2012: A Reading Year in Review

My 2012 Reading Year was a success. My goal was to read 100 books, and I finished the year at a robust 106!

Some highlights:

I read books that others extolled, but I didn't like: An Abundance of Katherines by John Greene, Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers and 11/22/63 by Stephen King, among them.

I read books that I loved that only a few others have read: The Call by Yannick Murphy, Sima's Undergarments for Women by Ilana Stanger-Ross and The Convenant by Naomi Ragen were the top.

I fell in love with new series: Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz, The Spellman Series by Lisa Lutz, The Giver by Lois Lowry and Aunt Dimity by Nancy Atherton.

I tried to get interested in series that didn't quite do it for me: The Sisterhood Series by Fern Michaels and The Bowers Files by Stephen James didn't quite hit the mark.

I read books that I never would have otherwise: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and John Dies at the End by David Wong.

I found new treasures: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka and The Worldly Adventures of a Teen-age Tycoon by Roger Eddy.

How did I do this? I ended my love affair with the television; skipping new plot lines, characters and cliffhangers on a weekly basis to plot lines, characters and cliffhangers as often as I opened a book. In the living technicolor of my adult imagination.

My life is richer, fuller, and larger today than it was one year ago because of the books I have read. I look forward to another fantastic year of reading!