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2015 IN REVIEW

It's soon time to wrap up the year, so we thought we would ask some questions to see what you all have read this year!

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?

2. What were your favorite books this year?

3. What were your least favorites?

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?

5. Did you discover any new genres?

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite

Winter's 2015 in review

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?
- It was my first year and I kept changing the goal. I reached the first goal of 60 pretty fast, but I then set the bar too high. Probably won't reach 115 before the year is over, but I have never read as much as this year:)

2. What were your favorite books this year?
Never Let Me Go This book just blew me away!
Also The Home and the World was really good and maybe the most surprising to me since I expected nothing.
Other than that there were a bunch of good ones, and quite some five stars! I really feel like I read a lot of awesome books this year spread out in different genres!

3. What were your least favorites?
The Iron Heel To its' defence I know many who like it, but boy it took me a long time to read! The style didn't completely agree with me and I struggled with all the social conversations.

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
-The Glass Bead Game I could practically feel my brain stretching to grasp all concepts, it required my full attention!

5. Did you discover any new genres?
-I haven't really gotten into Science Fiction before now. I am exited to continue exploring next year!

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite?
-Yes!! I SPY and A-Z ended up being my top favorites even though I'm unlikely to be able to finish them.

1.) I did reach my reading goal this year and I'm still reading!
2.) My favorite books this year were Bring Up the Bodies and Blood & Beauty: The Borgias
3.) My least favorites were The September Queen (I really hate when books promise a strong, resilient, intelligent heroine and what you really get is a weak, pining girl) and Night of Sorrows (I learned more about codpieces and crotch scratching than I will ever need to know).
4.) I did not really stretch my comfort zone this year. Maybe next year with some of the new challenges.
5.) I did read a few more fantasy novels this year than I normally would. Usually I hang out inside a historical fiction bubble.
6.) I joined this group later in the year so I did not participate in any challenges. I look forward to the challenges I have signed up for in the coming year.

Great questions Winter!

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?
I have not yet, but I will!

2. What were your favorite books this year?
The Water Knife, The Dovekeepers, City of Stairs, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, Dark Beyond the Stars

3. What were your least favorites?
Landline and The Rosie Effect

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
I never read horror, so Bird Box was an adventure for me

5. Did you discover any new genres?
Horror!

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite?
My favorite is always Listopia, but I also really liked nonfiction bingo.

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?
Yes, but I set it kind of low (36), then changed it (54) and didn't change it again. Is that cheating?

2. What were your favorite books this year?
Hmmm. I really enjoyed the Red River, Vol. 1 manga series.

3. What were your least favorites?
Hands down An American Tragedy. Either Theodore Dreiser had no editor, or the editor hated him.

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
I guess not. I wasn't an adventurous reader at all.

5. Did you discover any new genres?
Erm. See number four.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite ?
I just joined recently, but next year....watch out!! ;-)

Sara wrote: "Yes, but I set it kind of low (36), then changed it (54) and didn't change it again. Is that cheating?"

Totally not cheating! I do this almost every year, haha.

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?

Nope. Life wasn't co-operating! I set it to 150 but barely managed 22+ books. kinda disappointed but I hope I do better next year!

2. What were your favorite books this year?

The Martian by Andy Weir
A Dance with Dragons by George rr Martin

3. What were your least favorites?

Paper Towns by John Green (worst book.)

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?

yes. The Martian. It's a book I'd normally never would pickup but my favorite actor, Sebastian Stan, was going to be in the movie and once I started to learn more about it and after reading a couple of Andy Weir's short stories, I just loved his writing style.

5. Did you discover any new genres?

no. I'm such a bad person for branching out, I try but I don't do it often and I didn't do it this year.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite

no, challenges this year for me. :/

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?
I went over it actually! I set a goal for 105 (same as last year) and I'm up to 142 right now. I expect to hit at least 145 by the end of the year.

2. What were your favorite books this year?
The Handmaid's Tale, Still Alice, and Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances.

3. What were your least favorites?
A Spell for Chameleon, The Secret History of Wonder Woman, and The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra.

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
Citizen: An American Lyric, both because of the content and the style.

5. Did you discover any new genres?
I read way more comics this year, which was great.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite?
I liked the Favorite Genres challenge the best.

