Book Talk: Top 15 Books of 2015 & 2015 Wrap Up

I read a lot this year. Like, a lot. I'm gradually working my way up to reading 100 books in one year. That's a tall order. I'm taking it easy and setting realistic goals but I'm still pushing myself. The goal I set at the beginning of 2015 was 80 books but when I completed that in November, I extended it ten more books. I just barely made it, which makes me even prouder of my accomplishment. If you're curious to see what my Year in Books looked like, you can click that link because Goodreads so graciously put it together for me. Now what are you waiting for?! There's a lot to get to under the read more!

Stats:

• Books read: 92
• Genre:
• Fantasy: 45
• Science fiction: 18.5
• Non-fiction: 8
• Contemporary: 7
• Dystopian: 6
• Thriller/Horror: 3.5
• Mystery: 3
• Historical Fiction: 1
• Total pages: 31,392

I knew I was a fan of fantasy but it wasn't until I tallied up all the books I read that I got an idea of just how much of what I read was fantasy. Just under half of the books I read in 2015 were fantasy. That's crazy. To be fair, there are a lot of subgenres within fantasy. Perhaps I'll break it down even further this year to see where my interests truly lie. I read more non-fiction than I thought I would, but seeing as I'm in school, I guess it isn't a surprise. What really surprised me was the low number of contemporary novels I read. Usually those are my go-to for cutesy feels but it's possible some of those pushed the boundaries and leaned more towards fantasy.

Now here's the list we've all been waiting for: Yvette's 15 favorite books of 2015. Maybe that's an overstatement. I know I was excited to make this list. There isn't going to be a definite ranking but the order this list is in is generally where the book would place if it were to be a definitive list (but realistically things start fudging towards the bottom of the list because it's just too hard to get them all in order). There are just too many factors to truly rank them. I liked a lot of these books for different reasons, whether they be the contents of the book, they way it impacted me, or how I felt while reading it, and that's what I'll be briefly mentioning in these descriptions. If you want more in-depth thoughts, you can click on the title of the book which will redirect you to the monthly wrap up it was featured in. If you want even more than that, strike up a conversation with me! They're my favorite books for a reason and I'd love to talk about them.

Top 15 Books of 2015:

The Martian by Andy Weir

If you know me at all, you know I have nothing but praises to sing for The Martian. This is hands-down my favorite book of the year. A lot of books come close but nothing can top The Martian. It's nothing like you'd expect it to be and reading this book is honestly an experience. I felt so immersed in this story that there were a handful of times (even when I wasn't reading) that I was actually concerned about the astronaut on Mars that we needed to bring home. I felt this urgency that I'd never felt with another story. Everything felt very real and plausible, especially because Watney talked through the science with us as he was coming up with ways to survive. My love for this book is overwhelming. It shows the humanity and ingenuity of people that makes everything feel right. The obstacles had me on the edge of my seat and they only made me want Watney to survive even more. As you can tell from this paragraph, this book gave me a lot of feels. I actually started crying writing this because I loved it so much. (I may or may not also have started crying in class thinking about space...) Please read The Martian. 

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

I don't know where I was in 2014 because I heard zilch about Red Rising. It wasn't until Golden Son's release that I caught on to some buzz that piqued my interest. It's hard to describe this book. It's science fiction and it critiques the class system we find in our society. Red Rising was compared to The Hunger Games, and normally that comparison is only drawn as a marketing ploy. Not in this case. That being said, the setting for these "Games" are very different. They're used as a tool to gain even higher social standing and political power, even though only the best of the Golds (the highest class) are admitted. We get to learn a lot about the politics of the society and literally everything is a political maneuver, which is really interesting for me to read. I love working out what the motives are for certain actions and seeing them come to fruition. This trilogy is turning out to be one of the best things I've ever read and I'd give it a go if I were you. It's gruesome and gritty at times but based on what I've just told you, that shouldn't be a surprise. 

