What a crazy year 2010 was, huh? At least it was for me. 🙂 But when it came to all things books it was great!
The So Cal Bloggers got together a lot this year – which I loved! I got to meet Ames from Canada when she visited. We added a whole bunch of wonderful authors to our group – which was awesome. Kris from Australia visited as well – although none of the bloggers brought cameras to our luncheon! lol (yeah, we suck!) I did, however manage to capture her on film.
I went on an incredible trip to San Francisco and Yaoi-con where I met up with Chris, Tam, Kris, & Jen (and Tam’s daughter) and we had a fabulous time. I got to meet lots of great authors at the con too. The whole trip was a once in a lifetime thing and I had such a good time.
When it came to reading I expanded my horizons by joining the Yaoi Swap. I’d never read yaoi manga before and it was definitely an eye opener! lol Of course I love it and will keep reading it in 2011.
My reading challenges were pretty darned enjoyable, I must say. I actually made it through both of them without too much pain and anguish. lol
The DIK Reading Challenge was a fun. We might have to do that again sometime…uh, not this year. 🙂 You can see all of the books I read and reviewed on my sidebar.——>
The M/M Reading Challenge was definitely a little more challenging for me. I read m/m books all the time but I don’t review too many..why is that? I have no idea. Of course I think my reviewing dwindled this year en total so maybe it’s an all over decline. Anyway, I signed up for 20+ books and I managed to review 26. I did most of those in the beginning of the year and slacked a bit at the end there – but I did it! My review links, etc. are on the sidebar as well.——>
The reading challenges that I gave to myself didn’t work out quite as well. My Tracy’s TBR challenge wasn’t so bad. This was my challenge to read at least 1 book per week from my TBR that had been there for 3 months or longer. I did miss a couple of weeks but some weeks I read more than one so…yeah, it still doesn’t work out to 52 but I tried!
My Finish the Series Project went down in a huge friggin smoking ball of flame. I tried, I really did. I even tried to avoid starting new series because I didn’t want to add them to my list. This challenge started in March and shouldn’t have taken me that long. I even deleted some of the books off of the list because I decided there was a reason I hadn’t finished the series and I wasn’t going to change my mind. I think I finally gave up the ghost in July with, I think, 12 books left. Maybe some day I’ll read them all, but you never know. 🙂
How many books did I read? I have no idea how many. If my entries to Goodreads can be believed it’s around the 450 mark give or take a few DNF’s. Not a bad year. But how many of those books really stood out? Well, quite a few, actually. There were many, many, many that got ratings of 4 or 4.5 that were great but I won’t be listing those here. As usual I’m going to stick to listing the books that I marked 5 stars cuz that’s how I roll and let’s face it, I just don’t have the patience to list all of the 4 and 4.5’s. 😉
These are put in no particular category so don’t be trying to figure one out. It’s totally random, just like me. *beams*
My 5 star reads for 2010:
Something About You by Julie James
Downtime by Tamara Allen
InDescent by KZ Snow
The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook
Caught Running by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux
Trust Me If You Dare by LB Gregg
The Art of Dying by Josh Lanyon & Jordan Castillo Price
Secrets by Jordan Castillo Price
Fugly by KZ Snow
Lord of the White Hell book 2 by Ginn Hale
Get What You Need by Janey Chapel
Dudleytown by LB Gregg
Love is Blind by Lynsay Sands
Last Dragon Standing by GA Aiken
Talker by Amy Lane
Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Clare London
Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas
The Reawakened by Jeri Smith-Ready
In and Out by LB Gregg
Wow – a really great mix of books and a great year! Hopefully there will be even more in 2011 that will make the 5 star listing.
I hope you and yours have a wonderful 2011 and Happy Reading!
It was lovely meeting you too, Tracy :).
And what a great year for reading! Let's hope next year is just as good for you.
Once in a lifetime? I thought we were making it an annual event. LOL
Excellent books on your list and I think the only m/m ones I haven't read yet are the White Hell books which I have. I've decided to forgo official reading challenges this year, however I do have a commitment to either read the oldest books in my TBR from 2009 or at least make the decision to put them aside at NBR (never be reads). I should at least give them a go. Maybe 2 per month. I can do that. 2 stinkin' books? 🙂
Wishing you all good things for 2011.
Jen – And to you! Maybe one day when I'm, ya know, just moseying around England I'll stop by for tea. 🙂
Tam – Uh, sure. lol
Oh yes, didn't you get the White Hell books at Yaoi-con? So good! And since you have them both right there you can read them one right after the other. The best way!
I still have books in my TBR from 07 & 08 so maybe I should work on those first? lol I think I'll just stick with my Tracy's TBR and see if I can whittle it down that way. 🙂
Nice wrapup, and a great mix of books!
I think I reviewed far more m/m books this year than I have before, too. I also read a fair amount of them, but rarely review them. Huh.
Happy new year, my friend! See ya next weekend, yes?
Happy New Year Tracy! I hope 2011 brings you and your family much happiness.
Best
You forgot to put 'Queen of the Fucking Universe' in front of my name. 😛
You know I adore you muchly. Happy New Year to you and yours, hun.
Lori – Yeah, why is that? I don't like them any less than m/f – sometimes more. Why don't I review them? I should make this some sort of goal for 2011….nah! lol
Happy New Year to you – and Yes!
Lea – Thank you, you too! Thanks for being a great friend and for all of your awesome work on DIK this year. You are da bomb. 🙂
Kris – Uh, no I didn't. lol
And I, you, you crazy woman.
Impressive list of books, Tracy!
I did good on all of my challenges too except for the Finish That Series one. I'm not sure why I had problems with it though. 🙂
It was so much fun meeting and hanging out with you! And hey, we made it back from our hike, so no harm, no foul… right? 😉
You should review m/m more, because I can't help but notice that there were a LOT of m/m titles in your 5-star reads. 😀
You had a beautiful reading year, and an outstanding list (and mix) of books there, Tracy.
I also read more M/M books than I review. It's interesting because I really enjoy them too.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Tracy!! May 2011 be as enjoyable as 2010 🙂
Wow, you were busy in 2010 LOL 🙂
And you have some very good books in your list 🙂 That's great 😉
Happy New Year, Tracy!
Your 'finish the series' challenge inspired me, and I'm hoping to do one, myself, this year.
One of my high points of 2010 was the So Cal Bloggers meet-ups, as well! 🙂
There are more than a couple of books on your list I have to check out! Especially, the Jodi Thomas and Urban/Roux book.
What a great reading year. Fingers crossed for this year! And lots of books on your list I need to get to 🙂
Lily – Why do we have such a problem finishing the series. I have no idea! lol
Hilcia – It's odd that I don't (and you don't) review more m/m. I have no idea why that is!
Renee – I hope you have better luck with finishing series than Lily and I did.
lol The Thomas books and Caught Running were all great.
Orannia – Hopefully this year will bring on more great books! I'm looking forward to seeing what is to come.
Happy New year to everyone, once again.
Ok – my eyesight is failing me! I did cut and paste and neglected to paste Nath and Chris's comments. Oops!
Chris – That hike just about killed me! But I survived – yay! It was great getting to meet you. We'll have to do it again some time. 🙂
I did have quite a few m/m books in my 5 star reads – more than m/f I think. huh.
Nath – I WAS busy in 2010 but it was great! Lots of books that hit 4.5 as well but we'd be here for days if I listed those as well. lol