the appropriately soppy, cram-it-all-together and add a dash of wit end-of-2011 post.

my plans for midnight. no lie.

well, guys, it's been a wild ride of a year. i'm sparing  you the long, academy award speech i had prepared, but i saw how much fun everyone else seemed to have with their end-of-the-year posts, and i thought that maybe this once i'd jump on the bandwagon.

so, while you're waiting for the ball to drop, chew on these little snippets of the past year.

the books.

120 books. Well, I think there was more, but let's just keep it at that number for the sake of my sanity. I still cannot believe that I was able to cover that much ground, with so many other shinies to distract my attention (the novel! Ouran High School Host Club! a fresh cup of tea!) but apparently miracles do happen.

particular favorites of 2011 include...

eyes like stars by lisa mantchev
ruby red by kersten gier
the incorrigible children of ashton place by maryrose wood
cinder by marissa meyer - well, this is technically a 2012 debut, but this is Kaye's blog, and on Kaye's blog Kaye is queen
witchlanders by lena coakley
the near witch by victoria schwab

looking back, i did have a good ratio of books i liked compared to those i didn't (and since this is new year's eve, i'm going to do all of us a favor and keep those out of this post). however, i'm REALLY excited for 2012 because the list of new titles is simply mind-twisting...you can't go wrong with so much to choose from, right?

the authors.

i am so thankful for twitter because not only does it help you connect to other book bloggers/readers/awesome people, you can learn so much more about the authors that you admire. sometimes, the distant author blurbs and hype can really get you feeling...apprehensive about talking to one of them, but in reality they are just people.

really awesome, famous, talented people, but still.

particular authors i cannot imagine life without now...

maryrose wood
lisa mantchev
susan dennard
victoria schwab
maureen johnson
michelle zink
jodi meadows
ally carter
jennifer lynn barnes
if i missed someone, you know that i care. please don't hurt me! it's new year's eve! *holds up 2012 sign and grins*

the shoutouts.

wendy darling. because i check her blog first before i think about reading the book.
dani @ refracted light. she's just...awesome. let's leave it at that.
maggie, constance darling and all the other amazing peeps at write on! teens. you guys rock. and you know it. and i hope you keep rocking on through 2012.
mickey @ i'm a book shark. because she makes me laugh. 'nuff said.
bookish briti. because she made my holidays happy. book packages out of the blue FTW!

the resolution.

more books read and less returned to the library.
many new friends that love books as much as i do.
reviews on time instead of months after the fact (i get caught up in my reads, okay?)
world peace and happiness for all.

...hey, a girl can dream, right?