2015 Year Of Reading Round-Up
Posted 4th January 2016
Category: Round-Ups Genres: N/A
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So this year I read 56 books, carrying 3 over to 2016. I read a similarly paltry number of non-fiction as last year however I’m surprised and quite pleased to say that I read a fair amount of translated fiction – compared to previous years. It’s down to the publishers I work with, yes, but I’ve been inclined to choose translated fiction anyway. I’ve been reading the back of every Murakami I see, trying to see if I can change my initial and lasting thought that I’d like to start with Norwegian Wood. I’ve been looking longingly at Shan Sa – Chinese fiction written in French – and reminding myself that’s it’s all right to re-read a book.
As always, books that have been reviewed have a line underneath them and the title links to the review. Up until my personal favourites list, all books are rated objectively. If you’d prefer to skip all that, click here to view my personal favourites.
The Best Of The Best
- Adelle Waldman: The Love Affairs Of Nathaniel P – Detailing some of the many short relationships of a writer ensconced in the journalism and publishing industry, with a look at why things go wrong for him. This is a really, really, great book.
- Anna Hope: Wake – In the first few years after the First World War, three women struggle, though they don’t always realise it, with the realities of life as it now is. This book is really superb and the fourth thread in it, that of the (fictionalised) story of the Unknown Soldier’s homecoming is very moving; if this book is ever adapted for film I will be very happy.
- Bernhard Schlink: The Reader – At fifteen, Michael has an affair with an older woman and years later sees her once more, this time in a war trial. Fantastic.
- E Lockhart: We Were Liars – Cadence spends every summer on her family’s private island but the younger relations start questioning the perfection. Phenomenal.
- J K Rowling: The Casual Vacancy – The death of a parish councillor not only creates a rush to take his place, it also creates even more tension between those for and against the already-existing integration of a council estate. Loved it – as I said, a great book about awful people.
- Kate Chopin: The Awakening – A wife and mother in 1800s America pushes against the social traditions that restrict her life. Absolutely excellent.
- Nicola Cornick: House Of Shadows – A woman looking for her missing brother starts to unravel the mysteries her brother was working on at the time and finds out the house she’s always seen beyond the trees was destroyed years before she was born. Utterly superb.
5
- Barbara Comyns: Our Spoons Came From Woolworths
- Claire Watts: How Do You Say Gooseberry In French?
- Irène Némirovsky: The Misunderstanding
- James Rhodes: Instrumental
- Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows: The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society
- Meike Ziervogel: Kauthar
- Sara Taylor: The Shore
- Sarah Howe: Loop Of Jade
- Stephen Hawking: A Brief History Of Time
4.5
- Angela Thirkell: The Brandons
- Elizabeth Baines: Used To Be
- Eloisa James: Duchess By Night
- Emma Healey: Elizabeth Is Missing
- H G Wells: The Time Machine
- Helen Lederer: Losing It
- Laura Barnett: The Versions Of Us
- Raymond Jean: Reader For Hire
4
- Elizabeth Fremantle: Sisters Of Treason
- Gøhril Gabrielsen: The Looking-Glass Sisters
- Guy Ware: The Fat Of Fed Beasts
- Judy Chicurel: If I Knew You Were Going To Be This Beautiful, I Never Would Have Let You Go
- Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina
- Mikhail Elizarov: The Librarian
- Paula Lichtarowicz: The First Book Of Calamity Leek
- Tracy Rees: Amy Snow
3.5
- Aki Ollikainen: White Hunger
- Annie O’Neil: Doctor… To Duchess?
- Eloisa James: When The Duke Returns
- Intisar Khanani: Sunbolt
- Jo Walton: Among Others
- Lisa Hilton: Elizabeth – Renaissance Prince
- Nancy Bilyeau: The Tapestry
- R J Gould: A Street Café Named Desire
- Robert Merle: The Brethren
- Sarah Govett: The Territory
- Shannon Stacey: Taken With You
- Téa Obreht: The Tiger’s Wife
3
- Amy Stewart: Girl Waits With Gun
- Erica Vetsch: The Cactus Creek Challenge
- Georges Simenon: The Late Monsieur Gallet
- Helen Oyeyemi: Boy, Snow, Bird
- Horace Walpole: The Castle Of Otranto
- Sunjeev Sahota: The Year Of The Runaways
2.5
2
- Melanie Shawn: Let It Snow
My Personal Favourites
I fell into a half-planned, half-accidental rhythm some time within the first few months, starting with Adelle Waldman. I found myself inclined to read literary fiction and suitable review copies were arriving. It’s been a good thing because, as this website probably indicates, I enjoy literary fiction a lot even if I think the category itself odd. But there was still that lingering feeling of fear; where literary fiction involves much thought, I worried I wouldn’t be able to do it justice in my reviews. I know I sometimes miss elements when I get distracted by something that intrigues me a lot. That worry’s still there – it’s almost part and parcel with the genre I think, given the implied elitism – but it’s lessened. I suppose like anything, practise is key.
