Favorite Books from 2015

I think this will be the last of my end of the year book posts! I published (to the right) the list of books that I read in 2015. The total came to 81 books for the year, but don't look at that list and be impressed. In fact, I'm rather not! As I reviewed my list, I realized that:

1. I did a LOT of rereading this year. The summer, for example was spent with Anne rereading all 8 of those books and I don't regret it at all.
2. I read a lot of kid-lit, i.e., The Dark is Rising Sequence, as well as many others for Amy's Newberry Challenge.
3. There are several on there that I'm wishing I had skipped over ... namely anything that was considered a hit in the last year or so. Wasted pages.

Those disclaimers being said, I did read several winners. Those that stand out as worthy of mention from the last twelve months are:

Dr. Doolittle by Hugh Lofting. This was one of the ones that I read for Amy's Newberry Challenge (actually the first one from last January) and I loved it. So much that I assigned it to N2 to read for this school year. A classic that is definitely worth reading. We never did get to the old movie with Rex Harrison which I'd still like to see! Blogged.

Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin. This was actually a book that Amazon sent me to review and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this non-fiction work. To my knowledge this is the first book of Rubin's that I have read, and I thought she did an excellent job laying out her research and findings on habits and what kind of a person are you when it comes to forming habits. (I'm totally an obliger). This is a book that I wanted to come back and reread all year so I'm hoping to get to it again in 2016.

Come Rain or Come Shine by Jan Karon. The newest Jan Karon. Just being a new Jan Karon gets it on my best of the year list. : )

The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall. Same for a new Penderwicks. I adored this one and devoured it so I could hand it off to N1. As the girls are getting older the stories and getting deeper and, I think, more hard-beautiful. So good.

Simply Tuesday by Emily P. Freeman. This was another book that I signed up to review and it was such a timely read for me to slow down. Notice the small things that make up my everyday and be thankful in the regular, the small, the everyday. Highly recommend as well. Blogged.

All Four Stars by Tara Daiman. This was a new to me children's author that I stumbled upon at the library. The book was delicious (pun intended) and I shared some quotes from it here. I'm anxiously awaiting the sequel(s). Blogged.

As you can see my list is short! Honorable mention should go to:

• Women in the Word by Jen Wilkin A reread, but an excellent one. This made my best list last year.
• The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. My first read of Sherlock Holmes for the Reading to Know bookclub. I'd love to read more Sherlock this year.
• Connected by Erin Davis. A timely, well-written book on staying connected in our digital age. It's probably all something you have read before, but it was what I needed to read and be encouraged by at the right time and that's half of it, isn't it?
• The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. Totally a fun and frivolous read, but this series has absolutely hooked me in a most embarrassing way. Like, set everything aside and read it in a day, embarrassing. I admit that I was originally put off by the covers, but they have a fairy tale element with science fiction and cyborgs. What's not to love. : ) I predict that this will be the next big movie series from a young adult series, at least I am really hoping it is!

For 2016 .... I've set some slight boundaries for me in what I hope to read this coming year. Without being too strict on myself, I'm hoping to read 

• several classics this year that I've never tried. Dickens and Jane Austin come to mind. I've only read Pride and Prejudice once, many years ago. Same with A Christmas Carol by Dickens. I need to try some of their other works! 
• More non-fiction, period. 
• More from my shelves. I have quite a few books around here that I keep wanting to get to and I'm hoping to try some of those out this year so they can either find a permanent home on my shelves or I can pass them on.
• Less new fiction. Like I mentioned, almost every "new" adult fiction book I read this year, I disliked. It's going to have to be very, very, very highly recommended for me to pick it up.

Any literary goals for your 2016? Any suggestions for things that I should read that fall into my self-imposed categories? I've got my 2016 to-be-read list started to add titles to as well as my page for what I've finished. Now, the big decision is what to start first!