Thursday 14 January 2016

A Year in Books 2015

It's time to look back in awe at the best reading I did in 2015. Well, it's actually getting a little late for it, I know most everyone else has done their list, but I do enjoy this retrospection, and will enjoy looking back on it years from now too.

As usual I'm relying on the books I gave 5 stars to on Goodreads this year. I read 118 books in 2015. A fair effort but well short of the somewhat random 200 I set myself as a goal.


Withering-by-Sea. An exciting Victorian tale of mystery and adventure.



I am Juliet. Always good to have a Jackie French on my end of year list. 



See Ya, Simon. Powerful Kiwi storytelling. 



Redwall. It really surprised me that I liked this book so much. It still does. 



The Man Who Loved Boxes. A beautiful picture book about the father son bond. 



Brock. An extraordinarily powerful book about badgers and many other things. 




Pardon My French. A fabulous little book that taught me so much


Sister Madge's Book of Nuns. Doug MacLeod is hilarious. 


Protected. Claire Zorn is going from strength to strength. 



Mister Monday. I finally got to read, well listen to, Garth Nix, and he's brilliant. 



The Impossible Knife of Memory. More Laurie Halse Anderson brilliance. 



Fattypuffs and Thinifers. Perfect French Quirkiness. 



The Running Man. My book of the year. 



Risk. A great page turning YA cautionary tale. 



Thelma the Unicorn. Picture book perfection from Aaron Blabey. 



Ash Road. An Australian classic, still fresh today. 



The Witches. Roald Dahl, the master.



The Girl on the Train. It's so nice to get caught up in a thriller from time to time.



The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Totally lives up to the hype. 



The Lucy Family Alphabet. Is it possible that I love Judith just that little bit more now?



Coco Chanel. A fabulous illustrated biography of fashion's most famous designer. 



The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. A fabulous near Dickensian story with added wolves. 



22 out of the 118 books earnt themselves 5 stars. That's a pretty good hit rate.

12 Aussie Books

3 Picture Books

3 Nonfiction/Memoir

2 Paris Books

3 Audio Books

6 1001 Books

9 Female Authors

13 Male Authors

14 New to Me Authors

I hope 2016 is another great reading year. No reason to think it won't be...

2 comments:

Lisa Hill, ANZ LitLovers said...

Oh, I did enjoy scrolling down and seeing some of my favourite books here! When I had Years 5 & 6, I always used to read them Ash Road, such a brilliant book and as you say, still relevant today. I also used to read them Fattypuffs and Thinifers when I was doing an oh-so-serious unit of work about Government. They loved it.
(Well, they loved being read to. I wonder who reads to kids in school these days? Not to study the book in English class, just as a story, for the fun or excitement of it).
The Man Who Loved Boxes is just beautiful:)
And yes, Sister Madge. Nuns are not so prevalent these days but it can still raise a laugh.

Louise said...

I'm glad you enjoyed it Lisa, it's always an interesting list to compile. How lucky your kids were to have you reading them such great books. Master Wicker was lucky and had teachers reading to him all the way up to Year 6.