I read 100 books in 2015. I didn’t plan it. I was originally aiming for 60 books, a few more than I read in 2014. Imagine my surprise when I had reached 50+ by June. I in no way claim that every book I read was quality; many, the majority, were far from it. I think that reading is its own reward, though this is a sentiment I did not have in college (oh callow youth!). Reading is important and no matter what it is, READ!
Here are a few of my favorites from what I read in 2015:
- Fates and Furies
- Neurotribes
- The Girl on the Train
- This is Where I Leave You
- Cooked
- The Creation of Anne Boleyn
- The Life and Death of Sophie Stark
- The Wars of the Roses (really anything by Dan Jones – student of Starkey, SRB!)
- On Immunity
- Still Alice
Seriously, too many books to list them all. You can check out my Goodreads list. I read anything: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/778179-keanne?page=1&shelf=read-2015
I did want to share a bit of the great writing I read in 2015. Even books I didn’t love had great writing.
From Cooked:
If we address frankly what is evoked by cheese, I think it becomes clear why so little is said. So what does cheese evoke? Damp, dark cellars, molds, mildews and mushrooms galore, dirty laundry and high school locker rooms, digestive processes and visceral fermentations, he-goats, which do not remind of Chanel…in sum, cheese reminds of dubious, even unsavory places both in our nature and in our own organisms. And yet we love it.
From The Department of Speculation:
He won’t just think about how unbearable it is that things keep breaking, that you can never fucking outrun entropy.
And
For fifteen, maybe twenty minutes, she’d suspend her fierce judgment of the world and fall silent there
From Fates and Furies:
By the time she came back, the boy had calmed. Sweat curled the hair at his temples. She put on the overhead porch fan and set the tray down on the little table, taking a lemon bar for herself. She’d survived on wine and sugar for months because, fuck it, she never really got a childhood, and what was grief but an extended tantrum to be salved by sex and candy?
I know there was more, but I cannot find it! Gah!
Will I read 100 books in 2016? Doubtful. I read what interests me, be it historical fiction or pulp fiction. We shall see!
What are your reading goals for 2016?
Family Building With a Twist 
I hit 70 all told in 2015, but my “books I admit I read in front of my faith community” goal for this year is down to 35 this year from the 40 I nearly hit last year. My goal is to read more physical books rather than digital ones so the girls are clear what I’m up to. Now if I can stop Little Monster from thieving bookmarks…
I am so impressed that you read 100 books in 2015… I think I read 3! Ha! Seriously.. and that makes me want to cry a bit. At least I’m on book number 2 for 2016 so I am off to a better start and am going to try to find time before bed to read instead of interneting… like right now! 😉 Great to hear what some of your favourites were!!
100! wow, that’s awesome. I haven’t heard of most of the ones you listed, so thanks for new suggestions!
My goal this year is 60. I’m already behind by 3 (Goodreads estimated for me), but I’ve enjoyed the ones I’ve read so far; I don’t plan on beating myself up about it. Something tells me I’ll hit my stride come summer.