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?

My goal was set at 101, and I'm at 149, so yeah. (I tend to undershoot a bit and not adjust the challenge even when I hit goal early - I'd rather have the glow of "challenge completed" than self-imposed stress over whether or not I read "enough", heh.)

2. What were your favorite books this year?

This was an unbelieveably great year in books. I have too many favourites to list. LoveStar: A Novel, Seveneves, Planetfall, Ancillary Mercy and The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic - and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World and... a dozen more.

3. What were your least favorites?
I came to really dislike The Book of Strange New Things - enough that I'm still a bit cranky about it almost a year after reading it. And The Dinosaur Lords was a huge disappointment to me.

(There were also many, many problems with The Dark Forest - though I ended up giving it a five star rating, because it did that rare trick of becoming a good book in the last 15% or so. But the rest of it pretty much failed at making me want to keep reading at all, so ugh.)


4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?

Only sort of. I have issues with the characterization of many young male narrators, so both The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and Grasshopper Jungle had parts I wasn't amused by.

5. Did you discover any new genres?
Naah. I stuck to my usual menu of genres. But December and the Advent challenge really has given me a whole new appreciation of short stories, for what it's worth.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite?

I really liked the Complete Works one! It has provided me an excellent "excuse" to go through 15-16 novels by a favourite author. And I enjoy Listopia and I Spy.

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?

Yep, I set my goal at 80 and I finished my 84th book this morning.

2. What were your favorite books this year?

My top 5 were:

Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters
Station Eleven
Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?
Outliers: The Story of Success
A Woman Of Independent Means

3. What were your least favorites?
I have to agree with Kara and say The Rosie Effect was a huge disappointment--Rosie's characterization in it was so perplexing to me. I also finished Five Red Herrings last week and thought it was a total bore.

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East

I read it for the Red Couch Discussion Group in February and I learned a ton about Middle Eastern politics that had never crossed my mind before.

5. Did you discover any new genres?
Is literary dystopian a genre?? Because I totally wrote Station Eleven off as sci-fi (and I typically don't read sci-fi). A friend forced me to read it though and it became one of my top books of the year!

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite?

I did several challenges this year, but I Spy was the one one run by this group that I participated in. I enjoyed it a lot, but I did not complete it due to my goal of trying to reduce my TBR. If a book met a prompt great, but I did not read any books specifically for the challenge. I completed 18 of the 25 prompts though. The last book I completed for the I Spy challenge was Autumn Light: Illuminations of Age on 9/30 for the Seasons prompt.

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?
Soon after I joined ŷ������ this summer, I set my reading goal to 10 books. Due to the fact that I was busy writing my thesis, I hadn't read a book at all before the summer. In October/November I somehow read through all seven Harry Potter books in about a month, and decided to change my goal to 15 books. I am now halfway through the 17th book, although I doubt I'll be able to finish it this year.

2. What were your favorite books this year?
The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
I loved this book. It was only after reading it, that I found out it was the second book in a series. I hope to read the other two books in 2016.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the Harry Potter books. I never really liked the movies, which is the reason I had never read the books until now.

3. What were your least favorites?
The Dutch translation of The Girl on the Train. I gave up after 50 pages and didn't understand what all the fuss was about. I thought it was dreadful. Until I picked up an English version. Turns out to be much better. I have no idea what's up with that translation.

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
I developed a dislike for books about WW2 during secondary school, where I had to read too many of them and didn't enjoy reading them. After my aunt gave me a copy of The Book Thief though, I decided I no longer had an excuse not to read it. I liked it much more than I had expected. Maybe 15/16 is just not the right age to read books about the war. I may read more WW2 books from now on.

5. Did you discover any new genres?
If WW2 is a genre, see previous question. If it's not, I guess I haven't discovered any new genres.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite
I have only just joined this group, and haven't participated in 2015 challenges. I am very excited about starting the "around the world" 2016 challenge though.

