2015 on Goodreads

Goodreads Year in Review

by Various

You've probably found your way to this page because you read a lot and review what you read on goodreads. If so, here's your chance to review your entire 2015 reading and reviewing history and post it under this title so that others can see what your reading year was like. Together, all the reviews should make an interesting and varied catalogue of books to inspire other readers in 2016.

Concept created by Fionnuala Lirsdottir.
Description: Fionnuala Lirsdottir
Cover art: Paul Cézanne, Apples and Biscuits, 1880
Cover choice by Kalliope and Matt, graphics by Jayson

First Edition published in December 2015 in an ultra-limited print run of 1 copy from a private press in London England.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Books About Books, Science

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.

Reviews

[Emily May · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, let's do this. I actually thought 2015 was a pretty good year for books and I'm surprised my average rating was right down the middle. I had lots of pleasant surprises with Contemporary YA and I kicked off the year by helping to over-hype An Ember in the Ashes (I regret NOTHING).

I also started vlogging (and will return very soon), so I mentioned a lot of my favourite books over on youtube. "Favourite" books are hard to pick and I always find myself wondering whether it's really right to include that fantasy that was not even amazing but seriously addictive...

Well, whatever, here are some of the books that I raved about and recommended over and over: Uprooted, Little Peach, The Ghosts of Heaven, All the Rage, What We Saw, Six of Crows, and The Truth Commission.

Now for the Emily Choice Awards.

Best Fantasy: Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Best Sequel: The Rose Society by Marie Lu (Adelina is all kinds of twisted awesomeness)
Best Adult Mystery: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (I know, I know, but damn - I loved it!)
Most Fun Book: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Best Historical Fiction: The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz and Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin
Best Middle Grade: George by Alex Gino
Best Graphic Novel: Saga, Vol. 5 and Rat Queens, Vol. 2
Weird But Good: Alice by Christina Henry (definitely not YA!)

****

Don't Get the Hype: All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (TFiOS 2.0)
Why I Rarely Read Romance: November 9 by Colleen Hoover
Weird & Not Good: I Crawl Through It by A.S. King
I Am Fantasy, Not Romance (I Also Lie): The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson (pub. 2014)
Important Message Fucked Up: What We Left Behind by Robin Talley
Chinese Culture For White People: Soundless by Richelle Mead
Stupid White Girl Saves Indians: Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck (pub. 2011)

Until next year...

[Jayson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every Rating & Review for 2015

Thunderball by Ian Fleming
(A-) 83% | Very Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 01/05/2015
Notes: James Bond fights a non-political criminal multinational, while scenes and concepts from past adventures are reused.

The Spy Who Loved Me by Ian Fleming
(B) 74% | More than Satisfactory | ⭐⭐⭐ – 01/08/2015
Notes: James Bond, deus ex machina, incongruously stumbles, à la television crossovers, into a coming-of-age romance novel.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ian Fleming
(A-) 82% | Very Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 02/22/2015
Notes: James Bond, sentimental Scot, recurrently finds direction, rejuvenation and repair in the broken girl with the fast car.

You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming
(B+) 77% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐ – 03/11/2015
Notes: James Bond, ninja tourist, prefers labor and vice simple and direct, but is sent to Japan: land of subtext and etiquette.

The Man with the Golden Gun by Ian Fleming
(B-) 71% | Satisfactory | ⭐⭐ – 03/22/2015
Notes: James Bond infiltrates an evil corporate retreat and suffers from a bout of "Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?" disease.

Octopussy and The Living Daylights by Ian Fleming
(B+) 76% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐ – 03/26/2015
Notes: James Bond, in each episode, searches for people: to apprehend, to identify, to shoot and to warn, with mixed results.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car by Ian Fleming
(B+) 77% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐ – 04/02/2015
Notes: Is this the real world, or is it magical? This family is much too quick to accept that their car is enchanted and sentient.

Foundation: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors by Peter Ackroyd
(B+) 78% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐ – 04/18/2015
Notes: Very readable, but speeds too quickly through the middle ages and its antecedent eras in a rush to reach the Tudors.

Tudors: The History of England from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I by Peter Ackroyd
(A-) 81% | Very Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 04/30/2015
Notes: Views the period through bifocals of religion and succession, which limits its subject matter but focuses its narrative.

Rebellion: The History of England from James I to the Glorious Revolution by Peter Ackroyd
(B+) 77% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐ – 05/23/2015
Notes: Women have scant presence in this volume, and aside from religious allegiance, are given little purpose in the story.

Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination by J.K. Rowling
(B+) 78% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐ – 05/24/2015
Notes: Her advice isn't especially deep or revelatory or new, but it's presented well and reading it just makes you feel better.

The Bank Holiday Murders: The True Story of the First Whitechapel Murders by Tom Wescott
(A-) 80% | Very Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 05/31/2015
Notes: Shines light on hitherto bit players, offering bold but reasoned speculation on the extent and purpose of their actions.

Eternity's Wheel by Neil Gaiman
(B) 74% | More than Satisfactory | ⭐⭐⭐ – 06/21/2015
Notes: I'd like to think it's ironic: a story with a fourth-dimensional plot where virtually every character is two-dimensional.

The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen
(B+) 78% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 07/10/2015
Notes: Characters gush ad nauseam about the victim's beauty, I suppose, to make her victimization seem all the more tragic.

The Absent One by Jussi Adler-Olsen
(B+) 76% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐ – 08/06/2015
Notes: What's "absent" here is mystery. The investigation only matters inasmuch as it reveals backstory and clarifies motive.

A Conspiracy of Faith by Jussi Adler-Olsen
(B+) 77% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐ – 09/24/2015
Notes: A clever enough crime, though a book of this length needs livelier, less trivial subplots to tent-pole its saggy middle.

The Purity of Vengeance by Jussi Adler-Olsen
(B+) 79% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 10/09/2015
Notes: Flashbacks tell an impactful story, whereas before they were merely a device to elicit pity for cruelly abused women.

The Marco Effect by Jussi Adler-Olsen
(B+) 77% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐ – 10/28/2015
Notes: It's a lot of empty calories: the story moves, but not in a way that advances the plot much or pays off well in the end.

The Hanging Girl by Jussi Adler-Olsen
(B+) 76% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐ – 11/11/2015
Notes: After a promising start the bottom falls out and it chases its tail like a single-minded dog. Also, hippies are not scary.

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
(A-) 82% | Very Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 11/17/2015
Notes: Wherein accents abound, people play pretend, men hurt women in many different ways, and Robin is really Batman.

The Children of Henry VIII by John Guy
(B) 75% | More than Satisfactory | ⭐⭐⭐ – 11/23/2015
Notes: So list-heavy that its titular characters are practically reduced to inventories of their gifts, household staff and syllabi.

London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets by Peter Ackroyd
(B-) 69% | Satisfactory | ⭐⭐ – 11/27/2015
Notes: An exercise in semiotics and lyrical prose, it's a découpage of gimcrack bric-à-brac that's prone to tilting at windmills.

Heat Wave by Richard Castle
(B+) 76% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐ – 11/30/2015
Notes: Fun but disposable. It's got all the bones of a good detective story, but with characters in need of further fleshing out.

Naked Heat by Richard Castle
(B+) 78% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 12/05/2015
Notes: A complex plot, but seeded well enough that revelations and sudden turns don't feel grafted, but sprout organically.

Heat Rises by Richard Castle
(A-) 80% | Very Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 12/13/2015
Notes: Essentially a spy story dressed up as a murder mystery, its militaristic air and snow globe setting give it a Soviet feel.

Frozen Heat by Richard Castle
(A-) 81% | Very Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 12/21/2015
Notes: Wherein photographs, cassettes, and marginalia are artifacts of pre-digital antiquity: Rosetta Stones to a secret world.

Deadly Heat by Richard Castle
(A-) 80% | Very Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 12/31/2015
Notes: Wherein light-bulb moments have oral switches, like Password clues, flashing out shadows for targeted retrospection.

[Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies · Rating 5 out of 5]

[karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_i...

float 'em if you got 'em! all year long!

2015 was the year i dropped the ball.this is the year i STILL didn't read bone clocks or give faulkner another shot or read tolstoy or harry potter. and it's the year i let life-crud get in the way of reading to the extent that there were days i read nothing at all. which is chilling.

but lists first, excuses and regrets later!!

(with special thanks to ✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) for teaching me how to do things pretty!!)

and of course, all thanks to fionnuala for doing this again.

YEAR IN READING

i managed to read 280 books this year totaling 54,917 pages, with an average page count of 203





although this stat keeps changing:



and to everyone's surprise, this!



when i did manage to crack a book, 2015 was pretty good to me - goodreads informs me that my average rating was 3.8, which isn't too shabby.

★★★★★ 53
★★★★☆ 121
★★★☆☆ 75
★★☆☆☆ 11
★☆☆☆☆ 0
n/a 20

it was a good year for new releases from some of my all-time favorite authors:



short stuff from gillian flynn and megan abbott:



and so damn many releases by mira grant:



as well as the other person who shares mira grant's mittens:

i also read some older books from all-time favorite authors i'd been hoarding until the time was right:



and some books by awesome goodreads friends:



and TWO by the wonderful Katherine Rundell, the just-okay
which was redeemd by the fabulous

in the "why did i wait so long to read you??" category:



and the "less-known books i think YOU shouldn't wait too long to read" category:



and the "year of the carnie" category:



and the ever-expanding category "books in which i am a character":



this was a red-letter year for me and firstreads, ever since gr started sending out those heads-up email notifications. statistically, it's still unimpressive since i entered a bajillion, but four wins?? i'll take 'em! and i did. and i read 'em, too:



i did an okay job reading more short story collections:



and some that were kinda sorta stories making up a novel:



as well as two excellent anthologies:



it was not, however, my best year for nonfiction. excluding cookbooks, photography, and humor, i read a whopping eight:



while we are talking about failures, this was the first year i left multiple books unfinished. all of these were read past the 150-page point (in one case, to the 350-page point) and were then abandoned like punky brewster in a supermarket:



and it wasn't even because i wasn't enjoying them - except for The Witches: Salem, 1692, these were all submissions back when i was a reader on the bn discover panel, and the book either got in or was rejected on the consensus of other readers before i'd finished, and i had to move on to other books OR they were books i was reading when bedbug invasion 2015 hit and i had to deal with more pressing things.like bedbugs.

then i got laid off so i am no longer a reader for discover, which makes me wicked sad, but quick - no tears - here are my favorites of the 24 books i read in the one session i was a part of this year, although they did not all make it in:



goodreads is already cutting me off!! continued in comments here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Mohammed Arabey · Rating 5 out of 5]

السلام عليكم وكل عام وانتم بخير
حصاد 2015

غير حصاد ال55 كتاب، 22500 صفحة
حصاد العام بالنسبة لي هو كم الأصدقاء الجدد الي اتعرفت عليهم من خلال قراءات مشتركة أو تبادل الريفيوهات والاراء
يمكن بعض الاصدقاء يروا ان قراءاتي تخلو من الكتب المهمة، اللي للاسف خلي كتير من الزملاء قدامي يفقدوا الاهتمام في المتابعة
لكن فعلا انا لا اقرأ الا لعيش مغامرة جديدة ورحلة مختلفة المهم إلا تخلو من معلومة عن تاريخ بلد او حضارة او علم، لا تخلو من مشاعر إنسانية مهمة تفتح عينيك علي سلوك ما يجب أتباعه او يجب تجنبه



&Soon

وده اللي عمله أغلب ال55 كتاب هنا اللي عشت معاهم ومش قادر استني اعيش مع زيهم وافضل كمان العام القادم

وبدون المزيد من الثرثرة فلنر افضل 10 كتب وان كان الاختيار غاية في الصعوبة هذا العام ، لذا سنجد مركز شرفي في كل مركز من العشرة التي اعتدت تقديمها وهي غالبا رواية لها صلة شبيهة بالاخري في المركز الأساسي
*****

01- Under the Dome - Stephen King

لم أتخيل ان ينتهي الامر باختيارها للمركز الاول، واعتبرها حتي الان قرائتي الأفضل لستيفين كينج
لكن كل مااشوف خبر عن القسوة العجيبة اللي بينتهجها شرطة الحكومة الحالية ,السابقة أوالسابقة ضد قضايا الرأي ,وتعامل الشرطة مع الشباب غير ابناء رجال الاعمال او رجال السلطة او مثلا خبر زي مذبحة القطط والكلاب الضالة
وحتي تعامل البعض مع الأقل منهم كالفقراء والضعفاء من تعالي وتمييز وحتي سخرية بعض الشباب من كبار السن والبسطاء علي مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي
كل المشاهد السلبية دي بتفكرني بجو الرواية أزاي كتير مننا كان بيعذب القطط مثلا او يتسلي بحرق الحشرات او حبسها في كوب زجاجي لبستمتع بمراقبتها تتعذب حتي تختنق
ده اللي حصل لشيستر ميل ،المدينة الصغيرة اتحبست تحت قبة, مجتمع فيه الصالح والفاسد ومن كان لديه استعداد اصلا ان يكون فاسد وتظهر معادن بعض نماذج البشر وقت الشدائد والكوارث..والرواية بها مشاعر مختلفة نفسية لأكثر من شخصية غطت كثيرا علي جانب الخيال العلمي المحدود بها