My reading was skewed towards women at 41 – I’m looking to balance it out a bit this year. Three books were non-fiction, 9 translated fiction. I read 5 bonafide classics, if you will (because I’d include Comyns and Thirkell myself), and the oldest book I read was the Walpole. Unsurprisingly there were a variety of new-to-me authors, 45 to be exact. It’s a fair number and, whilst I’m happy to be broadening my author horizon, it did indicate that I need to get back to the backlists of old favourites. Lastly, and I’m a bit embarrassed about this, it turns out I’ve been giving Mary Ann Shaffer an extra S in her surname ever since I reviewed her book in June…
Quotation Report
Striking somewhat of a chord is Nate from The Love Affairs Of Nathaniel P who comments on the way the numbers that may constitute a popular book would earn a television show the axe.
Aunt Sissie of The Brandons suggests staying in bed as a way to live longer, whilst Delia would likely not suggest anything due to her morbid fascination with death and disease. Being in the car with someone on their way to hospital for appendicitis is so brilliant after all, darling.
Mori of Among Others brings a smile when she says she’s going to keep Dodie Smith’s I Capture The Castle for a day she’s interested in a good siege. There is also this, showing double standards: ‘How interesting that what comes out as doing the best he could in a man looks like neglect in a woman’.
Gat from We Were Liars states that a novel should deliver a series of small astonishments, which is a lovely way to put it and surely what we often look for when we sit down with a book.
In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy makes a good point when he suggests that women lacked rights because of a lack of education and a lack of education led to a lack of rights. On a humorous note, he also points out that a man can sit uncomfortably in a chair but be happy enough as long as he knows he can move – if he knows he can’t move that same position will be impossible.
In the next few days I’ll be posting my goals for 2016 as well as my second film round up.
What were your favourite books of 2015?
January 6, 2016, 9:55 pm
You reminded me I wanted to keep two ratings for the books I read this year–good thing I’ve only finished one so far so I don’t have to think too far back. :-)
This is a wonderful look at your reading this past year, Charlie. I like how you broke it up by ratings. So glad to see The Reader up there. So many others are books I would like to read.
I hope you have a very Happy New Year!
January 10, 2016, 2:07 pm
The Reader! Such a brilliant book, so glad to see it was a highlight of your 2015. Only having one 2 star is impressive too, you’ve had a good real all round :)
January 11, 2016, 3:49 pm
I’m always sorry to see that Girl Waits With Gun often disappointing, because the premise sounds really interesting. Maybe a film adaptation is in order?
January 12, 2016, 11:03 am
Literary Feline: I’ve found letting myself rate twice when I *need* to works well. Good idea to start this year (I tried to work backwards, doesn’t work).
I find it’s easier to format by rating, though I do wonder about changing it sometimes as it takes so long to write! The Reader blew me away, it’s excellent. Happy new year!
Jessica: Thinking of it like that, 23 favourites, does make it sound good. I’m happy with the number of five and four star reads, certainly. The Time Machine’s excellent and nice and short ;) It’s difficult, isn’t it? I used to pick 5, then 6, now it’s 7.
Alice: Yes, I couldn’t not include it. Yeah, looking at the number of 4 and 5s it hasn’t been bad, that’s for sure. Makes me feel better about the lower number.
Alex: It would be okay as a film if they added action and made the contents reflect the title. The issue is the lack of action in so far as there’s too much conversation and the interesting part of Constance’s story isn’t this part.
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jessicabookworm
January 5, 2016, 2:37 pm
Looks like you’ve had a great year of reading as you 23 favourite reads! I haven’t read any of them sadly, but I would love to read The Time Machine by H G Wells. Like you and I am sure many other book lovers, I couldn’t simply pick one or two favourites so I have done a Top 10 post, which I am pleased has a good mixture of classic and modern fiction on it.