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The 2015 reading year is drawing to a close. We hope you were all able to make all your reading goals a reality. If not, there are still a couple of weeks to make it happen!

On behalf of all the mods here, thank you for a tremendous year! We hope, if you haven't already, that you consider joining us in the new 2016 group for more reading challenge fun. We've been working hard (and will continue to work hard) to bring you all the content, features, and discussion you've come to expect from this group.

Since the year is coming to an end, let us reflect on what we've accomplished for the year!

WRAP UP QUESTIONS

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?

Which book surprised you most this year?

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?

Do you have any reading regrets this year?

What is your reading goal for 2016?

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
136 books, finishing the Popsugar reading challenge, catch up a little in fantasy and discover new authors. All accomplished :)

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
Hollow World without hesitation, but I discovered some other gems (Seraphina, Les Fiancés de l'Hiver, Uprooted, Fairytales for Wilde Girls, Little Robot...).

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
The Magicians without hesitation. I'm glad it was en ebook, if not I'd have burnt the book :p

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Pax (Hollow World), Thorn (La Passe Miroir), Royce & Hadrian (Riyria), Valyn (Unhewn Throne), Four (Divergent), and probably others I don't have in mind for the moment.

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
All the characters in The Magicians and in Maze Runner!

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?


Which book surprised you most this year?
Fairytales for Wilde Girls (confirmed that this kind of subject is a therapy for me) and Hollow World because doing something else than reading it was painful

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
The biggest surprises were probably Big Little Lies and Eleanor & Park, I usually don't really enjoy literary fiction.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
The Magicians? Nothing else comes to my mind.

What is your reading goal for 2016?
Over 200 books, tackle Gaiman's work, tackle Ness' work, finish the 2016 AtY challenge, complete an A-Z, increase my knowledge in dystopian books and have fun!

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
My goal was to read 52 books this year which lined up perfectly with this challenge. So far I have read 72!

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
Difficult decision! Probably a tie between What Alice Forgot, Watchers and Cinder & Ella.

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
Wuthering Heights for sure!

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Griffin (Across the Distance) and Gweneth (Ruby Red)

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights)

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?
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Which book surprised you most this year?
The 5th Wave, I really didn’t think I would enjoy it as much as I did.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
Not really but it did solidify the fact that I really don’t enjoy classic romance.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
Not really. Even though I hated Wuthering Heights with a passion I am still glad I gave it a shot.

What is your reading goal for 2016?
Well I would love to surpass my number for this year but since I am due with my first baby in March I really don’t see that happening! Any reading I get done next year will be an accomplishment! I would still like to try to complete some of next year’s challenge though!

Q. What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
A: My main goal was to finish the Reading Challenge and I did it yesterday!
Another goal was to read 52 books and I read 62.
I just couldn't read 50 per day, but I'm reading 46/day.

Q. What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
A: Me Before You, Jojo Moyes. I'm not a romantic person, but this book made me become a better human being. After reading it I told to those I love that I really love them.

Q. What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
A: The Look of Love, Bella Andre - eeeeew!

Q. Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
A: Count Olaf, A Series of Unfortunate Events (he is awesome! Especially at The Ersatz Elevator)

Q. Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
A: Chloe (The Look of Love, Bella Andre. What a boring character!)

Q. What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?
A: Red Queen, Victoria Aveyard.

Q. Which book surprised you most this year?
A: How to Talk to a Widower, Jonathan Tropper (c'mon! I paid only 2 reais on that, something like 50 cents :P and the book is really funny!)

Q. Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
A: Yes! I discovered that I don't like mistery (but I'll try hard with Agatha Christie) and that I loooove WW2 books.

Q. Do you have any reading regrets this year?
A: Well, it took an eternity for me to finish The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco, but I didn't give up!

Q. What is your reading goal for 2016?
A: I want to read 50 books or more, and look for 2 reading challenges.

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
I was only reading about one book a month until May. I had a soul-sucking job that I decided to quit in May, and started reading a lot. Did not have any reading goals until I ran accross this challenge in early October and discovered I read already 35 categories - so decided to finish it. And I did! Also pledged 50 books for the year, then 60, now I am at 82!

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
The Color Purple was amazing. The other that stayed with me was Jane Eyre. But I must say I read a lot of amazing books this year - 32 five stars!

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
Don't get me started on The Alchemist. I think I hated it so much because it had the hype and it also had potential - entirely wasted on bludgeoning you to death with a phony moral message. Ugh. Ugh.

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Jane Eyre, without doubt. Self-reliant and brave to make her own choices.

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
The entire cast of Wuthering Heights, lead by Heathcliff. Not only were the characters evil, but they weren't even behaving in any psychologically explainable way.
Looks like many of us have this opinion...

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?
I was really burnt by the "choose a book by its cover" category, twice, so I am utterly cover-challenged and should be not relied upon in any cover-related discussion. I have seen others post beautiful covers, though, does that count? Zaz tends to pick gorgeous ones... :)

Which book surprised you most this year?
A lot of them were better than expected: Jane Eyre, The Color Purple, Beloved, The Martian, Elon Musk: Inventing the Future.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
Well, there are large holes in my reading, especially concerning African-American authors and women authors, also, contemporary books. Since many interesting contemporary writers are women, I will be reading them more.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
Absolutely no regrets!!! :)

What is your reading goal for 2016?
Keep up the current pace; alternate fun books with challenging books; read more women, children's books, contemporary, and keep working on my bucket list of 150 books here:

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
I had to change my goal a few times. At first, I just wanted to finish this challenge but then i decided to add the A-Z Challenge. I was able to finish about half of that. I think I overestimated what I could finish but I'm happy with my ultimate amount since it was a huge increase from the past.

