Hi!
I hope this isn't too long, but I wanted to fit everything in one big post - except my "Books I Read in December" post, that'll come in January because it's still December, and, well....I'm still reading. So that's on the way! So far I'm on my 151st book of the year.
I've broken this down into sections, and I'll try my best not to waffle! I'm not going into individual reviews here, if you go to my Books 2015 page you'll see a clickable book cover for every book I've read in 2015, that will take you to my Goodreads review for that book.
The Rick O'Shea Book Club
This is a Facebook based book club, you can request to join here. It's a lovely group for book lovers, there's no snobbery or fighting, everyone respects the reading choices of others. Started by 2fm DJ Rick O'Shea, the book club is now going into its 18th month, with 32 books chosen so far. Of the 25 chosen in 2015, I read 18 (I had already read Only Ever Yours and attempted The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August in 2014). I finished all 18 except The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat by Oliver Sacks. I have most or all of the other choices bought, so I'm looking forward to reading them in 2016.
Out of all the Book Club choices, I think Burial Rites by Hannah Kent was definitely my favourite. It was atmospheric, it was sad, it was beautiful, and it stayed with me. Surprisingly, The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick pops into my head every so often too, and it's something I would never have read of my own accord.
The Richard and Judy Book Club
This was less successful for me - out of 24 books, I bought almost all of them but only read 6. It souns much more impressive if I say I read a quarter of all the books chosen, doesn't it? Here are the ones I read:
I Let You Go was by far the best thriller I read in 2015. It was just fantastic, I haven't gasped out loud at a book in a very long time but this one made me do so several times. Fantastic.
The Popsugar Reading Challenge
I did it!! I completed the challenge on December 28th by reading a Graphic Novel. Here are the books I read for it. The prompts for the Popsugar Reading Challenge 2016 have been released, you can find the list here.
A BOOK WITH MORE THAN 500 PAGES: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling
A CLASSIC ROMANCE: The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks (yes it is a classic. IT IS.)
A BOOK THAT BECAME A MOVIE: Horns by Joe Hill
A BOOK PUBLISHED THIS YEAR: I Was Here by Gayle Forman
A BOOK WITH A NUMBER IN THE TITLE: The Number 8 by Joel Arcanjo
A BOOK WRITTEN BY SOMEONE UNDER 30: Popular by Maya Von Wagonen
A BOOK WITH NON-HUMAN CHARACTERS: 172 Hours on the Moon by Johann Harstad
A FUNNY BOOK: Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris
A BOOK BY A FEMALE AUTHOR: Spill, Simmer, Falter, Wither by Sara Baume
A MYSTERY OR THRILLER: The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood
A BOOK WITH A ONE-WORD TITLE: Room by Emma Donoghue
A BOOK OF SHORT STORIES: Ghost Stories by M.R. James
A BOOK SET IN A DIFFERENT COUNTRY: I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
A NON-FICTION BOOK: Pretty Honest by Sali Hughes
A POPULAR AUTHOR'S FIRST BOOK: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling
A BOOK FROM AN AUTHOR YOU LOVE BUT HAVEN'T READ YET: Revival by Stephen King
A BOOK A FRIEND RECOMMENDED: So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson
A PULITZER-PRIZE WINNING BOOK: Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
A BOOK BASED ON A TRUE STORY: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
A BOOK AT THE BOTTOM OF YOUR TBR LIST: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
A BOOK YOUR MUM LOVES: The Secret Island by Enid Blyton
A BOOK THAT SCARED YOU: The Book of You by Claire Kendal
A BOOK MORE THAN 100 YEARS OLD: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
A BOOK BASED ENTIRELY ON ITS COVER: The Child Garden by Catriona McPherson
A BOOK YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO READ AT SCHOOL BUT DIDN'T: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
A MEMOIR: My Life and Other Unfinished Business by Dolly Parton
A BOOK YOU CAN FINISH IN A DAY: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
A BOOK WITH ANTONYMS IN THE TITLE: Together Apart by Natalie Martin
A BOOK SET SOMEWHERE YOU'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO VISIT: One Wish in Manhattan by Mandy Baggot
A BOOK THAT CAME OUT THE YEAR YOU WERE BORN: Sweet Valley High #01: Double Love by Francine Pascal
A BOOK WITH BAD REVIEWS: Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine
A BOOK FROM YOUR CHILDHOOD: Under the Hawthorn Tree by Marita Conlon McKenna
A TRILOGY: Wool, Shift and Dust by Hugh Howey
A BOOK WITH A LOVE TRIANGLE: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
A BOOK SET IN THE FUTURE: Date With a Rockstar by Sarah Gagnon
A BOOK SET IN HIGH SCHOOL: The DUFF by Kody Keplinger
A BOOK WITH A COLOUR IN THE TITLE: Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton
A BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY: A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride
A BOOK WITH MAGIC: Half Bad by Sally Green
A GRAPHIC NOVEL: Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann & Kerascoet
