2015 Reading in Retrospective: Book Survey
End of the Year Book Survey
This year, I met my reading goal and then some thanks to a healthy portion of reading play scripts over the summer. I read 62 titles, 17 of which were plays, for a total estimation of 13,722 pages read. Here are the results!
1. Best book read in 2015.
The Martian by Andy Weir. An astronaut gets stranded on Mars and must find a way to survive until help arrives. I loved the humor and drama of this book, along with the combined techniques of telling this narrative through astronaut logs, email conversations, and character viewpoints from those on Earth.
2. Book you were excited about & thought you were going to love more, but didn’t:
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. This book got rave reviews online, but I was completely turned off by the constantly complaining of a poor little rich girl. While the ending was good, it did not make up for the struggle of getting through the middle.
The Kill Order by James Dashner. I was really looking forward to a prequel to The Maze Runner about how Thomas was before the maze, but I was tricked by the sample chapter into reading a narrative about the original disaster of the sun flares with completely new characters I didn't care about.
Point Blank by Anthony Horowitz. I loved Stormbreaker so much that this second installment was disappointing.
3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2015.
Shakespeare's R&J by Joe Calarco. I ended up LOVING this adaptation to Shakespeare's play by Calarco. Using Shakespeare's words, four boys in a prep school setting sneak away to read this drama and end up mirroring some of the characters throughout the night. Completely using Shakespeare's words, Calarco is able to tell his own new story.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I was helping a student with his research paper by reading this novel along with him. I was very much surprised by what this classic novel was actually like and how enjoyable it was to read and how screwed up their future world was.
The Tutors by Erica Lipez. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this play, but I was satisfied with where it went along the way.
4. Book you read in 2015 that you recommended the most?
The Martian by Andy Weir.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown. When the "red" Darrow finds out his Mars mining community has been lied to and enslaved by the "golds", he undergoes a complete physical transformation to infiltrate their ranks and plan his revenge on the ruling caste.
5. Best series you discovered in 2015.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown, which includes Golden Son and another coming out in 2016. I love Darrow's rise through society as his life in the university training programs and military are as dangerous as his political maneuvers and connections.
6. Favorite new author discovered in 2015.
Pierce Brown. He actually replies to his tweets!
7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone.
Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. Books this large usually intimidate me. Why read all that when I can read five other titles in the same time frame? It helped that I listened to the abridged audio book on the way to and from work, but I am glad I dedicated the time to this epic.
8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book of 2015.
Insurgent by Veronica Roth. This was a good action-packed follow up to Divergent that not only added more plot, but exposed more about their world and deepened the characters in it.
Golden Son by Pierce Brown. As exciting as Red Rising, but the stakes are higher this time around.
9. Book read in 2015 that you are most likely to reread.
The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider. I enjoyed this high school novel, and I will consider making it a part of my Contemporary Literature course. It's a great look at social pressures and relationships in high school.
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015.
The Martian by Andy Weir. Simple yet I love the color scheme.
Honorable Mention:
The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider. Something about the colors, roller coaster, and the font really brings me in.
11. Most memorable character of 2015.
Jean Louise "Scout" Finch from Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. It was very interesting to see Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird all grown up and dealing with her return to a hometown that is not as perfect as she saw it when she was younger.
Ezra Faulkner from The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider. I loved watching this former popular high schooler struggle with returning to school after being out recovering from a car crash. I liked seeing how successful or unsuccessful he could be jumping back into a world that did not stop moving just because he was gone.
Alaska from Looking for Alaska by John Green. All of JOhn Green's leading ladies are pretty much the same, but this one has a sense of mystery about her that really drives the story onward (and does so better than Paper Towns's Margo).
12. Most beautifully written book of 2015.
Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley. I was so intrigued with the writing style of this book. One half focuses on the main character Cullen after the disappearance of his younger brother, and this story line alternates with seemingly random characters and subplots until both arches meet as the end of one becomes the beginning of another. I've never read something like that before.
