End of the year review 2012

There's less than half an hour left of the year, and it seems like a good time to reflect on the reading year I've had. Thanks to Goodreads, I'm able to keep track of all my books, both reads and re-reads, and my To Be Read list keeps steadily growing. I cleared my schedule for two 24-hour Readathons, one in April and one in October. I took part in my third Cannonball Read, and this year succeeded in my goal of reading and reviewing 52 books first of all the participants. Not only that, but I was first to complete a Double Cannonball of 104 books with one month to spare.

Obviously, I will be participating in next year's Cannonball Read as well. For those of my blog readers who feel inspired to join in, registration is open now. We read and review for a good cause, in the memory of a lovely woman, and to raise money for cancer charities. I already have enough unread books on my Reader to complete at least a double Cannonball, and that's not counting the many books coming out in 2013. Obviously my goal is to once again be the first to finish my 52 reviews. May the best reader win! I will not commit to a Double Cannonball yet, but we'll see. 

Inspired by the great ladies over at The Book Smugglers, who are currently doing their Smugglivus, I'm going to post my best of 2012 list, and also links to some of the books I'm most looking forward to in 2013. I'm linking to Goodreads, because that way you can read not only my review, but those of countless others for each book, thus giving you a better impression about what the internet at large think and feel about them. 

The 2012 Best of (in the order of which I read them, not preference):

1. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
2. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
3. The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery (thanks, Lydia!)
4. A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare
5. Feeling Sorry for Celia by Jaclyn Moriarty
6. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
7. Gunmetal Magic by Ilona Andrews
8. Ashes of Honor by Seanan McGuire
9. Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
10. A Kiss for Midwinter by Courtney Milan

Nearly made the list:

Grave Dance by Kalayna Price

The Governess Affair by Courtney Milan

The Duchess War by Courtney Milan

I'm not kidding when I say Courtney Milan is the best romance writer currently on the market. I adore her.

Over on Pajiba, a whole bunch of Cannonballers have listed their best and worst reads of 2012, so I had to look through my review and see which books I disliked the most. I'm posting them here, as well, to warn any readers of this blog away from them:

1. Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris (thankfully the final book is out in 2013, and I'll be free)
2. Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson (how this has an average rating of 4.43 is beyond me)
3. I Only Have Eyes for You by Bella Andre (so very boring) AND
3. At Your Pleasure by Meredith Duran (who wrote one of my top 10 books of 2011. So upsetting)

Books I can't wait to get my hands on in the first half of 2013:

Ever After by Kim Harrison - Rachel Morgan #11

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer - Lunar Chronicles #2

Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger - the first in her new Finishing School series

Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs - Mercy Thompson #7

Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris - Sookie Stackhouse #13 - because I just need closure now

Any Duchess Will Do by Tessa Dare - Spindle Cove #4

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - needs no explanation

Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews - Kate Daniels #6

Total pages read in 2012: 56 270 pages

Re-reads: 20
Comic book collections: 10
Novellas: 13
New books (as in books I'd never read before): 121
Total: 164

Not at all bad, considering my goal for the year was to read at least 100 new books and 130 in total.

Breakdown of genres:
Romance: 42.7 %
Young Adult: 16.5%
Urban/paranormal fantasy: 13.3%
Fantasy: 6.7%
Mystery: 5.4%
Science fiction: 4.3%
Contemporary/historical fiction: 3.7%
Non fiction: 1.2%
Comic books: 6.2%

E-books: 72.8 %
Old fashioned dead tree books: 27.2 %
I think it's safe to say that e-books are winning, at this rate. It's just so incredibly convenient to be able to carry hundreds of books on one little device.

So that's my reading year. Next year, I'll be reading a lot more Norwegian, because of the course I'm taking, and my goal is to read at least two books a month from my ever increasing To Be Read pile. I keep buying books that sound awesome and don't get round to reading them because something even newer and shinier distracts me. So I will try to challenge myself a bit more in 2013.

Happy New Reading Year!