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Last year I set myself the goal of reading 27 books, the same as the previous year (2014). For one reason or another, I only managed 26 books. As usual, this may not sound like much to some people, but keeping in mind that I work full time and spend the majority of my spare time writing books, I actually think this is an alright number. It works out to be just over two books per month anyway.

I always find it interesting to have a look back over the year at what I’ve read, and do an analysis of my reading habits. 2015 was no different. So here’s what I read:

2015 Reads1

What were my targets and did I achieve them?

Well after last year, I set myself the goal of reading 50% Australian authors and 50% female authors. I definitely succeeded with my target of female authors, but I did fall slightly short on the Australian author front. Here’s how my stats looked:

Nationality of Author

Australian Writers:42%
International Writers:58%

Gender of Author

Female Writers:50%
Male Writers:50%

Genre Breakdown:

Sci-Fi57%
Fantasy31%
Other12%

Medium of Book/How they were read:

Audio Books (12 books)46%
Kindle e-reader (11 books)42%
iPhone (2 books)08%
Print edition (1 book)04%

As usual, the majority of my books are split between audio and kindle. In 2014 I only read one book on my iPhone, but this year I read two!

Note: I should also add that I read bits and pieces from a couple of budding authors too.

So, after 26 books, what were my Top 5 favourite reads of the year?

1.The Girl on the Trainby Paula Hawkins
2.Station Elevenby Emily St. John Mandel
3.Red Risingby Pierce Brown
4.Chaos Bornby Rebekah Turner
5.HorizonBy Keith Stevenson

What are my 2016 Reading Goals?

First and foremost, I’ve realised just how much of my time is taken up with writing and editing, so I’m going to keep the target the same again this year (27 books), but with one additional requirement – to read more books by people of colour (PoC). Why? Because I’ve realised just how ‘white’ my reading is. Octavia E Butler was the only PoC author I read last year, and I think it’s important to broaden my horizons and support a diverse range of authors. So, my targets for 2016 are:

Female Authors:50%
Australian Authors:50%
PoC Authors:50%

Will I succeed? Only time will tell.

🙂

Until next time.

Amanda

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Amanda Bridgeman

Amanda is an award-winning writer of both original and tie-in fiction. Her works include the near future crime thriller, THE SUBJUGATE, which is being developed for TV; Scribe Award winning procedural thriller, PANDEMIC: PATIENT ZERO; and Marvel X-Men novel, SOUND OF LIGHT, which has been embraced by Dazzler fans around the world.