Mrs. B's 2010 Book Reviews Part One

I've been trying to come up with an easier way to do this series, especially as I read a whopping SIXTY books this year. I know, hard to believe, huh? Anyway, Mr. B was helping me create pie charts of the books' statistics but it sure looked a lot less difficult when he showed me than when I attempted to do them on my own. Cripe, it'd take me longer to do those suckers than put in reviews of all I read! Thanks anyway, Mr. B!

But, for the series opener, I figured I'd throw out the stats I compiled; just in written out format, nothing fancy.

Many of you who frequent my Blog are either also following me on Goodreads OR see my reviews as they come out real time via Facebook. However, this is a nice annual tradition for me; to see in black and white and color all in one place what I've accomplished!

So, here goes the opener. Of the 60 books I read:

Ratings

7% = hated/1 star

20% = didn't much care for/2 stars

33% = solid/good/3 stars

25% = really good/4 stars

15% = totally awesome/5 stars

Genres

85% = fiction (14% of these historical fiction)

15% = nonfiction

Reason Read

17% = book club selection (80% of these 3 stars and above)

38% = recommended to me/someone else I know read it (60% of these 3 stars and above)

45% = my own choice (62% of these 3 stars and above)

Medium

32% = listened to (many of the stinkers are in this category, I might add)

68% = read-read (of these, 15% I actually borrowed from the library or someone else; unusual for me since I typically like to own everything I read)

43% were duplicate/favorite authors. Of these, I was sorely disappointed (1 or two stars) in 23%.

Believe it or not, I read the most books (seven) in November. Other heavy hitter months with six each were March, May, August and September. The least read months were January and June (three).

Finally, there was only one book that I started and just could not bring myself to finish. This dubious honor goes to (drum roll):

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

Summary of the book from Goodreads:

Rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman, stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the "simple, honest woman" that Ralph is expecting. She is both complex and devious, haunted by a terrible past and motivated by greed. Her plan is simple: she will win this man's devotion, and then, ever so slowly, she will poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. What she has not counted on, though, is that Truitt - a passionate man with his own dark secrets -has plans of his own for his new wife. Isolated on a remote estate and imprisoned by relentless snow, the story of Ralph and Catherine unfolds in unimaginable ways.

With echoes of Wuthering Heights and Rebecca, Robert Goolrick's intoxicating debut novel delivers a classic tale of suspenseful seduction, set in a world that seems to have gone temporarily off its axis.

My Review:

Quite frankly, this book simply stinks.

I got about 1/2 way through it and just didn't care to finish it.

As for the remainder of my reviews, I think I'll go back to doing it by month, so, next up, January 2010's books!

Mrs. B