This year I read 34 books. I had a goal to read more and I didn’t keep track in 2011, but I’m pretty sure I accomplished that goal. Having a great bath tub in our new house helped with my reading time – it’s one of my favourite places to settle in with a good book.

Some of them I really enjoyed, some not so much (Sarah’s Key, and I’m one of those people that hated the ending of Gone Girl – also the characters in it). I read more non-fiction than I usually would, and I’ve got a few more non-fiction books on my shelf waiting for me. I’m also hoping to finally meet with my neighbourhood book club in February when they read Cat’s Table, which is on my to-read shelf as well.

Right now I’m reading two books that will be added to my books of 2013 list – One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson (the follow up to Case Histories, which I really enjoyed) and The Great Gatsby, which I never read in high school. I’m reading Gatsby on my new iPad mini, and while I love a physical book, it’s nice to have some ebooks to carry around with me too.

For 2013 the goal will be more than 34 books, more new authors and more Canadian writers.

What I read in 2012:

1. The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay (I love Ami McKay, I loved The Birth House, I loved the characters in The Virgin Cure, I love talking to her on Twitter – @sideshowami – and I am very much looking forward to her next story).
2. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
3. Them: Adventures with Extremists by Jon Ronson
4. All Wound Up by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (AKA The Yarn Harlot)
5. Before the Poison by Peter Robinson
6. Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi
7. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
8. Catching Fire
9. Mockingjay
10. Storm Front (The Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher
11. Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson AKA The Bloggess (I laughed so hard Joe kept asking if I was alright. Just read it).
12. What They Do In The Dark by Amanda Coe (I was frustrated by this book. The characters were really interesting but the plot plodded along until something totally inexplicable happened in the last 20 pages).
13. The Beggar’s Garden by Michael Christie (First collection of short stories I’ve read in a long time, I heard the author doing an interview on CBC radio and immediately wanted to read it).
14. The Woman Who Changed Her Brain by Barbara Arrowsmith-Young (fascinating read)
15. In One Person by John Irving (who I love)
16. Designated Fat Girl by Jennifer Joyner
17. I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron
18. Girl Walks Into A Bar by Rachel Dratch
19. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
20. The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde
21. Birthdays for the Dead by Stuart MacBride (not the last of his I’ll read)
22. We Need To Talk About Kevin
23. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
24. Time Management from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern
25. Naked, Drunk and Writing by Adair Lara
26. Why Men Lie by Linden MacIntyre
27. Confessions of a Scary Mommy by Jill Smokler
28. Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
29. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
30. How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
31. Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James
32. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
33. Spook by Mary Roach
34. Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein