My Favorites from 2015

I've got somewhere in the vicinity of 30 reviews from 2015 still pending.  To say I'm behind would be an understatement (a repetitive one). But, since I adore reading everyone else's faves of the year, I figured I'd better share mine too. These are not necessarily published in 2015, just what I happened to pick up and love.

Best sequel:

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson

Best keep-you-guessing-to-the-end read:

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

Best classic retelling:

Longbourn by Jo Baker

Best laugh-your-pants-off read:

Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman

Best love-being-a-girl read:

The Forgotten Sisters by Shannon Hale

Best fairy tale retelling:

Rump by Leisl Shurtliff

Best entertaining nonfiction:

Packing for Mars by Mary Roach

Best nonfiction to inspire you to be better:

I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

Best can't-put-it-down-must-read-faster book:

The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski (review to come)

Best as-good-as-the-first-time reread:

 The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (my original review)

Best why-did-I-wait-so-long-to-pick-this-up read:

 The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley (review to come)

Best end of the series:

Winter by Marissa Meyer (review to come)

Best new fantasy series:

Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson (review to come)

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Books Read in 2016

Here are the books I've read during 2016:

1. These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
2. The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech
3. Bone Gap by Laura Ruby
4. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
5. The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
6. Emma by Jane Austen
7. Dearest by Alethea Kontis
8. Cabinet of Earths by Anne Nesbit
9. Illuminae by Amie Kaufmann and Jay Kristoff
10. Calamity by Brandon Sanderson
11. Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth
12. Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
13. Call the Midwife: Shadows of the Workhouse by Jennifer Worth
14. Call the Midwife: Farewell to the East End by Jennifer Worth
15. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
16. The Only Pirate at the Party by Lindsey Sterling
17. Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose
18. The Martian by Andy Weir
19. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
20. Sorrow's Knot by Erin Bow
21. Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski
22. The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
23. The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
24. May B. by Caroline Starr Rose
25. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
26. Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay
27. The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz
28. The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
29. The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz
30. 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad
31. Peaceful Parent, Happy Child by Laura Markham
32. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
33. Kepler's Dream by Juliet Bell
34. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel by Suzanne
35. Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
36. Follow the River by James Alexander Thom
37. Quiet by Susan Cain
38. Jefferson's Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
39. Me Before You by JoJo Moyes
40. Still Alice by Lisa Genovo
41. One Plus One by JoJo Moyes
42. The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Lemmon
43. Gemina by Amie Kaufmann and Jay Kristoff
44. Heartless by Marissa Meyer
45. A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir

2014 by the Numbers

Baby loves reading too!

And here's a bare bones record of stats for the year 2014.  Nothing too exciting or different this year, unfortunately, except my reading's gone down since having a baby.  Surprise, surprise :).  Then again, I didn't count the billion board books I read or the 50 or so picture books, so there's that. 

Books read in 2014: 74
(as a comparison, I read 130 in 2012, before the baby; 84 in 2013, baby born in June)
DNFs: 5

Formats: 
e-books: 30 (pretty big increase, actually)
audiobooks: 3
print books: 41

Source:
For review, both e-books and ARCs: 16
From my collection (not for review): 20 (yeah!)
Borrowed: 2
From the library (including e-books): 36

Reasons: (do we really need them?)
Rereads: 4 (fyi: Lord of the Rings is being counted as three books, since that's how I read them)
Book Club: 7
Read-along: 3 (delightful LOTR read-along)

Age groups/genres:
MG: 14
historical fiction: 2
fantasy: 9
realistic fiction: 1
classic: 1 (Peter and Wendy)
nonfiction: 1

YA: 46
historical fiction: 3
short stories: 9 (all sci-fi/dystopian)
sci-fi (including dystopian): 12 (+9 short stories)
fantasy: 17 (including 4 historical fantasy...)
realistic fiction: 4 (though, I'm not sure what to call Second Star - magical realism?)
classic: 1 (Tom Sawyer)

Adult: 14
historical fiction: 3
fantasy: 4
realistic fiction: 1 
mystery(!): 4 (I don't even like mystery, in general)
nonfiction: 2

Authors:
Female: 49 (dominated the YA category)
Male: 23 (dominated the MG category)
Male/Male: 1
Male/Female: 1

And despite my enthusiasm for stats, I have no desire to make charts or otherwise analyze my numbers.  I did, however, make a goal to read 80 books this year, a jump of 6 from last year.  Totally doable.  Especially if I count picture books :)

Favorite Reads of 2014

I'm ridiculously behind in reviewing (and general blogging), but I had to post my favorites from this year of reading.  It's been a great year for me, but not generally in the reading department (and definitely not in the blogging area).  I read 71 books this year, but I'll save all the fun stats for a later post (that's my incentive to do said post :).  I have to admit, when I looked over the list, I didn't really have a lot of books that jumped out at me as favorites.  Basically, this was relatively easy!  Here they are, categorized by genre:

YA Historical Fiction:

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Opened my eyes to how many stories and sorrows there are that I will never know about.  Cruelty of humankind will never cease to amaze me.  Also, resiliency!

YA Historical Fantasy:

Chime by Franny Billingsley (review to come)
Fascinating, strange, and beautifully written.  I was engrossed from the start.

YA Fantasy/Sci-fi:

Cress by Marissa Meyer
More, please, Ms. Meyer.  I love this series!

Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White (review to come)
I really enjoyed the fantasy and the magic woven in this tale.


Atlantia by Ally Condie (review to come)
Different and unique and once more, beautifully written.

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge (review to come)
Intriguing and fascinating and if I had had a copy in hand, unputdownable (I listened to the audio).


Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater (review to come)
Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater (review to come)
Let's just get me the last book in this series, already.  I'm always surprised by where these books end up!

MG Historical Fiction:

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
Hello, novel in verse.  I love seeing unique historical periods through the eyes of a child.

MG Non-Fiction:

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (review to come)
There's a reason this book is being raved about.  It is fantastic and I wish I could just read it over and over all day long.  Also written in verse!

MG Fantasy:

The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw by Christopher Healy (review to come)
Many thanks, Mr. Healy, for the belly laughs.

Adult Fiction:

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty (review to come)
Made me really think about where I've been and where I'm going in life.  Who do I want to become?

Adult Fantasy:

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (review to come)
Such a rich and detailed fantasy world Sanderson has created.  I'll take another helping, please!

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (reread!)
Never gets old.  Truly, the best fantasy for me.

Adult Non-Fiction:

Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand (review to come)
The book touched me in many ways, noting again the cruelty of mankind and the ability we have to rise above extremely horrific circumstances.  Truly inspiring!

What were your favorite reads this year?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage