As we all probably know by now, I don’t like to post my Best Of until the first day of the New Year, just in case I read THE BEST BOOK EVER as the last book of the year. I almost did this year, too. So here’s my pic of the year’s books, but some stats first …
In 2015, I read 115 books – 83 fiction and 32 non-fiction. In 2014, it was 104 in total, but 50 fiction and 54 non-fiction. I’ll blame my flu in May and a couple of colds for that. Interestingly, although my top 10 include books by 6 men and 4 women, I read 71 books by women and 43 by men (and one by a man and a woman, in case you’re adding up). However, 19 of those 71 were by Debbie Macomber or Georgette Heyer, so a lot of shorter, lighter reads there. I’m surprised at how little non-fiction I read this year, as I certainly have a lot of it on my shelf at the moment.
Top ten books of the year
In order of reading …
Robert Tressell – “The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists” – always meant to read it, this was the year I did
Anthony Trollope – “The Warden” – started my love of Trollope!
Helen Cross – “The Secrets She Keeps” – wonderful, funny, moving novel
Gillian Dooley – “From a Tiny Corner in the House of Fiction” – all the interviews Iris Murdoch did, beautifully edited
Robertson Davies – “Tempest Tost” – re-read of a favourite, still marvellous
Arnold Bennett – “Clayhanger” – first in a series and so absorbing
Carol Ann Duffy – “The World’s Wife” – the first time a book of poetry has made it onto the top ten, I think
Vita Sackville-West – “The Heir” – I loved “The Edwardians” too, but I loved this more
Steve Silberman – “Neurotribes” – uncomfortable reading in parts but really important and fascinating
James Kelman – “You Have to be Careful in the Land of the Free” – dialect, yes, but such an unputdownable read
Special series mentions go to …
Arnaldur Idriðason – The Reykjavik Murder Series – I’m only on Book 2 but I love these and I love love love the setting!
John Galsworthy – The Forsyte Saga – nine wonderful books read this year in good company
Disappointments
My DNFs and one Finished But Only Because It Was A Review Copy:
Wolfgang Iser – “The Art of Reading” – Too Hard. But I got what I could out of it
John Algeo – “British and American English” – not what it was advertised as being – it translated British into American and I wanted the other way round. No indication of this on the blurb!
Jonathan Franzen – “Freedom” – I liked another of his books, this was angry and horrible and I gave up
Tracy March – “Should’ve Said No” – indeed. A queasy mix of sex’n’museums
Reading challenges past and future
I read the Galsworthys and did #20BooksOfSummer in the summer (failed that one slightly). I’ve got up to 55 years filled in my Reading the Century project, pretty well naturally (i.e. not many books bought to fulfil it) but I have filled in lots of popular years now so might have to aim for the 60s this coming year!
I’ll be continuing Reading the Century, continuing reading Dorothy Richardson’s “Pilgrimage” series and will be doing Heaven-Ali’s #Woolfalong project, which reads novels and essays by and books about Virginia Woolf.
State of the TBR January 2016
See above. Oops. Only all fits on because Christmas and post-Christmas is horizontal (you can see it on the right, on the back row). The January 2015 TBR looked like this, which was far more manageable! But I’m definitely Making More Time For Reading now, so hopefully I can get through them to the delights I’ve picked up recently.
I’m currently reading Ken Livingstone’s memoirs (which are quite dull, but in a good way, if you see what I mean) (note the Morrab Library bookmark, reminding me of Cornwall friends), plus “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Won’t Stop Talking” which is quite good if you need that sort of thing, but not QUITE for me, and a book about not buying things on my Kindle.
Coming up, it’s time for another Dorothy Richardson (hooray!) and Ali’s Woolfalong is starting, so I’ll need to check what I’m meant to be picking up for that. Then these books are next on the TBR – you can see it HAS shifted, because this picture is actually different to those of the last few months!
Every year at the end of the year I think “Do I actually want to bother carrying on with the reading blog?” I do always note my reviews in a paper journal, but I do enjoy the interaction I have on here with other book bloggers, even though this is not the most popular blog and doesn’t get as many comments as others. I cherish my comments and commenters, so I’m going to carry on and I look forward to hearing what you all have to say.
Have you posted your Top Books yet? I bet you have. What challenges are you doing and what have you got coming up in January? Have you read any of these books on my shelf?
Adventures in reading, running and working from home 
Jan 01, 2016 @ 18:33:36
Very pleased to see The Heir there! I spent some time this afternoon pulling 1938 books off my shelves in my parents’ house for The 1938 Club in April.
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Jan 01, 2016 @ 18:42:42
Hooray! I was very pleased that I read that one, and I’m looking forward to 1938, too!
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Jan 01, 2016 @ 18:33:52
I saw Crossriggs in the photo that posted to Twitter and came right over. I’m a big fan of Crossriggs. I read it for my Masters thesis and loved it. It’s a B+ novel, I’ll grant, but one that I enjoyed working with.
You might want to skip By Nightfall. I’m a big Cunningham fan, but this one was just so-so, kind of a filler between better work, I hope.
Enjoy your reading this year and keep on blogging. I did post a top ten list today. Turned out the last book I read in 2015 made it to the list.