الله انزل علينا سورة النمل لهدف ، هل تعتقد اننا فعلا نطبقه؟

والهدف لأي عمل ادبي هو الامتاع ثم الرسالة فقد امتعني بشدة وجودي في شيستر ميل وشعور الانغلاق العجيب هذا بأسلوب ستيفين كينج هنا الذي يجعلك تعايش جو الرواية والتعرف علي الشخصيات فعلا كأنك تعيش معهم بنفس البلدة الصغيرة
وخرجت منها بمعني الشعور بالقوة والضعف ولكن الاهم
الشفقة والشعور بالكائن الحي الذي امامك ان له مشاعر
سواء كان بشرا قويا، ضعيفا او حتي حيوانا او مجرد حشرة
Under the Dome ريفيو

ونفس فكرة الغوص في النفس البشرية وقت الكوارث كانت رائعة جوزيه سارماجو العمي في المركز الاول شرفيا

01**- Blindness - José Saramago

وان كان الامتاع اقل قليلا من تنوع شخصيات تحت القبة لستيفين كينج لكنه يظل كابوسي وذو نظرة نفسية صعبة عن هلع الانسان وقت الازمات واختلاف تصرفه من شخص لاخر من تعاطف او توبة أو استسلام او مقاومة او استخدامه السلطة ايضا بشكل مانع للخير احيانا فقط للهيمنة والسيطرة
Blindness ريفيو
هي اول قراءة لي لسارمجو وامتعتني فعلا

******

02- Career of Evil - Robert Galbraith aka ; J.K. Rowling>

بالطبع اختياري هذا لعشقي لاسلوب جي كي رولينج ومعايشتي للشخصيتين كورموران سترايك و روبين لدرجة تجبرني علي الابتسام، الضحك احيانا والتوتر اثناء قراءة الرواية
لكن ميزة هذا الجزء هو التركيز علي علاقة روبين وسترايك العملية المعقدة الجميلة ،والمفاجأة بهذا الجزء عن حادث مؤسف في ماضي روبين بالإضافة إلى الجريمة الدموية بهذا الجزء كانت اكثر اثارة واعمق لتطرقها للعنف ضد المرأة والحظ السئ لبعض السيدات والفتيات اللاتي في حياتهن رجلا سيئا يسيء معاملتهن سواء كان هذا الرجل احد أفراد العائلة او باختيارهن الخاطئ في زوج او صديق
ليكون الجزء مليئا بالمشاعر والإثارة بنفس الوقت وتطور رائع في الشخصيات علي مدار السلسلة
Career of Evil ريفيو
ريفيو الجزء السابق بالعربي

وبمناسبة روايات الجريمة والتحقيق وأيضا العنف ضد المرأة تأتي تلك الرواية في المركز الثاني شرفيا

02**- Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn

رواية اصابتني حقا باكتئاب طيلة فترة قرائتها وحالة مزاجية سيئة
في اطار تحقيق عن جرائم في بلدة صغيرة تكشف هذه الرواية اضطهاد المرأة باكثر من شكل بشكل نفسي كئيب وواقعي
Gone Girl اسلوب جيليان مؤلفة
في اول رواياتها متقن جدا واكثر من رائع يشجعني لقراءة المزيد لها
Sharp Objects ريفيو

******

03- A Song of Ice and Fire #1 , #3 - George R.R. Martin

وهما أفضل بنسبة طفيفة من الجزئين الاخرين

03**- A Song of Ice and Fire #2 , #4 - George R.R. Martin

A Game of Thrones سلسلة لعبة العروش كما شهرها المسلسل الأشهر
جورج آر آر مارتين أبدع عالم غريب له تاريخه ومعتقداته, جغرافيته وأساطيره..سادته وملوكه, والعرش الحديدي
في سلسلة روايات عن الظلم البشري والعدل..عن الصراعات علي الحكم والسلطة..الأستخدام الخاطئ للقوة والدين
كل فصل يروي من وجهة نظر لشخصيات مختلفة تماما, لهم عيوبهم ولكن لهم أكثر من بُعد ,شاءت الأقدار أن يفرق بينهم ويجمعهم لعبة العروش
لن تقرأ من وجهة نظر ملوك وسادة وحكام أو ابطال خارقي للطبيعة .. بل شخصيات بشرية طبيعية تماما وقريبة من القلب
سلسلة فانتازي كما يجب ان يكون بدون أفورة او مبالغة وفي نفس الوقت باحداث شبيهة لاحداث تاريخية حدثت ومازالت تحدث في الصراعات علي السلطة بشتي الطرق من الخيانات والانقلابات حتي الاستخدام الخاطئ للدين وغيره

ومع ان ليس من عادتي انهاء اكثر من جزء من روايات بفترات قريبة جدا لكن فعلا تلك السلسلة الرائعة نقلتني لعالم كان من الصعب الخروج منه بسهولة
لمعرفة المزيد في الريفيوهات
A Game of Thrones ريفيو
A Clash of Kings ريفيو
A Storm of Sowrds ريفيو
وريفيو الجزء الرابع تحت الاعداد وان شاء الله يكون مختلف كمان زي ريفيو الجزء الثالث

******

04- Inferno - Dan Brown

هل لاسلوب دان براون الذي اعشقه، ام لمعلوماته الغزيرة
ام الحبكة البوليسية المثيرة بخلطته المعتادة والتي لا تكف علي ان تفاجئنا كل مرة بجديد
أم لان هذه المرة قدم نظرية مثيرة مبنية علي ظرية ملتس للزيادة السكانية جعلتني فعلا اتخوف من المستقبل واشعر بمشاعر متضاربة متعاطفا مع المجرم بالرواية واشعر انه قد يكون علي حق
ام للنهاية الملائمة الغريبة الكابوسية والتي لا يقدر علي امتاعي بها سوي دان براون؟
ام لاستخدامه هذه المرة رمز ادبي وليس فني ، من اهم العلامات الادبية، الكوميديا الإلهية لدانتي والذي جعلني أقرأها كاملة ايضا هذا العام بأسلوبه الذي يدفعك للبحث عن المزيد من المعرفة والمعلومات
Inferno ريفيو
بالعربي Inferno ريفيو
لا يهم السبب، دان براون فعلا يقدم وجبة دسمة ممتعة كاملة من ادب وفن ومعلومات واثارة وسياحة ومتعة التفكير بأفكار مثيرة للجدل
لذا كان في المركز الشرفي هنا نفس المؤلف في اخر ما أقرأه له لحين اتقانه رواية جديدة ، روايته الثالثة والتي لا تقل نضجا

04**- Deception Point - Dan Brown

عن عالم الفضاء المثير والسياسة الأمريكية وتحكم ناسا في كل مايخص الفضاء وميزانيتها العملاقة والنيازك و و و
رواية مختلفة في ما تطرق له روايات العبقري دان راون غالبا، لانها ربما ليست من بطولة لانجدون شخصيته المفضلة
لكنها ذات ايضا شخصيات مثيرة اخري ستتعايش معها بل وتعشقها ، والاثارة والمفاجات التي لا تنتهي سوي بإغلاق الصفحة الأخيرة من الكتاب
Deception Point ريفيو
كم سافتقد القراءة لدان براون والذي تعرفت عليه منذ عامين فقط بروايته ملائكة وشياطين

******

05- Night Film - Marisha Pessl

الرواية التي طاردتني وجعلتني اعيش بين طياتها كأني بطلها المحقق الصحفي سكوت ماكجراث ،اجوب نيويورك بحثا عن حقيقة مخرج عبقري غريب وغامض، واشعر مثل البطل كانني فعلا بداخل فيلم ليلي من افلام هذا المخرج العجيب
هل شاهدت فيلما كابوسيا كفيلم المخرج ديفيد لينش ، طريق موهولاند
Mulholland Drive
وشعرت بتلك الغرائبية السريالية بالاحداث تتغلغل في نفسك
هكذا شعرت، خاصا ان المخرج الغائب الحاضر بالاحداث افلامه مثل افلام لينش وهيتشكوك وكوبريك وغيره من عباقرة السينما ولكن بقصة اكثر وضوحا واثارة وشخصيات فعلا سهل التعايش معها واثارة دهشتك من مواقفهم
اسلوب القصة رائع وايضا وضعني في حالة نفسية من كمية الرعب به، وايضا كمية المشاعر الانسانية
Night Film ريفيو

وبمناسبة التحقيقات في المركز الشرفي الخامس تأتي رواية بها تشابه كبير وبعض الإختلافات نوعا ما ،واقعية سحرية ولكن بطلها شاب في متقبل العمر وليس في منتصفه كبطل الفيلم الليلي
ويحقق في سر حياة ووفاة مؤلف ولكن ايضا هذا التحقيق قد يدمر حياة البطل تماما كالرواية السابقة

05**- The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafón

رحلة لبرشلونة ابان حربها الاهلية في ثلاثينات القرن الماضي لنبحث مع دانيال عن مؤلف كتبه مفقودة...حياته وصداقاته وحبه مفقود
ليتشابك حياة هذا المؤلف مع مصير دانيال الشاب الذي للسلطة الفاسدة الفاشية في برشلونة بهذا الوقت قد يفقد كل شيء يحبه
The Shadow of the Wind ريفيو
ربما لبطء الاحداث نوعا ما جاءت تلك الرواية كمركز شرفي وتغلبت عليها الفيلم الليلي ، قد تكون هذه الرواية اقيم ادبيا ولكن تشابه الافكار والمشاعر بين الروايتين بشكل ما جعلني اختارهم في مركز واحد ،ولكن الفيلم الليلي اكثر امتاعا لي

******

06- Fall of Giants - Ken Follett

أعتقد أن كل من يعرفني يدرك ان قراءاتي بعيدة تماما عن الكتب الضخمة التي لا تحوي تلويح بعصا سحرية أو تنينا قابعا في مكان ما يهدد مملكة خيالية..ولكن كين فوليت نجح فعلا بان يجعلني اعيش في علي مدار 1000 صفحة في اوائل القرن العشرين من 1911 إلي 1924 , وقت الحرب العالمية العظمي , في دراما عادية -عادية بمعني انه لا يوجد جريمة مثلا او اكشن - بل دراما حياتيه عادية لشخصيات مختلفة وعائلات من انجلترا , روسيا , المانيا , امريكا تعرفت عليها بسلاسة من خلال الاحداث وتابعت دراما حياتهم بشكل مثير والتشابك والفراق الذي سببته الحرب العالمية
لأكتشف بأسلوب كين فوليت ان قراءة التاريخ السياسي والجغرافي وقت الحرب امرا مثيرا اذا ما تم مزجه بالشكل ده بدراما مثيرة واسلوب سلس جذاب
المؤلف فعلا بشكل حيادي جعلني اعيش اجواء الحرب في اول كتب ثلاثية القرن , ولا استطيع الانتظار لقراءة المزيد لهذا المؤلف العبقري الذي سيقنعك بان الثقافة التاريخية قد تقدم في قالب روائي درامي و تكون ممتعة ومثيرة ومفيدة بنفس الوقت
Fall of Giants ريفيو

ويأتي في نفس المركز شرفيا رواية أيضا تدور اغلب أحداثها في الربع الأول من القرن العشرين، ولكن من خلال اطار الواقعية السحرية،والكثير من الرومانسية مع الماركيز

06**- الحب في زمن الكوليرا - جابريل جارسيا ماركيز

الماركيز جابريل جارسيا ماركيز والحب في زمن الكوليرا والتي اصطحبني معه في رحلة رومانسية وحب يقهر الكوليرا والزمن سويا في الكاريبي اوائل القرن العشرين في رواية ساحرة استحقت الخمس نجوم بجدارة ، لا تنس ان احد اهم الاسباب هي ترجمة الرائع صالح علماني
ريفيو الحب في زمن الكوليرا

