Favorite Books I Read Last Year
Ugh. Here we are well into January, and I never posted my list of the best books I read in 2015! You’ll notice only a few of these were actually released during that year. I don’t often stick to the New Releases list when choosing books. #sorrynotsorry
I immersed myself in Neil Gaiman in 2015, leading up to his appearance at the resurrected West Virginia Book Festival in the fall. I started with Stardust, then American Gods, then Good Omens, then began the journey that is Sandman (a journey I’m still on, btw). I also got a signed copy of The Sleeper and the Spindle at the book festival – a beautifully written and beautifully illustrated gem. Please don’t ask me to rank all these books. Gaiman seems able to tackle just about any genre he attempts, and I enjoyed each of the books listed here. I’ve got a few more titles waiting patiently on my shelf.
I also accomplished in 2015 a goal that I had undertaken back in 2014, or perhaps even 2013. And that was reading all the Song of Ice and Fire novels with which George R.R. Martin has yet to grace us. I devoured the first three books in the series before taking a lengthy break, trudged through the fourth book over several months, wondered whether or not I even had it in me to read A Dance With Dragons, and finally buckled down and finished it over the summer. I will say that the fifth book is superior to the fourth, but boy were the both of them a chore.
The First Bad Man by Miranda July was a beautifully bizarre book by a beautifully bizarre writer. Her short story collection, No One Belongs Here More Than You, is a charmer and a favorite. She’s done film and music work as well. I’m looking forward to seeing what she comes up with next.
Ransom Riggs unleashed the third book in the Miss Peregrine series, Library of Souls. The first book, as first books often do, remains my favorite of the three, but I thought this a nice ride. I was turning pages.
In what’s becoming another favorite series of mine, William Ritter gave us a second Jackaby novel in Beastly Bones. Called a mix between Sherlock and Dr. Who, Jackaby is a fun and unique character that I look forward to learning more about. The second outing didn’t capture me quite as strongly as the first, but a pleasure nonetheless.
Apparently J.K. Rowling really enjoyed writing her latest Cormoran Strike novel, Career of Evil, the detective series she writes under the penname Robert Galbraith. I’ll certainly say, however, that it wasn’t the most enjoyable of her books to read. This one took me a while to finish. I like the characters and the world Rowling has built around them, and the last novel in this series was great. This one just didn’t thrill me like the others have. But I’ll scoop up the next one and dive right back in, I’m sure.
And finally, we have Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman. Was this a good book? Let’s be honest. No, not in the conventional sense. But that’s okay, because it was never meant to be. It’s an early draft of a manuscript that eventually, after much revision and reimagining, became a classic. I found it a fascinating glimpse into the writer’s process.