1. Yes reached my goal.

2. Favorite books
A, saint odd/dean Koontz
B. orphan train/Christina baker Kline
C. See me/Nicholas sparks

3. Least favorites
a. A happy marriage/Rafael Yglesias
B. the eyre affair/jasper fforde
C. Listen to the silence/David W. Elliott

4. Out of comfort zone: no

5. New genes: no

6. Favorite challenges..
A. Turn the pages
B. banned books
C. Clear the shelves

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal? Yes, my original goal was 56 which I exceeded, revised it to 75 and exceeded that goal as well. My total right now is 94 books.

2. What were your favorite books this year? Gone with the Wind, The Sisters Brothers, Winnie-the-Pooh and Wolf Hall

3. What were your least favorites? At Swim-Two-Birds. Hands-down, I hated it.

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone? The Girl with All the Gifts . So unexpected about the type of book, but it turned out to be a great page turner.

5. Did you discover any new genres? No, I read pretty widely anyway.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite? The read women challenge helped me find some great new-to-me authors.

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?

Not yet, I'm 5 books short of it. I'm not 100% sure I will be able to make it, but I hope so - and in the end, it doesn't matter, what matters most is that I'm having fun reading!

2. What were your favorite books this year?

To name but three: S., The Circle, The Complete Persepolis.

3. What were your least favorites?

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (couldn't finish it), Seraphita (couldn't finish, either), The Radiant Way.

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?

Actually, I started with audiobooks this year, so in a way, yes. I believe my first one was The Point of Honor: A Military Tale.

5. Did you discover any new genres?

Mmmm, not really.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite

Let's Turn Pages, readwomen and Favorite Genres, although I only managed to complete the first one.

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?

Oh, I blew past it pretty much - twice! I had it at 130 and turned out to be way too low, so sometime after reaching that I moved it up to 250, and now it looks like I'm going to be finishing at 300+ for the year.

2. What were your favorite books this year?

To name only a few, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Journey to the River Sea, Fullmetal Alchemist (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 2, Station Eleven, The Wizard's Dilemma, The Goldfinch, and Reaper Man. That's not even telling a tenth of the story though.

3. What were your least favorites?

The Reluctant Assassin and Rise of the Zombies. Simply baffling.

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?

I'm not even sure I have a comfort zone? Or else that it's so big that the idea of stretching out of it is kind of ludicrous. I really wish I had a better answer to this question, being honest.

5. Did you discover any new genres?

I less discovered new genres and more embraced old ones in a bit of a greater way, really. That being said, I did definitely read a fair bit more horror, nonfiction, and graphic novels than I used to, and I listened to more audiobooks than I used to too.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite?

The Book Riot Read Harder challenge was fairly interesting, as was the A-Z challenge.

I love reading all your answers and "stealing" recommendations! Looks like everyone found some great books this year!

2015 IN REVIEW

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?
>> I have 7 more to go to reach my goal of 150. I think I will meet my goal if I try really hard and maybe include some short stories or children's books.

2. What were your favorite books this year?
>>The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a new all time favorite. I need to make an all-time favorite book shelf. I also loved Different Seasons, Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales, Fay, Trespassers

3. What were your least favorites?
>>The Book of Strange New Things, Harvesting the Heart

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
>>I didn't really stretch out of my comfort zone BUT I did read more sci-fi than I normally would. I guess I never realized the range that sci-fi really has. I think I had this misconception that all sci-fi was Star Trek-ie.

5. Did you discover any new genres?
>>YES! It's called "Grit Lit". I don't really know how to describe it but there is a listopia for it. Fay is a great grit lit novel. I THINK, that in "Grit Lit", the protagonist is often times from the rough side of the tracks and the genre is also associated with the Southern U.S.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite
>> I loved the freedom of the A-Z challenge but the I-Spy was also great and not too difficult to accomplish! I like the simple challenges :)

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?
I made goal of 25 books but I change it to 45 books and I have one more book to read this year to complete my challenge and I'm sure I can do it.

2. What were your favorite books this year?
Tom Barber books I really enjoyed them.

3. What were your least favorites?
Follow You Home I didn't really enjoy this book.

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
Bought and Sold

5. Did you discover any new genres?
No not really .

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favourite
Random challenge
Turn pages

Kelly's 2015 in Review

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?
Yes! I set a goal of 32 books and I am currently reading book 42!

2. What were your favorite books this year?Some of my favourites were Dangerous Girls, The Girl with All the Gifts and All the Light We Cannot See.

