And just like that, 2024 is over. Thank you 2024 for all the memories and the lessons. We’ve successfully completed a 365-day revolution around the sun. As the old adage goes, with every end comes a new beginning. 2024’s conclusion comes with the opening of a new door. We are provided with 12 new chapters with 365 blank pages ]upon which to paint new memories. I hope that we will paint these blank canvasses with memories that we will cherish for a lifetime, may it be with the people we love or all by ourselves.

As has been the tradition in the past few years, I will be kicking off the new year by looking back to the previous year, its hits, and of course, its mishits. It is also an opportunity to take a glimpse of how the coming year is going to shape up. This book wrap-up is a part of a mini-series that will feature the following:

  1. 2024 Top 20 Favorite Books
  2. 2024 Book Wrap Up
  3. 2024 Reading Journey by the Numbers
  4. 2024 Most Memorable Book Quotes (Part I)
  5. 2024 Most Memorable Book Quotes (Part II)
  6. 2024 New Favorite Authors
  7. 2025 Books I Look Forward To List
  8. 2025 Top 25 Reading List
  9. 2025 Beat the Backlist Challenge

2023 has been a record-breaking reading year. I never thought that I would be able to surpass my 2022 reading output. With 103 completed books, I thought that 2022 was an anomaly. Imagine my surprise when I surpassed it in 2023. I was also even stoked when I replicated the same feat in 2024. With 129 books, I nearly matched my 2023 output. Three is a charm they say. I am slowly gaining confidence in my reading goals. After dreaming about reading 100 books in a year for the longest time, I was finally able to do it not only once but twice. This fills me up with hop this 2025. I hope I get to sustain this momentum. Since my annual book wrap-ups tend to be lengthy, I decided to separate my reading statistics, hence, this new wrap-up piece.

Below are my primary Goodreads statistics:

I also did my own tracking. Based on my tracking, the total number of pages I completed during the year is 46,248 pages, almost 1,500 pages lower than what is reflected in Goodreads. The disparity is attributed to the difference in versions reflected in Goodreads and the actual version I read. Further, Goodreads includes the succeeding pages after the story such as the acknowledgment or author’s/translator’s notes. The statistics below summarize my reading statistics for the past three years. Please note that the 2022 statistics are based purely on Goodreads and the 2023 and 2024 statistics are based on my own tracking.

Metric202420232022
Total Number of Books Read 129130103
Total Number of Pages46,24843,46638,578
Average Number of Pages358.51334.35374.54
Average Goodreads Rating4.204.103.80
By Length

With a whopping 880 pages, my longest read for the year was Stephen Markley’s The Deluge. This is, however, thirteen pages shorter than my longest read in 2023, Roberto Bolaño’s 2666. Meanwhile, my shortest read is celebrated Argentinian writer Adolfo Bioy Casares’ The Invention of Morel. At 102 pages, it is eighteen pages shorter than my shortest read in 2023, Leonardo Sciascia’s The Day of the Owl. Both books are my first foray into the oeuvres of the respective writers.

The graph below shows the number of books I read based on length. I have read twenty books that are at least 500 pages long. In 2023, I read seventeen books that are 500 pages long. I guess this accounts for the increase in the number of pages I read this year against the total number of books read. Books that are longer than 100 pages but less than 300 pages long still dominate the list.

By Nationality and Language

I started tracking the nationality of the writers whose works I read in 2023. I also rebuilt data from books I have already read. One glaring statistic I noted is the dominance of American writers. Nearly half of all the books I read were written by American writers. Even if I separate writers who have other legacies, American writers still dominate my read list. Four of my five most-read writers are Americans, with Danielle Steel heads and shoulders above everyone else, with 42 books. Agatha Christie was the only anomaly.

