It is natural for some people to pause at the end of the year, to look back and take stock of what they have accomplished over that year, and to make resolutions for the next year.

But I have never been one to do this.

For one thing, taking stock often seems forced. For another thing, most of the time, one does not end up actually keeping the resolutions one makes. So why am I pausing now to survey what I have read? Is it peer pressure? Perhaps. Other Goodreads bloggers have treated their fans to musings on their "reading year in retrospect."

Or am I doing this because by analyzing what I've read, I can learn something more about my relationship with books, reading and writing? I hope so.

In my last blog post I said that I read because other people suggested books. And that has certainly been true this year. I've read a few books which could be categorized as the GR flavour of the month. All right I admit it. I caved in and read The Hunger Games and 1Q84. So sue me. I was curious to see what all the hubbub was about.

But I have also read almost two dozen books written by GR friends. Many were undertaken voluntarily. Sometimes I brashly requested review copies; sometimes the authors approached me themselves and later became my friends.

There were two side effects of this reading. Because GR encourages reviews, I have started to write more of them, and because more people noticed them I got more requests. What's fascinating to me is the relationship (courtship dance? wrestling match? snowball effect?) between reading and reviewing.

Another thing that's fascinating is that, even though I normally stick with "traditional" subjects such as theology, history and literary classics, I've begun to explore, a bit in spite of myself, some other genres that I didn't realize I liked so much or that didn't interest me a lot before. In one of my reviews I humorously remarked that for me, 2012 was the year of reading dangerously--and there is some truth to that. But it's been an exciting adventure.

For instance, thanks to "Lawyer Stevens" and the Southern literature group, I not only renewed and deepened my acquaintance with Flannery O'Connor, but I met some new authors such as John Kennedy Toole and Eudora Welty.

I've also read some mysteries, some poetry, some children's literature, and some works that are harder to classify. Is there such a category as Voltairean space fantasy? Heavy metal bizarro? Fashionista farce? Intestinal postmodern metafiction? (I'm still working on that one, but it seems appropriate to mention it here, given the title of the blog.) Whoever invented the adage that truth is stranger than fiction was on the right track. But after some of the reading I've done this year, I'd say it's a moot point.

So what is in store for 2013? More theology, history and literature, certainly. But I hope to conquer some truly gigantic classics. And I'm counting on the GR community to introduce me to new and fascinating things.