3. What were your least favorites?
I enjoyed almost all the books I read, but if I had to pick then my least favourite was probably I Am Legend.

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
The Shadow of the Wind is not the type of book I would usually go for, but I read it as part of a challenge and really liked it.

5. Did you discover any new genres?
I hadn't really read any historical fiction before this year, but reading The Shadow of the Wind and All the Light We Cannot See has definitely left me wanting to discover more.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite?
I only joined this group halfway through the year but I really enjoyed the A-Z Challenge and managed to complete it. I've already signed up for several of 2016's challenges!

Thanks for running this group, it's definitely inspiring me to broaden my reading!

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?

Did not have a numbered reading goal this year.

2. What were your favorite books this year?

The Crisis by Winston Churchil l (from MO, USA)
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Peace with God by Billy Graham
Killing Hitler by Bill O'Reilly
Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History by Brian Kilmeade

3. What were your least favorites?

Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy
Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?

The End of the Ancient World and the Beginning of the Middle Ages by Ferdinand Lot

5. Did you discover any new genres?

Historical Fiction (The Crisis)

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite

The only challenge I met was the NaNoWriMo, 50k words in 30 days. Wrote the rough draft of a Spiritual Fiction, Terminal to Eternity.

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?
My first goal was to read a 100 books, I later changed this to 75 but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to complete my goal. I started the challenge in April, and I was also in my final year of high school so it may not have been realistic for me to expect to reach such a high number. I am going to try to reach 75 next year!


2. What were your favorite books this year?
I absolutely loved The Night Circus. Other favorites were The Lunar Chronicles series, To all the boys I've loved before, Me Before You, Far From The Madding Crowd. Ugh I read so many great books this year!


3. What were your least favorites?
I had no clue what to expect when I started reading Kafka On The Shore, but when I had finished it, I was mostly just confused. I didn't hate it, but I didn't exactly like it either.


4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
Burial Rites made me do that - in some way. Because it's such a dark subject, and it was portrayed in such a beautiful way.


5. Did you discover any new genres?
Not that I can think of.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite
I really like the #readwomen challenge!

Ok here I go!

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?

A. Depends... On book number yes I did and will finish a few more by the end of the year... In terms of page number... Let's wait till the 31st . Still a lot of pages to cover

2. What were your favorite books this year?

Some of them will be...Yes Please, The Girl with All the Gifts and Purple Hibiscus.. But there where many other good books around there!

3. What were your least favorites?

Go Set a Watchman and The Lost Symbol

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?

Not sure here... Since I am usually very open minded in books my comfort zone so so far I can just say most hard to read or books I do not like... But I do not think I was out of my comfort zone this year... Maybe shame on me because of it.

5. Did you discover any new genres?

Yes I do not recall reading a memoir before and I read three of them this year Bad Feminist, Yes Please and How to Be a Woman

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite

I participate in several challenge, will not end all but for sure my favorites has been readwomen, A to Z and the Book Riot.

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?

I have two more to finish to reach my goal. I think I will make it.

2. What were your favorite books this year?

I gave both The Inhabited Woman and Deogratias, A Tale of Rwanda 5 stars.

3. What were your least favorites?

I tried to read Innocent Erendira and Other Stories. I'm sorry I picked that one up. I didn't even bother counting it towards this year's books I hated it so much.

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?

I don't think so.

5. Did you discover any new genres?

I read both Kindred and The Last Summer of Reason, both of which are listed as science fiction. They both seem more like historical fiction. Not really what I was expecting from that genre, which I don't normally read.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite

I liked both Nonfiction Bingo and I Spy. I think I like challenges associated with games.

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?
I joined in March and was on 30 books, so I set my goal to 100 but still managed to fail. Summer caught me off guard. I reset my goal to 75 and now I'm on my 78th book.

2. What were your favorite books this year?
A Pale View of Hills, Het Hemels Mandaat: De Geschiedenis van het Chinese Keizerrijk, Jane Eyre, A Streetcar Named Desire and absolute favorite Beloved.

3. What were your least favorites?
All Things New, way to preachy which made this particular book boring, predictable and unrealistic. I should have looked into the book before picking it up. :P Kenau I was looking forward to reading this but it disappointed me greatly. Boring.

