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message 1: by Zaz (new)
Jan 02, 2016 01:16PM

Zaz | 2969 comments As we are now in 2016, it's time to think a little about our reads in 2015 :)

What are your favorite 10 books for 2015?

Any interesting new authors you discovered in 2015?

Are there books you'd like to NOT recommend?


message 5: by Rachel (last edited Jan 03, 2016 02:41PM) (new)
Jan 02, 2016 09:10PM

Rachel A. (abyssallibrarian) | 3238 comments My Favourites of 2015
House Rules - I've read this book once before, but it's one of my favourites and even better the second time
Defending Jacob
Still Alice
Odd Duck
Little Girls - I was very surprised by this. I don't usually read scary stories because they tend to stay on my mind way too long and creep me out. But this one was very well written, and definitely genuinely scary!
Big Little Lies
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (The whole series)
Her Fearful Symmetry
The Joy Luck Club
Anya's Ghost

My favourite new authors
Rainbow Rowell
Lisa Genova
Amy Tan
Lisa See
Liane Moriarty

Books I wouldn't recommend
Saving Max - Very disappointed with this one. I expected so much better.
Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood
The Osiris Complex: Case Studies In Multiple Personality Disorder - I'd recommend only to read a few cases at a time, definitely not reading everything all at once.


message 6: by Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod (last edited Mar 02, 2016 05:43PM) (new)
Jan 03, 2016 07:41AM

Laura | 3780 comments Mod
My Favorites of 2015
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Horns by Joe Hill
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Honorable Mentions
The Good Girl by Mary Kubica
The Martian by Andy Weir
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
In the Woods by Tana French

My Favorite New Authors
Jojo Moyes
Margaret Atwood
Tana French

Not Recommended
Midnight by Dean Koontz
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
The Heir by Kiera Cass


message 8: by Elise (new)
Jan 03, 2016 02:03PM

Elise (theblackhorizon) Top Ten:
1. The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima
2. The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams
3. The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit
4. Fever and Spear by Javier Marias
5. In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower by Marcel Proust (tr. James Grieves)
6. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
7. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
8. Outline by Rachel Cusk
9. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
10. Inversions by Iain M. Banks

New Authors:
It was my first book from all the authors on my top ten besides Proust and Banks. I also first read and plan to read more from Ann Leckie, Elena Ferrante, Virginia Woolf, Steven Erikson, Charles Portis, Thomas Bernhard, James Baldwin, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Flann O'Brien, and Gyula Krúdy.

Not Recommended:
The Name of the Wind (unimaginative world, boring plot, sexist handling of women characters)
The Martian (no sense of place, tedious descriptions of tasks, no introspection or emotional depth apparent in protagonist, internet meme-style humor)


message 10: by L (last edited Jan 04, 2016 02:18PM) (new)
Jan 04, 2016 02:18PM

L | 127 comments Best books of 2015:

Bel-Ami
Bel Canto
Bring Up the Bodies
The Cuckoo's Calling
A God in Ruins
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Vanity Fair
A Mountain of Crumbs: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain
The Affair of the Mutilated Mink

Would not recommend The Red Queen mainly because it has so much overlap with The White Queen by the same author which is a much better read.


message 11: by Jody (last edited Jan 04, 2016 11:50PM) (new)
Jan 04, 2016 11:49PM

Jody (jodybell) | 3477 comments What are your favorite 10 books for 2015?

I read more books last year than any other year, and although I read a crapload of duds, I also read a whole lot that I loved. So I'm happy about that! My Top 10 from the year would probably be:

The Color Purple (Alice Walker)
Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
Middlesex (Jeffrey Eugenides)
The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly (Sun-mi Hwang)
Winnie-the-Pooh (A.A. Milne)
We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Shirley Jackson)
Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut)
Norwegian Wood (Haruki Murakami)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Neil Gaiman)
And Then There Were None (Agatha Christie)
The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

Ok, so there are 11. Shoot me!

Any interesting new authors you discovered in 2015? Yes! Although only new to me, not new to the world. Jeffrey Eugenides, Agatha Christie, Shirley Jackson, Haruki Murakami, Kurt Vonnegut, Margaret Atwood, Charles Dickens, John Steinbeck, Virginia Woolf.

Are there books you'd like to NOT recommend? The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho), Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov) and The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun (Gretchen Rubin) were three books that I absolutely loathed with a fiery passion from 2015. This is a PG forum, so I can't say what I really think about them.

I also learned that I don't really like Toni Morrison, or Ernest Hemingway.


message 14: by Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod (new)
Jan 05, 2016 07:32PM

Laura | 3780 comments Mod
Katie wrote: "What are your favorite 10 books for 2015?

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
[book:The Perilous ..."

It stinks that you didn't like Mara Dyer! I have it on this year's list. What didn't you like about it!


message 16: by Tanya (last edited Jan 06, 2016 10:08AM) (new)
Jan 06, 2016 10:07AM

Tanya (xallroyx21) | 28 comments What are your favorite 10 books for 2015
I'll Give You the Sun
Before I Met You
Battle Royale
Read Between the Lines
Before I Fall
Orphan Train
I Was Here
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride
Station Eleven
We Were Liars

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson Before I Met You by Lisa Jewell Battle Royale by Koushun Takami Read Between the Lines by Jo Knowles Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline I Was Here by Gayle Forman As You Wish Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Any interesting new authors you discovered in 2015?
Matthew Quick
Emily St. John Mandel
Jonathan Franzen

Are there books you'd like to NOT recommend?
The Rule of Thoughts I just can't get into this series
How I Live Now Weirded out by relationships in this one


message 18: by Amanda (last edited Jan 06, 2016 11:25AM) (new)
Jan 06, 2016 11:07AM

Amanda Brady | 69 comments What are your favorite 10 books for 2015?

