Reflections and 2012 Reading Challenges

As we look forward to the new year, it's also a time to look back and reflect on the old year.  While my blog was originally created in October of 2010, I really didn't become active in the community until February of 2011.  One of my goals for this year was to put more effort into networking in the blogging community, and though I feel I have accomplished that, I know there is still much to still learn as a blogger from both veteran bloggers and novice bloggers.  I still consider myself a novice blogger, and there's nothing wrong with maintaining the mindset of a student.  Even the veterans I follow are most likely still learning, and that's part of what makes them great.

For the new year, I aim to comment more on my fellow bloggers' reviews and review on a more regular basis.  I was very happy with how much reviewing I did in November, and my stats definitely improved in the latter half of the year.  With the amount of books I've squirreled away (like the book squirrel I am), I have more than enough to keep me busy even with the amazing new titles being released in 2012.  Because of all the books I've acquired in the past year, I feel inspired to participate in the 2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge.  Here's a picture of some of the titles I'd like to read for this challenge, and here's hoping I can do it in a year!

I'm also going to set myself a more realistic goal on Goodreads for 2012.  This year I felt pressured by wanting to read 75 books, and now that I'm down to the wire, I'm reading more graphic novels in order to attain that goal.  While they are books, I would like to have non-graphic novel titles for the majority (if not all) of my list.  So this year I plan to read 50 books that are not graphic novels for my Goodreads 2012 Challenge.  That's not to say I won't be reading any graphic novels, I just won't count them towards this particular challenge.

2012 promises to be a great year, and I'm looking forward to it as both a librarian and a blogger.  Here's to a new year for all of us, my fellow bloggers and my dear readers!

What reflections do you have for 2011 and what challenges for 2012? ^_^

In My Mailbox (16)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren where bloggers post about the books they have received in the past week whether for review, purchased, or checked out from our local library. ^_^

Gifts:

The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey

Rancour by James McCann

(Both of these are from Karen of Books Beside My Bed, thank you, hun!)

Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
(Both of these are from my Secret Santa, the wonderful Lena from I Love Books Club.)

Lena also sent me quite a few goodies with these great books. ^_^

A book bag, a 3D wolf bookmark, purple pens (whoo!), and a mini notepad and pen. Great goodies!

From My Library:

Cake Wrecks by Jen Yates
(Yes, it's THAT Cake Wrecks, and while I find the wrecks amusing, I really love their Sunday Sweets posts more.)

Bought:

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

A very wonderful and generous Mailbox on the part of both Karen and Lena. 
What did you get in your mailbox?