I know it's almost February, but I still wanted to do the obligatory year-end wrap up ... and what better way than with Jamie at Perpetual Page Turner's year-end bookish survey?
Who knows, maybe I'll start a new trend. Year of end in end January!
2015 Reading Stats
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| Nifty little thingy that Goodreads generates! Check out my Goodreads 2015 Reading Challenge HERE. |
Number Of Books You Read: 39 (I planned just 25 for the year, so boo-yah!)
Number of Re-Reads: A few .. I can't be bothered to count.
Genre You Read The Most From: Fiction
Best in Books
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| What an unfortunate cover! I disliked this cover with a vengeance that I read it sans book jacket. |
I can't choose one so here are my "bests" for the year.
Fiction:
- The Incarnations by Susan Barker
- A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
- Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg
- The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
- The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Short stories:
- Lucky Alan and Other Stories by Jonathan Lethem (short stories)
- Sea Lovers and Other Stories by Valerie Martin
2. Book You Were Excited About and Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. Pales in comparison to LOTR.
3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?
One Plus One by Jojo Moyes. I was expecting fluffy chick lit. Nope.
4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I was really affected by this read and for that reason I wanted to others to experience it too! This also polarized readers - some hated it, others declare it's the next best thing sliced bread.
5. Best series you started in 2015? Best Sequel of 2015? Best Series Ender of 2015?
N/A. You all know A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin was a fail for me. I stopped at book 2.
6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2015?
Jojo Moyes and Jonathan Lethem. I really want to read more of their work!
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| Love the cover of The Incarnations because of the detail. You need to look at it closely to fully appreciate it. |
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (again). I knew this was a gritty read. It's so worth it.
8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (yet again). Not exactly action packed but it just sucked me in.
9. Book You Read In 2015 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?
Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto. I reread it in 2015 but didn't review it.
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015?
The Incarnations by Susan Barker. I mean, look at it. And Sea Lovers and Other Stories by Valerie Martin - graphic, embossed, beautiful.
11. Most memorable character of 2015?
Lydia in Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg. Vulnerable, hurt, and just had lots of plain bad luck. But she breaks my heart. Read my review to find out why.
12. Most beautifully written book read in 2015?
It's a toss-up between The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery and The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka.
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| Lydia just about broke my heart in this book about grief and loss. |
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. I'm not being melodramatic. My delicates drawer (oh, AND my socks drawer) is a thing of beauty.
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2015 to finally read?
The Bones of Paris by Laurie R. King. I won the ARC in a giveaway several years ago! Another is The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy which I bought at a fundraiser a few years ago ... and collected dust until 2015.
15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2015?
Tough one. I have some quotes I picked out that I used in my FREE printable bookmarks from some of my fave authors. Go download them here and here.
16. Shortest and Longest Book You Read In 2015?
Check out the graphic at top! According to Goodreads:
- The shortest at 22 pages: The Secret Garden (BabyLit) by Jennifer Adams
- The longest at 835 pages (!!!!): A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
17. Book That Shocked You The Most (Because of a plot twist, character death, left you hanging with your mouth wide open, etc.)
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy which confused me in the beginning but oh man oh man oh man, with an arch so well done I sighed and reread the entire thing.
18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!) (OTP = one true pairing if you aren’t familiar)
I have no idea what this means. Someone enlighten me.
Alex and Jonathan Safran Foer in Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. What an amazing friendship.
20. Favorite Book You Read in 2015 From An Author You’ve Read Previously
Find Momo Coast to Coast by Andrew Knapp.
21. Best Book You Read In 2015 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure.
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin and book two A Clash of Kings. Hype. Of course this could have very well. It just didn't for me. I can't bear to read the remaining books in this series.
22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2015?
I don't usually have fictional crushes. Hmmm ... the centaur in Sea Lovers and Other Stories by Valerie Martin (it's the very last short story!
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| The cover is to die for. |
The Thing About Great White Sharks and Other Stories by Rebecca Adams Wright
24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?
Hard-pressed to give one.
25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?
One Plus One by Jojo Moyes. This is just a feel-good book!
26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2015?
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. Gawd, this book is just sad through and through.
27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I got this book at a fundraiser, highly recommended. If I'd seen just the cover and read the blurb, I doubt I would've picked this up on my own. It's my first read of this author and I know she has more amazing books!
28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?
Room by Emma Donoghue. Oh dear Jack.
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| Even the cover is unique! |
The Festival of Insignificance by Milan Kundera. When you start waxing poetic about women's navels and can hook me in 115 pages, there must be something to the book!
30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?
Making Your Mind Up by Jill Mansell because it was so. so. bad. I didn't even bother to write a review. I was mad at myself for not throwing it down, DNFing it, and just moving on.
Your Blogging / Bookish Life
1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2015?The Fictional 100, discovered because Lucy and I co-hosted the Travel the World in Books Readathon! You gotta go check out her amazing blog!
2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2015?
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo because I was inspired! I even looked up videos and that little (ok, big) diversion was even more fun!
3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog?
A mini challenge for the Fall Bloggiesta: How I Achieved Inbox Zero, and You Can Too! was highly visited and I loved the comments because everyone was pumped at seeing results of the challenge.
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| Apply the principles in all aspects of your life - I believe it works. |
4. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?
I loved being part of Travel the World in Books! I've always loved reading diversely and joined the event as a participant in 2014. I was invited to co-host 2015's readathon and I loved every minute of it!
5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2015?
When I decided to scale down. I said no to a lot of tours and books offered up for review. Seriously the best decision for this blog and my blogging ever.
6. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?
Resisting the urge to keep requesting books or saying yes to offers. I still struggle with it. But I need to bring the "guiltless" back to my reading!
7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?
*Shrug* not quite sure how to sort this out on Blogger.
8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?
The Summer Solstice and Other Stories by Nick Joaquin. I know this is probably an obscure book which is why I wrote about it.
9. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?
A specific thrift store in my area which got a HUGE bunch of vintage books. God help me.
10. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?
Sure did. Six reading challenges and more. Read up here.
Looking Ahead
1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2015 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2016?Harafish by Naguib Mahfouz. I finished it already! Review coming!
2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2016 (non-debut)?
Nothing I'm anticipating. I have so many great books to choose from!
3. 2016 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?
I don't have any. I'll have to go through Goodreads.
4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2016?
I don't have any... at the moment!
Simplify. Get guiltless with my reading.
6. A 2016 Release You’ve Already Read and Recommend To Everyone.
NA
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Is it over? Definitely not. Going to work on 2016 now :)
Like if there's two characters in a book you're reading you wish would enter a relationship or think would be great together (for example...hmm, trying to think of two characters I wanted to be in a relationship but didn't end up together but nothing's coming to mind at the moment) or a couple that end up in a relationship that you support or was rooting for from start to finish (like Elizabeth Bennet & Mr. Darcy)...I don't know if my explanation makes sense, lol :3 So sorry if this explanation confused you even more!
ReplyDeleteOk I think I get it. Such a hard question though ... this may probably be more appropriate for YA lit where there always seems to be some sort of relationship in the works. Thanks for explaining ;)
ReplyDelete