A BOOK BY AN AUTHOR YOU'VE NEVER READ BEFORE: Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver
A BOOK YOU OWN BUT HAVE NEVER READ: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A BOOK THAT TAKES PLACE IN YOUR HOMETOWN: Solace by Belinda McKeon
A BOOK ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE: The Guest Cat by Takeshi Hiraide
A BOOK SET DURING CHRISTMAS: Bella's Christmas Bake-Off by Sue Watson
A BOOK WRITTEN BY AN AUTHOR WITH YOUR INITIALS: The Lake by Sheena Lambert
A BANNED BOOK: Dubliners by James Joyce
A PLAY: Doubt: A Parable by John Patrick Shanley
A BOOK BASED ON OR TURNED INTO A TV SHOW: The Wayward Pines Trilogy by Blake Crouch
A BOOK YOU STARTED BUT NEVER FINISHED: Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (started years ago, finally finished in October)
My Favourite Reads of 2015
These are my ten favourite reads of the year - some have been published for a very, very long time but I've only read them for the first time this year. In no particular order:
My Least Favourite Reads of 2015
For one reason or another, these books left me either angry at the time I had wasted or annoyed at falling for hype. Again, in no particular order:
"I Wish I Had All That Free Time"
This really riles me up something shocking and I've lost time of the amount of times I've heard it this year. I DON'T have an abnormal amount of "free" time. I see people talking about binge-watching series all the time and they never, ever get asked "but where do you find the time to watch 12 episodes in three days?" I read so much because I have been an avid reader since I was four or five years old and I love books. Reading time isn't "free time", it's not like I read because I have nothing else to do, I build it in to my day the way other people make time for the gym. Granted, it's not doing anything to help the size of my arse, but it's time well spent all the same.
I have the same 24 hours a day as anyone else, I have a house to look after, and three kids, and a husband, and a blog, and social media, and other hobbies, and cooking, and walking, and cross stitch, and makeup and Netflix - I read so much because it's something I need to do. I'd go mad if I didn't read every day. I'm up early, I read when the kids are playing, I read quickly, I read in the morning, I read at night, I don't watch very much TV, I record stuff I want to watch and then either binge it or delete it. I don't follow soaps. I love Netflix, but again it's very much a binge situation - I don't watch TV every day. I can do a book a day or every 2 days - always have done, hopefully always will do.
So please, PLEASE don't ask where I find the time, or tell me you wish you had all that time - I would find it alien to watch 2 hours of telly of an evening, others would find it alien to read for 2 hours. It's the same 2 hours! I'm a huge believer in doing what makes you happy, and just because you may have other responsibilities doesn't mean you should lose a part of yourself. Books are a part of me, so even if I had ten kids and four houses and eleven blogs, I'd still make time to read.
I have the same 24 hours a day as anyone else, I have a house to look after, and three kids, and a husband, and a blog, and social media, and other hobbies, and cooking, and walking, and cross stitch, and makeup and Netflix - I read so much because it's something I need to do. I'd go mad if I didn't read every day. I'm up early, I read when the kids are playing, I read quickly, I read in the morning, I read at night, I don't watch very much TV, I record stuff I want to watch and then either binge it or delete it. I don't follow soaps. I love Netflix, but again it's very much a binge situation - I don't watch TV every day. I can do a book a day or every 2 days - always have done, hopefully always will do.
So please, PLEASE don't ask where I find the time, or tell me you wish you had all that time - I would find it alien to watch 2 hours of telly of an evening, others would find it alien to read for 2 hours. It's the same 2 hours! I'm a huge believer in doing what makes you happy, and just because you may have other responsibilities doesn't mean you should lose a part of yourself. Books are a part of me, so even if I had ten kids and four houses and eleven blogs, I'd still make time to read.
So what does a year in reading look like? Glorious!!
See you in January for the "Books I Read in December" roundup!
2016 Goals
I'd love if everyone reading this would try and read 5 books in 2016. There are so many amazing Irish authors out there waiting to be discovered - this year I found Belinda McKeon, Sara Baume, Lisa McInerney, and was reacquainted with Donal Ryan and Louise O'Neill. I want to finish the Harry Potter series in 2016, and I'd love to try for 150 books again - if it doesn't happen, so be it. I want to use the library more, because I've spent too much on Amazon. I want to make books a bigger part of the blog, maybe a twice-monthly thing instead of a monthly thing, or a spotlight post every weekend about a book I'm enjoying or a book I recommend. I want to clear my Netgalley shelf and stop requesting stuff until I've all my current ARCs read, and I want to read more book blogs.See you in January for the "Books I Read in December" roundup!