The Library by Scott Z. Burns. I really liked this play about the aftermath of a school shooting as slowly more information about the incident becomes clearer as the drama progresses. I kept imagining the amazing staging as I went through the script. Would be nice to see live.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. About a boy growing up and being protected by the ghosts in a graveyard, these characters from time periods throughout history are amazingly unique. This book has a great story line that shines because of the characters involved.
13. Book that had the greatest impact on you.
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. While this is more of a failed first draft than it is an actual sequel, it was interesting to see the changes in Maycomb and, more importantly, Atticus, and to see how Lee took one story and completely rewrote it into the classic it is today. So many have been debating this book that it really has an effect on how I see To Kill A Mockingbird and how I teach it to my freshmen.
When a Friend Dies: A Book for Teens About Grieving & Healing by Marilyn E. Gootman. In the aftermath of a real world tragedy in our school community, I discovered this book in the hope that it might offer some comfort to those dealing with loss of a fellow classmate through suicide. It also helped me with some ways that I might talk to my students about it as well.
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2015 to read.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. As a huge fan of the 1963 horror film The Haunting, I am surprised that this book has been on my shelf that long and unread. I'm glad I read it. Not a usual reader of horror, I was surprised that this book could still make me nervous while reading it in the middle of a sunny afternoon.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I had the ending ruined for me a while ago, so I was never quite motivated to read this novel. I'm glad I got over it, because this book had way more to offer.
15. Favorite passages/quotes.
“He’s stuck out there. He thinks he’s totally alone and that we all gave up on him. What kind of effect does that have on a man’s psychology?” He turned back to Venkat. “I wonder what he’s thinking right now.”
LOG ENTRY: SOL 61 How come Aquaman can control whales? They’re mammals! Makes no sense.”
- The Martian by Andy Weir
16. Shortest and longest books read in 2015.
Shortest: All the Rage (38 pages)
Longest: Fall of Giants (985 pages, even though I technically listened to the abridged audiobook)
17. Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to someone about it.
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. The ending really needed some talking.
I re-read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, and Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. All of these offered great conversations with my students.
18. Favorite relationship in a book read in 2015 (romance, friendship, etc.)
Nobody "Bod" Owens and Silas from The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Silas becomes Bod's guardian as a baby after Bod's parents have been killed. Silas offers sanctuary to Bod in the graveyard, trying to help him master proper learning and ghost learning until Bod slowly runs out his time in the graveyard as he grows older.
Parzival (Wade) and Aech ("H") from Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Best friends in the cyber world of OASIS, these two become close. But when one gets closer than the other to solving the puzzle to win the game creator's inheritance, tensions grow. But it's when they finally meet in the real world that things get crazy.
I re-read The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, and I can't get enough of my favorite never-to-be-together couple of Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley.
19. Favorite book you read in 2015 from an author you read previously.
I read three authors this year that I have previously read: Veronica Roth, Anthony Horowitz, and James Dashner. Out of those options only, I guess my favorite was Insurgent.
20. Best book you read in 2015 based solely on a recommendation.
We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach. The world is about to end as an asteroid comes closer and closer to crashing into our planet. The world falls apart and goes crazy as first high school social structures and then eventually laws and order fall into chaos. Following four major characters in overlapping narratives, I really did enjoy this book very much. (Thanks, Teddy!)
21. Genre you read the most in 2015.
Play scripts (drama, theater)
22. Best 2015 debut.
We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach.
I'm not sure if Golden Son counts as a debut even though it was published in 2015. I'm thinking no.
23. Most vivid world/imagery in a book you read in 2015.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Excellent world created on Mars with the technology and caste structure.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Entering the virtual reality world of OASIS and it's gaming search through 80s geek-dom was an awesome trip.
24. Book that was the most fun to read.
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart and The Eye of Minds by James Dashner. While not amazingly fantastic novels, both offered fun puzzles and riddles that readers got to attempt to solve along with the characters.
25. Book that made you cry.
No tears this year. Sorry.
26. Best book you read that you think got overlooked this year or when it came out.
I'll pick We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach because I never heard of it until a student recommended it, even though I also think Robyn Schneider's The Beginning of Everything probably deserved a little more press.
