Monday, December 31, 2012

End of the Year Roundup

I don't think I've ever really done an end-of-the-year post before.  But we have the day off of work today, and I'm feeling contemplative, so here we are.

2012 has been an interesting year.  I've spent most of the year reading from three different series of books:  Laurie King's Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series (my favorite books by far this year...all of them!); Jean M. Auel's classic Earth's Children series, which I never read when I was younger for some reason (maybe because of all the sex?) - anyway, I doubt that these would have held my attention when I was younger anyway, as they are very info-dump-y with all the prehistoric stuff in them; and Heather Webber's Lucy Valentine series - a paranormal romance-type series in which the heroine uses her psychic abilities to solve crimes.  I also joined a reading challenge for the first time this year.  Literary Feline's Merely Mystery Reading Challenge was right up my alley, especially since I knew I'd be reading quite a few mysteries this year.  I read six of Laurie King's books this year, and if you count the Lucy Valentine series, too, that brings my total up to ten, I think.  I didn't link all of these (in fact, I think I only linked like two of them), but I more than met my goal of reading two or more mysteries for the year!

All told, I read 22 books this year (and am about halfway through another one, but I definitely won't finish it before tonight is over).  That's two more than I read last year!  That may not seem like a lot, but I'm glad I increased from the year before.  I credit that to the quick reads that were Heather Webber's books.  I read almost all of those in a day or less.  The Earth's Children series are a bunch of chunksters, as were the couple of last books in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series that I read this year (although those were pretty fast reads for me, too).  I'd like to read more than that next year.  Maybe I should up my YA and middle-grade reading, or start reading some graphic novels?  We'll see.  After I finish my current read (The Land of Painted Caves, the last in the Earth's Children series, published just this year), I have a review book and some more Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes novels awaiting me.  I'm glad - that's a series I'm not ready to see end.

What have you accomplished this year?  What are your reading plans for 2013?

3 comments:

Literary Feline said...

I have the day off today too, thank goodness. I hope you are enjoying the last day of the year!

Congratulations on completing the Merely Mystery Challenge! I ended up modifying my goal, not being able to meet my initial goal.

I hope you have a very Happy New Year!

Unknown said...

Congrats on 22 books this year! I loving that feeling of accomplishment when I look at my yearly reading total :) I use GoodReads to track, and I was so excited to see so many books in my 2012 list! I aim to beat that number in 2013!
http://busybeesbeauty/blogspot.com

Lexi said...

Thanks, ladies. I'm glad I got to read at ALL in 2012, as busy as it was!