See Ya Later, 2012

It's scary how fast time flies. A year ago, Jim, Saigon and I were living in a little cramped town-house outside of Edmonton when I decided to start this blog. While I claim to write a book blog, I cannot deny that I often will write about whatever I feel like. Which, I've been told by my mom, is when one should write. If you come here for bookish talk, but it's a Sunday and all you get is adorable photos of Saigon, I cannot apologize. My goal when I started this blog was never to get uber-popular or categorize myself into one specific niche. First and foremost, I wanted a place to talk about books. But for me, talking about books is so much more fun when you get to know the people talking about said books. So, therefore I assume you want to know more about me and my life, and why I read the books I do and why I feel the way I feel about certain books. And I hope that by being myself and letting you learn more about me, you'll feel comfortable enough to chime in with your own thoughts at the end of a post. There is no right or wrong answer to what you thought about a book. For me, one of the greatest things about reading is sharing all the feelings with someone else who has also read the same book. So to the handful of you who read this blog and engage in conversation with me, I thank you for that.

When I started Eat Books, it coincided with me signing up for the 50 Book Pledge. In all my years of reading, I had never thought of actually keeping track of the books I had read, let alone the number of books I read in a year. But I love lists and stats so this was a no-brainer.  50 books in one year? Easy. That's only a book a week with a 2-week grace period. Ha! I'm embarrassed to report that I only read 39 books this year. Not that I have any regrets though. I read some amazing books, met some amazing bloggers along the way, and experienced some firsts in a lot of things. I read listened to my first audiobook (even if it was a fail), I hosted my first author Q&A with a giveaway, I was contacted and sent a book for review from a local author via Twitter, and I completed my first readalong. Not too shabby.

Of the 39 books I read, here are the super exciting stats:

Number of pages read: 12,657

Percentage of female authors read: 72%

Percentage of Canadian authors read: 10%

Shortest book read: Ethel & Ernest at 103 pages

Longest book read: The Thorn Birds at 692 pages


In my personal life, 2012 was a good year. Jim and I bought a house in Edmonton and I finally got my very own "library". We had three amazing vacations this year: Vegas, Nova Scotia and Florida. We celebrated our first wedding anniversary in November. Saigon had his one year anniversary post-stroke and hasn't looked back since. I fulfilled my need to work amongst books, before returning to my nursing career.I met an amazing group of bloggers and friends through The Edmonton Book Bloggers. I am excited and looking forward to what 2013 has to offer!

November 13, 2011

So see ya later, 2012. It's been a blast, but it's time to move on.

I'd love to hear: what were your memorable moments of 2012?