I almost wanted to put off posting this list until even later than December 27 because devouring books does not stop for the year’s most consuming holidays! That is what I tell myself. Maybe it is really because when the list is posted then I no longer have the 2015 Reading Challenge to shape my ‘what to read next?’ and I am not feeling like structuring myself.
Being between books is a lonely and desolate place.
I am going to post the first half of the list in this post and then the rest in a second post of what ended up in what category this year for good. Perhaps somewhere there can be a best books I read in 2015, just to make the year complete.
As of December 23 Goodreads says I have read 71 books. My goal was 50 books.
21,633 pages.
So here it is, my 2015 Reading Challenge, Part 1:
More than 500 pages: Outlander, Diana Gabaldon
A classic romance: The Princess Bride, William Goldman (for all my supposed dislike of romance I had read most of the possible choices)
A book that became a movie: The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
A book published this year: Trouble is a Friend of Mine, Stephanie Tromly
A book written by someone under 30: Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (yeah it took me until I was 33 to read it)
A book with nonhuman characters: Hidden Wings, Cameo Renae
A funny book: The Importance of being Earnest, Oscar Wilde (I should have read a David Sedaris…and I will, next year!)
A book by a female author: Agnes Grey, Anne Bronte
A mystery or thriller: The Magician’s Lie, Greer MacAllister
A one word title: Jackaby, William Ritter
A book of short stories: The Shell Collector, Anthony Doerr
A book set in a different country: Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys
A nonfiction book: Hallucinations, Oliver Sacks (rest in peace!)
A popular author’s first book: Carrie, Stephen King
A book by an author you love that you have not read yet: The King’s Curse, Philippa Gregory
A book a friend recommended: The Martian, Andy Weir
A book based on a true story: The Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown
A book your mom loves: The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
A book that scares you: The Bell Witch, FD Taff (should have been Within these Walls by Ania Ahlborn. I am sure that would be scarier)
A book more than 100 years old: The Mysteries of Udolpho, Ann Ward Radcliffe
A book based entirely on its cover: Medium Dead, Paula Paul
A book you were supposed to read in high school but didn’t: The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
A book with a color in the title: The Color Purple, Alice Walker
A memoir: The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls
A book you can finish in a day: Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
A book with antonyms in the title: North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell
A book in a place you have always wanted to visit: Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jules Verne
Part 2 is forthcoming! The choices of these books were the result of a long and delicate process of trolling the internet combined with what I felt like reading, what I saw were gaps in my reading, what I already had/on sale. You know, complicated scientific formulae. Plus Pinterest.
I always welcome comments!!