ثم الي التاريخ الامريكي ، ممتزجا بالسحر والظواهر الغريية في المركز السابع
******

07- Lair of Dreams - Libba Bray

أولا بالرغم من وجود هذا في افضل قراءات هذا العام بالنسبة لي , لكن بعد أن كان الجزء الأول هو أفضل قراءة في 2013 والذي من بعده لم أجد رواية ترضيني بنفس الشكل الذي فعله معي الجزء الأول, فوجود الجزء الثاني في هذا المركز هو تراجع شديد وربما خيبة أمل كبيرة لي لرواية إنتظرتها سنتين
لكن بالمقارنة بالعديد من الروايات الرعب او الروايات عاما فهذه الرواية كانت اكثر من ممتازة..وذات رسالة عميقة قوية محترمة غاية في الجمال بالأخص عندما تنظر الي النظرة العنصرية لبعض الأمريكان الأن وبعض الاجانب عاما للعرب والمسلمين مثلا, أعتقد ان تلك الرواية كانت انسب رد علي تصريحات مرشح الرئاسة الامريكية دونالد ترامب , ولكن ماذا بهذه الرواية ؟
ليبا براي تستكمل في الجزء الجديد اصطحبتني لرحلة الي نيويورك في العشرينات من القرن الماضي بمزيج جميل بين الواقع والعنصرية علي السود والصينين وكل العنصريات التي يتبعها البعض تجاه من ساعدوهم في بناء تلك الدولة الضخمة ,أمريكا
دولة مبنية من ثقافات وعروق مختلفة من جميع انحاء العالم , وفي هذه السلسلة نجد تأثير ايضا خرافات ومعتقدات وسحر الثقافات المختلفة تلك التي قامت ببناء امريكا
في اطار مثير ومرعب جاء هذا الجزء ابطأ قليلا من الجزء السابق والرعب والمشاهد المقبضة أقل بكثير بالأضافة لأنه اثار تساؤلات أكثر ننتظر اجابتها في الجزء القادم وحده الله يعلم متي , ولكن يظل ميزته هو رحلة غريبة لعالم عرين الأحلام وبعض النظريات حول طاقة الأحلام

ولحين انتهائي من كتابة ريفيو يليق بهذه الرواية اترككم مع ريفيو الجزء الأول
The Diviners ريفيو

وفي نفس المركز شرفيا قصة خلابة ولكنها ليست رعب، وتدور في باريس...نصفها في بداية القرن العشرين ايضا ونصفها الاخر في ثلاثينات نفس القرن

07**- The Invention of Hugo Cabret - Brian Selznick

هي قصة ولد يتيم يبحث عن سر آلة أوتوماتيكية ليكتشف سر كبير لتضم الرواية القصة الحقيقية لأحد سحرة الفن السابع الحقيقيين بفرنسا
في محاولة نبيلة من المؤلف لتخليد قصته بشكل جذاب في رواية مصحوبة برسوم غاية في البساطة والابداع بالقلم الرصاص
The Invention of Hugo Cabret ريفيو
اولي قراءاتي للمؤلف والفنان برايان سيلزنيك وله معي لقاء اخر في أوائل 2016 إن شاء الله مع
The Marvels

اما اختياري القادم فهو روايتين غرضهم الأساسي التسلية فحسب ولكني شعرت باثارة قوية وقت قراءتهما
******

08- Armada - Ernest Cline

هذه الرواية هنا في المراكز العشرة فقط لأنها مسلية جدا وامتعتني بقوة بالرغم من ان الخيال العلمي ليس لوني المفضل أبدا، فمثلا انا لا احب افلام حرب النجوم ومثيلاتها ولكن إرنست كلين قدم لي فكرة مقنعة مرتبطة بنظرية مؤامرة حول افلام الفضاء في رحلة ممتعة لإنقاذ كوكب الارض من غزو فضائي من سكان أحد الأقمار المكتشفة حديثا
ربما المعلومات الحقيقية الوحيدة هنا هي تاريخ ألعاب الفيديو وأفلام الفضاء وشدني جدا بالاخص
The X-Files
لذا قمت بريفيو مشابه لنظرية المؤامرة الطريفة تلك
Armada ريفيو

وفي المركز الشرفي جاءت رواية اخري ممتعة مسلية وعن نظرية اخري تخص أسرار التاريخ القديم

08**- Endgame : The Calling - James Frey, Nils Johnson-Shelton

احداث متسارعة جدا منذ البداية لاثني عشر شخصية من جنسيات مختلفة في منافسة للعبة نهاية العالم...ومعلومات حقيقية ممتزجة بالخيال حول آثار العالم القديم العجيبة التي بلا تفسير
The Calling ريفيو

أما في المركز التاسع فهي روايات مثيرة ومتقنة بشكل كبير بالرغم من أنها العمل الأول لمؤلفيها
*****

09- جيش قمبيز المفقود - بول سوسمان

في أولي روايات المؤلف الجميل الإنجليزي الراحل،العاشق لمصر وآثارها العريقة يقدم لنا قصة وشخصيات متشابكة عن تهريب الاثار وعلاقة الجماعات الإرهابية المتسترة بغطاء الإسلام مع الحكومات الأمريكية والإنجليزية بشكل مثير وحبكة متقنة وصورة محترمة لعملة نادرة من الشرطة المصرية، وربما تكون منقرضة أيضا الا من رحم ربي
ولحين كتابة ريفيو يليق بها اترككم مع ريفيو الجزء الثاني لها واول ماقرأت له وافضل قليلا من تلك
The Calling ريفيو

وفي نفس المركز شرفيا تأتي رواية مصرية وهي

09**- الحفرة - عادل العجواني

في رواية عجيبة مثيرة أسرتني كل يوم اسهر بعد منتصف الليل اتابع احداثها الغرائبية المرعبة المقبضة عن رعب واجهني ويطاردني حتي الأن ويطارد تقريبا 95% من البشر
بشكل رمزي لدكتور نفسي تأتي الحفرة كعمل أول متميز وان كان لدي ملاحظه صغيره علي نهايته فحسب..يظل من اهم اعمال العام فعلا ويمس بالنسبة لي شخصيا رعب ال
Coming of Age..
ريفيو الحفرة
وبهذه المناسبة هناك رواية أخري امتعتني فانتازيتها وتقريبا تقتسم المركز الشرفي هنا وان كانت ليست العمل الاول لمؤلفها

وهي عن نفس الخوف ,عن طفل ليواجه تغيرات الحياة من حوله في اطار واقعية سحرية بديع بحق

*****

10- Billy The Cat : tome 2 - by Stéphane Colman, Stephen Desberg

لسحر الكوميكس مكانة خاصة عندي وبالأخص تلك السلسلة الحبيبة الي قلبي لها لدي نوستاليجا خاصة وخلبتني بصورها الدقيقة للجو الاوروبي او بسحر القصة عن الولد الشقي الذي تحول لقط ليقدم لنا مغامرات بديعة بين عالم القطط في شوارع اوروبا تتراوح بين قصص الصداقة, الشجاعة , العائلة والحب , والرعب ايضا
ولحين انتهاء ريفيو الكتاب الثاني
Billy the Cat - tome 1 ريفيو