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
I discovered some amazing books this year:
- Me Before You
- Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
- The Time Traveler's Wife
- Horns

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
Luckily, I didn't dislike too many of the books, even if some of them were mediocre. My only two-star books were:
- The Heir
- Midnight

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Probably Lisbeth Salander (The Girl Who Played with Fire). I liked a lot of the characters, though.

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Every character in The Girl on the Train.

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?


Which book surprised you most this year?
I would say The Time Traveler's Wife. It sat on my shelf for quite a while because I didn't totally love the movie. But the book was fantastic.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
I've always read a variety of genres but I didn't expect to enjoy short stories as much as I did. I ended up reading quite a few novellas and really enjoyed 20th Century Ghosts

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
I wish I could have finished the A-Z Challenge and I can't believe I didn't fit in House of Leaves. But I'm pretty proud of how much I increased my reading and I plan on fitting House of Leaves into week 1 of 2016.

What is your reading goal for 2016?
I just would like to finish the A-Z challenge and complete the AtY challenge. It would be great to finish all of Joe Hill's work since I read quite of a bit of his stuff this year.

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
It was originally set at 20 books at the start of the year but when I reached 10 books, and was making quite a bit of progress, I upped it to 25. I managed to surpass it by reading 27 books and I'm currently reading my 28th one.

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
The Color Purple.

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
Bridget Jones's Diary.

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Shug Avery from The Color Purple, although there were a lot of characters I loved.

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Ruth Chandler from The Girl Next Door, although there were a lot of characters I hated.

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?
, , , and .

Which book surprised you most this year?
The Color Purple because I didn't expect to fall in love with it as much as I did.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
Yes, my reading tastes are a lot more varied than I sometimes let myself believe.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
I would've liked to have managed to read more and possibly finished my challenge but I read more this year than I have over the last few years combined so I'm still thrilled with my progress.

What is your reading goal for 2016?
I'm probably going to set it at 30. That way it's higher than it was this year, it's not going to add too much pressure on myself but at the same time I can still surpass it if I manage to.

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
I think my original goal was 50 or 51. Then I changed it to 52 to really fit the challenge. I did achieve it with 55 right now.

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
The Young Elites by Marie Lu, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, and Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. It was supposed to be for the memoir week, but it sucked so bad I didn't even finish it, so I had to choose another book for that week.

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Adelina from The Young Elites. She's so messed up but powerful.

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Juliette from Shatter Me. She's not really that bad, but she's so similar yet dissimilar to Adelina. She's like the pathetic version.

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?


Which book surprised you most this year?
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. It was a pleasantly shocking surprise.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
Tastes? Not really. I had a pretty good idea of what I'd enjoy and what I wouldn't. I did discover something about my reading abilities: that I can actually read up to 55 books in just one year! And I'm a teacher. That is not a job that has a lot of free time.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
Yeah. Not sticking to some of my original choices because I panicked that I won't be able to finish on time so I changed to really short "books". I regret not reading Dreamcatcher by Stephen King, Wonder by R.J. Palacio, and The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe.

What is your reading goal for 2016?
I'll still keep it at 52. An additional goal is to really savor each book and not panic, since I know now that I'm capable of reaching that goal. And I want to review all the books I'm going to read. I only reviewed a few this year.

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
I started at 50, convinced I would never be able to reach it, but I just finished my 76th book and I'm pretty proud of myself.

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
I gave 5 stars to 14 books (including 5 re-reads). The ones that stood out the most were The Martian, The Fault in Our Stars, The Night Circus, The Handmaid's Tale and Jane Eyre (a pretty eclectic bunch).

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
Definitely The Girl on the Train, the more time passes, the more I hate it.

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
My heart hesitates between Jane Eyre and Mark Watney from The Martian. Both are really strong, I like that in characters.

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Rachel from The Girl on the Train, because she's so whiny and weak. I'm very indulgent with real people, but not at all with characters. A character must not make me want to throw a book under a train, it's a crime haha

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?


Which book surprised you most this year?
Jane Eyre. I'm always afraid that a classic will bore me to death, but I was swept up by the story and the writing.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
Not really, except that I shouldn't be afraid of classics.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
Reading-wise, no. But I'd have liked to take the time to write more reviews (it's one my goals for 2016).

What is your reading goal for 2016?
I'm going to have far less time to read in 2016, but I'm still going to try and reach 80. If I can't, I'm going to eat graphic novels at the end of the year haha


Thanks guys for this amazing year of reading together!!

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
My goal was to read 52 books (to line up with the challenge). I surpassed that months ago, which I am thrilled about! I am currently sitting at 138. I ended up doing two more challenges after I'd finished this one (I could fill in some categories with side reads, which helped!). I also had some side goals, mostly to read some authors who I feel I really should have read by now and I managed to knock off Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, Agatha Christie, Kurt Vonnegut, Arthur Conan Doyle, Virginia Woolf, Franz Kafka, Fyodor Dostoyevsky & Haruki Murakami (among others), and I'm really proud of myself. :)

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
I read some truly wonderful books this year - 33 of them I gave 5 stars. My top ten books would be:

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, because it was truly epic, and Ahab is (in my opinion) one of the best characters ever written.
Frankenstein, which was a complete surprise to me. It was a horror book in more ways than one, especially in that it shows how absolutely hideous humans can be. The monster is one of the most beautifully written & complex characters I've ever read.
The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly, because it was so incredibly moving.
The Color Purple, which was another complete surprise to me, and I can honestly say I probably wouldn't have ever picked it up if it wasn't for the challenge. It was funny, had wonderful characters, and was also really moving.
Winnie-the-Pooh - yes, I'm late to this party! I read this with my daughter, and can say that I truly understand why this is such a beloved book.
Norwegian Wood was again, filled with beautifully written characters, who, although some had mental illnesses, were far from the clichéd caricatures so often found in books. They felt so real, and my feeling of hopelessness reading this book was palpable. I could feel them slipping through my fingers.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle was my first Shirley Jackson and was an absolute cracker. She created incredible atmosphere, brilliantly cracked characters and a great story.
And Then There Were None because damn, lady knew how to write a mystery!
Slaughterhouse-Five for reasons which I still don't really understand myself. I just loved it.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower was a little like Norwegian Wood in that the characters weren't caricatures, but felt so real. I was truly engaged with them, and I adored them.

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
I did read my fair share of duds this year. 13x 1-star and 35x 2-star books, but there were two clear winners for dud of the year for me.

The Alchemist was the most trite, cheesy piece of crap that I've ever had the misfortune to read. Badly written with an absolutely ridiculous and unbelievable 'moral'. When you're on your personal 'legend' (?) the universe conspires to give you what you want ... are you kidding me? I hate this book with an absolute passion.
Lolita - vile, loathsome subject matter & pretentious wanky prose. Big bag of nopes.

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Frankenstein's monster, without a doubt. Brilliant.

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Humbert Humbert from Lolita.

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?

I clearly have a cover style that I like!

Which book surprised you most this year?
The Color Purple and Big Little Lies, because they are both in genres that I don't normally enjoy, but I loved them! And in non-fiction, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry because they were engaging & compelling & totally readable - everything that I expect non-fiction not to be.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
That it is possible for me to enjoy a chick-lit book!

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
No. I read lots, read widely and ticked off lots of bucket list reads.

What is your reading goal for 2016?
I have three challenges that I want to complete (Around the Year, Popsugar & Book Riot), plus another that I will be working on (AtY Rejects). I also have side goals to read more books in translation, to stop avoiding long books and to just keep chipping away at my TBR list.

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it? My original goal was only about 20 or 30 books, but when I found this challenge at the end of April I increased it to 52. Once I got in the habit of reading a book a week, I realized I could read more (I was on maternity leave/summer holiday from July), so I started reading things on the side, and then decided to take on the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge because some of my side reads fit those categories. I just finished the Pop Sugar Challenge, and am 25% done my last book for the Book Riot Challenge (Persuasion) so I think it's safe to say I'll finish that in time too :)

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
So many! House of Leaves, 11/22/63, To Kill a MockingbirdThe Orphan Master's Son, Bird Box, Stone Mattress: Nine Tales, The Handmaid's Tale�� just to name a few

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
Landline I don't understand how that was so popular.

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Bod (The Graveyard Book

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Ruth from The Girl Next Door, Humbert Humbert from Lolita, and the parents from The Glass Castle

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?


Which book surprised you most this year?
Catch-22 because I'd tried to read it before and couldn't get into it, but this time around I didn't give up and ended up loving it. Also House of Leaves, because it is so unique.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes? They are much more eclectic than I'd previously thought.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
Only reading 5 books before the end of April! I wish I'd found this challenge sooner. It was just what I needed.

What is your reading goal for 2016?
The Around the Year Challenge, the Pop Sugar Challenge and the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge, for a total of 116 books! Within those challenges, I also want to continue working through the Rory Gilmore Challenge, read more horror (particularly Stephen King), and read lots of children's books to my baby and my students (I go back to teaching Grade 1 at the end of February). Oh, I also want to start a book blog, just for fun :)

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
To complete this challenge & read some new things outside my comfort zone. And I am one book away from finishing (taking a break from reading right now to do this) and I definitely read some new things that challenged me to want to read more than just the sugary quick reads I normally go for.

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?

Without a doubt, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe blew me away I can't believe I've lived in Alabama my whole life and never read it.

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?

This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I really didn't enjoy The Little Prince.

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Idgie (Fried Green Tomatoes), Kell & Delilah (A Darker Shade of Magic) & Mark Watney (The Martian)

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
I'd like to second 'the parents from The Glass Castle' & also Isabel from The Light Between Oceans

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?


Which book surprised you most this year?
To Kill a Mockingbird, I'd never read it and it was so hyped up I didn't know what to expect and I loved the style and the voices so much. Also, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was so honest and made me really think that I'm determined to get my nieces/nephews to read this.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
I like thrillers! and (some) mysteries! That opens up a whole new section of the library to explore.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
Lirael, ugh, I wish I didn't have to read it to complete the Abhorsen Trilogy. What a horrible book in the middle of what is a really good series.

What is your reading goal for 2016?
the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge, I don't think I want to push to complete 52/year again. At times it felt like a lot of pressure to complete this challenge, so the Book Riot challenge will get me to read more things I normally wouldn't have spent time on, yet give me some time in the year to read the sugary books I still love.

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
My goal was to finish the Pop Challenge and I DID it. Yeah, I was really proud of myself. Hahaha... the very first time I commmited to something this long. I did have some changes in my reading list and a few "adaptations", but overall it was done wih the topics.

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?

I am in love with Tina and Amy.

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?

I really dislike this compilation of essays.

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
One has to love any character in Gabriel Garcia Marquez novels. But my favorite was Pantaleão Pantoja in Llosa's novel.

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Madame Bovary. I did no fall in love with her.

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?

I loved the title as well.

Which book surprised you most this year?

Every Brazilian is supposed to be born knowing this book and I had always been very against reading it. I regret having taken so long.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
Yes, and that's why I loved this challenge. Biography and memoirs were my favorites. And a surprise, thrillers.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?

It took forever for me to finish and I had already experienced Jack Kerouac and did not like it.

What is your reading goal for 2016?
The challenge from the group. I have already set my list.

