2012

As another reading and blogging year closes, I wanted to reflect. Even though I am wrapping up only year two of bookgoonie, I feel like I experienced a lot of growth this year. I don’t mean growth in readership. I mean growth and maturity in who I am in this part of the blogosphere. I made a conscious decision to keep myself sane and remember this is for FUN. Back in January, I decided I couldn’t and wouldn’t keep up with the Rat Race of the Book Blogging World. I am not going to be ruled by chasing down the next hot ARC, hob-nobbing to advance, and trying to play pecking order. I am so lucky to have found like-minded people to follow and hang out with. So 2012 was about discovering and appreciating real community in the blogosphere. My heart SMILES.

I was lucky to meet some of my favorite Texas Bloggers at the ALA Midwinter Conference. I also had tons of fun meeting up with Felicia at the Kevin Hearne signing. Plus I made new friends all over the country. I now spend more time hanging with them on twitter than I do with people on facebook. They are way more FUN and way less negative.

I READ over 165 books this year. More than 2011. I am not really going to strive to read much more than that. I feel like this # is in the realm of lots of reading, but not become a hermit and never interact with humans for me.

• Type: 77% Series; 23% Standalone. Similar to 2011.
• Classification: 50% YA; 47% Adult; 3% New Adult. This is a big change from 2011. I added a lot more adult into my reading this year. I think it is because I’ve been hanging around more bloggers that are mostly Adult readers. They’ve introduced me to more awesome Adult series. But you can see, I still like to mix it up.
• Where did I get my books from? 42% Bought; 22% Library; 5% Friends; 14% Publishers/Authors; 12% Free; 5% Won
• Format: 40% Paper; 45% Ebook; 17% Audio. My audio intake really increased this year. Long commutes, working out and cleaning. The drudgery of life isn’t so bad with a good audiobook.
• Genre: 67% Paranormal; 33% Contemporary. I increased my Contemporary reads a smiggin this year, but I am still slave to the Urban Fantasy.
• Where in the series were they? 48% First; 45% Middle; 7% Last. I started about 62 series. *sigh* I did wrap up at least 9.

I also figured out I suck at keeping up with Reading Challenges. I also suck at completing them. I gave up on my Lord of the Rings Challenge after The Hobbit. I came up a tad short on my Standalone and Debut Author Challenge. I am not sure on my TBR Challenge. I decided it wasn’t worth the time scoring B&N to see when I bought various books. I did meet they Why Buy The Cow? FREE Ebook Challenge goal. It just isn’t updated. Taking in account my failure, I am going to tackle the Seriously Series challenge. I haven’t decided my level, but I have lots of series sitting on my shelves waiting for my attention. I am also going to do the BINGO Challenge. It hits lots of areas of interest, plus will force me to show some old favorites some love. Why Buy the Cow? is back, because I actually accomplished it.

I hope that 2013 brings you much joy, health, books and friends….and no stress.