Happy New Year!  'Tis the season when magazine publishers feel compelled to sit down and review the past year (probably because it's an easy issue to fill up and then they can all go home early for the holidays.)  Here in the Main Library Periodicals Department we have a wide selection of these "what did it all mean?" issues, each with their own focus.

People publishes a double "Best and Worst" issue at the end of every year.  This one crowns a "Wedding of the Year" (guess who?), a long list of "Most Intriguing" people, and some "Best Dresses" (some of which lead me to seriously question the judgment of the dedicated folks at People.)  There's also a lengthy Tribute section and a series of roundups of movies, music, and television.  Definitely worth a look to see what you disagree with!

The New Yorker has assembled a "Cartoons of the Year" issue including over 250 New Yorker cartoons reproduced at a larger size than originally printed in the magazine.  It's a lovely collection, if you get the humor in New Yorker cartoons.  I myself have always suspected that they contain deliberate anti-hilarity as some sort of social litmus test.

Time's "Year in Review" special issue covers all the usual suspects (yes, including the royal wedding again) and offers fantastic photographs and in-depth summaries of the major events and people of the year. 

Newsweek has devoted an entire special issue to "Pictures of the Year" with almost no text.  They're organized not by event but by themes like "Revolution", "Mourning", and "Spectacle" (hey, guess which royals got marr... oh, never mind.)

If you're looking for a change of pace, The Economist's special issue is devoted not to the past year but to "The World in 2012".  It's full of in-depth articles about what may happen (or needs to happen) in the next year in world economics and politics. 

Stop by the Periodicals Department and spend a moment thinking about the year that was and the one that's coming up!