2015 in Review

Wave goodbye to 2015 and prepare yourself to screw up the date on forms for a little while. This was a pretty good year for me, actually. There was a stint of four years or so there where it felt like every year was worse than the next, but we’ve leveled out and I’m in a pretty decent place right now. Everyone I know is relatively healthy, I’m living with a girl I love, we’ve had a dog for over half a year and haven’t killed it yet. There’s certainly a lot of room for improvement, but I’m optimistic for 2016.

The Weblog

I had big plans for this weblog last year, but I didn’t really make any changes. I’m still posting regularly, a year later, which I think is a small achievement in itself. This is definitely the longest I’ve ever kept up a hobby like this, coming up on five years in a few months.

There are changes I want to make still. I’d like to clean up the design a bit this year. I’ve also been considering adding ratings and finally admitting to the fact that I’m writing reviews here. Mostly I want to catch up to the books I’ve read, which I didn’t do a good job of last year. I very nearly caught up at the beginning of December, but then I went blog-free for a few weeks. It will happen soon, though.

The Stats

Overall books read: 48

Format
Graphic novels and trade paperback collections: 6
Audio books: 22
Poetry compilations: 1
Short story or essay complications: 4
Plays: 0

Country (of author)
America: 25
England: 8
Scotland: 4
Ireland: 3
Russia: 2
Canada: 2
Czech Republic: 1
Nigeria: 1
South Africa: 1

Other
Most novels by same author: 2 (Iain Banks, Arthur Conan Doyle, Terry Pratchett)
New authors (to me): 22
Female authors: 4
Re-reads: 0.5 (I read half of Disgrace in university, so I’m using it.)

Observations

• My physical reading went down this year. I need to build up that habit again and start making time to read. My audiobooks went up quite a bit this year though, due to all the dog walking. Ten more audiobooks this year than last.
• I’m still not reading many female authors. I’m certainly not avoiding them, but they just don’t seem to naturally make it into my to-read pile, so I’d like to make more of an effort there as well.
• I’d also like to start reading more from authors I already know, delve deeper into their work. I had the same idea last year and the count of new authors actually went up by four in 2015. I love finding new authors, but I think there’s something to be said for reading more than a book or two from someone’s bibliography.
• No plays read. I wanted to, at least, read one Shakespeare a year. I’ll have to move a couple up in priority.
• I’d like to start reading more graphic novels and comics again. Even one a month would be great.

The Challenges

The Classics Club: I only have five of the fifty books left to read, so I’ll be finishing that off this year. I currently have fifteen months left on it, so I’m not sure what I’ll do when that happens. Start over? Continue to the end and see how many I rack up?

2015 TBR Pile Challenge: Success! I used my two alternatives, but I read the twelve. I wouldn’t have gotten to a few great reads if not for this one.

Back to the Classics Challenge 2015: Not as successful, but still read 8 (technically 9) of the categories and, again, picked up a couple of great books because of this.

The Top Threes

These are all lists of media that were new to me this year, not necessarily released this year.

Fiction

1. Red Rising by Pierce Brown
2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
3. The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi

Non-Fiction

1. A Slip of the Keyboard by Terry Pratchett
2. In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
3. An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield

Audiobook Narration

1. Jeremy Irons narrating Lolita
2. Tim Gerard Reynolds narrating Red Rising
3. Sissy Spacek narrating To Kill a Mockingbird

Comic

1. Sex Criminals, Volume 2 by Matt Fraction
2. Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
3. Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

Movie

1. My Week with Marilyn (2011)
2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
3. The Imitation Game (2014)

Video Game

1. Insurgency
2. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
3. Rocket League

Television series – Fiction

1. BoJack Horseman, seasons 1 & 2
2. Master of None, season 1
3. Portlandia, season 1 – 3

Television series – Non-Fiction

1. The Mind of a Chef, seasons 1 & 2
2. Chef’s Table, season 1
3. Departures, seasons 1 & 2