10**- Superman: A Celebration of 75 Years - Jerry Siegel & Various

في هذا المجلد العديد من من القصص المختلفة لأهم شخصيات الكوميكس والسوبر هيروز العالمي، منذ بداية ظهوره وحتي اهم محطاته، بعض القصص كانت عبقرية وبعضها تعبر بشكل واضح عن التغيرات التي حدثت في العالم في العصر الحالي كالثورات العالمية ضد الديكتاتورية
Superman 75 ريفيو
~~~~
ولأني ثرثرت بما فيه الكفاية لدرجة محاولات اختصار كي يكفي مساحة الريفيو ما اود قوله في النهاية، 75% من باقي الروايات امتعتني فعلا وكانت غاية في التميز
ولباقي الكتب وكل هذه الريفيو في صفحات كتبهم في
My Year in Books 2015

عدا ريفيوهات
قواعد العشق، جيش قمبيز المفقود، الكوميديا الالهية، الهول
A Feast for Crows
Lair of Dreams
Simpsons Family Album
Billy the Cat
Harry Potter Illustrated Edition
Donald Duck Carl Barks library
والتي احاول الانتهاء من مسوداتهم قبل نهاية الشهر ان شاء الله

بالمناسبة في كتب دينية وفلسفية قيمة جدا اتعرفت علي كتير من محتواها من خلال بعض الريفيوهات للاصدقاء اللي بيننا متابعة ومن غير ذكر اسماء اكيد عارفين من خلال تسجيلات الاعجاب
اشكرهم جدا لان من خلال ريفيوهاتهم المتقنة بعتبر كأني قرأت الكتاب نفسه
وبشكر كمان كل من قرأ ريفيو وسجل اعجابه او قال رأيه في نقطة في الريفيو معجبتهوش واي حد بيعمل اعجاب وميكتبش ريفيو خاص بيه ارجوك اكتب ريفيو ولو في سطور بسيطة بس وضح لي رايك في الكتاب لان ده فعلا بيهمني
شكرا ليكم
وشكرا لأصدقائي الكتب نفسها :)

يارب ينفعنا كلنا بما نقرأ في حياتنا ،في طباعنا وسلوكنا

كل عام وانتم بخير
محمد العربي
من اول يناير اللي فات
لاخر ديسمر ده

[Alejandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am truly glad that Goodreads kept with this new tradition of having a place where we can share our reading experience during the year, that in this case, it’s 2015...

so... let's buckle up!!! ... Here we go again!!!


This stats, sums and “personal awards” are based solely in the books that I was able to read during 2015, not matter if they were published in that particular year or not.


2015 RATINGS' STATS

Books with 5 stars: 39

Books with 4 stars: 49

Books with 3 stars: 22

Books with 2 stars: 4

Books with 1 star: None

2015 Average Rating: 4 stars


2015 READINGS' STATS

Novels: 41

Comic books or Graphic Novels: 67

Reference/Research or Non-fiction: 2

Short stories or Anthologies: 4

2015 Reading Sum: 114 books

(not counting the “2014 Goodreads” post)
(and my 2015 Book Challenge was set on 100 books)


2015 PERSONAL AWARDS

Best Novel:

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn


Best Graphic Novel or Comic Book:

Daredevil: Born Again by Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli


Best Reference/Research, Biography or Non-Fiction:

We Don’t Need Roads: The Making of Back to the Future Trilogy by Caseen Gaines


Best Short Story or Anthology:

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories that Scared Even Me edited by Alfred Hitchcock


Best Science-Fiction:

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson


Best Horror:

All Hallow’s Dead by Bryan Smith


Best Detective:

Double Indemnity by James M. Cain


Best Romance:

Paper Towns by John Green


Best Media Tie-in:

Star Wars: Lords of the Sith by Paul S. Kemp


Best Debut:

The Recession Groom by Vani


Best 2015 Book:

We Don’t Need Roads: The Making of Back to the Future Trilogy by Caseen Gaines

--O--

READ. ANY BOOK. JUST READ.

[Sanjay · Rating 5 out of 5]

2015: A Journey


Overall, it has been a wonderful year regarding my reading experience. I've read both fiction and non-fiction; though the number of books in the fiction category exceeds those in the non-fiction category. However, I don't want to discriminate, on the grounds of which category a book belongs. So here is the list of my favourite books.


Favorite Books of 2015

* Watchmen by Alan Moore
* If On A Winter's Night A Traveler by Calvino
* Slaughter House Five by Vonnegut
* The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by A Christie
* The House of Silk: The New Sherlock Holmes Novel by Anthony Horowitz
* A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science by Barbara Oakley
* The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking by Oliver Burkeman
* The Outsider by Albert Camus
* King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
* Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons by Stephen King
* Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini
* The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
* Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov
* The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré
* Einstein's Beach House by Jacob M. Appel
* Parables by Swami Chinmayananda
* Super Brain by Deepak Chopra
* Selected Short Stories by Rabindranath Tagore

[Sean Barrs · Rating 5 out of 5]

This year (my first ever whole goodreads year) has been amazing!



And you, my friends, have been amazing.

I only started writing reviews on here around a year or so ago despite being a member since early 2014. I didn’t think people would actually want to read what I had to say, but it turns out a few did. So, I carried on writing, and now I’m completely addicted to this website. Sometimes I feel like I only read so I can post a review on here praising (or criticising) the book. Well, not entirely. Reading is my life after all. But, I think you get my point. Books are everything.



This last year I’ve discovered some truly great books. This led to me, naturally, wanting to read more great books. I began the year with a list around one hundred books long. I only managed to read twenty-five of these. Yes, twenty-five. I did read around 190 other books, but with each successive book I read I found at least another three I wanted to read. So, my list is now rather long, and it keeps getting longer. It will always get longer. I know I’m very young, but I know now that I will never have enough time to read all the books on my list. I know now that I will die with an incredibly long reading list. How very morbid of me, though what I mean to say is that I will never stop reading or buying books. I’m probably preaching to the choir here, but books just rule, reading rules!

So, anyway, it’s time to showcase some of my 2015 highlights:

The Book Thief- This book was incredible, it made me cry. I’m not ashamed to admit that because this book was just that powerful. Few stories have moved me quite like this.




Slaughter House 5- This was just plain crazy; it was so twisted and superb; it was nothing but a display of pure individual brilliance. I read it three times within the space of a week.





Fool’s Quest-The emotion, it’s all about the emotion. This year I realised that Robin Hobb is my favourite living high fantasy writer. She’s what I judge other fantasy books by.



The Trial- I will never stop thinking about this book because I have so many unanswered questions. This will always haunt me.





Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell- This was my favourite book of the whole year; it was enchanting and beautiful. I wish there were ten more Susanna Clarke’s in the world.



Richard II - This play was pure poetry. I think I swooned when I read some of the verses.



Here are two books that surprised me greatly. I did not expect to like either:

Watchmen- I’ve been somewhat graphic novel phobic for a while, and when I read this I knew I that I’d been a fool.



Northanger Abbey- Jane Austen is a fucking super star. Enough said.



I’ve also discovered a love for poetry. Dickinson, Wordsworth, Blake and Frost knocked my socks off.

And now it’s time for the damn right ugly; it is time for those rotten and nasty books that truly made me wince. Brace yourself:

Moby-motherfucking-Dick- The very mention of this book makes my fists clench, my teeth grit and my life dim. I hate this book, and I mean hate. I’m a book hoarder. I don’t throw away a single book. I have hundreds; I couldn’t bear to lose a single one. I threw this in the trash. Well, I went and got it back out afterwards, but it’s the closest I’ve ever got to getting rid of a book. That’s a big deal for me, a real big deal. I guess I got a little sick of whales.



American Gods- This bored me to tears. Nothing happened. Nothing developed. I don’t even want to think about it.



Hamlet- I never expected to find a Shakespeare play I dislike never mind detest. I think the character Hamlet is a complete dick head. Now, that’s an academic justification right there!



What’s in store for me as a reader in 2016?

Well, lots of books. I intend to read a lot of science fiction, and a few graphic novels. I’d like to finish the Penguin little black classic collection as well as all of Poe’s works. Jane Austen is on my radar along with the Bronte sisters. I, no doubt, will read further in the Wheel of Time series along with a second read through Hobb’s works. But, what’s really got me excited at the moment is Star Wars. I intend to delve deep into the cannon, and explore the far reaches of the galaxy. I’ve got a lot of books lined up, but we all know what happens with book lists: they explode in our faces and become so big that there’s no time to read it all!



Happy new year everyone! And many thanks to all of those wonderful people that like my reviews. I had so much fun writing this one!

[Paul Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 2015? Speaking personally I'm glad to see the back of it, but let's talk about books...

THE YEAR IN FICTION – THE GOOD STUFF

I got round to a few famous books which delighted me and some that were more like shoving your hand in a toaster or finding yourself in that pothole in The Descent which I will come to in a moment. Love goes out to No Country for Old Men and As I Lay Dying, they were great; the 1001 books list gave me The Life and Death of Harriet Frean and also The Charwoman’s Daughter (neither of which I would have come across in a million years (okay, maybe after 600,000 years) so all the 1001 Books haters can go and…. Make their own list); and Things by Georges Perec was more like an essay/memoir than fiction but at least I have read one thing by M. Perec.

The Whites was a good solid Richard Price police procedural

I was stunned by This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen (Tadeusz Borowski), as I knew I would be & had been putting off reading it for years because I knew it would be tough tough tough.

Troubles by J G Farrell – I thought this was going to be worthy and earnest – all about the Irish troubles (you know - boring) - it was nothing like that, it was a HOOT and totally totally delightful (this was the “lost Booker Prize winner”)

London Belongs to Me by Norman Collins from 1945 – the find of the year, a real treasure – also one which daunted me to begin with, at 730 pages – but it’s fast & soapy & lovely and as English as it’s possible to get

A reread of Breakfast at Tiffany's got me in the mood to read a big biography of Capote, called Capote, then watch Capote the movie, then watch Infamous, the other movie about the exact same thing as Capote, i.e. the creation of In Cold Blood. Both movies excellent, and the biography was almost brilliant.

Coming in at the end of the year was Booker shortlisted The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota – very impressive, completely depressing.

And a surprising – nay, shocking – book of short stories I LOVED called I Love Dollars by Wen Zhu which had been on my (real life) shelf for some years, so those unread books you already have might be just the thing you’re looking for!

There were extremely-only-okay novels which as usual came wreathed with gushes from The Pope, Bruce Springsteen, Philip Roth and Stephen Hawking and even more important people in other words the usual suspicious overpraise – these were

The First Bad Man by Miranda July (you can skip it but you must see her movie Me and You and Everyone we Know which is the real deal)

Dept of Speculation (Jenny Offill) – was like an x-ray of an actual novel

The Wallcreeper by Nell Zink (no, Nell Zink is not the Second Coming)

Girl at War by Sara Novic (people other than me will love this one)

Did you ever have a Family by Bill Clegg (well…. It wasn’t bad, you know, but I really don’t want to be hoodwinked into reading not bad novels – I know, my own fault)

THE YEAR IN FICTION – THE REALLY BAD STUFF

Sometimes you just find yourself in the wrong novel. You have to wonder how you got here. And you have to reach for your scimitar like Michonne in The Walking Dead and chop out a few jugular veins.

All my Puny Sorrows (Miriam Toews) was mawkish

Let the Great World Spin (Colum McCann) was after a brilliant opening really boring - no more we was poor but we was happy/unhappy growing up stories please

A Question of Upbringing was the first volume of A Dance to the Music of Time and the last one also for me – readable and occasionally faintly amusing but tedious and politically disgusting too

The Sense of an Ending (Julian Barnes)- interesting title since it was the nonsense of the ending which made me hate it

The Rehearsal (Eleanor Catton) was a like a dance of the seven veils with schoolgirls, sounds like illicit fun until you read it

Speedboat (Renata Adler) – this gets the big heavy praise? Well who put the Benzedrine in all those critics’ Ovaltine? It was shite!

The Last September (Elizabeth Bowen) - unreadable

The Adventures of Augie March – defeated me, it was too loud and too monotone. I admire it, you know, because you have to, but from a safe distance.

In the Light of what we Know (Zia Haider Rahman) – tendentious, ponderous, elephantine, porcupine, turpentine

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Safran Foer) – well I did a parody of this which people liked so the experience wasn’t all bad.

The Naked and the Dead (Mailer) – unreadably macho

Housekeeping (Robinson) – I drowned in all the plangent prose and they still haven’t found my bloated corpse but when they do they will find a note attached “Marilynne Robinson done it”. She has armies of fans. Probably the same people who like Tree of Life & Melancholia.

WHAT ELSE

I shall not bore you with the music, true crime and pop theology books I read but most of those were solid or excellent – standout was One of Us (the Anders Breivik story) by Asne Seierstad. And a great graphic novel : The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel about which I have been urging all & sundry to read & getting some funny looks too – people don’t seem to believe me that a 500 page soap opera about some rad-fem lesbians in the 90s and 00s is going to be a classic read. But they are wrong! It is!

Finally, it was a year of rediscovering the voyeuristic pleasures of reading biography – I slurped up the following : Hiding Man – Donald Barthelme; Norman Mailer; Pauline Kael; Saul Bellow; Philip Larkin; and Capote. Now I know a lot of stuff I did not know in 2014. The world is a wicked place. But it can be quite amusing too if you squinch up your eyes and bend your neck a bit.

[Cecily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been my most treasured year on GR. Not because I’ve read dozens of books and thousands of pages (though I have), nor worked through an alphabetical or genre challenge (I haven't), nor joined the top 5 reviewers in the UK (I can dream), but because my reading life, and thus my life in general, has been tremendously enriched. That’s been true in the seven previous years, but to a far greater and deeper extent in 2015 - and it’s thanks to you, my GoodReads friends. Even the idea for this "book" came from a GR friend last year, Fionnuala. It's a wonderful way to look back, gather one's thoughts, and appreciate all one has read and the friends who have introduced and shared those joys.

I have discovered books and authors who are now among my favourites - more this year than ever before.

I have also been led to a few turkeys, but I won’t hold that against anyone, especially in turkey season.

I have been shown profound insights and new beauty in works I thought I knew. (Humility is good.)

I am finally edging towards a slightly more varied, personal, and less formulaic way to write some reviews. (Aspirations of succinctness are still mere aspirations.)

I have found erudition, camaraderie, creativity, wit, gentle disagreement, brilliance, beauty, pain, concern, empathy, variety, delightful silliness, and encouragement, and have been intrigued and entertained by some most unlikely subjects.

I have forged and enriched friendships in a deep and special sense. Thank you.

READ in 2015
All links are to my reviews, mostly novels written in the last 50 years; some feature in more than one category:

Books that Inspired a Slightly Different Style of Review
Still lots of quotes, but less of a plot summary, and more of an impression or even pastiche, especially:
• Weir’s The Martian 4*
• Calvino’s If on a winter’s night a traveler 5*
• Calvino’s Invisible Cities 5*
• Borges’ Collected Fictions 5*
• Williams’ Butcher’s Crossing 5*
• Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 5*
• Winterson’s The Passion 4*
• Atwood's The Heart Goes Last 2*

New Favourite Authors
Four authors I’d never read before 2015 (and one I hadn’t even heard of!), but I read and loved a couple of books by each in 2015, purely because of friends' reviews:
• John Williams: Stoner 5* and Butcher’s Crossing 5*
• Kent Haruf: Plainsong 5* and Eventide 5*
• Italo Calvino: If on a winter’s night a traveler 5* and Invisible Cities 5*
• Jorge Luis Borges: Collected Fictions 5* overall, and component collections mostly 5*

Honourable mentions to likely new favourite authors, though so far I’ve read only one book by each:
• John Banville: Ancient Light 5*
• Charles Frasier: Cold Mountain 5*
• Colm Toibin: Brooklyn 5*

I also read and enjoyed my first two Rushdies and first two Sarah Waters (listed below).

5* and 4* Best Reads of 2015
I don’t give 5* lightly, but I’ve done so often this year, and some of my 4* reads were very close:
• Stoner 5*
• Cold Mountain 5*
• Plainsong 5*
• Eventide 5*
• Fahrenheit 451 5*
• Brooklyn 5*
• Invisible Cities 5*
• If on a winter’s night a traveler 5*
• Ancient Light 5*
• Butcher’s Crossing 5*
• Einstein’s Dreams 5*
• The Strange Library 5*
• The Passion 4*
• The Paying Guests 4*
• The Elegance of the Hedgehog 4*
• The Blind Assassin 4*
• Letters from a Lost Uncle 4*
• The Enchanted April 4*
• A Woman of my Age 4*
• Midnight’s Children 4*
• Haroun and the Sea of Stories 4*
• The Martian 4*
• Orley Farm 4*
• The Man Who Loved China 4*
• Language Death 4*

3* Reads of 2015
I default to 3* if I’ve enjoyed a book, but seen imperfections as well. Then again, sometimes I round up from 2* to 3* if I see merits, despite a book not really being to my taste. But this year, I've barely used my default rating:
• Slade House 3*
• The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly 3*
• The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher and Other Stories 3*
• Fingersmith 3*

1* and 2* Least Enjoyed Reads of 2015
These aren’t necessarily bad books, but they are ones I didn’t enjoy, for reasons explained in each review. Three consecutive 1* reads was disappointing, but fortunately interspersed with reading Borges’ stories:
• The Shining 1*
• The Blue Flower 1*
• Kitchen 1*
• Lock In 2*
• Delusions of Gender 2*
• The Heart Goes Last 2*

Rereads of Old Favourites
There are so many books I want to read for the first time, I’m more cautious of rereads these days, plus there’s the fear they may not be as good as I remember them. Nevertheless:
• Fahrenheit 451 5* - so much better and more poetic than I remember
• 1984 4*. So much grimmer and heavier than I remember (so only 3* for enjoyment).

Blissful End

I'm ending the year on a high: half way through DH Lawrence's The Rainbow. I am stunned and intoxicated by the language, so different from the equally lovely, but very plain language of someone like Kent Haruf. Women in Love will be the first book I start in 2016...

Quotes about Books from 2015 Reads
• “We’re no more than dust jackets for books, of no significance otherwise… You’re not important. You’re not anything. Some day the load we’re carrying with us may help someone.”
Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451

• “Each new book I read comes to be a part of that overall and unitary book that is the sum of my readings.”
Calvino in If on a winter’s night a traveler

• “Literature’s worth lies in its power of mystification, in mystification it has its truth; therefore a fake, as a mystification of a mystification, is tantamount to truth squared.”
Calvino in If on a winter’s night a traveler

• “At every rereading I seem to be reading a new book for the first time. Is it I who keep changing… Or is reading a construction?”
Calvino in If on a winter’s night a traveler

[SueBee★bring me an alpha!★ · Rating 5 out of 5]

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ MY BEST READS IN 2015! ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

This was not easy. I also tried to represent different authors.

★ Fear Me ★
★★★★★ Review: https://goo.gl/gMo3Sb
Keiran Master, my #1 YOUNG alpha. This quote says it all:
“Let go of his hand and maybe I'll let you come tonight when I fuck you.” I immediately wrestled my hand from Jesse, cursing the fact that I wanted him.
“Good girl,” he praised.”

★ Paper Swan ★
★★★★★ Review: https://goo.gl/XyHK2h
Damian Caballero stole my heart. I am so in love with this story!
“Loving Damian might destroy me, but not loving him was killing me.”

★ If You Dare ★
★★★★★ Review: https://goo.gl/ryvkwG
Deanna Madden wrapped herself around my heart and sits pretty on my favorite heroine shelf.
“I feel, for one ridiculous moment criminally inadequate.”

★ American Savages ★
★★★★★ Review: https://goo.gl/21gBsD
Liam Alec Callahan met his match in Melody Nicci Giovanni-Callahan. And book 3 took my breath away…
“I always win gentlemen. Even if it looks like I’m losing I’m winning.”

★ Corrupt ★
★★★★★ Review: https://goo.gl/lk4QtI
Michael Crist set on revenge, derailed by lust. Top-3 YOUNG alphas.
“I want to know everything my brother doesn’t do to you, you little liar.”

★ Rule ★
★★★★★ Review: https://goo.gl/WSejG4
Antonio Spinelli, Spin aka Capo took LA by storm and this book brought everything full circle.
“He paused there, eyes half lidded with pleasure, and pulled out slowly. “All of me.”

★ Virtue ★
★★★★★ Review: https://goo.gl/OCZwXH
One woman, 2 men. Once I met Lawrence I was a gonner. Dying for book 2.
“Do you love him?”
“Would it make a difference if I did?”
He’s quiet, seemingly waging his answer. “No. Not at all.”

★ The Raven Room ★
★★★★★ Review: https://goo.gl/yVONC1
Sex clubs, kink, excess, secrets, betrayal, murder, power and scandal are just some of the things. Center stage; Julian.
“You’re a man easy to fall in love with but a hard one to love.”

★ Shhh ★
★★★★★ Review: https://goo.gl/aXThzz
Epic forbidden romance, the last page took by breath away.
“I nervously laughed, “What?” “Did. You. Fuck. Him?” he hissed, using emphasis on every word. “Ever?” “Today,” he questioned impatiently. “Have his hands been on you? Has he been inside you?”

★ Sinful ★
★★★★★ Review: https://goo.gl/t5M7zQ
Year 1787. One of the best anti-heroes out there.
"They say you'll... fuck anything in skirts." The woman's soft voice came from the shadowed interior....
…He didn't, of course. Fornicate indiscriminately. He had a very selective eye. But he was aware of his reputation as a libertine.”

★ Debt ★
★★★★★ Review: https://goo.gl/B9ycMg
A man on a mission of vengeance.
“There is no version of a story where you walk around this condo with your tits and pussy out that doesn’t end in me fucking you.”

★ The Sect ★
★★★★ ½ Review: https://goo.gl/EF4M9g
Enjoy the (mind) trip!
“You never had me, Keaton, but I always had you.”


Favorite Extended Epilogues:

★ Completion ★
★★★★★ Review: https://goo.gl/h7uDVP

★ Indebted Epilogue ★
★★★★★ Review: https://goo.gl/hKoVtg

[Christy]

I've read and reviewed lots of great books this year... but these are my top favorites!

#1- The Air He Breathes and Art & Soul by Brittainy C. Cherry

#2- Addicted After All and Long Way Down by Krista & Becca Ritchie (this is also my MUST READ SERIES of the year)

#3- Fighting Silence by Aly Martinez

#4- Kick Push by Jay McLean

#5- True Love Way by Mary Elizabeth

#6- Kyland by Mia Sheridan

#7- Walk Through Fire by Kristen Ashley

#8- The Play by Karina Halle

#9- Paper Hearts by Claire Contreas

#10- 321 by JA Huss


If I had to title my year of reviewing, I guess I would say it was the year of the INDIES. 9 out of the 10 books in my top 10 are indie/self-published I read many more self-published than traditionally published books. I love finding that indie gem. I could also call it the year of the FEELS because every book in my top 10 made me cry!

As of today (12/16/15) I've read and reviewed 287 books and I'm right on track to hit my goal of 300!

[Angela M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the year of the ARC for me . I have always loved reading new releases so I have very much enjoyed getting involved in NetGalley and Edelweiss and having the opportunity to read so many books before publication. One drawback is that the rest of the books on my tbr list and books already on my kindle have been neglected. Next year I hope to read more of what I have. ( I think I said that earlier this year too.) During this year my favorites were selected by month for a thread in one of my groups . Here they are :

January -A Land More Kind Than Home
February -A Slant of Light
March -A Little Life
April -The Homecoming of Samuel Lake
May -Church of Marvels
June -Circling the Sun
July - Language Arts
August - Thirteen Ways Of Looking
September -So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures
October - The Tsar of Love and Techno: Stories
November -Fallen Land
December - Mr. Ives' Christmas

My favorite of the year will be a A Little Life. It's probably the most affecting book I've ever read and I still think about Jude.

A few special categories:

The Writing, The Writing:

Thirteen Ways of Looking
Circling the Sun
Fallen Land

Biggest Disappointment:

Avenue of Mysteries. Sorry John Irving I've loved you all these years but I just couldn't finish this one

Just Didn't Get It:

The Small Backs of Children . I really just don't get this book . Too bad, the writing in the beginning was lovely.

The Ones that Broke My Heart ( all 5 stars) :

Boo
Aquarium
Mr. Ives' Christmas
A Land More Kind Than Home
But You Did Not Come Back
Our Souls at Night (not just the book but I'm sad that we won't have another Haruf book.)


2015 Books by Authors Whose Next Book I'll Always Read:

A Slant of Light
Language Arts
My Name Is Lucy Barton
The Tsar of Love and Techno

Favorite Rereads:

To Kill a Mockingbird
The Great Gatsby

The Most Controversial:

Go Set a Watchman . I think I spent more time reading the news articles and discussions about this book than it took me to read the book .

Biggest Challenge

I read Ulysses ! Well I finished it in 2015 with a group read along that began in 2014 . I'm rereading it in 2016 with some of the same people and some additional people. Honestly, I am going to reread it !

Here's to all of my Goodreads friends who have helped me to discover books I may not have found , for your wonderful reviews and for all of your thoughtful comments on mine and for your friendship. Hoping we all find great books to read in 2016 .

Thanks to Goodreader Fionnuala for coming up with this idea.

[Fionnuala]

2015 : The Year of the Multyplying Book Shelves.
Last January, I might have had a total of five shelves on my goodreads profile page. By the beginning of December I had ninety-five. My goodreads space had grown a mezzanine, and it looks like it will soon sprout an annexe. I love my gr bookshelves nearly as much as my real life bookshelves some of which actually live on a mezzanine and more of which are fast colonising the rest of the house, all the while accumulating dust in contrast to their pristine gr counterparts. The border between my real book life and my virtual book life is becoming more and more porous. When I'm sitting among my real shelves reading a real book, I often pause to log on to goodreads and post an update of some passage that caused me to stop and think. Reading has become almost as much a virtual activity as a physical one, the bar on the currently reading status as concrete as the wedge of pages left to read in the physical book in my hand. Sometimes I resolve to go back to private reading and devour a book without posting updates but it doesn't feel right; the updates have become necessary, an extension of the review that now always accompanies every book. And when the review has been posted, the comment discussions which follow are another addictive element to add to the list. This year, assigning multiple gr shelves has become an extra pleasure in this whole process. Few are the books that don't earn a tag other than read. The shelf tags range from the sober ones such as author names and translated from ---- to the more irreverent excuse to blog and the completely beside myself shelf tags.

Of course there are also classification tags, for example, short stories and novellas. I had intended 2014 to be my Year of Reading Short Stories (after the 2013 Year of Reading Proust) but some big fat books muscled their way into that schedule and the short stories got squeezed into a tight corner. I began 2015 with renewed intentions vis à vis short stories and read several collections in a row.
The Anchor Book of American Short Stories introduced me to the work of thirty authors most of whom I’d never read and some I'd never heard of. One story stood out from the rest: The Father's Blessing by Mary Caponegro. I immediately ordered her collection All Fall Down and read it soon afterwards. David Foster Wallace also caught my attention and I ordered his Oblivion collection though I’ve read only one story from it at present. But what a story that was! The Soul is Not a Smithy left me excited about how much one story can encompass. The experience with Caponegro and Foster Wallace made me realise that I needed to create a one book leads to another shelf, and the shelves just multiplied from then on.

Short stories also featured largely in Guy Davenport’s The Death of Picasso collection which I finished in January. I was happier among the art and literature essays it contained than I was reading his stories so I added an essay shelf.

Beginning of February, I was still sticking to my resolution of reading short stories and Now That You're Back by A.L. Kennedy was a great choice, suiting the slushy February days like a hot whisky. Kennedy also inspired a new shelf: review in diary form.

By the middle of February, I’d moved away from short stories and begun a Virginia Woolf season. From February to May, I read eight of her ten novels (I'd read two previously), as well as some essays and shorter pieces, finishing off with A Writer's Diary. Having devoted all that time to one author meant I had to create a Woolf Novels shelf - just to admire the view of all her novels in a row. Then of course I needed a further shelf for her non-fiction: Woolf All.

In between the Woolf works I read five Beckett books, the choice inspired by extracts I’d come across in A Samuel Beckett Reader which I dipped into on and off throughout the year. A Beckett shelf was clearly needed to house the accumulating titles.

By the end of May, it was time for volume three of Verbivoracious Festschrift: The Syllabus, produced and edited by a pair of talented goodreads people. It contains one hundred short pieces about some of my favourite authors' books, authors such as James Joyce, Raymond Federman and Flann O’Brien.
I happened to read O’Brien’s The Third Policeman around then, and as I ticked read, I spotted the back wheel of a bicycle disappearing around the corner of my gr profile. That was bizarre. But even more bizarre was the excuse to write a funny review shelf I later found lurking among the other shelves trying to look nonchalant. I have to say it turned out to be a winner. Several books I read during the summer ended up on that shelf as if it contained a really strong magnet. They included Beckett’s Watt, Raymond Queneau’s Zazie dans le metro as well as his Sally Mara omnibus, and several more. The shelf is so powerful it has attracted reviews written way before it created itself!

A book that might have qualified for the funny shelf but didn't was the story of the many crazy and curious journeys taken by Alvaro Mutis' famous hero Maqroll, which I read in June, while travelling. But it did qualify to join other books translated from Spanish on a newly created shelf. I now have twenty translated from —- shelves; creating them made me aware of just how many books I’m reading in translation and determined to add to that list (In 2015, I read sixteen books not originally written in English but only half of them were in translation).

