The Best Books I Read in 2015

Just as in previous years I’m writing a post about the books I read in 2015. I read 87 books in total, below is the breakdown. This year I’m adding a few metrics which I think will be interesting. Like, how much I saved by borrowing books from the library ($807.40) and what percentage of the authors I read were men (67%).

Fiction was the majority of my reading at 60%. Fantasy (20%) and Science Fiction (21%) being the largest portion of all genres. Read a few series this year, meaning I read 8 books by Holly Black (Spiderwick Chronicles), 3 from C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia), 2 from Timothy Zahn (The Thrawn Trilogy) and 2 Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson). Paperback was the least popular binding at on 17% of my reads.

Most of my books came from the library (37%). Longest audio book I listened to was Capital at 1,503 minutes (25 hours), shortest was The Hamburger: A History at 180 minutes (3 hours). Total audio listening was 11,751 minutes (196 hours, 8.2 days).

Longest book I read was Hadoop in Practice (536 pages), which was for a class and I didn’t read every page. Next was All the Light We Cannot See at (530 pages). Shortest was 30 pages, a short story called Percy Jackson and the Singer of Apollo. In all I read 14,560 pages.

The longest it took me to get through a book was Capital (195 days), Michelle and I listened to it in the car. Shorts books included a lot of the Spiderwick Chronicles, in all I finished 12 books the same day I started them.

I finished the most books in July (20). The most popular book (according to goodreads) I read was The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The least was Valkyrie.

So how does this year compare to previous years? Well, I read the most I have in the past 3 years, but still not as much as 2011, when I read 96 books. That big 100 is still just out of reach. Maybe this year…

Some of my favorite books of the year were:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Dracula

Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader

Falling Up

Tuck Everlasting

The Nixie’s Song

How Reading Changed My Life

The Wrath of Mulgarath

Siddhartha

The Field Guide

Departure

Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason

The Read-Aloud Handbook

Dark Force Rising

The Last Olympian

Shade Me Review

Shade Me
Shade Me

So I read Shade Me by Jennifer Brown. Before we get to the spoilers let me just say quickly that this is a very strong 4 on a 1-5 scale. The only reason I held back on 5 is because of a bit too much teenage angst for my liking. Although, not nearly as much as the Twilight books. Also, there were a hand full of times, that I caught myself thinking, come on Nikki really, that’s dumb, don’t do that. But this actually might be a reason to give it more stars not less because if you are talking to yourself while reading the book, its got you. Full disclosure, I entered a contest on EpicReads and was sent this book for free. It doesn’t get officially published until 1/19/16.

**Spoilers Below**

Continue reading Shade Me Review

Claude Monet & Dora

Claude Monet- The Painter Who Stopped the Trains
Claude Monet- The Painter Who Stopped the Trains

Tonight Samantha read Dora’s Mystery of the Missing Shoes and I read Claude Monet: The Painter Who Stopped the Trains to Samantha.  Listen to her audio review below.

The Velveteen Rabbit Christmas

The Velveteen Rabbit Christmas
The Velveteen Rabbit Christmas

Tonight Samantha read The Velveteen Rabbit Christmas and Daddy read Princesses Are Not Quitters.  The audio review is below.

Play with Blue

Play with Blue
Play with Blue

Tonight Samantha read Play with Blue all by herself!  Daddy finished reading Scooby-Doo and the Howling Wolfman to Samantha.

Dixie

Dixie
Dixie

Tonight Samantha read Dixie with just a little help from Daddy.  We also started to read Scooby-Doo and the Howling Wolfman.

Black Beauty

Scooby-Doo Museum Madness
Scooby-Doo Museum Madness

Tonight we read Scooby-Doo! Museum Madness and a recommendation from Grandpa Duane Black Beauty.  Earlier in the day we read My Brother Martin by Christine King Farris.

My Brother Martain
My Brother Martain

Jake Drake Bully Buster

Jake Drake Bully Buster
Jake Drake Bully Buster

We finished a new Jake drake book tonight, Jake Drake Bully Buster.  We read it in only two nights.  And we read another book as well Scooby-Doo and the Mummy’s Curse.

Scooby-Doo and the Mummy's Curse
Scooby-Doo and the Mummy’s Curse

The Read-Aloud Handbook

The Read-Aloud Handbook
The Read-Aloud Handbook

I had to stop many many times while reading The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trealease to take notes.  I have a ton of books I want to check out myself and an even longer list of my kids, but that is just the icing on the cake.  The real prize of this book is all the supporting details that let a parent who already reads to their children know that what they are doing is important and will help their children to learn to read sooner and then become life long readers for the joy of reading, which is a great gift to give your children.  I found a love of reading after college and I only regret that I didn’t find it earlier!  This is a great book.  If to don’t read to your kids, get this book.  If you do read to your kids get this book!

Scooby-Doo and the Creepy Chef

scooby-doo-creepy-chef-scooby

 

Samantha picked up several Scooby-Doo books including Scooby-Doo and the Creepy Chef.  We also started our second Jake Drake book, Jake Drake: Bully Buster.  You can hear Samantha’s review of these books below.