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
My goal was 52 books (to complete the challenge), and so far I have finished 56... I may actually get another book or two in before the end of the year. I'm excited to have finished!

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
Alive and Eleanor & Park were probably my favorites of my 5-star rated books. I also loved Written in My Own Heart's Blood.

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
The Dinner or Boy Proof. The former because it was impossible to find a character that I liked even a little, and the latter because apparently I am finally too old for some of the YA out there.

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
As always in a year when I read an Outlander book, Jamie freaking Fraser.

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Everyone in The Dinner.

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?
Of the books I read this year, I would say

Which book surprised you most this year?
Squirrel Haus... a book that I probably wouldn't have read except for the 'book that takes place in your hometown' category. This one took me back to college!

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
I really like older books, and a lot of the YA out there is not for me.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
Never!

What is your reading goal for 2016?
I'm going to set my goal at 76 books, and work to complete both the Around the Year in 52 Books and Read Harder challenges... If I have time, I will also work on Popsugar's 2016 Challenge. :)

WRAP UP QUESTIONS

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
My goal was 100 books and I'm almost finished my 117th - that's the most I've ever read in a year.

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
My fave was definitely The Nightingale. I rarely rate a book 5 stars, but also gave Still Alice, The Rose Garden, Along the Infinite Sea and Pretty Baby

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
The Trilogy I chose, Low Country by Mary Alice Munroe. I would never have read books 2&3 after reading the first, but I continued because of the challenge.

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
I will always love Janet Evanovich's characters.

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Most of the characters in the low Country series.

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?


Which book surprised you most this year?
Along the Infinite Sea. I rec'd it as a giveaway, so wasn't expecting much.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
I enjoyed a few reads that aren't usually in my typical genre.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
No

What is your reading goal for 2016?
100 again.

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
In a way I did. The goal was to read 52 books and I've read 146 so far (still have one more day to finish a few more books) but I had specific books listed for the 52 week challenge and of those 52, I only finished 47.

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
I have a list of favorites for the year. Number one on that list is Roots: The Saga of an American Family followed in a very close second by Battle Royale

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
The Last Lecture, for sure. Ugh...

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
So Many!!! Let's see... In no particular order:
1) Laz -Getting Mother's Body
2) Klaus -The Bad Beginning
3) The Deathless Man -The Tiger's Wife
4) Astrid -Crazy Rich Asians
5) Celeste -Big Little Lies
6) Roman (FrozenRobot) -My Heart and Other Black Holes
7) Mark Watney -The Martian
8) Sam Rivers -The Fall Up

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Ugh:
1) Esme Squalor -The Penultimate Peril
2) Carmelita Spats -The Penultimate Peril
3) Detective Anderson -Dexter Is Dead
4) Sula -Sula
5) Bigger Thomas -Native Son
6) Darlene-Delicious Foods
7) John Amos-If There Be Thorns


What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?
I'm a typeface junkie:


Which book surprised you most this year?
The Martian. I just knew it was going to be boring, awful, nerdy and sciency... It so was not that...

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?I don't hate magical realism, sci-fi and fantasy as much as I thought I did.


Do you have any reading regrets this year?
Just that I don't have enough hours in the day. I would have liked to read twice as much as I did but this pesky job takes up a good 8 hours of my daily reading time... Ugh...

What is your reading goal for 2016?
To make a dent in my TBR shelf and to complete several reading challenges...

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it? Yes, I accomplished my goal of completing the 2015 Popsugar Challenge.

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year? My favorite books that I read for 2015 were 1) The Martian because it was unexpectedly humorous and a great adventure story and 2) The Book Thief. I listened to The Book Thief as an audio book and I really enjoyed they way the author used Death as a narrator. I know this was kind of a love it or hate aspect to this book, but I found it compelling.

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year? One Hundred Years of Solitude....or as I now call it "One Hundred Years of Suckitude". Oh well, at least I learned that magical realism is not the genre for me.

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year? Anne from Anne of Green Gables, Tyrion from A Game of Thrones (love his sarcastic wit and the fact that he is the most hated member within his own family but he's really about the only one with any decency.

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year? Michael Mulvaney Sr in We Were the Mulvaneys He was weak and the entire family suffered because of it.

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year? The Martian

Which book surprised you most this year? The Martian because I hadn't expected it to be so humorous.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes? Yes. I HATE magical realism. See: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Do you have any reading regrets this year? Yes, I got into a bit of a reading lull at one point during the year and got behind on the challenge. I feel like that resulted in me feeling like reading was a chore rather than a pleasure towards the end of the year while I was scurrying to try to finish the challenge. For 2016 I am going to make it a goal to try to keep a more steady reading pace throughout the year to avoid this situation.

What is your reading goal for 2016? I want to complete the 52 books for the 2016 group challenge, I want to listen to the entire Harry Potter series on audio book, and I was to read at least 100 children's books as part of research I am doing for a children's book of my own I am working on.

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
My goal was 100 books for the year. I've less than 100 pages left in book number 116!

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
I rated 9 books as 5* this year. The biggest surprise was the The Diary of a Young Girl, which I expected to be depressing. It was not. Other favorites: The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, My Life in France, Me Before You and The Visitors.

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
Three Bags Full. Non-human characters are not my book to read! Also a tough read was the The Glass Bead Game.

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
This one is tough, but I'd say Joe Rantz in The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics was one of my favorites.

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
The flock of sheep in Three Bags Full were my least favorite characters.

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?
The Visitors The House at Riverton
Wishin' and Hopin' The Miniaturist

Which book surprised you most this year?
The Diary of a Young Girl. I was surprised and pleased that it was so enjoyable.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
I was able to branch into several different types of books with this challenge -- and enjoy them! My typical genre is historical fiction.
Do you have any reading regrets this year?
No, I had a great time! If there was any regret, it was at the end I choose a few books just to fit a challenge. If I had researched more, perhaps I could have found a book that I would have enjoyed more.

