I've been using the Kindle (and occasionally the Kindle app on the iPhone and iPad) to read since April of 2009. Other than cook books and knitting books, I have not bought or read any paper books since then. Last January I noticed the trend that since I had started using my Kindle, the amount I was reading increased quite a bit. I use Goodreads to keep track of what I read, so I was able to actually see the pattern emerge. Since 2010 was the first full year of exclusively, electronic reading, I decided to take a closer look at the trends of the past year. A lot of my friends have received Kindles for Christmas this year, so I hope this will be interesting to them.
Overall findings:
Number of books read in 2010: 48
This was interesting because my goal was 50 books for 2010. I almost made it. I'm sure if I had read less 600+ pagers and more smaller books, I would have met the goal, but this was reading purely for pleasure.
Total number of pages read: 20922 (Caveat: probably approximate and according to Goodreads)
Total amount of money spent on Kindle books: $457.88
My husband was particularly interested in this figure. Prior to purchasing the Kindle (a present from him) I was primarily a library patron. This is because I don't feel the need to own books, once I've read them and also because we live in a row house and space is at a premium. When we moved here from Columbus, I was disappointed by Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Library. That might not be fair, because Columbus Metropolitan Library is continuously rated as one of the best in the country, and since early 2009, Enoch Pratt has made some very significant improvements like implementing vacation holds in their online system (though their renewal policy is still draconian).
I typically try to buy books at the $9.99 price point or below (though that has gotten more and more difficult), but as you can see from some of my purchases, there are times that instant gratification gets the best of me.
Most expensive book purchased: $15.37 A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks (Purchased just before we left for London because I wanted to read it while we were there and it had just come out. My Kindle isn't the global model. This was one of the top ten books I read last year, so I'm still happy with the purchase, though the price had gone down by the time we returned to the states.)
Least expensive book(s): $0 The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
I read the first two Larsson books and found out that the final book had already come out in Europe and that it wouldn't be available in the US until May. What a stupid business decision Knopf. I would have gladly paid for the book had it been available. I didn't feel particularly guilty about downloading this from one of the many sites it was available from because Larsson unfortunately never lived to see the success of his best-selling novels and according to multiple articles online, the profits from his books are going to his family against his wishes, rather than his long-time partner who helped him create the books.
I read The Hunger Games last January and couldn't wait to get my hands on the sequel. The Hunger Games was being hugely hyped on Amazon at the time and is a very engrossing read. I was disappointed to see that I would have to wait months for Catching Fire to be available as a Kindle download. Did the publisher (Scholastic) really think that one through? Again, I would have been happy to shell out money to read the book on my Kindle, if only it was available. I reserved Catching Fire from the library, actually checked it out and then downloaded the PDF to my Kindle. While I'm not sure that was exactly the most ethical thing I could have done, my conscious felt better.
Here's the complete spreadsheet tracking my 2010 reading, in case anyone cares.
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