2015: Year in Review

Seeing as it’s already February, you probably thought you’d seen the last of these “Annual Reading Overviews” everyone feels compelled to post at the end/start of the year.

Sorry, but you have to put up with one more!  I just don’t feel like I can move on with my new reading year without making an attempt, half-hearted as it is, to sort of sum up my bookish activities last year.

I like how Goodreads did most of the hard-work for me, in terms of keeping track of what I read all year, so I’ll just share that with everyone:

 

So at the start of 2015, I set out to read 50 books, but only got around to reading 24 – that’s less than half, and worse than 2014.  However, I do feel that compared to 2014, the books I read in 2015 were a lot better.  I read a lot of Classics, for one thing, and some acclaimed novels, though unlike the previous years, I didn’t read the most recent Booker Prize or Pulitzer winners.

2015 was also the year I gave Jose Saramago a second chance, and I’m truly glad that I did. I really enjoyed this short memoir, Small Memories, and Death with Interruptions.  

According to Goodreads, though I read only 24 books the whole year, those books amounted to 8,377 pages, thanks to Middlemarch, and The Count of Monte Cristo.  The shortest book I read was Imre Kertesz’ Detective Story, which I liked, and the longest book I read was The Count of Monte Cristo, which I loved.  Of all the books I read in 2015, the most popular on Goodreads seems to be Frankenstein, which I consider the worst book I read last year – or possibly ever.  It’s a rather short read, but very disappointing.  Too bad that only 39 Goodreads members has read Koji Suzuki’s collection of short stories, Death and the Flower.  I found it quite compelling, and a great read.

Goodreads averages my ratings to be around 2.9 – I think that’s pretty low, especially considering that I actually liked a lot of the books I read last year.  If I had to choose, I think my favorites from last year were (in no particular order):

1. The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
2. Middlemarch – George Eliot
3. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
4. Death with Interruptions – Jose Saramago
5. Death and the Flower – Koji Suzuki
6. Small Memories – Jose Saramago

My least favorite books from last year were:

1.  Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
2. The Pilgrimage – Paulo Coelho
3. The Hundred-Foot Journey – Richard Morais

I think I gave both Middlemarch and The Count of Monte Cristo 5-star ratings, and both are very excellent novels, but I think when it comes down to it, I’d have to choose The Count of Monte Cristo as my favorite novel of last year – also probably one of my favorite novels of all time.

Oh, and an interesting statistic that isn’t on Goodreads:  I bought 104 books in 2015.  I think it’s the first time I really counted (by posting it monthly on here), so I don’t know if that’s actually more or fewer than previous years.  Honestly, 104 books a year, isn’t nearly enough!  I wasn’t planning on posting my monthly acquisitions this year, but now I’m curious as to whether I can beat my 2015 record…

So there you have it, my 2015 “Year in Review” post.  I’ve set my reading goal this year to 50 books again.  I’ve been setting it for 50 books for the past 5 years, but I still haven’t reached it.  I think the closest I’ve come to it was in 2014 with around 30+ books.  Who knows, 2016 might just be the year I reach 50!

Good luck to everyone, and happy reading!