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh 

At this point, I've recommended The Wrath and the Dawn to countless people. The thing that left the biggest impression on me was the construction of the atmosphere. As a reader, I was able to slip into the world with ease. Another strength this book had was the character development. Both Shahrzad and Khalid grew tremendously from the start of the book to the end where secrets were revealed and relationships thrived. I was captivated throughout the entire novel. Between the romance(!!!), magic, atmosphere, and action, there was no shortage of excitement. Shahrzad and Khalid have a relationship to die for (and I'm sure either of them would do so without batting an eye if it came to it). They're truly the definition of relationship goals. The magic is also very intriguing, even though we don't get to see much of it in this first installment. The sequel, The Rose and the Dagger, is one of my most anticipated novels being released this year and I'm hoping to see a lot more of their relationship and some more of the fantastical elements of this world.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

The Song of Achilles is a book I'd heard a lot about but I wasn't sure if I was ever going to pick up. I love Greek mythology and all that but it was an adult novel and that put me off. Thankfully, with some gentle nudging by Allison, I checked it out from the library and I am so glad I did. The prose was beautiful and the story was so well crafted. It's a retelling of The Iliad so the ending was to be expected but it was still so heartwrenchingly bittersweet. As you're reading, you feel like you're really in Ancient Greece, experiencing all these events and emotions with Patroclus. The way their love was written was so beautiful and touching and I'm going to use "beautiful" a lot to describe this book because that's what it is. Finding adult novels like this has opened doors in the types of books I choose to read and hopefully one day I'll come across another just as beautiful as this one. 

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

By the time I had gotten around to Snow Like Ashes, there had been so much hype going around about this book that there was no way it could live up to my expectations, but somehow it did. A high fantasy novel following a girl whose people have been enslaved and she, in a band of refugees, has to find a way to free them, uncovering some life changing secrets along the way. Snow Like Ashes tells a story that sucked me in and made me never want to leave. The more I read, the more I wanted to know about each kingdom and how they interact with each other in this magical land. Another reason to love this book is because the characters are all well fleshed out but aren't without flaws. They feel like real people and this novel is a story you don't want to put down. 

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

It's no secret the Throne of Glass series is fantastic. It's a high fantasy series starring the most fashionable female assassin there is in a world deprived of magic. Queen of Shadows is the fourth book (fifth installment) of this wonderfully complex series and it just keeps getting better. The things I loved about this book cannot be revealed because major spoilers for the first three books but everything turned out beautifully in this installment. We get to know a lot of the newer characters and we see new sides of characters we've known from the very beginning. It's also amazing how the story arcs are developing and how they're beginning to cross over. I can already see what an event the final book will be. There are so many moving parts, it's nearly impossible to keep up but that's part of the fun. One person does something that causes something from the past to resurface and wreak havoc. At least we got a nice, satisfying ending. I guess it's the calm before the storm...

Illuminae by Aimee Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

I had high expectations for Illuminae and Kaufman and Kristoff delivered. Every aspect of this book was amazing. The physical book itself was so gorgeous and unique. The formatting was so cool and really lent itself to the storytelling and the reading experience. This book can be compared other stories that have taken place on a spaceship, which all happen to be some of my all time favorites. One of the most interesting parts of the story was AIDAN, the artificial intelligence operating system whose purpose is to keep its passengers safe. What good is protecting the whole when nearly everybody is infected with a virus that turns people into manic man-slaughtering monsters? These obstacles paired with the dangers of space itself turns out to be a treacherous mission to save loved ones. I cannot fully describe this book in a single paragraph or even just using words. The authors couldn't either, hence the unique format. If you like sci-fi, please read this book. I guarantee you'll love it.

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

A cover can say a lot about a book, just not this one. I missed the boat when Obsidian first came out so I didn't know if it was good or not but it would pop up every now and again. Since I was already feeling lukewarm about the goings on in this series, the cover only deterred me. (What really gets me is that there was a cover change and they're just as ugly. I'd like to speak to the manager.) I did find it for free on Amazon one day so I bought it for my Kindle as my just-in-case book on vacations and it's a good thing I did because I actually had a chance to get to it over the summer. Once I started, there was no going back. There was so much to love about this book and I quickly became addicted. I had to control myself as to not devour them and regret not savoring them. Even thinking about it now I want more and more and more. Thankfully I have the last book left to go and this series is very rereadable for the feels alone.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ready Player One is a book I'd heard a lot about when it came out but at that point, it was so hyped up it would never live up to what I had already envisioned it to be. Now that there's a film adaptation in the works, it's back in the news and I figured it was now or never. As far as expectations go, this book defied all of them. To be fair, I had a very vague idea of what I thought it might be. There was a lot of uncertainty in that sentence, but it's true. When I started getting a feel for what was happening, everything got a lot more interesting. It's true what they say about this book. It's a whole lot of fun, especially if you're familiar with 80s video games. I can't say I'm included in that niche but I am definitely in the "whole lot of fun" camp. Despite my minimal video game knowledge, I could picture every video game and the environment within the OASIS. It felt to me like Wreck-It Ralph (2012) but darker in a realistic way. Ready Player One is an underdog tale, an adventure story, and a science fiction world all rolled into one. Definitely worth a read if the premise intrigues you in the slightest.  

