2012 End of the Year Wrap Up

Well, it's New Years Eve and in six hours it will officially be 2013. What a year it has been, both in terms of my blog and in my life! This year alone I moved, dealt with a gigantic family crisis, turned down a job that I regret turning down (but I couldn't accept it on account of the aforementioned crisis), bought a new car, read some books, blogged, quit blogging, started blogging again, turned 27 years old and started eating meat again after years of vegetarianism. I've been seeing where several of the blogs I follow are doing end-of-the-year wrap ups so I figured I'd do the same...

Highlights of the year:

I read 47 books, less than last year, but more quality books than ever before.
I gave 8 books 5 stars and I only reviewed 9 books.
In July I joined a local book club and in January I will lead my first discussion.
In September I got to meet several of my favorite authors at the Annual Book Marks Book Festival in Winston-Salem, NC. Read about it here. 
I began participating in the Top Ten Tuesday meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish.
I joined The Classics Club.
I attempted to complete the Readers Imbibing Peril book challenge, hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings, but didn't finish it.
I quit blogging.
I started blogging again.
I posted 60 posts. Most were top ten lists.
I toyed with a daily photo meme, but didn't like it, so I quit it.
I moved to Blogger from WordPress.
I was the winner of three GoodReads First Reads Books.
I was sent a book from an author in Raleigh and asked to read and review it (still haven't gotten to it yet).
I participated in an amazing 2 month long reading group with the Iredell County Public Library where we read books by NC authors set in NC and then discussed the impact the books had on the portrayal of the region. It was super fun. I met some great new people and read some amazing books I never would have otherwise read.
I sent a Random Act of Kindness book to a blogger in England. I got an email that I've got one on the way to me as well from England!

Fiction: 38- 81%
Non-Fiction: 9- 19%
North Carolina Authors: 7- 15%
Classics- 5- 11%
Young Adult- 6- 13%
Oldest Book I Read: Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen)- 1811
Newest Book I Read: The Reeducation of Cherry Truong (Aimee Phan)- I got an ARC a month before it came out
Longest Book I Read: The Passage (Justin Cronin)- 784 pages
Shortest Book I Read: If You Want Me To Stay (Michael Parker)- 177 pages
Best Book I Read: A Land More Kind Than Home (Wiley Cash)
Worst Book I Read: The Passage (Justin Cronin)
Best Series Discovery: Divergent (Veronica Roth)
Favorite Character: Tiny from Will Grayson, Will Grayson (David Levithan and John Green)
Book I Recommended The Most: Silver Sparrow (Tayari Jones), A Land More Kind Than Home (Wiley Cash) and The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

Favorite Cover of A Book I Read: Anya's Ghost (Vera Brosgol)
Favorite Post: The review of The Reeducation of Cherry Truong (Aimee Phan)
Favorite Blog This Year: Musings of a Bookshop Girl

Five Star Books:

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Read Review.
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Read Review.
A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash. Read Review.
Villette by Charlotte Bronte. Read Review.
Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones. Read Review.
Bossypants by Tina Fey.
If You Want Me To Stay by Michael Parker.

Reviews:

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
The Town That Forgot How to Breathe By Kenneth J. Harvey
The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone Saint James (a first reads win)
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino (a first reads win)
The Reeducation of Cherry Truong by Aimee Phan (a first reads win)

2013 Reading/Blogging Resolutions:

1. I am challenging myself to read 50 books next year
2. I am participating in the 2013 To Be Read Challenge hosted by Roof Beam Reader.
3. I am going to attempt to participate in every Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and The Bookish.
4. I am going to be more active in the Classics Club. I will participate in each months post and I will knock five books off my Classics Club list.
5. I am going to do two posts a month minimum: 1 at the beginning of the month to layout how I want my month of reading to look and another one at the end of the month to wrap up the progress I made during the month.
6. I am going to do more reviews of books.
7. I am going to make progress in the 1001 books challenge.

Happy New Year Everyone! Here's to an amazing 2013 full of reading and blogging!