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31 December 2007

Survey Says....

The results from the Favorites of 2007 Survey have been compiled. As I did last year, I found the results surprising and interesting. A total of 12 different people replied, although not all completed every question.


1. Favorite Fiction Read in 2007 (12 responses)

- Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince & The A-List series.

- Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. I loved Ishiguro's take on a science-fiction topic -- who would have thought a book about clones would be so beautiful?

- Is it too trite to say Margaret Mitchell's GONE WITH THE WIND? I was so, so surprised by it, not expecting to like it anywhere near as much as I did.

- Of Human Bondage, Somerset Maugham

- The Oasis

- A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini

- Goldberg: Variations by Gabriel Josipovici - A favourite because it expanded my ideas of what fiction could be.

- The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield

- Spook Country, William Gibson

- The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy


2. Favorite Non-Fiction Book Read in 2007 (11 responses)

- James Boswell's Life of Johnson. This biography captured not only Johnson, but the 18C wonderfully well.

- That's a really, really tough one, but I think Rose Macaulay's PLEASURE OF RUINS just squeaks by (by a hair) Vicki Constantine Croke's THE LADY AND THE PANDA.

- The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins

- Light on the Hill, by William D Snider

- Black Dog of Fate, Peter Balakian

- Demons and the Making of the Monk by David Brakke - A well-written, excellently researched, entertaining book about spiritual warfare -- often literally. Who could not love a book that combined philosophy with monks and demons duking it on a monastery terrace or at the bottom of a well in the desert?

- Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters

- The Wild White Swan by Jiyu-Kennett

- Fathers and Sons, Alexander Waugh


3. Favorite Author Read for the first time in 2007 (11 responses)

- Stephenie Meyer & Zoey Dean

- Gabriel Josipovici. Goldberg: Variations was an amazing novel.

- Armistead Maupin, no question or tough choices there.

- Richard Dawkins

- Wilson Crawford

- Khaled Hosseini

- David Treuer - His book enthralled me from start to finish. Outstanding. It was hard not to give his book to the top spot in "favourite fiction".

- Neil Gaiman

- Richard Morgan

- John Galsworthy


4. How many books did you read this year? (11 responses)

<10 0% (0)

<25 9.1% (1)

<50 27.3% (3)

<100 54.5% (6)

I was suppose
to be counting? 9.1% (1)

Books? 0% (0)


5. Favorite Daily Read (11 responses)

- Time & Nylon magazines, Stephanie Meyer, & perezhilton.com

- Tales from the Reading Room. The blog is always smart and the blogger always gracious.

- Ian's Blog. I'm biased. He's my brother, and it's a great way to keep up with each other, as we each lead such busy lives. But I know I'd read him everyday, even if he weren't my brother, because he's just so damn funny and such a talented writer.

- A Fraternity Of Dreamers Kookiejar discusses books and pop culture...what's not to love?

- http://progresscity.michaelcrawford.com/

- That's a hard choice, but probably Dovegrey Reader Scribbles.

- The Sharp Side I am guaranteed to learn something new, whether it's an "outmoded" author or a political issue overlooked by the media, and it's always told in the most spirited, engaging manner. Excellent stuff.

- Fraternity of Dreamers It's a favorite because I can count on her to post every day, because she post a lot of interesting tidbits besides just her book reviews, and because she's funny and smart.

- Very unfair to pick one but I've learned more from Achelois than almost any other blog - always funny and often challenging.

- Telecommuter Talk - with QC Report a close second, this post in particular. Both make me laugh and brighten my day.


6. I like to read blogs about.... (10 responses)

- The book industry 20% (2)

- Soon to be published books 40% (4)

- Literary Criticism 50% (5)

- Reviews of Books read 70% (7)

- Blogs that summarize and
link to other posts 20% (2)

- Reviews printed in newspapers first 0% (0)

- Some book news and reviews, but
other topics too 80% (8)

- Other (specific answers below) 30% (3)
**Cooking and recipes
**life, parenting, music, politics
**Whatever my favourite bloggers write about


7. Favorite Commenter (9 responses)

- Danielle, A Work in Progress. She asks great questions and makes great observations.

- Mandarine

- Jenclair, from A Garden Carried in the Pocket

- Stefanie at So Many Books

- Sylvia, from A Classical Bookworm - she's never afraid of challenging my views.

- Litlove, at Tales from the Reading Room. Her comments are insightful on other people's blogs, but I especially love the comment conversations on her blog.

- God! That one's too difficult.

- Emily, who lured me into this whole blogging thing in the first place.


