Thanks to The Perpetual Page Turner for this end-of-2015 survey! It’s long, so I’ve cut out some of the questions (in case you’re confused by the numbering).
Number of Books Read: 80 (reviewed: 64)
Genre You Read The Most: contemporary or near-contemporary fiction. The rest of my reading is pretty spread out across fantasy, historical fiction, and science fiction.
Best in Books
Always hard to pick one, but Everything I Never Told You. This book is thought-provoking and beautiful and sad, and is, amazingly, Celeste Ng’s first novel.
How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran, because I LOVED How to Be a Woman. I was also disappointed by The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende and The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer.
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. This was such a strange, complicated book and it went in directions I didn’t expect.
Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson. I’m sure this book isn’t for everyone, but it has touched so many people, and I find myself talking about Lawson all the time.
Best series starter: The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher. I’m also really enjoying Rachel Aaron’s Nice Dragons series. Two other good sequels were The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon and Firefight by Brandon Sanderson.
Chimamanda Ngozi Idichie, who wrote Americanah. I can’t wait to read more by this author. Also Belinda Bauer. See this list for others.
Redeployment by Phil Klay, which is about military service in Iraq and Afghanistan. A really powerful book that we should all read. I also recommend Cristina Henriquez’ The Book of Unknown Americans, for a view of what life in America is like for immigrants.
I read two books by Belinda Bauer, Rubbernecker and The Shut Eye. Both were books I wanted to read in one sitting, which is rare for me (I like to stretch books out).
Constance Kopp in Girl Waits with Gun. Also Nao in A Tale for the Time Being.
Everything I Never Told You
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Us by David Nicholls and Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
Everything I Never Told You is a debut novel although it actually came out last year. Two first novels I really liked this year were Girl at War by Sara Novic and The Constable’s Tale by Donald Smith.
The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
I’m a big fan of Rebecca Burns, an author you probably haven’t heard of. The Settling Earth is a book of related short stories that describe the experience of settlers in 1800’s New Zealand.
Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed, a book of essays by writers about why they chose not to have children. I wish everyone would read this book.
The Humans by Matt Haig, which I found maddening because the story made sense and also because it got really preachy.
Your Blogging/Bookish Life
Two recent favorites are The Readers Room and Booker Talk. Both are smart, interesting blogs that focus more on literary fiction.
Selfish, Shallow and Self-Absorbed and Furiously Happy, because I connected so personally with those two books. I also really enjoy reviewing classics (the lit major in me) so The House of Mirth is another one I’m proud of.
I really liked this post about the things we don’t say on our blogs.
My favorite was R.I.P. X, a Halloween event. I also really enjoyed the Book Blogger Discussion Challenge.
This isn’t very exciting but I really got organized this year. I plan most of my posts each month, and I put reminders on my calendar each month to do things like post Goodreads reviews, respond to review requests, and update my Review Directory. There’s so much more to book blogging than just reading and reviewing.
A couple of times this year I felt overwhelmed by reading commitments. I think I was pushing myself too hard to complete challenges and read review requests, instead of just reading for enjoyment. I had to take a step back and read something just for fun.
Still my review of The Kitchen House, which I don’t get.
I wish book reviews got more love in general! I’d also love to see more signups for my book giveaway.
Overdrive, which provides ebooks from my library — although I think it’s really last year’s discovery. This year I’m super-happy with the family-share feature on the Kindle, so my husband and I can share books.
See my challenge wrap-up here.
Looking Ahead
Where should I start? I didn’t read many of the “best of 2015” books. I need to finish The Turner House. I’ve also got Fates and Furies, A God in Ruins, The Shore, and City on Fire on hold at the library.
I really want to learn to create my own graphics, at least relatively simple ones. I’m getting tired of just copying clip art from the web. I’m also working on using Twitter more effectively.
The Shut Eye by Belinda Bauer. I don’t read a lot of modern thriller/mysteries but I love her writing.
"She had read novels while other people perused the Sunday papers" - Mary Elizabeth Braddon
"The world was hers for the reading"
Thoughts on Literature, Expressing Creativity, Being Authentic
books, libraries, life
Reading, Writing, Cats - Life is pretty good.
Books and Beverages
Book Recommendations From One Book Lover to Another
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. Oscar Wilde
A book blog. Plus a little extra.
A Life Amidst Books
Reading for the critical eye
Reviewing books, society, adulthood, and more.
Love this post! So many thoughts!
1) I really need to read Furiously Happy. I got it for my mother, but have yet to get my hands on a copy to read.
2) I went and read your post on things we don’t say on our blogs, and thought it was a great discussion. Because I started out as a blog where I posted nerdy things, and do not consider myself a book blogger, though I do review books, I feel freer to discuss personal things. My husband doesn’t mind when I talk about him (and I do ask him before I post something explicitly about him), so maybe that helps. Also, I’ve found a lot of positive responses to being open and willingly to express who I am, which is great! I personally love the little details that give context to why someone did or did not like something, so I enjoy the expression of who people are in what they review. I could go on and on! Like I said, great discussion.
3) One thing I utilize in creating my own banners I guess, is PicMonkey. It has cool fonts and “stickers” and I use it when I feel I need a banner to read something specific that I wont be able to find clip art on.
Thanks for the great comments! I’ve heard of PicMonkey and will check it out.
Ah Furiously Happy. Could not stop laughing
I know! I really want everyone to read her book.
Love this! I don’t post on your blog because I am dashing out to pick up your lastest recommendation. You have introduced me to so many fab authors. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
That’s so nice to hear! Let me know what you liked.
I’m adding Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed to my Goodreads TBR. The topic is an almost taboo one in my family.
I’m definitely going to add Everything I Never Told You to my TBR! Not sure how I missed that one but it sounds great! I still need to read Furiously Happy! Great year in books!
My 2015 Survey!
Pingback: 2015 End of Year Survey | Zezee with Books
A Tale for the Time Being certainly was a strange book! I remember reading it and thinking, what direction is this actually going in? It kept going back and forth and I liked the juxtaposition but sometimes it felt really weird and surreal. Haven’t heard anything about it from anyone else yet. Looking forward to Everything I Never Told You and Furiously Happy – this is the first I’ve heard of Furiously Happy.
Thanks for commenting! Time Being was definitely a strange book but I loved the main character. If you read Furiously Happy, I hope you love it!