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Jan 01, 2016 @ 18:44:36
Oh lovely – welcome to the blog. I read quite a lot of Virago books; I’m enjoying the Dorothy Richardsons at the moment, too. I am a bit of a Cunningham completist so it had to be picked up … but will bear that in mind. One year, the last book I read didn’t get finished and turned into the best book for the next year (George Eliot’s “Daniel Deronda”, so I’m always careful about that! I’ll pop over and look at your Top 10 as it looks like we have some overlapping reading interests.
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Jan 01, 2016 @ 18:47:32
See a lot of interesting titles! Added one to my Goodreads tbr list 😀
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Jan 01, 2016 @ 18:55:26
Welcome, if you’ve not commented before. Which one caught your eye? Do pop back and share your review once you’ve read it!
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Jan 01, 2016 @ 21:40:46
The Warden was the one which started me off on Trollope too!
I liked the next two books in the Clayhanger series even more. I think I had a bit of a difficulty getting the young man grown up in the first one, lol. The second one, Hilda Lessways, was my favorite of the three.
Of the books I read last year, my three favorites were The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Martian by Andy Weir and
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.
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Jan 02, 2016 @ 06:39:48
With Trollope, I had a worry about whether to start with the Barsetshire or Palliser series, but I think a lot of people do it this way around. I can’t wait to read the other Clayhanger books (esp as the third one fills in a year in the Century of Reading). I’m glad to know the others are even better than the first one, as I loved that (obviously).
My husband listened to The Martian on audiobook and loved it (also loved the film). I have to say I very much disliked the Guernsey Literary … but I think mainly because I already knew about the Channel Islands in WW2 and felt a bit taught at rather than anything else. But I know a LOT of people absolutely loved it. Matthew and my best friend Em both loved The Night Circus – and that’s a nicely varied top three!
Happy reading for 2016!
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Jan 02, 2016 @ 16:48:27
I’ve noticed about the Guernsey Literary that people seem to love it or hate it with not a lot in between. I didn’t even know that the Channel Islands had been occupied, so it was all new to me. As an epistolary novel, it fared very well against the few others I’ve read.
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Jan 02, 2016 @ 16:53:57
Ah yes, I can imagine that if you didn’t know about it, it would be very interesting and new, and the epistolatory side of it was done well. I also have a history of not liking books everyone else likes – some kind of ornery side of me!
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Jan 01, 2016 @ 21:54:57
Lovely books there Liz – I loved The Heir too! And I’m looking forward to the next Richardson very much!
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Jan 02, 2016 @ 06:40:23
Thank you – yes, I remember you enjoying The Heir. I can’t wait for the next Richardson and I didn’t ever think I’d find myself saying that!
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Jan 02, 2016 @ 08:04:41
I’ve read the Trollope (and the rest of the series, which are all wonderful) and the Bennett, which I loved. Strangely, unlike the commenter above, I didn’t get on with Hilda Lessways and gave up on it quite soon — I think I may have been in the wrong mood, so will give it another go.
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Jan 02, 2016 @ 11:29:43
It was hard to choose a favourite Trollope and if there had been one other top 10 type book he’d have gone in the Special Mention to Series list! I’m really looking forward to continuing my slow journey through is books this year. Interesting about HL – watch this space for a review soon(ish) as I really want to get to These Twain!
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Jan 02, 2016 @ 08:56:05
I am looking forward to reading Tempest Tost which I have borrowed from you and nearly forgotten about – oops. Glad The Heir made your list – it’s marvelous. I will watch your progress with Pilgrimage with interest.
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Jan 02, 2016 @ 11:30:53
Well it was a gift not a loan, as I have the trilogy in one volume, but I’m looking forward to you reading that. It was a toss-up between The Heir and The Edwardians but I was trying to just list one book per author. I bet we lure you into Pilgrimage at some point – you can borrow mine as I finish each big volume … (mwah hah hah).
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Jan 02, 2016 @ 11:52:30
Book pusher!!😀
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Small business chat update – Liz Dexter | LibroEditing proofreading, editing, transcription, localisation
Jan 02, 2016 @ 22:23:29
Jan 03, 2016 @ 14:20:25
Apart from Robertson Davies, (and I haven’t read one of his for probably 30 years), I’ve not read any of your list – I’m most drawn to Neurotribes.
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Jan 03, 2016 @ 18:06:03
I think we do have quite different tastes (which is why I enjoy reading your blog!). Neurotribes was very good and interesting: I recommend looking out for a copy. Robertson Davies is certainly worth a re-read, too!
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Jan 03, 2016 @ 16:44:17
Very impressive amount of books you have got through, I did like The Warden as well, there is something warm and comfortable about it. This year my standout books were Zola’s Germinal and The Man Who Loved Dogs by Leonardo Padura. I look forward to a bit of Marquez in the coming year and perhaps some Barbara Kingsolver too.
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Jan 03, 2016 @ 18:07:00
I feel it’s sadly lacking, as I had a few years over the 200 mark (but I lived alone, in a long-distance relationship and with a long commute to work then!). I’ve never read any Zola, I’m ashamed to say. I’ve got Kingsolver’s newest book on the TBR, somewhere …
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Jan 04, 2016 @ 13:43:10
I’ve been in exactly that position myself, it is good for the book side of things but frustrating on other fronts. Zola is a bit grim but powerful and well worth a read, Kingsolver is new to me so I look forward to being educated post haste.
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State of the TBR January 2017 and Christmas book confessions (happies) | Adventures in reading, writing and working from home
Jan 01, 2017 @ 18:11:30