2012 was an emotional roller-coaster, but there were some really cool things happening:

  • Got pregnant!
  • Touched a stone that came from the Moon
  • Flew a kite for the first time (a kite I made myself!)
  • Climbed the Etna Volcano in Sicily
  • Watched Firefly for the first time and became a committed Browncoat
  • Watched Doctor Who for the first time and became a committed Whovian
  • Learned how to cook Brussels sprouts to perfection
  • Tasted Key Lime Pie in Key West and Muscat d’Alsace in Alsace
  • Touched the oldest tree in Belgium: Caesarsboom

pics

I also did pretty well in the books department (considering), although I didn’t read as many as in 2011 – 84 books (minus 15). What I’m really proud of are the results of my 2012 Literary Commitments. They were:

Less challenges, more read-alongs and other community-building events

I only joined two challenges but participated in lots of other events* such as read-alongs, card and book swaps, special days, joint-reads, etc. They were all successful in making me interact more with the book blogging community, which was extremely rewarding. If I had to choose my favorite event of year I’d go for the 1st edition of the Armchair Audies organized by The Literate Housewife and The Guilded Earlobe.

Read more in different languages

Unfortunately I didn’t pick up any Spanish books, but I did read six in Portuguese and three in French.

Re-read more

I re-read seven books (only three in 2011) and they were among the best of the year.

Read War & Peace

Check!

Celebrate Dickens & Shakespeare

Dickens was never a favorite, but because of his anniversary I was determined to honor him. I ended up doing it by reading Claire Tomalin’s biography and A Christmas Carol.

I had never read anything by Shakespeare until 2012, when I tackled A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth. Also, I watched two of his plays: A Comedy of Errors and Henry V (a great midnight session at the Globe Theater in London).

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At the Globe Theater, in good company, waiting for the show to start…

Like I said, feeling pretty good about these commitments 🙂

Now a bit of geekish statistics (2011 figures between brackets).

formatFormat

All pretty much the same, except there was a slight increase in ebooks, probably because of the Project Gutenberg Project.

Genre

Genre

Disclaimer: not an exact science, just some figures to give me an idea if what I’ve been up to (e.g. a classic can also be historical and a mystery, a YA can also be sci-fi or fantasy, etc).

Last year, the top “genre” was fantasy but apparently this was a classics year (only 4th place in 2011). Interesting to see the slight decrease in “uncategorized fiction”. Children’s books also had a relatively big cut (something tells me that will change in the upcoming years…).

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type

Type

Also not an exact division (at least one graphic novels was non-fiction).

The supremacy of fiction once again, no surprise there. I’m proud of my adventure into theater and my intro to poetry.

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languages

Languages

Better, but not quite there yet. Would love to increase the other two languages and include Spanish (which I actually read better than French).

Looking at my list I notice I’ve only read one translated book – War & Peace – but then again, I can argue that for me reading in English is reading translated lit…

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PLANS FOR 2013

No plans

With a baby on the way it’s best if I really don’t make any big plans for 2013. I can only say that I’ll try to be around as much as possible and read as much as possible. Some general ideas:

  • Continue to re-read more (thinking about 84 Charing Cross Road, another Guy Gavriel Kay, another Austen, North & South)
  • Continue to read in different languages. Before the baby news hit, 2013 was suppose to be my year to learn more about Portuguese history. I’ll still try to give it a go.
  • Participate in the Armchair Audies 2013

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Happy 2013 everyone!

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*2012 book blogging events, for posterity:

Read-alongs
The Importance of Being Earnest, Red Seas Under Red Skies (Gentleman Bastards #2), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth

Challenges
Southern Literature Challenge, Africa Reading Challenge

Special Days
Ada Lovelace Day 2012, The Daphne du Maurier Season, Shakespeare Reading Month

Swaps
All Hallow’s Read Swap, Virtual Advent Tour 2012, Book Bloggers Holiday Card Exchange

Buddy-reads
The Meantime – Nine short stories from Brussels (with Joanna), Tea With Mr. Rochester (with Shannon) and O Testamento do Sr. Napumoceno da Silva Araújo (with Francesca)

Other projects
Where in the World are you Reading?, Armchair Audies, Reading Shakespeare Project: a Play a Month, Book Blogger Buddy System, Small Press Fortnight, Project Gutenberg Project (cont. from 2010)