July saw me reading one of the funniest books of the year: The Sot-Weed Factor, though somehow it didn’t end up on the funny shelf either. Instead, the review went off and morphed with a review of The Magic of M.C. Escher because I'd visited the Escher museum in The Hague while I was reading Barth and I found some odd parallels between their techniques. A new shelf tag was needed and the metamorphosis shelf was born.

During the year, I revisited familiar authors such as Marilynne Robinson, José Saramago, William Trevor, A S Byatt, Ali Smith, Nadine Gordimer, André Brink, Ann Tyler, Karen Joy Fowler (who inspired the completely beside myself shelf), and Elena Ferrante (who inspired the cop out review shelf, (where she was joined later by Nabokov's Speak Memory review)).
I also discovered a bunch of authors new to me this year, including William Maxwell and Denis Johnson. However, the most impressive of the new authors was Eimear McBride. A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing was such a great reading experience that it immediately went onto a best of the 21st century shelf. Another author new to me was Clarice Lispector. I found Near to the Wild Heart a baffling but finally very satisfying book.

A particularly outstanding read was Bahiyyih Nakhjavani’s The Woman Who Read Too Much which I definitely recommend for the beauty of the language and the intrigue of the story which is set in nineteenth century Teheran. It went straight onto the best of the 21st century shelf.

In September, I read Samar Yazbek's account of ordinary people's lives in the war zones of Syria since 2011. It is sobering to realize that the situation of the Syrian people has changed so much since Yazbeq finished The Crossing: Journey to the Shattered Heart of Syria in early 2014, and that their conditions must now be far, far worse than she described. I'm fervently hoping that 2016 will bring some measure of relief to what's left of the population.

October brings me to another shelf tag: Nabokov . From the beginning of October to the end of November I enjoyed a non-stop Nabookathon getting through eight of his books in a row. I’d never read Nabokov before so it was quite a scalding baptism but the more I read the better I understood the author’s motivations and the better I appreciated the writing. My favorite of the eight? The Gift with Pnin a close second. Along with the Woolf season, my Nabokov Oknovber was a definite highlight of the year.

December brings me back to the beginning of the reading year via a continuation of the short story exploration I started in January. Helen Oyeyemi’s Mr. Fox is a novel collection of interlinked tales, Claire Keegan’s Antarctica is a truly bleak but brilliant set of stories which match the title perfectly, and the forty-five pieces in Joy William’s New and Collected Stories, along with the ten stories in A L Kennedy's Original Bliss, have seen me through to the end of 2015 and into the beginning of 2016.

I like completing circles.

..............................................................

This is the second in a series of 'The Year on Goodreads' titles which I created last year with 2014 on Goodreads. It started out as simply a way to post a summary of my own reading year. The goodreads librarians listed it as authored by Various - and it did truly become authored by Various with more than a hundred fellow goodreaders using it to create their own reviews of 2014.
I hope lots of people do the same this year - keep this ball rolling, people!

(I've edited this to include links to the reviews mentioned because some readers have been curious enough to go searching for them.. and since today is the day I intended posting this review in the first place, I'm now officially going to add it to my updates - apologies to those of you who've seen it already)

[Rowena · Rating 5 out of 5]

2015 was a good reading year for me, and it was a year that came with a lot of changes. Emotionally it was a tough year and I think that the situations I experienced told me what to read. I don’t know if I’ve ever been more thankful to be a reader as I was this year. So much of my reading turned out to be comforting and serendipitous, and I ended up reading books I didn’t even know I needed to read. And because of circumstances, I wasn’t able to write as many reviews as I normally do, but I was able to benefit from reading other people’s words.

Experiencing two deaths in my family, I was greatly encouraged and comforted by Elizabeth Alexander’s The Light of the World , and strangely calmed and made more introspective by Barthes’ Mourning Diary, and as I discovered later, he died not long after he had finished writing it so I don’t think he ever got over his mother’s death, which makes the book’s content even more sorrowful.

My graduate research paper, which focused on black women, spurred a lot of my reading. In particular, Toni Cade Bambara’s ‘Black Women’ anthology, ‘ Black Feminist Thought ‘ by Patricia Hill Collins as well as ‘Black Women, Writing and Identity’, by Carole Boyce Davies not only introduced me to many new black women writers, but also drove home the point that there is a lot of research and writing on black women that still needs to be done. Reading black women’s memoirs, such as Tracy K. Smith’s ‘Ordinary Light’, Jacqueline Woodson‘s ‘Brown Girl Dreaming’, and Margo Jefferson’s ‘Negroland’, as well as books written by black women about other black women, for example, Kuwana Haulsey’s book, ‘Angel in Harlem’, and Maryse Conde’s ‘I, Tituba’ gave me the motivation I needed to do more research and write more.

This year I became more aware of Chicana feminism which I found I was able to relate to a lot given my own experiences of being member of a subculture. Even after my graduation, I still feel compelled to read similar books and I think they have made me stronger and more aware. Women from other groups inspired me as well. I read Maxine Hong Kingston and Sandra Cisneros for the first time and I was truly impressed. I was able to finish reading all of Toni Morrison’s books and Anais Nin ‘s journals, and they were as inspiring as ever.

I think it’s clear that there’s been a vague theme in my reading and indeed I made a conscious effort to read more women this year. According to my math, I read 156 books this year and 104 of them were by women. I’ve enjoyed discovering new women writers, for example Willa Cather, Kim Thuy, Hong Ying, Anne Sexton, Venus Khoury-Ghata, Hedwig Dohm, Wang Anyi, Gloria Naylor, Gayl Jones, Ernessa T. Carter, Geling Yan, Maria Dermout, Buket, Uzuner, Helene Cixous, and Joan Didion.

I did read some great books by male writers though, particularly in the poetry section. I also reread Man Booker Prize Marlon James’ The Book of Night Women in preparation to seeing him in a panel discussion. There are so many books I have to read but rereading brings its own rewards.

Later on in the year I became more interested in doing art research and I read some introductory texts to several famous artists. But the most inspirational book to me on art so far has been one I’m still reading, a collection of essays by Jeanette Winterson (‘Art Objects’).

Although I have continued to diversify my reading, and have also made more of an effort to read female writers, my reading continues to be American-dominant. Next year I plan on re-reading Toni Morrison’s books in chronological order. I also hope to read more Middle Eastern, North African, and Latin American literature.

Below are three lists of books that were highly favoured by me in the non-fiction, fiction, and poetry categories.

I appreciate all of you who read my reviews and interact with me. Wishing you all a great 2016:)

Non-Fiction Books

Between the World and Me– Ta-Nehisi Coates
A House of my Own- Sandra Cisneros
Art on my Mind: Visual Politics– bell hooks
A Woman Speaks- Anais Nin
The Black Woman: An Anthology- Toni Cade Bambara
The Gloria Anzaldua Reader
A Bad Woman’s Story– Kishwar Naheed
The Journals of Jules Renard
Paris is Burning- Lucas Hilderbrand
The Light of the World- Elizabeth Alexander

Fiction

The Natural Order of Things– Antonio Lobo Antunes
Angel of Harlem- Kuwana Haulsey
I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem– Maryse Conde
Dreams of my Russian Summer- Andrei Makine
The Woman Who Read Too Much– Bahiyyih Nakhjavani
Lucy– Jamaica Kincaid
The Joys of Motherhood– Buchi Emecheta
Mr Loverman– Bernardine Evaristo
You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down– Alice Walker
China Men– Maxine Hong Kingston



Poetry

The Ink Dark Moon- Ono No Komachi
Selected Poetry of Anne Sexton
She Says- Venus Khoury-Ghata
Beneath my Eyes- Li-Young Lee
How to be Drawn- Terrance Hayes
Mercurochrome- Wanda Coleman
Prelude to Bruise- Saeed Jones
The Breakbeat Poets- Kevin Coval
In Presence of Absence- Mahmoud Darwish
Forbidden Words- Eugenio de Andrade

[Jaidee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so look forward to this new tradition of being able to come up with some personal book awards :)

2015 was overall a wonderful reading experience. I read 47 books and may still finish one or two more by year's end. I may have to edit this piece if they happen to fit in any of the categories.

Let's get started.

Let's begin with the raspberries.

BOOK I WAS MOST AFRAID TO HATE:

-- Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.

This was the only book I was not able to finish. For the life of me I felt such antipathy towards this novel. My deepest apologies to those that adore it.

WORST READS OF THE YEAR:

-- Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss

I cannot believe this book was written by a Doctor. It was wretched and false in every way.

This was followed very closely by

-- Following Me by K.A. Linde

I still shudder at the contents of this book. Vile to the max.


MOST DISAPPOINTING READS OF THE YEAR (tie)

-- Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

I can still taste the bitter tears I shed over this one.

-- The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan

Aaaaaaargh the frustration.


Next some other new categories I developed:


MOST AVERAGE OF AVERAGE AWARD

-- The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.

I would say that this is the book that divided the good and excellent from the fair and bad.

BOOK WHERE I WISH I WERE EDITOR

-- The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

No comments needed for this one.


REVIEW I HAD THE MOST FUN WRITING

-- Autobiography by Morrissey

I love ya Sweetheart :)


Now to the best of the best award.

First to the Honorable Mentions of the Year which were all 4.5 stars:

-- Goddess: Inside Madonna by Barbara Victor
-- Lessons from a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles
-- Beforew We Were Strangers by Renee Carlino
-- The Séance by John Harwood


Now we will do Jaidee's Top Ten Awards. Numbers 1-7 were 5 star and 8-10 were 4.5 star. I will list the book and a phrase that encapsulates for me why the book is great.

(Drum Roll Please....)

10. The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen
- restrained and elegantly cruel

9. In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami
- chilling, existential and misanthropic

8. Far to Go by Alison Pick
- unbelievably sad and beautiful

7. (non-fiction)
Countdown (non-fiction) by Alan Weisman
- profound, frightening and life-changing

6. The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld
- historical mystery at its best

5. Ragnarok by A.S. Byatt
- my queen and empress wrote this- nothing more to say :)

4. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
- superlative, intricate and fascinating

Now to the Jaidee Medal Award Winners (strings are furiously playing in the background)

BRONZE AWARD :

N-W by Zadie Smith

-- Zadieliciouz gotz the geniuz and the brillianz


SILVER AWARD

Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje

-- A Hypnagogic Treasure


GOLD AWARD (Tie)

The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch

-- Jungian Psychospiritual Masterpiece

Songs of Enchantment by Ben Okri

-- Infinite Perfection


That's all for this year folks. I hope next year is equally wonderful.

[Shelby *trains flying monkeys*]

Yikes, I read more books this year than I have in years.
Of those books I rated 47 of them five stars, 217 of them four stars, 92 reached a three star, 56 received 2 stars and 28 got the big 1 star. I DNF'd 14 books, yes I counted them because I lost precious time trying to read them. 4 books out of the total I declined to rate. (Because I knew the author and he had requested that)
So take that turkey-heads that like to say that I just love rating books badly! The figures are in. Maury Povich says that is a big old fib.

Now that the boring stuff that no one but me cares about is out of the way-it's time for my bestest books! Some of them have more than one. I couldn't pick just one.

Graphic Novel/Comic:
Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia by Greg Rucka
I loved Wonder Woman when I was growing up and this book was just a time capsule for me.

Romance/Smexy times:
On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves
Yes, I know a whole lot of people don't like this one, I LOVED every single moment!

Shine Not Burn by Elle Casey This book introduced me to Elle Casey's writing. Yes, I'm completely a fangirl now. Smexy times with pure silliness is always a win for me.

New to me authors-that I love:
Johnny Shaw
Dan the original kept reading this guys stuff and rating it highly. I now know why.
Joe R. Lansdale
I blame Dan the original for getting me to read this guys stuff also. He might be a bad influence.

Best series that I started/read/whatever:
A Drink Before the War(I'm up to book five-because I'm trying to savor these) by Dennis Lehane
Dang, these books are book crack for a thriller loving little book nerd.

Anne Bishop and her Others series. Written in Red. I'm keep checking for when the next one will be in my greedy little hands. I may just need to move in with the author.

Best Young Adult:
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
Yes, I know. A book that I normally would have hated just popped it's way into my top books. I roll that way.

Best Non-Fiction:
Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer

And

Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology by Leah Remini
I was expecting to read this one because I'm nosey, but I loved it because of just how good it was.

Book that I can't stop thinking about:
Husk by J. Kent Messum
This book, more people need this little book in their hands, it's one of the best that hang around in your head and pop up when you least expect it. I really should have given it five stars.

Book that was most personal for me:
Center of Gravity by Laura McNeill

Best Book of the Year:
I have two. Back off, I read over three hundred books. It's hard to narrow it down.

You by Caroline Kepnes
I loved every weirdo, stalking moment in this book. I loved the second book too. Go read them.

and....

Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich
This book should have been on more of those "top lists" that are put out every year. It deserves all the hype.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

2015 was a heartbreaking year, both in my reading life and my personal life.

And yet, and yet --

2015 was also wondrous. I read some superfantasticamazing books this year. In 2015, perhaps more so than ever before, I appreciated how being a reader can open up the world, can help you understand other people and give you a fresh perspective on your own life.

In short, books helped me survive.

To begin, 2015 was the year I discovered Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels. Truly, I did not expect to love this series when I started. But I read My Brilliant Friend and got hooked on the lives of Elena and Lila. I learned so much from those women. The fourth and final book, The Story of the Lost Child, came at a time when I needed it most. I don't know Ferrante's real name, but I give my thanks to her for writing those books.