This year, I met my reading goal and then some thanks to a healthy portion of reading play scripts over the summer. I read 62 titles, 17 of which were plays, for a total estimation of 13,722 pages read. Here are the results!
1. Best book read in 2015.
The Martian by Andy Weir. An astronaut gets stranded on Mars and must find a way to survive until help arrives. I loved the humor and drama of this book, along with the combined techniques of telling this narrative through astronaut logs, email conversations, and character viewpoints from those on Earth.
2. Book you were excited about & thought you were going to love more, but didn’t:
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. This book got rave reviews online, but I was completely turned off by the constantly complaining of a poor little rich girl. While the ending was good, it did not make up for the struggle of getting through the middle.
The Kill Order by James Dashner. I was really looking forward to a prequel to The Maze Runner about how Thomas was before the maze, but I was tricked by the sample chapter into reading a narrative about the original disaster of the sun flares with completely new characters I didn't care about.
Point Blank by Anthony Horowitz. I loved Stormbreaker so much that this second installment was disappointing.
3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2015.
Shakespeare's R&J by Joe Calarco. I ended up LOVING this adaptation to Shakespeare's play by Calarco. Using Shakespeare's words, four boys in a prep school setting sneak away to read this drama and end up mirroring some of the characters throughout the night. Completely using Shakespeare's words, Calarco is able to tell his own new story.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I was helping a student with his research paper by reading this novel along with him. I was very much surprised by what this classic novel was actually like and how enjoyable it was to read and how screwed up their future world was.
The Tutors by Erica Lipez. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this play, but I was satisfied with where it went along the way.
4. Book you read in 2015 that you recommended the most?
The Martian by Andy Weir.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown. When the "red" Darrow finds out his Mars mining community has been lied to and enslaved by the "golds", he undergoes a complete physical transformation to infiltrate their ranks and plan his revenge on the ruling caste.
5. Best series you discovered in 2015.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown, which includes Golden Son and another coming out in 2016. I love Darrow's rise through society as his life in the university training programs and military are as dangerous as his political maneuvers and connections.
6. Favorite new author discovered in 2015.
Pierce Brown. He actually replies to his tweets!
7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone.
Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. Books this large usually intimidate me. Why read all that when I can read five other titles in the same time frame? It helped that I listened to the abridged audio book on the way to and from work, but I am glad I dedicated the time to this epic.
8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book of 2015.
Insurgent by Veronica Roth. This was a good action-packed follow up to Divergent that not only added more plot, but exposed more about their world and deepened the characters in it.
Golden Son by Pierce Brown. As exciting as Red Rising, but the stakes are higher this time around.
9. Book read in 2015 that you are most likely to reread.
The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider. I enjoyed this high school novel, and I will consider making it a part of my Contemporary Literature course. It's a great look at social pressures and relationships in high school.
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015.
The Martian by Andy Weir. Simple yet I love the color scheme.
Honorable Mention:
The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider. Something about the colors, roller coaster, and the font really brings me in.
11. Most memorable character of 2015.
Jean Louise "Scout" Finch from Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. It was very interesting to see Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird all grown up and dealing with her return to a hometown that is not as perfect as she saw it when she was younger.
Ezra Faulkner from The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider. I loved watching this former popular high schooler struggle with returning to school after being out recovering from a car crash. I liked seeing how successful or unsuccessful he could be jumping back into a world that did not stop moving just because he was gone.
Alaska from Looking for Alaska by John Green. All of JOhn Green's leading ladies are pretty much the same, but this one has a sense of mystery about her that really drives the story onward (and does so better than Paper Towns's Margo).
12. Most beautifully written book of 2015.
Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley. I was so intrigued with the writing style of this book. One half focuses on the main character Cullen after the disappearance of his younger brother, and this story line alternates with seemingly random characters and subplots until both arches meet as the end of one becomes the beginning of another. I've never read something like that before.