What is your reading goal for 2016?
1. I will keep my total book challenge at 100.
2. Complete the 2016 Popsugar Challenge and
3. Add and complete the Book riot challenge

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
I started out just wanting to read the 52 books for the challenge. But GoodReads was counting all the comic books I read at the beginning of the year towards my total, so I upped it to 60 books to balance it out. When all is said and done, I believe I'll end the year at 62 books.

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
Ready Player One seemed tailor-made for me. It is chock full of 80's pop culture and gamer references that made me feel like I was sharing an inside joke with the author as I read. All references aside though, it was an entertaining quest-driven story that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The 5th Wave and The Infinite Sea were the surprise hits of the year for me. If not for this challenge, I probably wouldn't have picked them up. What a shame that would have been because, wow, these were intense and thought-provoking.

Flowers for Algernon was the never read in school selection I chose. This book is staggering in it's emotional complexity. It is so good and stunning and heartbreaking and beautiful and just... all the feels. All of them! I highly recommend this to every person ever!

The Help was a re-read, my third re-read of this book, but it's one of my favorites. I like to re-visit it now and again for the warm and wonderful characters. Every time I finish it I feel like I'm saying goodbye to dear friends.

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
Oof, this was a year of bad reads, unfortunately. Anne & Henry was just awful. It was an awful, awful, awful re-telling of the romance between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn set in a modern high school. I had a feeling going in that this wasn't going to be literary gold but I'm a big Anne Boleyn fan so I had to give it a shot. I had no idea it was going to be that terrible. Half of this book is Henry and Anne talking about each other's rockin' bods. It's just total crap.

Then there was Me and Earl and the Dying Girl which I hoped would be both heart-tugging and humorous. Big no on that. It was trying too hard to be funny, completely missing the mark, and was, at times, borderline racist.

I've read a little of Cecelia Ahern and find her work to be mostly charming and only slightly saccharine. The Gift was preachy, patronizing, and a stale take on a Christmas tale as old as time.

The Book Thief was just annoying. How a book with a narrator as aggravating as this one has managed to capture such a devoted following is beyond my understanding. The book I was reading was full of bland characters, shoddy narration, and a transparent plot. I'm sorry! Don't throw things at me! :P

Illusive is a perfect example of how I get drawn in by these enticing taglines that leave me so unfulfilled. *sigh* This was tagged as Ocean's Eleven meets X-Men. Seriously, who doesn't want to read that?! This could have been that but it felt lazy and rushed and disjointed instead. Poor execution, my friends.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail is another one of those everyone loves it but me books. I found this wearisome. Mostly because I feel like for all her so-called moments of clarity throughout the book, Cheryl Strayed seems to have learned nothing from the experience.

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
As a gamer, I was particularly attached to Wade Watts and all his virtual friends in Ready Player One. I love, love, love the wonderful cast of characters in The Help that keep me coming back to this book again and again. I found Don Tillman from The Rosie Project to be irresistible with his eccentricities. Aya from Carnival of Secrets was a real kick-ass girl fighter. I loved her tenacity but the book was disappointing.

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Nathaniel Sorrows from The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender of Ava Lavender. I'm usually all about a good villain but this guy was just a total creep. There's dull as dirty dishwater Liesel Meminger from The Book Thief. Whiney, clingy, pitiful Beryl from The Amaranth Enchantment made me cringe quite a bit.

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?
My favorite part! Pretty covers! I'm just going to leave this here. *swoon*



Which book surprised you most this year?
It is a toss up between The 5th Wave and The Good Girl. Both were books I only picked up to satisfy challenge requirements and both of them were much better than I would have expected them to be.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
I learned that I don't have quite the aversion to mysteries/thrillers I thought I did and that graphic novels have some really wonderful stories. I'm hoping I can get better adjusted to the reading style of graphic novels in 2016 which is my only real hang up with them at this point.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
I regret that I didn't get to read some of the books I had originally chosen for my 2015 reading plan. I'm hoping I'll be able to squeeze some of them in for 2016. I also regret that I didn't read more of the GoodReads Choice selections this year. Okay, I regret that I didn't get around to reading any of the GoodReads Choice selections this year.

What is your reading goal for 2016?
I want to be the girl who reads everything in 2016! Mostly I want to finish the three major challenges I'm taking on, re-read the Harry Potter series, and shrink my TBR. But, really, that last one is probably never going to happen. :P

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
I originally set the GR reading goal to 150, but upped it later to 200. I've read 238, so I'm happy with that. I also completed the Popsugar challenge, in addition to some smaller challenges.

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
I'm quite frugal with giving five stars, but these were definitely five-star reads for me this year:
The Martian: I was pleasantly surprised with this one, didn't expect it to be so funny!
The Giver and the third book in the series, Messenger, The other two books in the series were four-star reads. Hadn't read Lois Lowry before.
Ender's Game. Sadly, the rest of the series isn't as good as the first one.
Earth Girl. The rest of the series was 4-stars. Didn't expect to like it so much, since it's basically just normal YA/scifi.

Four-star books that deserve a special mention:
Dark Eden very interesting science fiction tale, I'm looking forward to reading the sequel
Extinction Game and Slow Apocalypse: both contain a bit different take on the apocalypse
The Beginning of Everything sweet little YA book
The Girl with All the Gifts very well written zombie tale from another viewpoint; I actually can't recall why I didn't give it five stars
The Magicians I read it as the book with bad reviews, but I don't understand why some people seem to hate it. Sure, if you read it expecting Harry Potter, then it might disappoint, but I liked it and will definitely continue with the series.