I also did some wonderful rereads this year, including A Room With a View, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Cold Comfort Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird and Jane Eyre. Each was inspiring in its own way.

2015 was the year I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and read in genres I don't regularly traverse, including horror, science fiction and fantasy. I finally read and enjoyed The Martian, The Shining, The Lathe of Heaven, Among Others, and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

I think I read more history books this year than ever before, and I loved finding those surprising connections between different subjects and authors. My favorites were The Oregon Trail; Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage; The Wright Brothers; In the Kingdom of Ice; Cleopatra: A Life; How to Be a Victorian; and Lafayette in the Somewhat United States.

This was also the year I officially became addicted to audiobooks, and set up memberships at Audible, Overdrive and a few other apps. Previously, I only listed to audio CDs during my commute or road trips, but the portability of the iPhone made it possible to carry that audiobook with me all the time. Some of my favorite audiobooks this year were Gloria Steinem's My Life on the Road, Carrie Brownstein's Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl, Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic, Aziz Ansari's Modern Romance, Alan Cumming's Not My Father's Son, and Steve Martin's Born Standing Up.

Scanning my list of books for the year, I was surprised by how many 5-star ratings I gave. Sometimes I can be stingy with the fivers, but I smiled when I saw all these titles again. The 5-star books I haven't yet mentioned are:


Stoner
Brideshead Revisited
The 6:41 to Paris
Tracks
Between the World and Me
H is for Hawk
Ghettoside
Better Than Before
The Almost Nearly Perfect People


Overall, this was a marvelous year for me on Goodreads, and I am so grateful for my friends here. Cheers to all of you!

2015 Stats
(as of Dec. 26)

Total Books Read: 137
Books by Women: 64
Books in Translation: 6

Goals for 2016
Read more classic literature, continue to read outside my comfort zone, and try to read books that I already own, instead of constantly getting distracted by shiny new ones.

[Deanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't sure if I was going to do one of these but then I thought why not? I've seen some really creative ones over the last couple of weeks! I've enjoyed reading all the different ones and have since added even more books to my to be read shelf.

Since I'm not so good at being creative.... I'm going to go with simple.

I'm going to focus on the books that I rated highly either 4.5 or 5 stars.

I would also like to say that I've met some really fantastic people here on Goodreads and it's been great getting to know you all. When I first joined a few years ago I didn't interact very much. I would just rate a book and leave it at that. But I've come to really enjoy writing reviews and really like reading other reviews too. I know I will make my spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors but I've gotten (mostly) over the worry and just try to be honest and have fun with it. To those of you who have read my sometimes long-winded (ha! sometimes long-winded?) reviews, thank you for your friendship and the lovely comments you leave for me. I love the joking and chatting with people and hope I get to know you all even better in 2016.

I read so many good books in 2015!!

Although most of the following were published in 2015, a few were a bit older. There are also a couple of ARC's that will be coming out in the next couple of months. All of the books I have listed are ones I really liked but the ones I provided links for are the ones that were my very favorite.

The Little Brother - Victoria Patterson (This 5 star book deserves so much more attention)

No Ordinary Life- Suzanne Redfearn (This fantastic read will be released February 2, 2016)

Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty (One of my favorite books by my one of my favorite authors.)
This book is also being made into a mini-series starting sometime this year.

The Word Game - Steena Holmes (An emotional read that really made me think. An excellent book).

I Let You Go - Claire Mackintosh (This book surprised me and I loved it).

She's Not There - Joy Fielding (a long time favorite author - loved this new one from her. Will be released February 23, 2016)

White Is the Coldest Colour - John Nicholl (This book was extremely hard to read but worth it).
Humber Boy B - Ruth Dugdall
As Night Falls - Jenny Milchman
The Silent Sister - Diane Chamberlain
The Cry - Helen Fitzgerald
Finding Claire Fletcher - Lisa Regan
Five Days Left - Julie Lawson Timmer
After Anna by Alex Lake
Those Girls by Chevy Stevens
No Kiss Goodbye - Janelle Harris
Angels Burning - Tawni O'Dell
14 Days to Die - A. B. Whelan (finished off the year with a bang. Last book I read in 2015 and really enjoyed it).

I read quite a few Young Adult books this year but the following ones really stood out for me.

FANTASTIC YOUNG ADULT READS:

Weightless - Sarah Bannan (This book made me so very sad. Another very important book).

What We Saw- Aaron Hartzler (In my opinion a very important read for everyone!!)

Dangerous Girls - Abigail Haas (A fantastic book with similarities between the Amanda Knox and Natalee Holloway cases).

Only Ever Yours - Louise O'Neill (A scary look at a future where women are created for only one of three things).

2015 was a great year for books. Here's hoping 2016 is just as great!!

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 5 out of 5]

A most satisfying year on Goodreads. For the first time ever, I was able to complete 100 books!

(OK, there was some cheating - some are online stories, some are cartoon collections, and I did not finish two - but in a count of one hundred, some leeway is allowed, no?)

I have rated the books as follows:

5 stars - 7
4 stars - 39
3 stars - 34
2 stars - 9
1 star - 11

An average of 3.22 - below my normal 3.47 average. But this does not mean I had a bad year - there were many books I read knowing fully well were awful - Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back and The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature - just to have the satisfaction of trashing them (mean SOB, aren't I?). And some, like Love Letter to America and Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion are political diatribes.

Coming to the top-ranked seven, I would recommend A Tale of Love and Darkness to anybody - this is a magical book, a memoir of growing up in Israel, in equal parts exhilarating, terrifying and depressing. I still have not been able to formulate a review for this terrific reading experience. Amos Oz is a genius.

Maus, I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History and Maus, II: And Here My Troubles Began are awesome reads; it shows how the medium of comics can be used to tell a serious story in a very effective way.

Everybody Loves a Good Drought, even though excellent, may not be everyone's cup of tea. I would recommend it to people who think economic liberalisation is the ultimate aim of a free democracy, just to understand the ruins we stand on as we reach upwards. An eye-opening read about poverty in India, though not very edifying.

The other three five-star books are fun reads - Manny's What Pooh Might Have Said to Dante and Other Futile Speculations, WTF, Evolution?!: A Theory of Unintelligible Design and What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions.

---------------------------------------

Category-wise, my list looks like this:

Fiction: 45
Non-Fiction: 44
Poetry: 3
Graphic Novels: 3
Cartoons: 5

Good balance between fiction and non-fiction there.

Also, I have read three novels by Japanese authors and eight books in Malayalam, my mother tongue. I am happy to see that I am branching out into non-English literature, but I need to read more Malayalam books.

---------------------------------------

I read three remarkable short story collections this year: Among the Missing by Dan Chaon, Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender and Dangerous Laughter by Steven Millhauser. All three had refreshing approaches to the medium of the short story, which, IMO, is one of the most difficult forms of literature to write.

I also had the opportunity to read a number of good short stories online. There is a goldmine of such stories scattered around the internet. Some sources:

Daily Science Fiction

Tor.com

On the non-fiction front, I discovered the Very Short Introduction series. These extremely thin books open a window on to a wide variety of subjects: encapsulated knowledge for a generation with very little time on its hands. These books are excellent, even though the quality varies from one to another somewhat.

---------------------------------------

Looking back, I also see that I have managed to read four of Shirley Jackson's novels finally. I have become an ardent fan and intends to read all of her novels.

One terrific genre read was Alice, Christina Henry's extremely dark interpretation of the much-loved children's book. This one is not for those with queasy stomachs - rape, torture and mutilation abound in its pages.

Apart from the one by Amos Oz I mentioned above, there were two excellent memoirs I perused - Maya Angelou's famous I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog. Both can be called "subaltern" narratives, stories from a lesser-privileged section of the society - and by women. This in turn lead me to reading Maya's lovely poetry.

---------------------------------------

I read two extremely funny books - Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook by the inimitable Scott Adams and Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free by Charles P. Pierce. These books demonstrate what an effective weapon humour is - against which you have no defence other than laughter. Verily, it is true that "one horse laugh is worth a thousand syllogisms"!

On the subject of humour, I pondered a moral question at length: is it permissible to laugh at Hitler? This dialogue was prompted by the book Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes. I was attacked for my opinion that laughter is permissible in any situation, for my callous disregard for holocaust victims. This in turn lead me to reading Dead Funny: Humor in Hitler's Germany, an excellent book about gallows humour during the Third Reich- and restored my faith in humanity's ability to laugh in any situation.

---------------------------------------

Reading about the Holocaust guided me to another book: Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil by Ron Rosenbaum. This is a book filled with extensive research on a particular era of our history when a considerable section of the world fell under the spell of a deranged madman. What made him tick, and what was the source of his apparent hold over the populace? These are fascinating questions, especially in a world more prone to racial hatred at any other time than any other time in recent history.

Another exhaustive study on an equally unpalatable topic - rape - is by Susan Brownmiller. In Against Our Will Men, Women And Rape, the author explores various forms of this particular crime in extensive detail and with merciless objectivity. Though tough to get through, I think this is a must-read book.

I must also mention two thrillers written by women authors which seems to have taken the reading world by storm: Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train. Even though hyped, I found both these books underwhelming, with some huge plot holes - some as big as craters. The Shadow of the Wind is another hugely praised book which I felt, did not live up to its hype.

And last but not least, I read The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, with all its violence and sex - a project which has been long pending.

[Navessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This year was a good reading year for me. My average rating for 2015 is something like 3.9 stars! I think that's thanks to my (very wise) decision to stop requesting ARCs. Still, there were some duds.

BEST OF 2015

1.


2.


3.



4.


5.


6.


7.


8.



WORST OF 2015

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.

[Baba]

NO OFFICIAL RATING FOR MY READING YEAR 2015. Winners and losers posted December 17, 2015



I've rated six books with five stars this year. Here they are:














I honestly didn't give a rat's ass for what was up for vote at the Goodreads Choice Awards. And if I had to pick only one favorite book, then I'd choose The Muse, a personal highlight. To me, it's the very best (erotic) romance book of the year. Anne Calhoun is also one of my top favorite authors. She's my erotic romance goddess because no one writes such exquisite, beautiful, elegant and sensual erotic scenes like she does. What she delivered this year is much more than great smut. She's truly in a league of her own.




Well, my head was throbbing on a regular basis because I felt let down by so many books.



Reading Challenge 2015
I did have a goal of 110 books, but achieved to read--or partially read--143 books. My average rating for 2015 is 2.6, with a tendency of decreasing even more.


I will pass on giving my reading year a rating because it was so disappointing. I've DNFd 43 books so far and the year isn't over yet. In the sense of tit for tat, here are the worst books I've had the misfortune of attempting to read this year:


















May the new reading year bring us all good luck and, most importantly, awesome books!

[Seemita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Am I too late for this review? Oh heck! Its never too late to sing the song of books, especially if they are literally music to my ears and soul :)

It was a year of frenzied reading. And for once, the pace was fueled not by madness but serenity. The more serene I felt, the deeper I sunk – sunk into the world of books, of characters, of emotions, of questions, of dilemmas, of contemplation, of statements and above all, of many truths. That this world has such remarkable talent and that I am fortunate to have access to some of these documented and published texts left me tranquil in excitement and content in wait.

I am a person with frugal goals and at the beginning of this year, I narrowed my reading goal to just one: spending atleast 60% of my reading time on new (to me) authors. And thankfully, the year obliged. I read Banville, Barnes, Bernhard, Calvino, Camus, Coetzee, Dostoyevsky, Eliot, Flaubert, Gogol, Hamsun, Joyce, Kawabata, Krasznahorkai, Krzhizhanovsky, Kundera, Mann, Mistry, Modiano, Munro, Proust, Pynchon, Rilke, Sartre, Sebald, Steinbeck, Vesaas, Woolf and Zweig for the first time and the experience ranged from exhilaration to numbness. The literature opened doors to rich geographical terrains of India and Ireland, Norway and Japan, Russia and America, France and Italy and beyond. In the alleys of these varied societal and political walls, I fell in love with Tomas and looked in awe at Stephen; I befriended Hanta and bid farewell to Lenny; I could not choose between the unnamed narrators that were characterized by three distinct human instincts – hunger, curiosity and suffering and I stood hypnotized at the recitation of memoirs in Dublin and Paris of two greatest story-tellers of all-times.

For those books that left me a little underwhelmed, I am thankful; for they served the purpose of a jolt-and-reset mechanism which is an imminent bug demanding continuous countering.

All the works I read this year made their individual contribution in bulking up my treasures and lifting me softly into an air of confidence and gregariousness. They imparted a certain gravitas to my being and I am thankful to my Baba for giving the reticent me, this gift of befriending books with ease.

There cannot be a single book I can single out as my most favorite. But suffice to say that the following are my Top 5 enablers from 2015:

Italo Calvino for Versatility
Virginia Woolf for Hope