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
I'd say a 600 page non fiction history book looked a bit daunting to read as recreational reading at first.

5. Did you discover any new genres?
A lot. I love that I joined the challenges it pushed my out of my comfort zone and got me reading non fiction, autobiographies and plays which I all loved.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite?
I liked the Favorite Genre Challenge since it steared me to books I otherwise wouldn't have picked up. I also did the Popsugar Reading Challenge for myself which I loved for the same reason.

2015 IN REVIEW

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal? - Yes! I way exceed my first goal, and upped my goal several times this year. I loved being able get back into reading...

2. What were your favorite books this year? The Martian , anything by Phillipa Gregory and Up Jumps the Devil

3. What were your least favorites?
The Selection and all the rest of those books... and the book that shall not be named (Consequences

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
Iron Curtain : The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1945-1956 - because it made me think about things
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - same

5. Did you discover any new genres?
I got into a more horror/mysteries courtesy of Camilla Lackberg

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite?
My favorite was the A-Z challenge! It let me read such a variety of books! I've signed up for next year's version already...

Jackie B's 2015 In Review

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?
I blew my goal out of the water! My original goal was 40 books, which was much higher than my typical yearly average. However, I found this group and have ready almost 150 books to this point!
I never upped my goal officially, I just wanted to see how I far I could make it.

2. What were your favorite books this year?
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern was the most satisfying to me. I don't know what it was about that book, but when I was done I happily closed my book and appreciated the afterglow. Like a good meal.
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki also strongly impacted me. I thought it was a masterful blend of genres and it kept me fascinated for a long time.

3. What were your least favorites?
The Heir of Olympus and the Forest Realm by Zachary Howe. For sure. I was reflecting on my reading and I actually had to go back and downgrade my original rating of a two star to a one star. It was painful.

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth pushed me out there. A collection of short stories (which I rarely, if ever, read) focusing on a demographic of people I am unfamiliar with. It was just a very different book for me to read. It did encourage me to look more into short stories, though!

5. Did you discover any new genres?
Can you believe I had never even heard of magical realism before this year? Now it's a must in my regular reading.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite
I participated in 4 yearly challenges this year. My favorite was definitely I Spy. It was fun trying to locate all those books! I also really enjoyed the Favourite Genres challenge. This pushed me outside of my comfort zone for sure. I loved it!

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?
I might reach my first goal of 50 because I'm almost done with 4 books, but I won't make 65. Life got in the way, but I have a week off starting Friday, and I plan on reading a lot!

2. What were your favorite books this year?
The Color Purple was fiction favorite. That book blew me away. I knew it was going to be good because it's a classic, but I loved so much more than anything else I read this year. The Sociopath Next Door: The Ruthless Versus the Rest of Us was my non-fiction favorite. For anyone who has ever had a relationship with someone explode, and you can't figure out why, read this.

3. What were your least favorites?
Casino Royale was awful. Good thing James Bond is pretty. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom was a waist of a weekend for me. I like self help, I can usually find something helpful, but not this time.

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
Firestarter was my first Stephen King novel. I had tried reading him in the past, and struggled with his writing style. I enjoyed the book, but it took me about 100 pages to get into the flow of the story.

5. Did you discover any new genres?
If you can count C.S. Lewis as a genre, than yes. I would say the world of fantasy he creates in his books was very new to me...along with The Hobbit. I've read modern fantasy books, but never any pre 1980.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite?
The A to Z challenge and the PopSugar challenge (even though it wasn't an official one).

I won't reqch my goal by a longshot! but that's ok. I had health problems and a death in the family at the beginning if the year. So I took a few months off. Out if the books I read I think my favorite was the new book in the 50 Shades series called Grey. My least favorite was a short story I just read the other day. I can't remember the name of it. It was a free book for my nook from barnes and noble and it was terrible! I'm hoping for better things and more reading time in 2016!

2015 IN REVIEW

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?
First year using goodreads to keep a record of my reading so passed my original goal of 30 and my updated 45 so upped my goal for 2016.