8. How often do you post to your blog? (9 responses)
- Every Day 11.1% (1)

- 1-2 Times/Week 22.2% (2)

- 3-5 Times/Week 33.3% (3)

- A few times a month 0.0% (0)

- Infrequently 0.0% (0)

- Whenever I have something to say 33.3% (3)


9.Favorite Reading Meme or Challenge (7 responses)

- The Outmoded Authors challenge received 3 votes. Comments included:

I've really enjoyed which is getting me to read authors that are new to me

So far I have loved everything I picked up; and the posts by other bloggers completing the challenge are inspiring me to so many other authors too.

- TBR Challenge

- Russian Reading Challenge (but I guess that one doesn't count for 2007 yet. ;-) ) In 2007 I didn't participate in any challenges.

- The Great Imperative Meme

- The songs we sing meme


10. How has blogging changed the way you read this year? (# of books, type, etc.) (7 responses)

- I have read more books than ever before because blogs keep me focused a bit more on reading than I was before.

- I read more carefully, always mindful that I might want to post about the books I'm reading, which I didn't used to do, paying attention to quotable material. Blogging hasn't changed the number of books I actually read, but it's certainly changed the number of books I add to my TBR list.

- I'm reading more authors from other countries.

- I guess for me it's the other way around: reading changed the way I blog! I started a separate litblog this year besides my already existing blog. I wanted to blog about books and reading, my one lifelong passion.

- I've begun to search for and read Jamaican novelists for the first time! I'm very pleased about that.

- I've gone out and bought at least one book I wouldn't otherwise have.

- It has broadened my reading, and encouraged me to read more critically.


Thanks to all --whether identified or not -- who completed the survey.

The Participants (who identified themselves in blog comments):

Dorothy W., Of Books and Bicycles
Emily, Telecommuter Talk
Myrthe, The Armenian Odar Reads
Dewey, The Hidden Side of the Leaf
Imani, The Book of My Numberless Dreams

17 comments:

Emily Barton said...

Wow! I'm overwhelmed to have been both a "daily read" and a favorite commenter. Someone just made my New Year.

Anonymous said...

I'm so thrilled to see my blog mentioned here! I feel that I've been an indifferent blogger this autumn and winter so I'd delighted that people are managing to stick with me! Thanks for doing this, Cam; it represents a lot of work for you, but is a great pleasure to us.

jenclair said...

I'm also thrilled to be mentioned in this post! Thanks, Cam, and Happy New Year!

kookie said...

I'm so flattered and humbled to be counted among the favorite daily reads. It's so gratifying to be honored in that way. Thanks to whoever voted for me, I really appreciate it. And thank you, Cam, for doing the survey.

Island Bookworm said...

Awww, isn't that nice! Who said that? Dorothy? :)

Rebecca H. said...

Ummm ... no, it wasn't me Sylvia, although it could have been :) Apparently you challenge a lot of people's views (and have lots of fans)!

Cam -- thanks for doing this -- I love reading the answers. It's fun to see if I can identify who answered what -- some of my comments I'm sure people will recognize -- such as the one about Samuel Johnson :)

Anne Camille said...

Sylvia -- Since I didn't track IP addresses with the survey, it was anonymous. I could guess the authorship of some of the repsonses, but I won't say since I don't know for sure, and since it was anonymous, I wouldn't tell if I did know. :)

KookieJar -- welcome.

Litlove -- if you have been an indifferent blogger than I would have been what sort of blogger for much of this year? I can't think of an appropriate term!

Glad you all enjoyed the survey. It was fun to do.

Ted said...

Interesting post! Happy 2008 to you.

Imani said...

Yaaay! Go Outmoded Authors challenge!

Thanks for doing the survey, Cam. I hope you do it again for 2008.

Anonymous said...

Man, I'm sorry I missed this - what a great poll! Cam, your blog is just so engaging to visit!

Anonymous said...

I'm so touched and flattered that I am a favorite commenter! Thank you whoever you are that said that! :)

Island Bookworm said...

That's allright Cam, I'll just see if my secret admirer reveals him/herself. ;)

Chrisbookarama said...

Very cool survey! Wish I had found it before.

Danielle said...

Cam--I've been such a lousy "commenter" lately--I've had so many of your posts marked in bloglines, but I've felt so overwhelmed lately, that I haven't kept up. So whoever was kind enough to mention that I'm a good commenter, I now need to hang my head in shame....I need to get caught back up and get back to commenting! Many thanks for posting your survey! Also I thoroughly enjoyed reading your roundtable discussion last month.

Kay Cooke said...

I wish I had half of your reading energy!

John Mutford said...

Hi Cam,
Love the survey. Hope you've room for one more participant next year!

Never Let Me Go- a favourite? Yeesh!

Anonymous said...

Gosh, I forgot I did this! And now I have a stack more interesting sounding books to add to my apparently never-ending books-I-must-read-when-I-finish-my-Masters.