The last post of 2014 has arrived! My annual review of the past year and plans for the next year. This is the fifth time I’ve written this post. I’m pleased as a peach to reach this milestone. I think it’s the first consistently annual thing I’ve ever done. When I wrote last year’s post, I was uncertain about whether I would continue blogging at all. I said, “This whole post may sound a bit dreary, but I’m actually feeling more optimistic than ever because I’m not giving myself false hope and I’m trying to consider my situation realistically, in order to make real changes“. Well, look at that, I did make real changes! I’m very happy with how I’ve been maintaining the new incarnation of my blog this year. I’m ready to push it even further next year.

I completed my GoodReads challenge of 75 books, squeaking up to 76 today. I didn’t participate in other reading challenges. I did participate in a number of blogging events, though, which I had never done before. You can find links to my event-related posts here.

• Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-thon (April)
• Armchair BEA (May)
• The Literary Blog Hop (June)
• Summer Library Reading Challenge (June and July) (ah, I guess this counts as a reading challenge – part of it was to read more library books)
• The Haunting of Hill House Readalong (September)
• Fall Bloggiesta (September)
• Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-thon (October)

I loved participating in these events. I used to think doing so would distract me from reading, but I found such events enhanced my reading experience. It’s great to connect with others who love reading as much as you do. Next year, I will continue participating in events. I also want to take on some reading challenges. I avoided them for awhile but now I think they could be as beneficial as reading events, in connecting with other readers and thinking more deeply about what I read. I’m careful to choose ones that are already in line with my reading goals. Here are the ones I plan on so far – I’m sure the list will grow as I encounter new ones throughout the year!

• Events:
• Literary Blog Hop (February)
• Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-thon (April)
• Armchair BEA (May)
• [July/August I will be preparing to move/moving back to Canada so those will be slow months]
• Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-thon (October)
• Non-fiction November
• Month of Faves (December)
• Reading Challenges:
• TBR Pile Challenge – I participated in this challenge in 2011 and 2012. Now that I’m full swing into the blogging community, I’d like to give it another go. Hopefully I will be successful this time around!
• The Re-read Challenge – I barely did any rereading in 2013. I want to remedy that this year.
• Foodies Read Challenge – Another challenge I participated in in 2011. I still add food-related books to my TBR but don’t give them much priority. I look forward to tackling such books once again.
• CBC Monthly Reads – Yes, a book club, I never do book clubs, I’m far too picky about my reading, but I want to try more Canadian literature so I’ll give it a go.

Last but not least, my general reading goals. I’m keeping it fairly simple again this year. I’m upping my reading goal just a smidge. I’m confident I’ll be able to read more this year, now that I won’t have the distraction of writing papers and moving to a new country!

• 8 posts/month (twice a week, ideally one review and one other)
• Improve writing style (be more precise, use less words)
• 80 books read, including…
• 12 books reread
• 12 Japan-related books
• 8 Tolkien-related books
• 5 Canadian Indigenous books

Overall, I’m proud of what I accomplished this year and I think I can do even better next year. I hope you had a successful 2014. See you next year!