The Library by Scott Z. Burns. I really liked this play about the aftermath of a school shooting as slowly more information about the incident becomes clearer as the drama progresses. I kept imagining the amazing staging as I went through the script. Would be nice to see live.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. About a boy growing up and being protected by the ghosts in a graveyard, these characters from time periods throughout history are amazingly unique. This book has a great story line that shines because of the characters involved.
13. Book that had the greatest impact on you.
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. While this is more of a failed first draft than it is an actual sequel, it was interesting to see the changes in Maycomb and, more importantly, Atticus, and to see how Lee took one story and completely rewrote it into the classic it is today. So many have been debating this book that it really has an effect on how I see To Kill A Mockingbird and how I teach it to my freshmen.
When a Friend Dies: A Book for Teens About Grieving & Healing by Marilyn E. Gootman. In the aftermath of a real world tragedy in our school community, I discovered this book in the hope that it might offer some comfort to those dealing with loss of a fellow classmate through suicide. It also helped me with some ways that I might talk to my students about it as well.
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2015 to read.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. As a huge fan of the 1963 horror film The Haunting, I am surprised that this book has been on my shelf that long and unread. I'm glad I read it. Not a usual reader of horror, I was surprised that this book could still make me nervous while reading it in the middle of a sunny afternoon.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I had the ending ruined for me a while ago, so I was never quite motivated to read this novel. I'm glad I got over it, because this book had way more to offer.
15. Favorite passages/quotes.
“He’s stuck out there. He thinks he’s totally alone and that we all gave up on him. What kind of effect does that have on a man’s psychology?” He turned back to Venkat. “I wonder what he’s thinking right now.”
LOG ENTRY: SOL 61 How come Aquaman can control whales? They’re mammals! Makes no sense.”
- The Martian by Andy Weir
16. Shortest and longest books read in 2015.
Shortest: All the Rage (38 pages)
Longest: Fall of Giants (985 pages, even though I technically listened to the abridged audiobook)
17. Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to someone about it.
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. The ending really needed some talking.
I re-read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, and Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. All of these offered great conversations with my students.
18. Favorite relationship in a book read in 2015 (romance, friendship, etc.)
Nobody "Bod" Owens and Silas from The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Silas becomes Bod's guardian as a baby after Bod's parents have been killed. Silas offers sanctuary to Bod in the graveyard, trying to help him master proper learning and ghost learning until Bod slowly runs out his time in the graveyard as he grows older.
Parzival (Wade) and Aech ("H") from Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Best friends in the cyber world of OASIS, these two become close. But when one gets closer than the other to solving the puzzle to win the game creator's inheritance, tensions grow. But it's when they finally meet in the real world that things get crazy.
I re-read The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, and I can't get enough of my favorite never-to-be-together couple of Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley.
19. Favorite book you read in 2015 from an author you read previously.
I read three authors this year that I have previously read: Veronica Roth, Anthony Horowitz, and James Dashner. Out of those options only, I guess my favorite was Insurgent.
20. Best book you read in 2015 based solely on a recommendation.
We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach. The world is about to end as an asteroid comes closer and closer to crashing into our planet. The world falls apart and goes crazy as first high school social structures and then eventually laws and order fall into chaos. Following four major characters in overlapping narratives, I really did enjoy this book very much. (Thanks, Teddy!)
21. Genre you read the most in 2015.
Play scripts (drama, theater)
22. Best 2015 debut.
We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach.
I'm not sure if Golden Son counts as a debut even though it was published in 2015. I'm thinking no.
23. Most vivid world/imagery in a book you read in 2015.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Excellent world created on Mars with the technology and caste structure.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Entering the virtual reality world of OASIS and it's gaming search through 80s geek-dom was an awesome trip.
24. Book that was the most fun to read.
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart and The Eye of Minds by James Dashner. While not amazingly fantastic novels, both offered fun puzzles and riddles that readers got to attempt to solve along with the characters.
25. Book that made you cry.
No tears this year. Sorry.
26. Best book you read that you think got overlooked this year or when it came out.
I'll pick We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach because I never heard of it until a student recommended it, even though I also think Robyn Schneider's The Beginning of Everything probably deserved a little more press.
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