2. What were your favorite books this year?
The Invisible Library Genevieve Cogman
The Crane Wife Patrick Ness
A Mother's Story Amanda Prowse

3. What were your least favorites?
Vanishing Point
Gone Girl - started but couldn't get into it

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
A Mother's Story Amanda Prowse

5. Did you discover any new genres?
Timeslip
Reintroduced to science fiction / fantasy books - hadn't read for a long time but have enjoyed reading this year

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite
Partcipated in and enjoyed A-Z Challenge and I-spy challenge - both helped expand my reading and looking forward to more challenges in 2016

2015 In Review
1.Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?
The goal that really motivated me to read was the 2015 PopSugar Challenge, which can be found in the discussion section as it was not a yearly challenge. Unfortunately, I am going to miss completing the challenge by about 3 books. This coming year, I'm focusing on structure. Less random reading, more controlled. I really want to try to get my TBR list under somewhat control (LOL!!!!! One can always dream). I have a had a wonderful year of reading and wouldn't change it for anything. I may not have finished the challenge, but I did reach my goal of reading more. I love it!

2. What were your favorite books this year?
The Martian
Big Little Lies
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Eleanor & Park
The Nightingale
These were the Top 5 of the year!

3. What were your least favorites?
The Name of the Wind
The Stand
The Maze Runner
Each have their own reasons as to why I didn't care for them, Name of the Wind was a big surprise for me. It has all the elements that normally appeal to me, just couldn't get into it.

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
What If? : Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
This book was really sciency and I didn't understand a lot of what I was reading. What I did understand was really fun.

5. Did you discover any new genres?
I didn't discover so much as went back to paranormal romance. Started reading the Mercy Thompson series. I missed these kinds of books!
Moon Called is the first book

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite
The Listopia Challenge was one of my favorites. I also didn't finish this one and am continuing it into next year. It's forcing me to read books that most people read in school, that my classes didn't cover. A lot of these books are "classics" or "staples" to English/Literature classes that I never read (Catcher in the Rye, Anna Karenina, Catch 22, ect). Looking forward to continuing this in 2016

Delmy (－‸ლ) wrote: "1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?

Nope. Life wasn't co-operating! I set it to 150 but barely managed 22+ books. kinda disappointed but I hope I do better next year!

2. What ..."
Totally agree with you on the John Green book. I know I'm in the minority, but the only books of his that I have liked was Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska. Abundance and Paper Towns were terrible!!

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?
Just reached it! Had to read 17 books this month to catch up......

2. What were your favorite books this year?
Pride and Prejudice, The Illustrated Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and A Christmas Carol.

3. What were your least favorites?
I am the Messenger and A Court of Thorns and Roses

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
The Rest of Us Just Live Here and The Yellow Wallpaper, as they both have mental illness themes, which normally I find reading about too 'close to home'.

5. Did you discover any new genres?
Poetry (normally quite intimidated by poetry)- 'The Goblin Market'. Thanks to my secret santa!

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite
I did not this year as have only recently joined but I'm looking forward to doing the I-Spy, Every Year and Goodsread Choice Awards challenges in 2016!

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?
Yep.

2. What were your favorite books this year?
Oh! That's difficult... I read some good ones this year!
A Scanner Darkly was excellent. So was Babel-17/Empire Star

3. What were your least favorites?
Ascension and Consider Phlebas

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
Mindscape. Strange, wacky, and utterly wonderful.
Equal of the Sun was also out of the norm for me (ultimately good, but not quite as rewarding as I'd hoped.)
Oh, also Please Look After Mom (link in point #5). I usually avoid books like that.

5. Did you discover any new genres?
I was going to say "not really," but then I realized that Please Look After Mom doesn't match up with anything I've read before. "General Fiction," sure, but of a new flavor for me. So there's that.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite ?
N/A. Just joined. ;)

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?

Yes, I actually surpassed my 2015 goal of 50 and read a total of 71 books this year.

2. What were your favorite books this year?

I feel like I didn't have as many stand out as last year, but my favorites were The Husband's Secret, The Diary of a Young Girl, The Girl You Left Behind, Go Set a Watchman, The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

3. What were your least favorites?

The Painted Girls, The Widow of the South, and Bread and Butter

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?

My book club read more science fiction this year, and the one that made me stretch out of my comfort zone the most was The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy- it was alright. I can say that I finished it at least!

