Books 2015

For several years now I've kept track of the books I've read through the year. The idea is to read at least 52 books in a year, cover a range of genres, continue to work my way through the BBC's 2003 100 Big Read list and try not to let re-reads dominate my reading. Audio books have again come into their own, not just when travelling, but also when doing handcrafts and when my eyes are too tired to read at night. I've picked up a few of the 100 Big Read books 2nd hand lately so I've got several already lined up for 2016, plus of course 13 more volumes of War & Peace!

The Very Best of Charles de Lint posed an ethical dilemma - someone posted a link to it on Facebook and I had a look expecting to be able to read a few pages at most which at least would give me an idea as to whether it was worth pursuing. Well it was, and it turned out that there were several of the short stories in full that you could access. However the entire book wasn't available unless you downloaded it, for free, which sounded like a good price. But the site was Amazon and I'd signed up to the Amazon-free Christmas pledge a few months earlier fully intending it to be a year round commitment and I didn't really want to break that, as even if I wasn't going to be giving them any money it would show my account to be active... so it remains unfinished! I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, whilst I enjoyed what I read I can live without the rest.

As part of my decluttering I had decided to pass along my Deltora Quest books once I'd completed the first series, and my Linda McNabb books on top of that. This cleared several inches of shelf space and they went to a good home. As I've now got about 3/4 of my books in my room now the temptation to re-read old favourites is growing, so all the more reason to keep track of what I read this year and not find myself falling down the rabbit hole of nostalgic comfort reads never to try anything new again....

* still reading
italics - re-read

January - March 2015
i. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens (started last year)
1. God Just Is... - Curt Gardener
2. An Unexpected Hero - L.P. Hansen
3. The Sleeper And The Spindle - Neil Gaiman
4. Dune - Frank Herbert (audio book)
5. The Seventh Son - Linda McNabb
6. Shadow Girl - Sally Nicholls
7. Mountains Of Fire - Linda McNabb
8. Song Of The Selkie - Cathy Dunsford
9. Rowan and the Zebak - Emily Rodda
10. War & Peace I - Leo Tolstoy (audio book)
11. * The Very Best Of Charles de Lint - Charles de Lint
12. A Wind In The Door - Madeleine L'Engle
13. A Swiftly Tilting Planet - Madeleine L'Engle
14. The Royal Ranger - John Flanagan
15. War & Peace II - Leo Tolstoy (audio book)
16. Dune Messiah - Frank Herbert

April - June 2015
17. Tanith - Sherryl Jordan 
18. Oor Wullie - DC Thompson
19. One Hundred Years Of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
20. First Test  (Protector of the Small 1) - Tamora Pierce
21. Page (Protector of the Small 2) - Tamora Pierce 
22. Squire  (Protector of the Small 3)  - Tamora Pierce
23. Lady Knight (Protector of the Small 4) - Tamora Pierce
24. Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness 1) - Tamora Pierce


July - September 2015 
25. In the Hand of the Goddess (Song of the Lioness 2) - Tamora Pierce
26. The Woman Who Rides Like a Man (Song of the Lioness 3) - Tamora Pierce 
27. Lioness Rampant (Song of the Lioness 4) - Tamora Pierce 
28. Wild Magic (The Immortals 1) - Tamora Pierce
29. Wolf Magic (The Immortals 2) - Tamora Pierce
30. The Emperor Mage (The Immortals 3) - Tamora Pierce
31. Realms of the Gods (The Immortals 4) - Tamora Pierce
32. Trickster's Choice - Tamora Pierce
33. Trickster's Queen - Tamora Pierce
34. My Side of the Mountain - Jean Craighead George
35. The Usborne Fairy Tale Treasury (mostly read to Lucy)
36. The Forest of Silence (Deltora Quest 1) - Emily Rodda
37. The Lake of Tears (Deltora Quest 2) - Emily Rodda
38. City of the Rats (Deltora Quest 3) - Emily Rodda
39. The Shifting Sands (Deltora Quest 4) - Emily Rodda
40. Dread Mountain (Deltora Quest 5) - Emily Rodda
41. The Maze of the Beast (Deltora Quest 6) - Emily Rodda
42. The Valley of the Lost (Deltora Quest 7) - Emily Rodda
43. Return to Del (Deltora Quest 8) - Emily Rodda
44. A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45. Singing Home the Whale - Mandy Hager
46. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

October - December 2015
47. Scorpion Mountain (Brotherband 5) - John Flanagan
48. The Tournament of Gorlan (The Early Years) - John Flanagan
49. The Forest of Silence (Deltora Quest 1) - Emily Rodda (read to Seany)
50. The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle 1) - Patrick Rothfuss (audio book)
51. In Search of Simplicity - John P. Haines
52. The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle 2) - Patrick Rothfuss (audio book)
53. Spellsinger (Spellsinger 1) - Alan Dean Foster (audio book)
54. Hour of the Gate (Spellsinger 2) - Alan Dean Foster (audio book)
55. The Day of the Dissonance (Spellsinger 3) - Alan Dean Foster (audio book)
56. The Moment of the Magician (Spellsinger 4) - Alan Dean Foster (audio book)
57. The Paths of the Perambulator (Spellsinger 5) - Alan Dean Foster (audio book)
58. * The Time of the Transference (Spellsinger 6) - Alan Dean Foster (audio book)