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makeoitoso · 9 years

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My Favorite Books of 2015

This year was a doozy. Through the website Goodreads, I undertook a challenge to read 75 books from January 1st, 2015 - December 31st, 2015. By October 2nd, I had finished my goal of 75 books and by the end of 2015 had read 88 books! By comparison, I read 49 books in 2014. This year is among the most literary years I’ve ever had.

Goodreads allowed me to track the types of books I was reading as well and about 25% of the total books I read for this year were general adult fiction. An additional 20% were nonfiction and 20% graphic novels or comics.

Some of my other read genres include fantasy, children’s (usually fiction), memoir, science fiction, and horror.

I think next year I might lower my goal a little so that I can be more particular about the books that I read. Picking up a book to meet a quota is not really my idea of the right reason to pick up a book. I thoroughly enjoyed this challenge, however, and I am excited to see where 2016′s book adventure takes me!

So here’s my list of the Top Books I read this year, in no particular order. Enjoy!

Seveneves - Neal Stephenson (Science-Fiction)

Seveneves is a doorstopper. But don’t let that stop you from picking it up. Though it was the longest book I read this year at over 800 pages, I read it rather quickly because of the suspense and pacing of the narrative. Neal Stephenson is one of the foremost adult Science-Fiction writers of our time as the creator of seminal SF works Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon, and Seveneves does not disappoint. The ambitious narrative spans 5,000 years from a time near our own to 5,000 years in the future. Stephenson has obviously done intensive research on the practicalities of life in spacecraft and technical research on robotic equipment and spacecraft invention, propulsion, and maintenance, and still manages to create distinctive, heroic, and fallible characters that the reader becomes invested in. Stephenson imagines a world where humanity faces its single greatest obstacle to date, and somehow emerges on the other side, changed but still recognizably human, flaws and all. Seveneves is simultaneously terrifying and inspiring, and if you’re anything like me it will keep you up late at night, flying through huge sections of this massive tome.

Wonder (featuring The Julian Chapter)- R.J. Palacio (Children’s Fiction)

This book is amazing. It is considered children’s fiction, but it is a good read for adults as well. The main character of the narrative, Auggie, was born with a facial abnormality. This has caused him to be home-schooled for much of his childhood, but as he gets older, Auggie finally decides to try to enter school with other children. This inevitably leads to bullying and truly tests the character of not only Auggie, but also the other children in the story and the parents and siblings involved. While Auggie’s situation may not be exactly what most children experience, Palacio manages to universalize his feelings and struggles so that it feels so familiar to many readers who remember those challenging grade school days. If you read this book, READ THE EDITION WITH THE JULIAN CHAPTER INCLUDED! (or, even better, pick up Auggie & Me, a collection of 3 short stories including the Julian Chapter.) I cannot stress this enough. Wonder is a complete book but is so much more enhanced with the addition of this extra content from Palacio. This little bit of extra content includes a backstory of the main antagonist and gives the book a lot more dimension. Wonder is a book that helps you feel a little bit more at home in your own skin, and simultaneously reminds you that we are all human and have our imperfections.

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline (Science-Fiction)

I read this one as an audiobook which was narrated by Wil Wheaton. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Wheaton’s narration, considering Wesley Crusher is my least favorite Star Trek TNG character. Wheaton, however, was the PERFECT choice to narrate this book by Cline that honors nerd culture. It is part The Matrix (or Snow Crash), part Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, part any John Hughes film from the 80s, and all reference to traditionally nerdy games, movies, television, characters, and music. Despite including so much information on each of these niches, Cline somehow still created an engaging plot that had me wishing Wheaton would talk faster so I could get to the next scene. There’s a love story, robots, harrowing escapes, and epic boss battles. It was a “disc-changer” AKA a “page-turner.” I also read Cline’s Armada, and while I enjoyed Ready Player One more, Armada was a nice follow-up novel. Nerds unite!

Hand To Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America - Linda Tirado (Non-fiction)

Tirado’s book pissed me off. I read this as an audiobook and Tirado herself narrates it. Listening to Tirado get upset all over again while reading her book inflames my own rage at living as working poor for a good portion of my adult life. Tirado describes her experiences navigating the maze of bureaucracy, her terrible jobs and worse bosses, and all of the sacrifices she and her husband have had to make over the years just to approximate a life together. She describes what the rich do not want to believe: you can work--hard, and still be poor. Tirado’s rage describes what we should all be feeling knowing that the “American Dream” is still touted as a possibility but is unattainable for those living below the poverty line.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl: An Account in Words and Pictures - Phoebe Gloeckner (Graphic novel)

This book is intense. So many of these tales of life growing up as a teenage girl rang true for me. The main character, Minnie, who is based on Gloeckner herself, navigates a world that refuses to protect young women. Minnie, only fifteen years old, ends up having an affair with her mom’s boyfriend, who is thirty-five. The older man and supposed “family-friend” takes Minnie’s virginity and further complicates an already confusing period in a young person’s life. Minnie has no relationship with her father, her mother is an alcoholic and drug addict, she has very little or no self-esteem, and finds that the only way to maintain people’s attention is to sleep with them. This book is told as a series of diary entries spanning the course of a year in a teenage girl’s life and is interspersed with some absolutely striking illustrations by Gloeckner. While perhaps not a traditional coming-of-age story, it provides the sordid and frightening truths of what it is like to be a fifteen year old girl in a woman’s body but lacking the experience and understanding of adult situations and relationships. Also this has been made into a movie and I am looking forward to seeing how it has been adapted to film.

Here’s some other websites for Best Books of 2015:

Goodreads Choice Awards

Buzzfeed Best Sci-Fi 2015

Buzzfeed Best Loved Books 2015

New York Times Top Books of 2015

Library Reads Librarian’s Favorites of 2015

Follow me on Goodreads !

#bestbooks2015 #librarylove #read #reading #booksaremyboyfriend #seveneves #phoebe gloeckner #bootstrap #readyplayerone #wonder #auggie

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