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
Persuasion: ugh, I just don't like old classics, wouldn't have read it unless I needed it for a couple of challenges.
Dawn unbelievably, utterly stupid!
All's Well That Ends Well: no, Shakespeare is definitely not for me, neither are plays; I'm just glad I could listen to it as an audio during commute and not waste precious reading time on it. Again, would not have read it unless for the challenge.
3 Days; this contained so unbelievable events that it felt like it had been written by a third-grader.
The Silence: I should stop reading these no-name apocalypse/zombie books; many are just so plain bad.

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
I don't get attached to characters, but I would probably have to say Mark Watney from The Martian. Many of the characters from Lois Lowry's The Giver Quartet were also worth remembering because of their bravery. Also John Redlantern from Dark Eden, because he questions the old way of doing things and wants change.

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Everybody from The Girl on the Train. Ugh, that's one book that I didn't understand the hype about. I don't mind flawed characters, but both Rachel and Megan were so utterly stupid I cringed many times during the book.

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?
I don't choose any book for the cover, but I thought this was pretty:


Which book surprised you most this year?
Maybe Heart-Shaped Box. I hadn't read Joe Hill earlier and didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
No, not exactly. I already knew that I don't like old classics, plays or graphic novels.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
No. Most of the books that I didn't like still worked towards completing at least one challenge, so they were not a total waste of time.

What is your reading goal for 2016?
I will keep the overall goal of 200 books. Smaller goals include completing AtY as well as some challenges in some other groups I belong to.

Debra wrote: "What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it? Yes, I accomplished my goal of completing the 2015 Popsugar Challenge.

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year? My favorite ..."

Oh no, don't hate on magic realism just because of 100 years of solitude. I haven't finished the book myself but it's well known that you also need 100 years to read and appreciate that book. I think all genres have what I'd like to call "stepping stone" books that'll guide you to what the genre is all about but doing it gently. I hope you'll try magic realism again with a more fitting book. :)

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
Like many others I started off with a low goal and need to change it half way through the year. I thought I could read the 52 books for this challenge if I pushed hard. I have read 99 books this year. It feels great.

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
Frankenstein
The Martian
Anne of Green Gables
Ready Player One

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
The Great Gatsby

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Anne from Anne of Green Gables. She reminds me of my childhood, and that I need to be a more understanding Mom to my creative daughter.

was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
I try to forget these characters. :)

Which book surprised you most this year?
Frankenstein
I really enjoyed this classic book. It is still relevant today. It was also beautifully written.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?I
I enjoy many different genres, but I have broken through some of my prejudices about classics and Canadian authors. The ones that I was introduced to in high school were not a good representation of the two categories.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
I have learned to abandon books that I do not like because there are so many great books waiting to be read. I was dissatisfied with my choice of The Great Gatsby for a book not read in school. It was short though.

What is your reading goal for 2016?
I want to reach 100 this time. It was so close this year.

WRAP UP QUESTIONS

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it? My overall goal was 52 books, and I ended up reading 54 (although like 5 are in progress and if I had stuck it out with one book at a time maybe I would have read more :P)

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year? ooo, that's a tough one because I liked quite a few of them...but I'd have to go with Grey off the top of my head!

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year? that one's WAY too easy! The Fellowship of the Ring

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year? I'm not sure if I actually have a favorite character out of the year, but the one I enjoyed the most was seeing Christian's side of things in Grey

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year? TOM BOMBADILL!!!!! I kept waiting and waiting for him to die in The Fellowship of the Ring but sadly, he never did

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year? I read mostly on my ipad/kindle so I really don't have one.

Which book surprised you most this year? The Hobbit I honestly went into it ready to just hate it...and after the first few chapters (which were super boring) I really ended up loving it.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes? yes! not all memoirs/biographies are awful. I'm looking at you Orange Is the New Black

Do you have any reading regrets this year? I'm the type of person that usually quits reading a book if I don't enjoy it, so nope. no regrets here.

What is your reading goal for 2016? well since I was able to fit in 54 books this year (starting in February) I'm going to aim for 60-65 books in 2016!

Ana wrote: "Debra wrote: "What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it? Yes, I accomplished my goal of completing the 2015 Popsugar Challenge.

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year..."

Ana, do you have one to recommend?

Debra wrote: "Ana wrote: "Debra wrote: "What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it? Yes, I accomplished my goal of completing the 2015 Popsugar Challenge.

What was your favorite book (or books)..."

Like Water for Chocolate for a short one. If you still don't like it, then maybe it really is the genre.

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
My goal was to read more and I did; I didn't know if I would read 52 books but I did. I even had a few side reads.

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
It is hard to pick just one but Dirty Chick: Adventures of an Unlikely Farmer was probably the most unexpected 5 star read for me.

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
The Best Laid Plans

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Junior for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
I think all the main characters in The Daylight Marriage by Heidi Pitlor were dull and at times annoying for seemingly no reason.

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?

Which book surprised you most this year?
The Importance of Being Ernest, I was really surprised by the humor for the time period it was written in.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
I like memoirs more that I thought I would.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
No, even the bad taught me something about what I like in a book.

What is your reading goal for 2016? I would like to read 52 books or more again.

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
Yes! 2015 Reading Challenge was 52 and I read 52 :D I had also a Manga Reading challenge with 25 and I read 37 and my general challenge of ŷ������ was 50 and I read 119

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
Anne of Green Gables
Assassin's Apprentice
Cress
The Name of the Wind

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
Insurgent
Allegiant
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Carswell Thorne (from Cress), Jacin (from Winter) and Fitz (from Assassin's Apprentice)

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year? Tris (from Insurgent and Allegiant)

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?


