My Year of Books, and, Oh, Yes, Happy New Year!

My year of keeping track of the books I read has come to an end. Sadly, I won't make it to 52 books - I'd really hoped to average one a week. (Sad, I know, but let me have my small pleasures!) I did, however, finish 51 books - just one off from my goal! I started my 52nd this morning.

I'm going to have to continue this habit into 2013...

So, here's what I've read this year:

1. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
2. Sweet Valley Confidential by Francine Pascal
3. The Raising by Laura Kasischke

4. Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan

5. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (the only book I re-read this year - everything else was brand new, and a complete novelty to me!)
6. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
7. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
8. The Girl With Glass Feet by Ali Shaw

9. The Woman Who Heard Color by Kelly Jones

10. The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley
11. The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen
12. The House at Tyneford by Natasha Solomons
13. Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen by Susan Gregg Gilmore
14. The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

15. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

16. About a Boy by Nick Hornby
17. Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell
18. Sister by Rosamund Lupton

19. The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin

20. Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland
21. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

22. Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

23. Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult
24. Testimony by Anita Shreve
25. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
26. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
27. War Brides by Helen Bryan
28. Pink Smog by Francesca Lia Block
29. The Doll in the Garden by Mary Downing Hahn

30. The Aviary by Kathleen O'Dell

31. Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
32. The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman
33. Blankets by Craig Thompson

34. The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones

35. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
36. Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James
37. Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt

38. The Last Letter From Your Lover by Jojo Moyes

39. Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult
40. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
41. The Elementals by Francesca Lia Block
42. Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
43. The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor
44. Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
45. Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

46. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

47. The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo
48. The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
49. Summer House by Nancy Thayer

50. The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan

51. The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

A few things I've noticed about my book choices:
-If it has chapters, it counts as a book. It doesn't matter if it was written for an 11-year-old.
-I like World War II novels.
-I like novels set in England. Or London.
-I like World War II novels that are set in England or London.
-While I can't seem to get through a non-fiction book about the sinking of the Titanic, I can easily get through a novel about the sinking of the Titanic.
-This was this year I started to secretly enjoy Nicholas Sparks.
-I like young adult novels that don't really seem like young adult novels because the stories are pretty messed up. Like a magician turning his children into talking birds to keep in an aviary.

Here's what I DIDN'T read in 2012 (that's not to say I didn't try...):
1. Titanic: First Accounts, various authors
2. A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes From my Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg
3. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

So what are your goals for 2013?

Here's wishing everyone out there a Happy New Year! I hope that this year is filled with fun suprises, positivity, love, laughter, and all the magic you can handle!

Celebrate!