After Saturday’s more personal review of the year, it seemed only right to have a look back at the year in books. I am a literary blogger after all!
All the way back at the start of the year, one of my resolutions was to be more mindful about the books I was reading. I’ve always read a lot and written a lot of reviews online, but I’ve never actively kept track of the books I was reading.
So I set myself up a simple spreadsheet and I’ve been keeping a record ever since, plus writing a monthly recap here on the blog, where you can see all the books I’ve read this year.
Another of my goals for the year was to read 50 books. I’ve actually managed to finish 68 in total, so I did better than I expected, which is probably down to using the Kindle app rather than reading all paper books as I’ve always done in the past.
But I thought I’d use this post to recap the things I’ve read slightly differently.
Books I’d recommend
- Station Eleven, by Emily St John Mandel (read my review)
- Annihilation (The Southern Reach Trilogy), by Jeff VanderMeer (read my review)
- Eleanor & Park, by Rainbow Rowell
- We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart (read my review)
- The Cuckoo’s Calling (Cormoran Strike), by Robert Galbraith
- Longbourn, by Jo Baker
Books I didn’t finish
- The Fractured Man, by Juliet Conlin
Books I re-read
- I won’t list them individually, but I re-read all the Southern Vampire Mysteries
- The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath (read my review)
Classics
- The Thirty-Nine Steps, by John Buchan
- Letters to a Young Poet, by Rainer Maria Rilke
- The Dharma Bums (Penguin Modern Classics), by Jack Kerouac
- Big Sur (Penguin Modern Classics), by Jack Kerouac
- The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath
- Rebecca (VMC), by Daphne du Maurier
Translated books
- Black Skies, by Arnaldur Indridason – from Icelandic
- The Investigation, by Jung-Myung Lee – from Korean
- Look Who’s Back, by Timur Vermes – from German (read my review)
- Letters to a Young Poet, by Rainer Maria Rilke – from German
- Butterflies in November, by Audur Ava Olafsdottir – from Icelandic
- The Ice Princess (Patrick Hedstrom and Erica Falck, Book 1), by Camilla Lackberg, – from Swedish
- Strange Shores (Reykjavik Murder Mysteries 9), by Arnaldur Indridason – from Icelandic
- The Strange Library, by Haruki Murakami – from Japanese
What were the bookish highlights of your year?
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Jade @ Bits & Bobs says
The Cuckoo’s Calling is a book I hear so much positive feedback about but just can’t get in to myself… I have no idea why when it is a book that would typically be my kind of read. I’ve put it aside to return to in the future.
I had such a great year in terms of reading material but I think my highlight would be discovering Rainbow Rowell’s stories – kicking myself for not reading her work sooner.
I hope 2015 treats you wonderfully!
🙂
Amy Lord says
I’ve really enjoyed Rainbow Rowell’s books – she has a knack for making me cry! Thanks Jade, I hope you have a fabulous year too 🙂
Sara Strauss says
I really want to read Station Eleven and We Were Liars!!
Happy New Year!
~Sara
Sincerely, Sara