It is because of this glaring dichotomy that prompted me into action. I resolved to read more works of non-American writers. I guess I was unconsciously doing this in the past three years because I have been reducing the gap. The below map shows the origin of the writers whose works I read during the year:

From a reading map that was dominated by Japanese writers – I read 26 books written by Japanese writers back in 2023 – I returned to my old ways. 2024 was dominated by American writers, with 24 books. Japanese writers still occupy the second place but with a measly 10 books. For the first time in a while, I have not hosted a Japanese literature month; it has been a part of my reading tradition but 2024 has been a very chaotic reading year overall. British writers occupy the third place. There is no change in the Top Three although there are movements in the ranking. The only saving grace is that my reading territory expanded. In 2024, I read the works of writers from 49 different countries; this is a leap from 38 countries in 2023.

Other important notes include:

  • Most works written by German and Korean writers read in a year, with five each.
  • Most works written by French writers read in a year, with six.
  • Most works written by Hungarian, Norwegian, Malaysian, and Swedish writers read in a year, with three each.
  • My first books written by writers from the following countries:
    • Ethiopia – Maaza Mengiste
    • Georgia – Leo Vardiashvili
    • Libya – Hisham Matar
    • Mozambique – Mia Couto
    • Netherlands – Yael van der Wouden
    • Panama – Cristina Henríquez
    • Saudi Arabia – Abdelrahman Munif
    • Switzerland – Max Frisch
    • Zambia– Namwali Serpell

Perusing my books read list, I also noted another glaring statistic: the majority of the books I read were originally written in English. As of the start of 2024, more than 80% of the books I read were written in this language. This was also palpable in the previous year wherein books originally written in English dominated my reading list. However, it can also be noted that the gap between English and non-English books is reducing. I resolved to read more books not originally written in English in 2024, I did fail, albeit by a slim margin. Nevertheless, my goal of reducing the gap between books originally written in English and other languages remains a priority. Below is the breakdown of the books I read based on the original language they were written:

In 2024, I read works originally written in 19 different languages. Unsurprisingly, English dominates the list. I read a total of 66 books originally written in English in 2024. This is partly due to the reading catch-up I did earlier in the year, most of which were books originally written in English. This number is four books higher than my 2023 number. With 11 books, books originally written in Japanese remain second. This is, however, less than a third of my 2023 figure which is 25 books. It is my goal to make up for this in 2025. Books originally written in French are third. With nine books, 2024 is the year when I read the most books originally written in French, surpassing the six books I set in 2023.

There were no new languages added during the year. However, I reset my most books originally written in the following languages:

  • German – 6
  • Hungarian – 3
  • Norwegian – 3
  • Swedish – 3
  • Portuguese – 3
By Genre and Original Publication Date

In terms of genre, it comes as no surprise that historical and literary fiction, with 58 and 40 books, respectively, dominate the list. These two genres have become fixtures in my reading journey. Speculative fiction, including works of science and dystopian fiction, rounds up my Top 3 with 7 books. This is an interesting test because I rarely read works of science fiction although I have been trying to explore this genre recently.

Another dimension of my reading journey I have been trying to tweak is my fixation with backlists. Over the past few years, I have been trying to read as many new books as I can. However, it is challenging to take out the backlist reader in me. How can I when I know that there are a lot of wonderful books out there? The graph underscores this inclination. I read a total of 112 backlists during the year although this is six books lower than my total in 2023. More than half of these books were written in the current century. Books published in the second half of the twentieth century came in second, with 25 books, fifteen books lower than my 2023 total.

I also read a total of eight books originally published before the twentieth century. Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, originally published in 1814, is the oldest book (in terms of original publication) I read. In a way, 2024 is a breakthrough year because it is the year I read the most new books. I was able to meet my goal of reading at least fifteen new books. I ended the year with seventeen new books. This figure excludes books originally written in a different language and whose English translation was released in 2024 such as Haruki Murakami’s The City and Its Uncertain Walls. Fifteen new books will still be my target in 2025.

And that completes my numerical analysis of my 2024 reading journey. Are there any parts of this update you want me to dig into deeper or at least improve? Or are there statistics you feel I ought to include? Do feel free to share in the comment box.