Top Picks Read in 2015 and 2016 Reading Goals

It's New Years Eve and time for both reflecting back and looking forward.  Sadly (for me), I probably bought more books in 2015 than I read...my TBR pile is taking over the house!  But I am excited to read and whittle it down over 2016.  Except that I know that I will keep adding to it, so perhaps the number of books TBR will not decrease!

My goal for 2015 was to read 50 books.  I came in at 52, so I topped my goal.  Still not nearly as many books read as I wish, but I need to keep working on that!  Only 4 of my 2015 books read were non-fiction, which is more than the previous year, so I will continue to work on that one. I always have the best intentions, and have started many, but I only pick them up to read every once in awhile.  I am usually so caught up in the fiction book that I am reading that it takes my reading time priority.

As usual, my top favorite book numbers are odd....I will begin with my Top 17 books read in 2015 (listed in chronological reading order):

The Night Birds-Thomas Malton

A Spool of Blue Thread-Anne Tyler

Ruby-Cynthia Bond

What She Left Behind-Ellen Marie Wiseman

The Bone Tree-Greg Iles                               

A Lucky Life Interrupted-Tom Brokaw        

The Secret Wisdom of the Earth-Christopher Scotton

Ordinary Grace-William Kent Krueger

A long time gone-Karen White

Skylight Confessions-Alice Hoffman

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy-Rachel Joyce

The Good Girl-Mary Kubica

Kitchens of the Great Midwest- J. Ryan Stradal

Disobedience- Jane Hamilton

The Sacrifice-Joyce Carol Oates                              

House Rules-Jodi Picult

The Nightingale-Kristin Hannah *(see Note at bottom)

I loved every one of these books and recommend that if you haven't read any of those listed to give them a try. Now the hard part...narrowing down to the Top 10:

The Night Birds-Thomas Malton

A Spool of Blue Thread-Anne Tyler

The Bone Tree-Greg Iles                               

The Secret Wisdom of the Earth-Christopher Scotton

Ordinary Grace-William Kent Krueger

Skylight Confessions-Alice Hoffman

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy-Rachel Joyce

Disobedience- Jane Hamilton

The Sacrifice-Joyce Carol Oates                              

The Nightingale-Kristin Hannah

It's breaking my heart to narrow this down, but here's the top 5:


The Night Birds-Thomas Malton

The Secret Wisdom of the Earth-Christopher Scotton

Ordinary Grace-William Kent Krueger

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy-Rachel Joyce

The Nightingale-Kristin Hannah

I really loved all five of those books, but I must move on...to the top 3:

The Night Birds-Thomas Malton

Ordinary Grace-William Kent Krueger

The Nightingale-Kristin Hannah

I'll tell you a secret...it is almost painful to chose the number 1 book.  But here goes: my number one favorite book read in 2015 is the first book I read this year:

 The Night Birds by Thomas Malton.

An absolutely brilliant work! Read it!

Goals for reading for 2016?  I'm going to try to keep them modest.  I would like to increase from the 52 books read (this year).  I came across a site that listed eight "must read" books and I decided that I would read them over the next year.  I found two of them yesterday at the used bookstore, so they will be my start.  The books are:

See Jane Run-Joy Fielding
We Were Liars-e. lockhart
You-Caroline Kepness
Second Life-S.J. Watson
Luckiest Girl Alive-Jessica Knoll
Her-Harriett Lane
The Silent Wife-A.A.A. Harrison
The Memory Box-Eva Natiello

I am always interested in participating in the various reading challenges that are out there, but with belonging to two books clubs that both meet each month I feel like that's enough pressure on my reading!  I guess my other goal will be to finish reading some of the non-fiction that I have started...I need a push with that, so maybe setting that goal will do it.

I feel like a little kid starting a new school year...I am really excited to begin a new year of reading!

*Note-I haven't reviewed The Nightingale yet because it is the January read for one of my book groups, so check back later in January 2016 for that!

Brave Enough

This will be a short review which is appropriate because Brave Enough is a quick read (it took me Wild and other books.  Wild is one of my most favorite books.  Brave Enough is a small book of quotes from all of the the author's books.  She writes with much wisdom and common sense so I was intrigued to read this book.
maybe an hour at most).  This is a book by Cheryl Strayed, the author of

I liked it a lot and will look through it again at different times.  My only wish was that I wanted to know exactly what book each quote was from.

April & Oliver

The day before Christmas Eve while I was in our small little town grocery shopping I was struck with fear that I might not have enough to read over the holidays ( never mind my ever-growing to-be-read piles) so I headed to the library and found a couple of books.  Thankfully, because I did need one that night to read!

And that one was April & Oliver by Tess Callahan, a debut novel that had had read mixed reviews.  I

had a bit of a time actually getting into it and it wasn't until about halfway through the novel that it really began to peak my interest.  That being said, I ended up really liking the book.

The novel began with the tragic death of April's younger brother in a one car accident, where Buddy happened to be driving April's car.  Of course, April was terribly grief-stricken and wondered if the accident was somehow her fault (were the brakes faulty? etc.).   At the funeral was April's best childhood friend and first cousin, Oliver, who she had not had contact with for years. Oliver had returned to their childhood community home (where April still lived) with his fiancee to attend law school at Columbia.  April had not gone on to college, but remained home working in bars and getting hooked up with "bad boys".  She helped care for her grandmother and was currently involved with TJ.  Oliver's return to the area brought up all the lingering, smoldering feelings for each other that they had never acted on. And Oliver firmly believes that he is committed to his fiancee.

The story brings up lots of old secrets, while events occurring stir things up.  It is a story of longing and grief for much.

April asked her grandmother about a story that she had told her when a man had kissed her many years ago.  Although she didn't tell her grandmother, the story evoked feelings that April had for Oliver. Her grandmother told her:

"Remember him, April.  Even when you can't picture his face anymore, you owe each other prayers.  And I'm not talking about sappy, sentimental stuff.  Or fantasy, either.  You pray for the hardest moments in his life, years down the line, when he's in a foxhole, or his child is sick, of he finds he has cancer.  No one escapes calamity, but a kiss like that can last you your whole life."

"I'm not saying that you think about it all the time.  It just leaves you different than it found you."

I liked how the story ended (no, I'm not telling).  It was a good read.

House Rules

House Rules by Jodi Picult was the December read for one of my book groups.  I had read it several

years before, but re-read it for group.  I am usually a fan of her books and this one is no exception.

 House Rules is a story about a teenage boy, Jacob Hunt, who was in high school and had Asperger's syndrome. Jacob lived with his mother and his younger brother.  There were several "house rules" that were never to be broken.  One was that the brothers were always to look out for each other.

Jacob was especially interested (obsessed) with forensic science and had a real talent for solving crimes when he watched crime shows.  He was well-knowledged in all that was involved in forensics.  Jacob had a "tutor" to help him with life skills (like learning how to interact appropriately with other people) and she was one of the few people that Jacob tolerated well.  However, she was found murdered.  And Jacob was the last person known to have seen her.  Jacob's interest in all that was involved in solving her murder added to the suspicion that Jacob had murdered her.

This was a really good story and led to great discussion for our group.  However, we all agreed that the repeated information about Asperger's was redundant and distracted from the book.  Other than that....another Jodi Picult success!