Looking Back, Looking Forward

appy New Year everyone! You’ll recall that I’ve already done a 2011 Year in Reading post but I sort of forgot that I had meant to talk about the challenges I completed (and didn’t complete), so I’ve decided to do that here instead…and talk about some of my goals for the new year :)

Last year I completed 6 out of 9 of my own personal challenges.
Classics: 3/10 (FAIL)
Nonfiction: 14/5 (SUCCESS)
International: 6/7 (FAIL)
Small Press: 16/5 (SUCCESS)
Short Story Collections: 4/7 (FAIL)
Books Published in 2011: 23/11 (SUCCESS)
Poetry: 1/1 (SUCCESS)
Graphic Novel: 1/1 (SUCCESS)
Total Books: 69/60 (SUCCESS)

The single volume of poetry and one graphic novel challenges probably seem too easy, but given that I’d never read a graphic novel before and can’t stand poetry, these were actually big accomplishments for me. Kind of sad about the classics challenge…I know part of this stems from what’s considered a classic (e.g. I read Nine Stories, but don’t quite consider it a classic but given when it was published could have). Also kind of sad about the international books goal not being met if only because I was thisclose! ARGH!

Enough looking back though. Let’s look ahead!

2012 Book Blogging Goals
1. take part in more of the community aspects of blogging — by this I mean, leave more comments on other people’s blogs, take part in more challenges, memes, etc. (ok maybe not so many memes because I do think they can quickly get out of hand, but I would like to do Top 10 Tuesday a little more frequently)
2. write longer, more in depth reviews.
3. get rid of the rating system
4. bring back Gotta Get Down on Friday
5. don’t take books for review — I know…this one is kind of harsh and seems to somewhat go against #1, but I no longer feel comfortable taking books for review for a variety of reasons and won’t be doing so any time soon. I might re-evaluate my position on this mid-year, but for now, I’m sticking to my guns.

2012 Reading Challenges
This year, I’m hoping to read 75 books. And as stated in #1 of my book blogging goals, I’d like to participate in more hosted challenges, so I’ll be trying the following:

Well, since I already want to read 75 books this year, this challenge is perfect for me. I’ve chosen Level 2: Out of breath – Read 6–10 more books

I really want to commit to reading a significant portion of the books I already own (I’ve tried to do this in the past by instating a book buying ban…which worked for about 6 weeks). So for this one I’m going for Level 4 – Read 21+ Your Own Books. I think what I’ll do is each time I pass a level, I’ll allow myself to make ONE book purchase. That way I’m not depriving myself of new books entirely and I also have something to look forward to.

I have quite a few of these so this is also perfect for me. I’m halfway through at least two of them, so it seems silly I haven’t finished, but alas. As for what prize I’ll give myself if I make it through all of them…hmmm, perhaps a shirt from Out of Print tees? Not sure yet but here’s the list of books I’m committing to finish this year:
1. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
2. Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
4. Mad Woman in the Attic by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar
5. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
6. Finny by Justin Kramon
7. The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy
8. I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe
9. Out by Natsuo Kirino
10. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
(believe it or not I started reading this when I was a little kid, but never finished! so I’ve decided to include it on this list though I will have to start from the beginning)

I’m keeping this one simple and aiming for the first level: The Mini YA Reading Challenge – Read 12 Young Adult novels. I have about 11 that I definitely want to get to (Suite Scarlett, Scarlett Fever, Vixen, Bright Young Things, The Vespertine, Beauty Queens, The Sweet Far Thing, Rumors, 13 Little Blue Envelopes, The Last Little Blue Envelope, and Dangerous Angels), but the last will have to be determined at a later date.

So remember how most of my Fall Reading titles were more than 400 pages? Yeah, well since I didn’t get through most of them I figured I’d try this Mammoth Book Reading challenge since I already own enough books to make this work. I assume books already started don’t count, so I’ll be going for Level 2: Read 4 mammoth-sized books (1Q84, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Sweet Far Thing, and East of Eden all fit the bill and are books I’d really like to read this year anyway).

OK, that’s it! Here’s to a new year of blogging :)