Knut Hamsun for Resilience
Rohinton Mistry for Faith
Rainer Maria Rilke for Strength

I wish to extend a special note of thanks to all my friends here on GR. It was my first, full year on this platform and I saw many warm embraces coming my way. My writing was encouraged, my reading was patted, my thoughts were heard, my reviews were appreciated. I was amazed at the generosity of this platform where I never saw a rude word being hurled at me or an unpleasant event making its way down to my profile. You have displayed more kindness than I had ever imagined. On my part, I have been able to keep my flame of reading aglow, thanks to the unending, nurturing light emanating from this website; on days that saw me deluged under work and extricated from reading, a few minutes on GR was all it had taken to dislodge that delusion. I received such immense amount of love, optimism, patience and faith here that I almost forgot I was a newbie in this sea of quality, passionate and consistent readers. For making me a part of this beautiful place and accepting me into your precious world of book reading, I am grateful.

I set foot in 2016 with a similar love and a similar goal, but with a little more passion and fire in my belly :) Hope the flame glows and the books cure till the end of this journey called LIFE.

[Alienor ✘ French Frowner ✘ · Rating 4 out of 5]

2015. That bitch. And yet things had started so well for me : the first months were incredible and I discovered several gems that became instant favorites... But then came May. Fucking May. Since then it seems that my reading time goes like this : DNF-DNF-DNF-DNF-Oh! That's good!-DNF-DNF-DNF ... ad vitam eternam. My attention span lies somewhere around 5% and my reader is full of books I'll never read I'll probably read someday.

But 2015 is also my first full year here on Goodreads, and most of all I wanted to thank you. Thank you for writing reviews that make me laugh, that move me, that help me find wonderful books and stay clear of awful ones. Thank you for taking the time to read mines, to interact with me. Thank you for being amazing people.



▨ Mystery & Thrillers
➊ Darkness, Take my Hand by Dennis Lehane (but really, I loved Patrick and Bubba every book from this series)
➋ Dangerous Boys by Abigail Haas
➌ I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga (the whole trilogy)

▨ Contemporary YA
➊ What We Saw by Aaron Harzler
➋ More Happy Than Not by adam Silvera
➌ Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

▨ Fantasy
➊ Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence (the whole trilogy)
➊ ex æquo Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta (the whole trilogy)
➌ The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
➍ A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E Schwab

▨ Retellings
➊ The Child Thief by Brom
➋ Prince of Shadows by Rachel Caine
➌ The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

▨ Comics
➊ Injustice : God Among Us, Vol. 1
➋ Deadly Class, Vol. 1
➌ Saga, Vol. 2

▨ Contemporary Romance
➊ Fuel the Fire by Christa & Becca Ritchie
➋ I'll meet you there by Heather Demetrios
➌ Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

▨ Historical
➊ In the Shadows of Blackbirds by Cat Winters
➋ Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare
➌ Dark Triumph by Robin Lafevers

▨ Middle-Grade
➊ Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt
➋ Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
➌ The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

▨ Non fiction : Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates



Yes, I hated these books to pieces.

➊ Probably one of the worst book I EVER read : Once and Always by Judith McNaught
➋ Hero by Samantha Young
➌ Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
➍ Neandertal Seeks Human by Penny Reid
(I didn't put here all my 1s of the year - it would be way too depressing, to be honest)

► Note that I'll probably edit this review before the end of the year, change my mind, realize that I forgot books, decide to remove others... Don't mind me. I'm an indecisive person sometimes. *shrugs*

Happy reading everyone!

[فؤاد]

موضوع انشا: سال خود را چگونه گذراندید؟

این مثل یک نامه ی اعمال کتابخونیه، پایان هر سال بهت میگن: «خودت کتاب خودت را بخوان، که امروز کافی است که خودت داور خودت باشی!» (اسرا:۱۴) یا شاید یه جور اعتراف نامه.

امسال من دو تجربه ی خاص داشتم که بسیار لذت بخش بودن.
یکی کتاب صوتی، این پدیده ی عزیز که من این قدر دیر قدرش رو شناختم. باورتون میشه؟ شما نشستید توی اتوبوس، یا پشت در یه اداره یا مطب منتظر نشستید، و به جای این که به در و دیوار خیره بشید، یکی داره توی گوشتون براتون کتاب میخونه! فوق العاده نیست؟؟
من حدود یازده کتاب رو این طوری گوش دادم امسال. بعضی هاشون گوینده های بهتری داشتن، بعضی هاشون کتاب های بهتری بودن. در کل تجربه ی بسیار لذت بخشی بود.

دومین تجربه، فلسفه خوانی بود. من امسال (نمی دونم چرا اینقدر دیر؟) شروع کردم به خوندن چند مجموعه در تاریخ فلسفه ی غرب. دو تا دلیل داشت. دلیل مهم ترش، این بود که احساس میکردم از جوان های هم سنم عقبم. احساس میکردم حرف هایی که باید بفهمم رو نمی فهمم. احساس میکردم مثل بعضی از علمای فلسفه ی اسلامی، چون حرف فلاسفه ی غرب رو نمی فهمم فقط بلدم روی هوا نفی اش کنم.
این بود که این کتاب ها رو (به ترتیب) خوندم:
سیر حکمت در اروپا
نقد تفکر فلسفی غرب ؛ از قرون وسطی تا اوایل قرن حاضر
داستان فلسفه
تاريخ فلسفه غرب
تاریخ فلسفه
فلاسفه ی بزرگ
و چند تا کتاب ریز میز دیگه. اخیراً هم که شروع کردم به خوندن تاریخ فلسفه کاپلستون کردم که با پست از اصفهان خریدم و شرح لذت باز کردن بسته ی پستی رو قبلاً دادم و دیگه حدیث مکرر نمی کنم. (:

خلاصه، امسال سال خوبی بود، در عین این که سال بدی بود. راجع به جنبه های بدش چیزی نگفتم. ولی خب دیگه عادت کردم که گل بی خار نیست. دارم یاد می گیرم که هر دو رو با هم ببینم.

[Aj the Ravenous Reader]

My last review for 2015. Woo-hoo!



Goodreads 2015 will always be memorable to me. A lot of my reading-related firsts happened this year.

* My first ever one star read! Luckiest Girl Alive
* My first (and hopefully my last) bashing (to the snow) experience as a consequence of above.
* My first time reading Harry Potter and Philosopher's Stone! (I know! I know! I promise to read the rest of the books come 2016).
* My first ever dnf! by Penny Reid
* My first completion of a New Adult series. First Comes Love series

But more than the firsts, GR 2015 is even more memorable to me because of the wonderful friends and people from all over the world whom I've met and constantly communicate with. My social life (which is 70% Goodreads, pathetic I know! lol!) has become so much more interesting and worthwhile because of you guys. I was inspired to beat my reading challenge to pulp (150 out of 101) and to write a review for each and every single one of them because of you.

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of my awesome GR 2015 and I hope for you to remain a part of my 2016 and me of yours! A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR TO ALL GOODREADERS! <3 <3 <3

[Val ⚓️ Shameless Handmaiden ⚓️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

***Links Added - Full Shenanigans Now Posted***

Another Year, Another Seemingly Insurmountable Goal.

Let's take a look at 2015, shall we?

The basics...

Total Books: 198
Total Pages: 49,057

5 star: 34
4 star: 69
3 star: 63
2 star: 22
1 star: 6
Unrated: 4

Average Rating for 2015: 3.5 Stars



I would have expected my amount of 1/2 ratings to be higher...

But apparently I was nicer than I thought this year...I will work on that for next year.



But anywho.

Top Reads of the Year:

*Meaning I read them this year, not that they necessarily came OUT this year, so step off Book Police

Not even gonna lie though, pretty much AL of my 5 star reads this year?

Were re-reads from previous years. So I will only count the ones from THIS year.

1) The ENTIRE Calloway Sisters Series



Holy FUCK. This series made my year.

My reviews:
Book #1: Kiss the Sky
Book #2: Hothouse Flower
Book #3: Fuel the Fire
Book #4: Long Way Down

2) The Twist Me Series



Because nothing revs my engine more than some captivity/Stockholm Syndrome lovin', can I get an "Amen?"



My reviews:
Book #1: Twist Me
Book #2: Keep Me
Book #3: Hold Me

3) My FOOTBALLER BOYS - The Game Plan, Sacked, and The Hooker & The Hermit



My Reviews:
The Game Plan
Sacked
The Hooker & The Hermit

The Game Plan, because ETHAN FUCKING DEXTER.

Sacked because, well...4 Stars for the story...1 Star for a lead Athlete Hero who does NOT dip his wick in every moist hole available.

And Hooker because HILARIOUSLY SEXY.

Most Refreshing Finds of the Year:

1) The Chronicles of Ylandre Series



Because HERMAPHRODITIC characters.

'Nuff said.

My Reviews:
Book #1: Sacred Fate
Book #2: Hallowed Bound
Book #3: By Chance Met
Book #4: Heartstrings
Book #5: Cross Purposes
Book #6: In Fine Form

Biggest Disappointments of the Year:

Whelp this entire category belongs to THIS fucking TRAIN WRECK.

You know who you are *cough* - Wild & Free - *cough* *cough* and I will NEVER get over you.



Here's to more awesome reads in 2016!

[Canadian Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

UPDATE***ADDING MY LATEST READ I FINISHED LAST NIGHT***

I’m going to give this a try as well. I have read so many great books in 2015 that the bar will be set high for 2016.

I’ve been introduced to so many new authors and genres that its made me rethink my typical go-to type books. This is growth.

Here I go with my narrowed down list:

FAVOURITE STAY WITH ME FICTION
A Little Life
Circling the Sun
Euphoria
The Invisible Bridge
Ordinary Grace
CODE NAME VERITY (GR not letting me add the link?!)

NOTABLE FICTION
Fates and Furies
The House of the Spirits
House of the Rising Sun: A Novel
Fourth of July Creek
My Notorious Life
To Be Sung Underwater
The Homecoming of Samuel Lake
Ruby
What She Left Behind

FAVOURITE THRILLER
I Am Pilgrim
The Kind Worth Killing
Room

FAVOURITE NON-FICTION
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget

FAVOURITE COMEDY
This is Where I Leave You

SURPRISINGLY GOOD
Church of Marvels
Bird Box

Also a few read that I wouldn’t look back on, but glad I read them.

Thanks to GR and my GR friends who’ve expanded my reading world; and my netflix one and of course, my wine lists.

I think GR should have a reading convention. If Star Wars can, why can't we??? It would be neat to meet up with all my GR friends.

Cheers and Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!! To 2016 and the Ever Growing Reading Lists! May our TBR lists never shrink too much :)

[Manny · Rating 4 out of 5]

2015 wasn't a very good reading year (too much software development), but I did finally manage to achieve one of my long-term goals and do something about improving my German. It's still pretty basic, but I've now reached the point of being able to appreciate books for younger teens. Hopefully I'll progress to grown-up literature during 2016! But even at the level I'm at now, I found things to read which were worth all the trouble. Krabat , Das doppelte Lottchen and Momo were all fantastic novels that I'd barely even heard of before, and I discovered to my delight that Swedish children's books are nearly as good in German; I particularly loved Madita and Karlsson vom Dach . A huge thank you to all my German Goodreads friends, particularly Matt, for being so kind and patient about explaining things to someone who a few months ago was still thinking of their language as an odd dialect of Swedish!

Nonfiction highlights of the year included Auguste Dicke's beautiful and moving little biography of Emmy Noether, which contrasted well with Anders Heger's biography of Agnar Mykle; Noether is one of the most inspiring people I've ever come across and Mykle one of the most despicable, but both books are equally terrific in their own way. I read Mykle's novels Lasso rundt fru Luna and Sangen om den røde rubin as background, as well as Neuenschwander's rather fine book on Noether's Theorem. Merchants of Doubt and Autonomous Military Robotics are terrifying books about climate change and killer robots that I've been recommending to everyone. Einstein's Dreams and Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion were as excellent as I'd been told. I struggled through Woit's Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations but didn't feel I'd really understood it. Sigh.

If you still haven't got round to reading Houellebecq's Soumission , it's a lot of fun. And, last but definitely not least, Pettersson's Ut og stjæle hester is an extraordinary novel which somehow hasn't had time to become famous yet. Trust me, it will.

Statistics

87 books, 18814 pages

Non-fiction: 27
By women: 21

English: 39
German: 20
French: 20
Norwegian: 5
Spanish: 2
Swedish: 1

[Violet wells]

I started the year with some blockbusters. The Bone Clocks was a disappointment though mainly due to my very high expectations. The Booker prize winner The Narrow Road to the Deep North was another disappointment – in common with almost all Booker Prize winners it was too long (When will a novel of 300 pages win the prize?). Most disappointing book I’ve read this year though has to be Purity.

Favourite book I’ve read this year has to be All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. For all its lyrical prose and big ideas it was a real page turner.

The book I most struggled with was The Famished Road by Ben Okri, another Booker prize winner.

Most overrated – The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah by a country mile.

I just don't get what all the fuss is about - Margaret Atwood - read two of her novels this year and felt no love for either of them. Sorry fans of hers.

Favourite characters – Werner – All the Light We Cannot See; Freddie, Isabella and Oskar – The Way Back to Florence; Teddy and the gloriously despicable Viola – A God in Ruins; Elena and Lila – My Brilliant Friend.

This was the year I learned a lot about the more recent history of the city in which I live. Living in Florence it’s easy to believe nothing of much consequence has happened here since the Renaissance. However, walking the streets, you often come across plaques commemorating individuals slain during WW2, the most poignant perhaps are the ones in Piazza Santa Maria Novella marking the building where the Jews were kept before being deported to Auschwitz and the one in Piazza Tasso that mentions the slaying of a five year old boy. The novel I have to thank for providing me with such a moving account of life in Florence during the war was The Way Back to Florence by Glenn Haybittle – a novel which carries its extensive research with fleet footed agility. There are some real life characters in this novel, like Mario Carita, the head of the secret police and as nasty an individual as you’re likely to come across - Villa Triste, the house of torture, still stands in Florence and, incredibly, is now home to many migrant families. The novel dramatises real events too, like the destruction of Florence’s bridges, the internment camps for the Jews and the partisan battles in the Tuscan hills. Elyse wrote a great review of it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This led me to become more interested in what happened in Italy as a whole during the war and I’ve since read a number of books, both fictional and non-fictional, on the subject. My list can be found here - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...

Favourite ten books of the year
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Trieste by Daša Drndić
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
The Way Back to Florence by Glenn Haybittle
A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
How to Be Both by Ali Smith
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
Artemisia by Anna Banti
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
Favourite non fiction
Benevolence and Betrayal: Five Italian Jewish Families Under Fascism by Alexander Stille

Massive thanks to many of my GR friends who have provided inspiration, sustenance and fabulous recommendations throughout the year. I read somewhere a writer who was contemptuous that the internet had made literary critics of everyone. However, I find the reviews here on GR much more truthful and trustworthy than the nepotism that often passes as literary criticism in the publishing world where, it seems to me, no one will ever give a bad review for fear of a later revenge review.