The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

After reading An Ember In The Ashes, I read that The Winner's Curse was similar in that there was a militaristic kingdom that took over and enslaved a more scholarly kingdom. The main differences were that The Winner's Curse had more of a focus on the politics of the kingdoms and it was told from the point of view of the oppressor. I think learning about the politics of a high fantasy world is great world building so I got a really good feel for what kind of system I was dealing with. It was really interesting reading from this perspective when I had just finished a similar story a few months earlier. I'm also really rooting for Kestrel and Arin. Their dynamic is one of a kind and all the odds are stacked against them. Naturally they're going to be the ones I want to be together. It's a love triangle between Kestrel, Arin, and all the obstacles in their way. 

The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey

When I first heard about The Girl at Midnight, I didn't know what I was going to get. The description was vague enough that I knew it was a fantasy novel, but I had no idea to what extent. I was so pleasantly surprised with what I got. This book was a good mix of action, adventure, romance, and fantasy and I really appreciated that the stakes were clear. Especially since this will be a duology, there isn't much time to fully flesh out the world the way the Throne of Glass series might, for example, it's nice to know what needs to be accomplished and why it has to be done now. The way this book was written allowed me to very clearly visualize what their urban fantasy world looked like, setting the scene very nicely. I'm looking forward to the next book so that I can go back to shipping everybody together.

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore & David Lloyd 

Despite having to read V for Vendetta for a class, it was a gateway drug of sorts to the world of graphic novels. It was a medium I had been wanting to explore but I was never sure where to start. The class itself introduced me to graphic novels and how to read them not just by reading the words and looking at the pictures, but also by analyzing the contents and finding details in the illustrations that add to the meaning. For those purposes, V for Vendetta was perfect. There was a lot going on but it was a story worth telling and would be vastly different in a text-only medium. 

172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad

I haven't gotten around to reading horror recently but there was a lot of talk about 172 Hours on the Moon a while back. I had to restock my supply of ebooks while I was on vacation so I had to find something at the library that was readily available. Luckily, 172 Hours on the Moon was ready for me to check out. This book changed me. I'm sure I made my love of space very clear and the prospect of winning the lottery to win a trip to the moon had my heart soaring. What the government isn't telling the public is that there's a reason why the space program has been essentially shut down. There are so many perspectives (one of which really impacted me) (but I won't say which to preserve the suspense) and honestly I'm freaked out just writing about it. The secret surfaces in my mind every so often and leaves me paranoid for days. I don't want to say anymore in case this book is rooted in truth and I'm on the government's watchlist. Honestly, not many things haunt me as fiercely as this book does and I think that is a stellar recommendation in and of itself.

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

When I picked this book up, I had no idea what I would be in for. I wanted to read it based on the author alone. I've loved Claudia Gray's writing in the past so I was sure to like A Thousand Pieces of You, at the very least. And, not gonna lie, the cover definitely caught my eye. There is no denying a book that beautiful. I was very pleasantly surprised when I discovered it would be about parallel dimension. Talk about a heck yes. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough, but I can't seem to find many books about parallel worlds. They're definitely a topic of interest for me. The possibilities are endless.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Sarah J. Maas knows what she's doing. ACoTaR is a Beauty and the Beast retelling and it's done in a way that the elements of the original story are very clear if you're seeking them out, but also slip seamlessly into the story when you want to focus on the narrative. In true Sarah J. Maas style, there is no shortage of magical swoon-worthy boys in this new series, which only makes me more excited about the books to come. We get hints of another mythos in this installment that will come into play in the sequel and boy am I ready for that.

Before I conclude, THANK YOU for reading this entire post if you did, and even if you didn't. It was really long. I can't believe I wrote all of that. And that was a collection of my brief thoughts on only 16.3% of the books I read last year. Imagine if I had gone through all 92. That would be a book on its own. So many books I loved in 2015 just barely missed the list and it pains me to go through my Year in Books and see all the ones that were so close to making it. I made sure to exclude any sequels of the books already on the list, which cut it down but books like Carry On, The Isle of the Lost, Saga, and many others missed it by a hair. What were some of your favorite books from last year? Are there any that stand out to you? Do any of the ones on my list match the ones on yours?! I'd love to know in the comments below! I had a great reading year in 2015 and I'm ready to top it in 2016.


Talk to you soon!

xo, Yvette