Year End Wrap Up: 2011

2011 was my first full year of blogging. I turned into challenge-joining maniac--joining a grand total of 37 (if you count the Reading Challenge Addict Challenge which only confirmed my challenge craziness) and finishing 34 of them. Two of those challenges are perpetual/more than a year in length, so I didn't really fail at those. However, the Books Won Challenge takes the prize for biggest FAIL. I had a stack of 8 books that I had won over the past year or so of blogging and I thought I could read them all (Silver Challenge Level). As it was, I only managed to reach the Honorable Mention level. And even though I did finish 37 challenges, it still bothers me a bit that I wasn't able to finish something I started.

2011 also marked my first attempt at hosting challenges of my own. The big event was the Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge which enticed 84 folks to initially sign up and wound up with 54 participants who read at least one vintage mystery. Of those 54, 31 challengers had completed their level as of this afternoon! I was very pleased to find so many out there in the interwebs who share my love of older mysteries. I also hosted the Color Coded Challenge which didn't seem to draw as many in--I'm going to give that one a rest this year. I may try again in 2013. Five participants have completed the color requirements--stay tuned for a post announcing the winner of the drawing!

One of the best parts of the Vintage Mystery Challenge was meeting and getting to know better some terrific bloggers who share my love of classic crime: John at Pretty Sinister Books; Les at Classic Mysteries; Yvette at In So Many Words; Ryan at Wordsmithonia; Sergio at Tipping My Fedora...and so many more. And...my 2012 version of the challenge has helped me meet a few more awesome bloggers as well.

In addition to challenges, I also participated in several read-a-thons, give-aways, and short-term challenges. My favorite was the Crime Fiction on a Europass sponsored by Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise. A big reason why there are as many non-US/non-British authors on my stats list is due to Kerrie taking us on a European tour this fall. I discovered many authors that are now down on my long TBR list because of this challenge.

Thank you to all of the wonderful people out here in the blogosphere--those who follow and just take a peek now and then, those who comment, and those who have become close blogging buddies. Thanks as well to all who sponsored the many challenges which helped feed my reading/challenge habit--they were all great fun! I hope you all have a fabulous New Year!


And, finally, my year-end stat totals:

Total Books Read: 220 (Just made it under the wire to meet my Outdo Yourself & Goodreads goal)
Total Pages: 54,377
Percentage by Female Authors: 46%
Percentage by US Authors: 38%
Percentage by non-US/non-British Authors: 11%
3 Canadian
1 Indian
5 Australian
2 Irish
2 French
2 Swedish
1 Argentinian
2 Scottish
3 Spanish
1 Danish
2 Dutch
Percentage Mystery: 61%
Percentage Fiction: 92%
Percentage written 2000+: 39%
Percentage of Rereads: 15%
Percentage Read for Challenges: 100% {It's easy to have every book count for a challenge when you sign up for the Out Do Yourself Challenge. Every book I read counted towards my goal of 220 books read in 2011}

Number of Challenges fulfilled: 34 (92%)