A Book-Loggy Year

Back in January, I wrote about my New Year's Resolutions here on the blog. Public accountability, after all, is a great motivator, and I was hoping that by declaring my intentions to all of you, I'd be a little more likely to stick to the resolutions.

My big resolution was to keep track of all the books I read in 2011, and thanks to the suggestions in the comments, I ended up with a GoodReads account. When I set that account up, I set my reading goal for the year at 100 new-to-me books. (Re-reads don't count.)

I am here today to admit that I failed. I'm at 78 books right now, and I'll probably manage another 5 or 6 before the year is out (mmm, holiday reading), but there's no way I'm going to make it to 100 books. I had a couple of lags in my reading—the month I spent in Vancouver waiting for my sister's baby to arrive, the time after I dislocated my knee and couldn't get to the library, pretty much all of November—but I'm confident that I can make it to 100 in 2012.
Despite not making it to my goal, I am absolutely thrilled with my resolution. The number of books was really a side challenge to myself, and the resolution itself was to keep track of the books I read. And I did. Every single book I read for the first time in 2011 is logged on my GoodReads account. I'd finish a book (usually in bed, which is where I do most of my reading) and immediately pick up my phone to update my GoodReads account.

And although I don't have any data to back it up, I think this might be the most new books I've ever read in a year. I'm very prone to re-reading rather than finding something new, but as a result of my challenge to read 100 new books, I made an effort to seek out new material instead of just picking up an old favourite. GoodReads helped with this, too: I added friends with similar taste in books and requested things they loved from the library.

When I left the library to take a full-time job with OLL back in June, I was worried that I'd fall into previous bad library habits. I was never very good at returning books on time back in the days before I worked at the library, and I was concerned that without the ease of picking up books that looked interesting, I'd slack off in my reading. But I've read 39 books since leaving the library, which means I've maintained the same pace pretty much all year long. (The big gaps? April and November. Apparently I am unable to write and read at the same time.)

Of the 78 books, I gave 12 of them 5 stars, which is actually more than I thought. Discarding the ones that were more of a 4.5 (my one complaint about GoodReads is the lack of half-star ratings), I'd say five of them were genuinely 5-star books: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, The Homecoming of Samuel Lake, Bossypants, The Sky Is Everywhere, and my hands-down favourite book of the year and one of my new favourite books of all time, The Night Circus.

My plan for 2012 is to jump-start the 100-book challenge with a solid amount of reading in January and February when it's too cold to do much else and work isn't quite so hectic. That means I need some recommendations, so hit me with your favourite books that you read in 2011. And thank you again to everyone who suggested GoodReads. It has changed the way I read in so many positive ways, and I can't thank you enough.

– Sarah

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