Which book surprised you most this year?
Sharp Objects because the unexpected end and Assassin's Apprentice because it was so good that I can't believe I never heard of this author before

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
I enjoy non fiction! ... still prefer the fiction :D

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
I couldn't finish IT :(

What is your reading goal for 2016? I have not decided yet, but there are so many books that even without a goal, I just know I want to read as many as I can in this new year :)

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
Yes, Yes. Yes. 2015 Reading Challenge was 20 books and I read 25.

What was your favorite book(or books) of the year?
And Then There Were None
Assassin's Apprentice
In Cold Blood
To Kill a Mockingbird
All the Light We Cannot See

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
Fifty Shades of Grey I could not even finish it.

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Atticus Finch without a doubt
Marie Laure's dad ( All the Light We Cannot See
Amazing dads that made my heart melt.


Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Richard Hickock and Perry Smith

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?
pay attention to the abs.

Which book surprised you most this year?

The whole explanation blew me away. I have to give it to Agatha Christie.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
Yes. I am picky about romance. I have also grown to love Contemporary.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
Not having set the the challenge a little higher.

What is your reading goal for 2016?
Double double. I am aiming that '50 books' mark now.

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
My goal was to finish the PopSugar challenge within the year. Not only did I finish it, but I was surprised by how early I finished at the beginning of November. I was a huge reader when I was younger, but once I went to university and then college, I had very little time to read for fun. Now with a full time job, I was worried about being able to finish. To be fair, I picked a few children's books for the challenge but there were also some that were quite long.

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
By far, my favourite book was Defending Jacob. It was a book I wasn't so sure about choosing, but it ended up being one of the most memorable books. Months later, I'm still thinking about it.

I also loved House Rules, although that was a book I had read before. Another favourite was Big Little Lies. It was better than I expected, and engrossed me right from the start.

Another big surprise was Odd Duck. It's a picture book about a duck named Theodora and her strange friend, Chad. The book is all about individuality and how the idea of what "normal" means is all relative.

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
My least favourite was Saving Max. I didn't like the writing style, I didn't like the way the main character was written, and I was frustrated by how the story played out. It had so much potential to be a great book, but I really didn't enjoy it.

I also didn't like The Osiris Complex: Case Studies In Multiple Personality Disorder. It's a book of case studies about multiple personality disorder. What could have been a very fascinating book ended up being quite boring, especially when Ross listed every single medication change one of the patients went through to illustrate the point of how tedious the process was. That section put me off the rest of the book, although there were a few interesting case studies.

One of my other biggest disappointments of the year was Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood. Like MPD, Munchausen could be a very interesting topic to read about. Unfortunately, the book spent more time talking about the author's various family issues and barely even touched on the Munchausen aspects except at the very beginning. I didn't like the writing style, and I had no interest in the book although I did read all the way to the end.

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
- Winnie the Pooh - my first time reading this book, and the characters were just so cute!
- Jacob Hunt - from House Rules by Jodi Picoult
- Theodora and Chad - from Odd Duck by Cecil Castellucci
- Julia and Valentina - from Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
- Alice - from Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
- Danielle Parkman - from Saving Max by Antoinette van Heugten. By far one of the most frustrating characters I have ever read.

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?
House Rules
Her Fearful Symmetry (My version has a different cover than this, but still a good one)
Testimony
Big Little Lies
Among Others

Which book surprised you most this year?
Defending Jacob in the sense that I was not expecting much, and it was the one book that really haunted me after I finished it. Also Anya's Ghost was a big surprise for me. I never read graphic novels and it was hard for me to find one that I was even remotely interested in, but I really loved this book. I was also pretty surprised with how much I enjoyed Little Girls because I usually avoid scary books. This one was very well written, and genuinely scary!

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
Mostly, the categories that I liked were the ones I expected to like. I've always preferred fiction over non-fiction, and the book choices I made this year only seemed to confirm that. However, I did get a new appreciation for graphic novels and would like to try some more. I also got to try out a whole bunch of new authors that I'd never heard of before, and found quite a few that I would love to read more from (Liane Moriarty, Anita Shreve, Lisa Genova, Rainbow Rowell). Doing the challenge really got me to branch out and try new books that I probably wouldn't have known about otherwise.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
Only that I finished the challenge much too early. I would have loved to do the Fall Challenge as well, but I didn't see it early enough to give it a fair chance. And I do regret a couple of my book choices since I really didn't enjoy them and they were a struggle to get through, but I couldn't have known that in advance.

What is your reading goal for 2016?
To finish the GoodReads Around the Year challenge by December 31, 2016 and ideally to finish the PopSugar 2016 challenge by that date as well (although I've given myself an extra three months for that, just because I'm doing both challenge simultaneously and have limited time to read).

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it? My overall goal was 52 and I read 106. I credit my reading so many with the fact that I got a Kindle in January, so I can compulsively read many books at a time. Also, I love mysteries and can finish one very quickly.

What was your favorite book(or books) of the year?

Ahead of Time: My Early Years as a Foreign Correspondent
Inside of Time: My Journey from Alaska to Israel
Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World
Books by Jacqueline Winspear, Louise Penny, and Charles Finch


What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?

Carthage by Joyce Carol Oates. I seldom do not finish a book, but I just could not bring myself to keep reading.

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?

Ruth Gruber, whose memoirs Ahead of Time: My Early Years as a Foreign Correspondent and Inside of Time: My Journey from Alaska to Israel, gave me many insights into life in the early 20th century in the US, the Jewish experience from the early 20th century to after World War II, and to what a determined woman can accomplish. I learned so much reading these books.


What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?

The Guest Cat
Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World

Which book surprised you most this year?

