It’s almost 2016, the perfect time to take a bookish
survey. I love these because they make me think about all the books I've read
over the past 12 months, especially ones I may have forgotten about from the
beginning of the year.
Any books I reread this year are not eligible for this
list, but I will say that this was a big rereading year for me. Being pregnant
made reading more difficult because I was so tired! I found myself returning to
old favorites like Lord of the Rings, Rebecca, Emma, the Harry Potter series,
Empire Falls and others. It was such a treat. I also don’t limit myself to one book per answer if there are two
or three that really fit perfectly.
Number of Books You Read: 164
Number of Pages You Read: 53,043
Number of Re-Reads: 17
Genre You Read The Most From: Literary Fiction
Percentage of Female Authors: 56%
Percentage of Library Books: 50%
Percentage of New to Me Authors: 50%
Percentage of Nonfiction: 28%
1. Best Book You Read In 2015?
Classics — A Girl of the Limberlost, Tess of the
D'Urbervilles
Historical Fiction — The Nightingale
Mystery —Career of Evil, The Stepford Wives
Literary Fiction —Go Set a Watchman
Nonfiction — Dead Wake, Tiny Beautiful Things, and The
Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio
Fantasy —The Invasion of the Tearling, Salem’s Lot
Play — Inherit the Wind
Science Fiction — Station Eleven
YA — The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of
Her Own Making, Pollyanna, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Graphic Novel — The Marvels and Out on the Wire
2. Book You Thought You Were
Going To Love More But Didn’t?
Master and
Commander, meh, I’ve heard it gets better so I might give the next book in the
series a shot.
3. Most surprising book you read?
Kafka on the Shore, my first Murakami book was so
readable and I was expecting something much more intimidating.
4. Book You
“Pushed” The Most People To Read?
Station Eleven and Tiny Beautiful Things, both are
wonderful!
5. Best series you
started in 2015? / Best series ender?
Erika Johansen’s Tearling series / Sisterhood Everlasting
6. Favorite new
author you discovered in 2015?
Jojo Moyes and Ira
Levin
7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read?
I read a few
pregnancy/kid books this year, definitely out of my comfort zone, but I’m
Pregnant was really helpful, Why Have Kids? and Bringing Up Bébé were both
really interesting as well.
8. Most
action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
Salem’s Lot, might
have put it in the freezer.
9. Book You Read That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read in 2016?
Station Eleven
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015?
All The Light We
Cannot See and As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust
11. Most memorable character of 2015?
Elnora from A Girl
of the Limberlost, so fierce an intelligent, I just loved her.
12. Most
beautifully written book read in 2015?
Tess of the
D'Urbervilles, Hardy gets me every time.
13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2015?
7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess and The
Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, both made me seriously rethink the amount of
stuff that is in our house.
14. Book you can’t
believe you waited UNTIL 2015 to finally read?
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, can’t believe I didn’t read
this when I was young.
15. Favorite
Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2015?
“I was born for a storm and a calm does not suit me.” –
American Lion
“There is a mystery in silence that can never be matched
by mere words. Silence is power.” - As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust
“Certain phrases fascinate me with their subtle
implications.” - Bonjour Tristesse
“This is why they call it the heartland. In the summer,
the fields on either side of Mrs. Colonel’s house glowed a brilliant green,
rippling in the wind. The air stretched above like miles of blue canvas, and
Mrs. Colonel pictured a center pole rising up from Indianapolis’s Monument
Circle to hold up the endless sky.” – The Circus in Winter
"When Death is as close as he was then, the sharp
agony of fear is not there; the thing is too overwhelming and stunning for
that." – Dead Wake
“That's how you know you love someone, I guess, when you
can't experience anything without wishing the other person were there to see
it, too.” – The Descendants
"As sure as time, history is repeating itself, and
as sure as man is man, history is the last place he'll look for his
lessons." – Got Set a Watchman
“I’m sorry if I offend you. But I don’t swear just for
the hell of it. You see, I figure language is a poor enough means of
communication as it is. So we ought to use all the words we’ve got. Besides,
there are damned few words that everybody understands.” – Inherit the Wind
“There’s something wonderful about drinking in the
afternoon. A not-too-cold pint, absolutely alone at the bar.” – Medium Raw
“Monotony collapses time, novelty unfolds it.” –
Moonwalking with Einstein
“People live through such pain only once. Pain comes
again—but it finds a tougher surface.” – The Song of the Lark
“This world's a city full of straying streets, and death's
the market-place where each one meets.” – The Two Noble Kinsmen
16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2015?
The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse – 27 (A Flavia de
Luce Short Story) Harry Potter and
the Order of the Phoenix – 870
17. Book That Shocked
You The Most?
The Silent Land and We Were Liars
18. One True Pairing (a couple that you ship)?
Cormoran Strike
and Robin Ellacott from Robert Galbraith’s series
19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship of The Year?
Kelsea Raleigh
Glynn and the Mace from the Tearling series
20. Favorite Book You Read in 2015 From an Author You’ve
Read Previously?
Love and Freindship, I always love Austen, but I wasn’t
expecting much from her juvenilia. Turns out it's hilarious!
21. Best Book You Read In 2015 That You Read Based SOLELY
On A Recommendation From Somebody Else?
Me Before You, I was expecting cheesy chick lit.
22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2015?
Henry from Shotgun
Lovesongs (And even though it’s a reread, Aragorn from Lord of the Rings)
23. Best 2015 debut you read?
The Nightingale,
beautiful WWII story about sisters.
24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This
Year?
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her
Own Making
25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN
To Read?
As You Wish, a
memoir about the making of The Princess Bride.
26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2015?
The Nightingale, I
didn’t cry, but it was heartbreaking.
27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?
The Circus in
Winter, I read this because it’s set in Indiana, but I really enjoyed it!
28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?
Me Before You
29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2015?
The Marvels and Kafka
on the Shore, the first because it’s half text only and half graphic novel
illustrations, the second because it’s Murakami and that’s all the explanation
you need.
30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t mean you didn’t like it)?
Tess of the D'Urbervilles, I was so mad at both of the
men in the book; Alec because he’s awful and Angel because he’s so
hypocritical.
1. Favorite review that you wrote in 2015?
The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. These weren’t my most popular reviews, but I loved reviewing
them! They were rereads and I never reviewed them the first time around.
2. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog?
A Day in the Life and Baby Registries
3. Best bookish event that you participated in?
I loved co-hosting the Salem’s Lot readalong and
participating in the spring and fall Dewey Readathons.
4. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading
life this year?
Being pregnant! It's been hard to concentrate on certain books and
harder to get reviews written because I was so tired.
5. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book
stores, etc.)?
LibraryThing finally has an app!
6. Did you
complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the
beginning of this year?
I completed the Back to the Classics Challenge and the
TBR Challenge. I also knocked some books off my lists for the Classics Club,
Reading the States, and my Shakespeare Project.
With a newborn baby due in January I'm not tackling any challenges next year. My plan is just to read whatever I want whenever I can! It will probably be a very different reading year (with a lot more children's books), but that's ok!
