I’ve been reading everyone’s New Year’s posts, and they are so inspirational! Everyone has, I don’t know, goals and plans. And here I am, scheduling this post for January 6 because it’s going to take me that long to get through my December posts. No real goals for the future… just keep reading and writing!!
Ah well, reading goals just aren’t for me. I set up a goal on GoodReads for the first time, but it’s more just for a fun thing to see how far I can get, and to try and encourage myself to actually post on GoodReads, which I always forget to do. I’m actually kind of bad at the internet. Such is life.
Overall, this has actually been my most “successful” year of blogging, as far as actually having other random people read my posts. That’s pretty fun, especially since I do almost nothing to encourage visitors, other than linking posts to Twitter (and I’m pretty bad at that). I mostly keep this blog up for my own personal record. The secret is, I think I’m hilarious and I love reading back through my own blog posts. Isn’t that embarrassing??
Overall, I reviewed 92 books in 2015, which is a bit crazy. (What’s crazier is that I actually read even more than that…!!!) I also started posting a monthly review (the Rearview Mirrors) every month. According to those, here were my favorite books of the year:
- January: Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter
- February: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
- March: The Blackhouse by Peter May
- April: The Lewis Man by Peter May
- May: Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
- June: Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey
- July: The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
- August: Ice in the Bedroom by P.G. Wodehouse
- September: Solstice Wood by Patricia A. McKillip
- October: The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness
- November: No official favorite… November was a rough blogging month!
- December: Happy Ever After by Nora Roberts
All of my Pollyanna posts were weirdly popular. They still get the most searches!
2015 5-star Reads
- All Creatures Great & Small by James Herriot
- The Blackhouse by Peter May
- The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
- From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
- Indiscretion by Jude Morgan
- The Lewis Man by Peter May
- Lion Hound by Jim Kjelgaard
- The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones
- A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
- Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter
- Pollyanna of the Orange Blossoms by Harriet Lummis Smith
- Snow Dog by Jim Kjelgaard
- Wild Trek by Jim Kjelgaard
Total: 13
Unofficial: ‘A Monster Calls’ may have been my favorite read of the year. So. Freaking. Beautiful.
2015 4-star Reads
- 4.50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie
- Across the Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund
- All the Weyrs of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
- Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts
- The Black Fawn by Jim Kjelgaard
- Cousin Kate by Georgette Heyer
- The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness
- Death and Judgment by Donna Leon
- Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones
- Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey
- Dragonsdawn by Anne McCaffrey
- Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey
- Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey
- Dressed for Death by Donna Leon
- Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
- Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman
- Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
- The Far-Off Land by Rebecca Caudill
- Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
- French Leave by P.G. Wodehouse
- Golden by Cameron Dokey
- Happy Ever After by Nora Roberts
- Haunt Fox by Jim Kjelgaard
- Hot Water by P.G. Wodehouse
- How NOT to Spend Your Senior Year by Cameron Dokey
- Ice in the Bedroom by P.G. Wodehouse
- Just-So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
- Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
- A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall
- The Luck of the Bodkins by P.G. Wodehouse
- Mr. Darcy’s Promise by Jeanna Ellsworth
- Nemesis by Agatha Christie
- Pollyanna’s Debt of Honor by Harriet Lummis Smith
- Pollyanna Grows Up by Eleanor H. Porter
- Pollyanna’s Jewels by Harriet Lummis Smith
- Pollyanna’s Western Adventure by Harriet Lummis Smith
- The Renegades of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
- Savor the Moment by Nora Roberts
- The Searcher by Simon Toyne
- Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
- Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater
- Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie
- Sleepyhead by Mark Billingham
- The Small Bachelor by P.G. Wodehouse
- Solstice Wood by Patricia A. McKillip
- Vision in White by Nora Roberts
Total: 46
Half the reason I enjoyed these crazy werewolf books so much was because the cover art is A+++++++ GORGEOUS!
2015 3-star Reads
- Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld
- Barefoot Summer by Denise Hunter
- At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie
- A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie
- Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
- Charity Girl by Georgette Heyer
- A Dangerous Silence by Catherine Palmer
- Deception Point by Dan Brown
- Desert Dog by Jim Kjelgaard
- Dragondrums by Anne McCaffrey
- Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
- Girl Missing by Tess Gerritsen
- Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier
- Hidden Trail by Jim Kjelgaard
- Houses of Stone by Barbara Michaels
- If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where’s My Prince? by Melissa Kantor
- Maris by Grace Livingston Hill
- The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side by Agatha Christie
- Moreta by Anne McCaffrey
- Nerilka’s Story by Anne McCaffrey
- A Noble Radiance by Donna Leon
- A Nose for Trouble by Jim Kjelgaard
- A Pleasure and a Calling by Phil Hogan
- Stormy by Jim Kjelgaard
- We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
- The White Dragon by Anne McCaffrey
- Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip
Total: 27
I honestly still can’t decide whether or not I actually liked this book.
2015 2-star Reads
- Acqua Alta by Donna Leon
- Cold Spell by Jackson Pearce
- Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
- Wild Good Chase by Terri Thayer
Total: 4
Why does everyone think this book is amazing? I found it to be SO. BORING.
2015 1-star Reads
- Quietly in Their Sleep by Donna Leon
- Zel by Donna Jo Napoli
Total: 2
And winner of the creepiest book/most unsuitable for its marketed audience goes to…
And just because I can: A pie chart, showing which percentage of reads were which number of stars –
All in all, it was a solid blogging year, and, more importantly, a solid reading year. As you can see, I read a lot of books that I really enjoyed. I’ll admit that the majority of my 5-star reads were rereads (8/13), so it’s possible that I’m also a biased reader, but such is life.
I really appreciate all of you hanging around and reading my posts from time to time. It’s super fun being a part of the book blogging community, and I’m excited to see what 2016 brings. Happy New Year!!!
The Aroma of Books 