worldview.
It’s a big world, and I’m sure there are plenty of other Christian reviewers out there publishing similar things as me. I celebrate that likelihood. But there are also several hundred million books available, and I’m a pretty eclectic reader—so I’m likely one of few Christian reviewers reviewing the particular books I choose to read. At least that’s how I think about it, and it’s why I keep reading and posting and trying to leave a godly mark online.
Conclusion
Whether you’re new to the site or a long-time follower, thank you for reading. I’d be pretty bummed if my site-visits hung around zero every day, and thankfully they don’t!
I’ll never get famous or rich from this site, but I’m so happy to stick with it. I’ve even started writing other original content beyond reviews—like my 72 articles and 7 short stories. Whatever brought you to the site, I hope you feel like sticking around.
©2026 E.T.
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