2011, and looking ahead to 2012

A lot of blogs have been participating in year-end favourites lists, and I've been reading them all with pleasure. I always like to see what different people enjoyed. I've wanted to participate myself, but due to some very sad, very difficult things that have gone on in the past week, I haven't had the energy nor the... enthusiasm I usually have. I don't want to say too much, as this blog doesn't get very personal very often, but it's enough to say that my family has gone through hell and back this week. I may or may not write a blog post about this issue, but until I decide what I'm going to do, I thought I would just write a quite wrap-up to say goodbye to 2011.

At the beginning of 2011, I made a resolution to do something I've never done before: keep track of all the books I read this year. As of right now, the number is 57. 52 of those were YA/MG. The adult books I read were either for literature classes or British mystery novels.

Out of 57 books, you'd think I could come up with maybe a top 10. But my brain power right now is zilch. During the year, as I listed the books I finished, I put a star next to them if they were particular favourites. I'm just going to tell you which books I put a star next to.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins: This would probably be my hands-down favourite book I read this year. This book makes me feel all bubbly and happy inside the same way Disney's Beauty and the Beast does. It speaks to something inside me that just makes me glow. I can't define that. I can't label it. All I know is that any author who can do this to me immediately jumps to my all-time favourites list.

How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford: A very, very close second to Anna, this book also speaks to me in a way most don't. This book makes me feel like, somewhere out there, there are people who totally get me. These characters are my soulmates. I want to crawl inside this book and live there, with Beatrice and Jonah. I want to call in to old timer radio shows and go on imaginary magic carpet rides with them. Like my favourite movie, Ghost World, this book gives us the weird and wonderful and sometimes heartbreaking world we live in and makes it magic.

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson: How to Say Goodbye in Robot reflected the weird world we know, while 13 Little Blue Envelopes shows us the wider aspect of it. This book ignited the wanderer in me and basically inspired the trip to France and England I'm planning for 2012.

The Killings at Badger's Drift by Caroline Graham: One of the few adult books I read this year, it's a murder mystery about an English village. While it isn't as deep and heartfelt as some of the other books I read this year, it does have something amazing going for it: sparkling characters that leap off the page with their chemistry. Chief Inspector Barnaby and Sergeant Troy (who are also my two favourite characters on TV) are gems.

Those are the standouts in my reading for 2011. In 2012, I'm looking forward to Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins (of course), The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (also a no-brainer), and too many more to count.

Other awesome things from this year include the film Midnight in Paris and the music of Joss Stone, the Smiths, Jack's Mannequin, Matthew Good, and too many more.

I'm sorry for the understated and sober year-end roundup... but what can I say? I hope 2012 sees me in much better spirits. Happy New Year and much love to you all. I hope to be blogging more soon.