The Importance of Being Earnest

I had no idea it would be so very funny, while at the same time being such an incredible social commentary and satire.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?

Yes, I have discovered that I truly enjoy well-written books and that includes in my favorite genre: mysteries, which is why I mentioned the book of Louise Penny, Jacqueline Winspear, and Charles Finch.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?

I wish I had read the challenge books first so that I was not coming down to the last minute to get them finished. I know we have until 7 January or something, but I would prefer to not get behind next year by finishing up this year,

What is your reading goal for 2016?

I know I will read more than 52 books, but I do not want to increase stress by saying I will read 75, etc. This gives me some slack and I can enjoy! So, 52 books.

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
My goal was 30 books and I ended up reading 55!

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
The Name of the Wind, Neverwhere ,The Housekeeper and the Professor and The Brothers Karamazov

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
Lolita and The Alchemist

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
The Professor from The Housekeeper and the Professor
Alyosha from The Brothers Karamazov

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Humbert Humbert from Lolita

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?


Which book surprised you most this year?
The Brothers Karamazov. I didn't expect a book to make me think so much.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
I've discovered that I can enjoy books from different genres as long as they are well-written and have good character development.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
Not really. There were some books I didn't enjoy, but they were Classics that I felt I should read anyway.

What is your reading goal for 2016?
I definitely ended up reading more than I thought I would this year. I want to read more books in 2016, but I still want an achievable goal, so 60 books.

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
I had 2 goals -- the Good Reads 2016 Challenge of reading 52 books, and the 2016 PopSugar Reading Challenge. I completed both.

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
There were three:
1) "Candide" by Voltaire
2) "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell" by Max Tucker
3) "Sinner's Creed: A Memoir" by Scott Stapp

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
1) The characters from the "Divergent" series
2) Scout from "To Kill a Mockingbird"

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Scott Stapp from his memoir and Max Tucker from his memoir.

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?
The "To Kill a Mockingbird" book cover

Which book surprised you most this year?
"To Kill a Mockingbird" -- When I finished reading that book, I exclaimed, "Wow!"

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
Yes, I realized that I really like those legal/political thrillers like "The Lincoln Lawyer" and "Absolute Power".

Do you have any reading regrets this year?
Yes, I regret that I didn't really care for "Candide" by Voltaire.
I also regret having read the other books listed in my "least liked" question above.

What is your reading goal for 2016?
Because these are very lofty goals, I might amend this later: however, I hope to do the following:
1) Complete the GoodReads 2016 Reading Challenge of 50 books
2) Complete the 2016 PopSugar Reading Challenge
3) Complete the BookRiot 2016 Read Harder Challenge
4) Complete the GoodReads 2016 List provided by our group.

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?
My reading goal was to read two books a month and I blew past that with 81. I started this challenge in Dec, filling in the catergories with books I had already read since Dec 1 of last year. That left me with about 12 books to read to complete the challenge. I have 2.5 more to read now to complete the empty spots.
What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?
The Martian was amazing and If I Stay was great too. Both popular books which are usually a huge let down for me. Glad these ones weren't!
What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?
Olive Kitteridge was HORRID, I didn't even finish it.
Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Mark Watney from the Martian, love him.
Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?
Olive Kitteridge and EVERYONE in that book. Did I mention it was horrid? Or anyone involved with Girl on a Train. Another huge UGH.
What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?
The Martian and Hollow City
Which book surprised you most this year?
I was surprised by how good The Martian was and by how TERRIBLE a pulitzer prize winning book (Olive Kitteridge) can be
Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?
No, if anything I confirmed that certain genres just aren't my thing. Graphic Novels for one, romance for another.
Do you have any reading regrets this year?
Maybe that I didn't find this challenge sooner so I could have finished on time!
What is your reading goal for 2016?
I joined the 52 books challenge, so that is the start of my 2016 plan. I know of several new books coming out in 2016 that I will have to add to my list too. It looks like another 80+ book year in my future! :-)

WRAP UP QUESTIONS

What was your reading goal for 2015? Did you accomplish it?

I had SEVERAL reading goals, both within challenges and book total. My book total goal was 150 and I blew past that with 235. Other goals were specifically tied to challenges. My goal as related to this challenge was of course to satisfy the 52 topics - which unfortunately I didn't hit. I was 6 books shy. I had every intention to finish (had the books ready from the library even), but the entire last week of the year I was dealing with the flu/norovirus and could not read. Need to stop procrastinating :)

What was your favorite book (or books) of the year?

Every year I pick my top 5 ( I could never just pick one!).

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
The Perilous Sea by Sherry Thomas
Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis
Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson

What was your least favorite book (or books) of the year?

I had a handful of books I rated at 1 star. I'm not surprised by several - but I really didn't care for The Bourne Identity, which REALLY surprised me.

Who was your favorite character (or characters) of the year?

So so many. Mark Watney from The Martian (read that book if you haven't - and then watch the movie. Both are excellent). MCs from Code Name Verity. Fermín from The Shadow of the Wind; Uncle Tully from A Spark Unseen ; Paige Mahoney from The Mime Order; Oskar Schell from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (read this book if you haven't)

Who was your least favorite character (or characters) of the year?

I try to forget these :) Any from my 1 star books.

What was your favorite book cover (or book covers) from this year?



Which book surprised you most this year?

The Girl Who Played with Fire - It obviously is quite popular but I did not expect to love it. Took me 3 times to finish the first book but I was completely blown away by this one.

House of Leaves - Books don't really scare me. This book scared the crap out of me.

Did you discover anything new about your reading tastes?

Love memoirs, autobiographies and non-fiction.

Do you have any reading regrets this year?

Not finishing the 52 weeks!

What is your reading goal for 2016?

150 books; finishing the challenge next year!