A Year In Books - 2015

This year seemed to be the year of books for me. If I had a spare minute, I was reading or listening to a book. Turn off your cable and this is what happens to you, lol. I'm pretty proud of my stats this year on my quest to read 1000 books in my lifetime. I love how Goodreads put everything together like an infographic, so here are some of the particulars about my reading in 2015.

I've continued my tradition of writing out reviews of all the books I read this year, and while I'm sure some people find my constant reviews a little boring, I am really glad that I "do my homework" and get them written. The reviews are much more for my own reading comprehension than anything else. By writing up my thoughts on a book, I am able to solidify my feelings and memories of it in a deeper way than if I just move on to the next story. I like to keep my hand in the game, though I'm sure if any of my grade school teachers found out that I voluntarily write my own mini book reports now, they would laugh their butts off. So if you care to read any of the reviews I wrote about the book I've read this year, click the titles and it will show you the review post (there are quite a few that I haven't posted a review for yet, but I hope to catch up next year).

1. Landline by Rainbow Rowell
2. Joyful Wisdom by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
3. 10% Happier by Dan Harris
4. Love in the Time of Cholera by Garbiel Garcia Marquez
5. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
   
6. Not Cool by Greg Gutfeld
7. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
8. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
9. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
10. 1984 by George Orwell
11. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
12. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
13. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
14. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
    
15. The Trauma of Everyday Life by Mark Epstein
16. An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin
17. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris
18. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
19. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
20. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
21. Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
22. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
23. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
    
24. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
25. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
26. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
27. The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
28. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
29. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
30. Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming
31. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
    
32. The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
33. Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth
34. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
35. Catch Me If You Can by Frank W. Abagnale Jr.
36. I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
    
37. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
38. The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel
39. The Wizard of Oz by L.Frank Baum
40. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
41. Sacré Bleu by Christopher Moore
    
42. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
43. The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
44. Germinal by Émile Zola
45. Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
46. The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier
47. Spontaneous Happiness by Andrew Weil
48. I Was Told There'd Be Cake: Essays by Sloane Crosley
49. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
    
50. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
51. Far From the Madding Crown by Thomas Hardy
52. This Time Together by Carol Burnett
53. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
54. Paddle Your Own Canoe by Nick Offerman
    
55. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
56. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle
57. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
58. Dr. Mutter's Marvels by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz
59. Watch Me by Anjelica Huston
    
60. Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham
61. The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
62. The Path To Enlightenment by Dalai Lama XIV
63. A World Lit Only By Fire by William Manchester
64. The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson
65. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
66. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
67. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
68. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
    
69. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
70. Boundaries by Henry Cloud
71. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
72. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick
73. Before Happiness by Shawn Achor
74. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
75. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
76. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
77. A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond
    
78. Daisy Miller by Henry James
79. Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
80. Alice Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Considering that I has a goal of reading only 24 books, I think it's safe to say I blew that estimate out of the water, lol. I was completely addicted to reading this year. I did a lot of driving, so I listened to audiobooks on the way. I listened to them while I knit, cleaned, sewed, even while I covered base boards with fabric at work. Reading is a wonderful escape when things get rough in your own life, and all these stories helped me to get a better perspective on my own goings on.

Some books are always better than others, and I like to keep a list of all the books I rate as 5 star. I have had a few 5 star ratings added to my list this year :) They are:

• 10% Happier
• Atlas Shrugged
• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
• Mere Christianity
• A Tale of Two Cities
• A Room of One's Own
• The Sound and the Fury
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• The Secret History
• Big Magic

I would absolutely recommend every single one of these books as they were excellent. There's quite a variety here as far as genre and style, but I like to keep things interesting in that way. I haven't been able to post the reviews on all of these yet, but I will update the links as I do post them. Check out my reviews to see if any of these sound like something you, too, would be interested in.

I'm keeping my goal for next year low in comparison to what I read this past year, Reading 80 books was a complete fluke, and while it would be great to have that crazy number again, I'm not going to press myself to that standard. I read for fun :) So I don't want to put too many deadlines or quotas on it. Here's to a new year of learning!