The Signature of All Things
The Nightingale
The Boston Girl
Big Little Lies
The Girl on the Train
The Marriage of Opposites
Everything I Never Told You
The Aviator's Wife
Snowflower and the Secret Fan
Gone Girl

Any interesting new authors you discovered in 2015?

Melanie Benjamin
Kristin Hannah
Celeste Ng

Are there books you'd like to NOT recommend?

All the Light We Cannot See
*I know I know! I'm like the only person on earth who didn't like this one. I really tried. I read 100 pages and just couldn't get into it.


message 19: by Kathy (new)
Jan 06, 2016 05:04PM

Kathy E | 3239 comments What are your favorite 10 books for 2015?
All the Light We Cannot See
The Red Tent
Euphoria
Life After Life
Relish: My Life in the Kitchen
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
Winter Garden
Lady Windermere's Fan
My Brilliant Friend
The Lake House

Any interesting new authors you discovered in 2015?

Elena Ferrante
Kristin Hannah
Elin Hilderbrand
Oscar Wilde
JoJo Moyes
Elizabeth Gilbert
Louise Penny


Are there books you'd like to NOT recommend?

Not really. They were all worthwhile.


message 23: by Marta (new)
Jan 24, 2016 09:29PM

Marta (gezemice) | 859 comments I also read way more than previous years in 2015, and I was playing catch-up on acclaimed books so I had a lot of good books last year.

Favorites
All Discworld books I read... the funniest was Pyramids
The Color Purple
Jane Eyre
The Handmaid's Tale
The Martian
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
Beloved
Gone Girl
All the Light We Cannot See

New authors
I must mention an old favorite first, Terry Pratchett, who died last year - very sad! - and I still have some Discworld books I have not read, so I will be continuing with them.
New:
Margaret Atwood
Virginia Woolf
Rainbow Rowell

Do not recommend
The Alchemist is the worst book I ever read, hands down
The Giving Tree
Wuthering Heights
Ringworld


message 24: by Francesca (new)
Jan 27, 2016 06:05AM

Francesca | 780 comments My Top 10 Books Of 2015
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
Asking For It by Louise O'Neill
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey
The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas
Mr. Kiss and Tell by Rob Thomas
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum (it was just so excellently and terrifyingly written, even if I didn't particularly enjoy what I was reading, it still deserves a top 10 position.)


New Authors
Margaret Atwood
Alice Walker
Rob Thomas
Jack Ketchum
Mindy Kaling
Louise O'Neill


Books I Hated/Didn't Like
There was only one book from last year that I truly hated but I won't say I wouldn't recommend it because some people would probably love it/do love it:
Bridget Jones's Diary


message 25: by Barbara (last edited Jan 27, 2016 07:18AM) (new)
Jan 27, 2016 07:16AM

Barbara Pereira (babitix) | 969 comments Q: What are your favorite 10 books for 2015?
A:
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Secret Life of Bees
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Thirteen Reasons Why
A Batalha do Apocalipse by Eduardo Spohr
A Batalha do Apocalipse
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Lolita
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
An Abundance of Katherines
Me Before You (Me Before You, #1) by Jojo Moyes
Me Before You
The Ersatz Elevator (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #6) by Lemony Snicket
The Ersatz Elevator
The Boy in the Suitcase (Nina Borg, #1) by Lene Kaaberbøl
The Boy in the Suitcase
The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector
The Hour of the Star
After Auschwitz by Eva Schloss
After Auschwitz

Q: Any interesting new authors you discovered in 2015?
A: Jojo Moyes, I'm in love!

Q: Are there books you'd like to NOT recommend?
A: The Look of Love (The Sullivans, #1) by Bella Andre
The Look of Love
This one is so bad, I gave it 1


message 26: by Bana AZ (new)
Mar 24, 2016 11:31PM

Bana AZ (anabana_a) | 836 comments What are your favorite 10 books for 2015?
1. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
2. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
3. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
5. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
6. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
7. The Young Elites by Marie Lu
8. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
9. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
10. The Stand by Stephen King

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) by Patrick Rothfuss The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1) by Stieg Larsson The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami The Young Elites (The Young Elites, #1) by Marie Lu A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell The Stand by Stephen King

Any interesting new authors you discovered in 2015?
1. Rainbow Rowell
2. Haruki Murakami
3. Patrick Rothfuss

Are there books you'd like to NOT recommend?
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare


message 27: by Jennifer (new)
May 23, 2017 07:05PM

Jennifer Barstad (maidenoflight) I don't know how I missed this last year. Guess I had a lot going on or something at the time, lol.

What are your favorite 10 books for 2015?
Down and Dirty
Breath of Fire
The Sword of Shannara
The Elfstones of Shannara
The Wishsong of Shannara
The Scions of Shannara
The Talismans of Shannara
The Elf Queen of Shannara
Godplayer
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

Any interesting new authors you discovered in 2015?Alexandra Monir
Adrian Magnuson
Sandra Mitchell

Are there books you'd like to NOT recommend?
I can't think of any, even looking through books I read that year, there were none rated below 3 stars.


message 28: by J (new)
May 23, 2017 08:00PM

J Austill | 1069 comments Ah yes, 2015, the year of Discworld. I read 57 books that year, giving 19 of them 5 stars and 17 of those were from Discworld.

1. Witches Abroad
2. Carpe Jugulum
3. To Say Nothing of the Dog
4. Jingo
5. Lords and Ladies
6. Feet of Clay
7. Monstrous Regiment
8. Three Men in a Boat
9. Pyramids
10. Men at Arms

Any interesting new authors you discovered in 2015?
Jerome K. Jerome and George R.R. Martin

Are there books you'd like to NOT recommend?
The Way of Kings and Assassin's Apprentice


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