5. Did you discover any new genres?

The only genre I really got into was science fiction. Apart from Hitchhiker's Guide, I also read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas and Frankenstein this year.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite

I did the Complete Works challenge and the Randomizer challenge and enjoyed both!I'm doing the Randomizer challenge next year as well and am looking forward to the list I ended up with!

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?
I did :D With two extra books. 22/20

2. What were your favorite books this year?
A Storm of Swords and A Monster Calls

3. What were your least favorites?
Easy! The Magicians and The Book of Dragons

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
I guess not. I think the closest would be Foundation, but mostly because of all the talking.

5. Did you discover any new genres?
Poetry! I never really thought I'd like any of that, and true, there's a lot of poetry I would never read, but I did read some really good collections this year, and I think I'm gonna look for more in 2016.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorit?
Let's Turn Pages. Then again, it was my only one. But I really liked it, and I'm going for even more pages in 2016!

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal?
My reading goal was 60 books (set it conservatively) and I managed to read 134 books. Set my goal higher this year.

2. What were your favorite books this year?
The Absolutist by John Boyne
The Martian by Andy Weir
Legacy Code Series by Autumn Kalquist
The Powder Mage series by Brian McClellan
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Uprooted by Naomi Novic
Station Eleven
Guns of the Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky

3. What were your least favorites?
Ancillary Justice
Book of the Dead
The Husband's Secret
The Painted Man
Long Prince Quartet by Daniel Abraham (super slow series, kept dreading it)
Seveneves

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
The Painted Man due to its obvious and unneeded sexism and racism.

5. Did you discover any new genres?
No

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite
I just joined this group this year so I haven't had the chance yet... 2016 looks like a promising year though.

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal? Exceeded my goal. Goal was 50, read 69. Goal for 2016 is 75.

2. What were your favorite books this year?
The House of Thieves by Charles Belfoure & Seaside Surprises by Stacy Claflin

3. What were your least favorites?

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
Stabled by Penny Lam It's a dark erotic romance and it intrigued me but also made me uncomfortable.

5. Did you discover any new genres?
Yes Paranormal romance, dark erotica, mixed martial arts romances

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite
I only did the main challenge. Am doing a cozy challenge too for 2016.

1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal? Yes, my goal was 55 books and I read 70!

2. What were your favorite books this year?
Queen of Shadows and Cress

3. What were your least favorites?
Silence - I couldn't even finish it, I hated it so much! and UnEnchanted - only finished this one to complete a reading challenge.

4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone? Saga, Volume 1 because I'd never read any comics/graphic novels before but I ended up really loving it!

5. Did you discover any new genres?
Um, no I don't think so.

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite? I wasn't a member of the group last year so I didn't so any of the challenges. I plan to this year though! :D

2015 IN REVIEW


1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2015 reading goal? Yes I reached my Overall goal and exceeded it by 20! I did NOT finish my Favorite Genre Challenge though the 8 I did complete did stretch my borders!

2. What were your favorite books this year?
Arg I have to choose??
stayed with me a long time.
The Yada Yada series was great Neta Jackson


3. What were your least favorites?
Well," Ellie's Window " had a good message but was the poorest written one.
was just depressing to me, though I know most loved it
4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone? Yes, The Favorite Genre challenge helped me so much. was in the "Gaming Fiction" Category- I had to search what that even was! But I enjoyed it

5. Did you discover any new genres? Gaming Fiction, and Science fiction had never really caught my interest but I enjoyed C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy - well the 2 I read anyway 8)

6. If you participated in any of our yearly challenges, what was your favorite . Probably Favorite Genre because it stretched me so much but I also enjoyed my other one which was "Women Authors" I read 39 unique women authors! Over half were new to me!

2015 was my first as a goodreads member. I set an initial goal of 52 books and then when I hit that I changed it to 100. In the end, I had read 102 books.
My favorites this year were Nevermore and Kitty Saves the World. The latter finished off the Kitty Norville series with an ending I was satisfied with. Nevermore annoyed me, even though it was awesome, because now I have to wait another year for the next book!
I didn't branch out into any new genres and I don't really remember a book I didn't like. Though Dracula was probably one I enjoyed least.
I just recently joined this group so I didn't participate in any challenges last year.