A Year in Books and End of Year Survey

2015 was a really good reading year for me. I read more this year than I ever have by a long shot. I’ve always considered myself a reader, but the amount I read this year, man. Wow. I read 110 books. I usually read around 20. Improvements!

To close this year out, I’m going to go through my year in books according to goodreads, some blog stats, and complete Perpetualpageturner’s end of year survey. I feel like it’ll be a good combination to really wrap-up everything I’ve done this year. Since this is closing on all the books I’ve read, consider this my December Wrap-up as well.

My Year in Books

Total Books DNFd this year: 5

For the sake of keeping this as non-repetitive as possible, I’m not going to go through the individual books as a lot will likely be named in the stats and survey.

Stats for the Embuhleeliest blog

Total posts published: 155
Reviews: 18
Tags: 25
Blog Award Nominations: 9
Top 5 Wednesdays: 24
Most Popular Post of 2015: Pixar Book Tag (Original)

Wrap-Ups:

January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November

December:

In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park: 5/5 stars
Ice Like Fire by Sara Raasch: 4.5/5 stars
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas: 4.5/5 stars
My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins: 3/5 stars
The Girl of Fire and Thorns Stories by Rae Carson: 4/5 stars

Results of 2015 Reading Resolutions and Challenges

Towards the end of 2014, I made three posts about things I wanted to do book-wise in 2015. They were my 2015 Reading Resolutions, 15 in 2015 and my TBR Jar Challenge. These are the results of all that.

Reading Resolutions:
Read 30 books: Success
Focus on sequels and stand-alones: Unsure
Buy 1 book for 5 read: Fail
Write reviews for at least 50% of the books read: Fail
Separate ‘to-be-read’ books onto their own bookcase: Success
Go through ‘to-be-read’ books and decide whether or not I’ll actually ever feel like reading them. If not, give away or donate them: Success

About 50-50 here.

15 in 2015:
1. The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness (Chaos Walking #2): Read
2. Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness (Chaos Walking #3): Read
3. Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik (Temeraire #5): Not Read
4. Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik (Temeraire #6): Not Read
5. The Scar by China Mieville (Bas Lag/New Crobuzon #2): Not Read
6. Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey (Monstrumologist #2): Not Read
7. The Isle of Blood by Rick Yancey (Monstromologist #3): Not Read
8. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #2): Not Read
9. Dreams of Joy by Lisa See (Shanghai Girls #2): Not Read
10. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami: Not Read
11. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell: Not Read
12. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous: Not Read
13. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell: Not Read
14. The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams: Read
15. The Future of the Mind by Michio Kaku: Not Read

Guys, I read three of them. I’m totally awesome.

TBR Jar Challenge:
Read a book with 500+ pages: Success
Reread a favorite book: Success
Read a 2015 debut novel: Success
Read a book that someone else picks: Success
Read a book that you’ve never heard of before: Fail
Begin reading a new graphic novel/graphic novel series: Success
Read a new-to-you author: Success
Read a book that is not a novel: Fail
Read/watch a book and its adaptation: Fail
Read an award winning novel: Fail
Read a classic novel: Fail
Read a series finale: Success

A bit more than 50-50 here.

End of Year Book Survey

Reading Stats

Number Of Books You Read: 110
Number of Re-Reads: 30
Genre You Read The Most From: Fantasy

Best in Books

Best Book You Read In 2015?
The Martian by Andy Weir
Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going to Love But Didn’t
Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy
Most Surprising (in a good way) book you read?
Easy by Tammara Webber
Book You “Pushed” the Most People to Read (And they Did)?
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Best series you started in 2015? Sequel? Ender?
Starter: An Ember in the Ashes by Tabaa Tahir
Sequel: A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin
Ender: Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
Favorite new author you discovered in 2015?
Rae Carson
Best books from a genre you don’t typically read/out of comfort zone
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
Crown of Embers by Rae Carson
Book you read in 2015 that you are most likely to re-read next year?
Saga volume 5 by Brian K Vaughan
Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015?

Most memorable character of 2015?
Mark Watney from The Martian
Most beautifully written book read in 2015
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Most thought-provoking/life-changing book of 2015?
In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park
Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2015 to finally read?
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Favorite Passage/Quote from a book read in 2015?
“When you tear out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you’re only telling the world that you fear what he might say” – A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin
Longest and Shortest books read in 2015?
Longest: A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin
Shortest: A New World by Patrick Ness
Book that shocked you the most
In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park
OTP of the Year
MarkoxAlana 4eva
Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship of the Year
Hakkai and Gojyo from Saiyuki (though some beg to differ)
Favorite book you read in 2015 from an author you’ve read previously
Saga volume 4 by Brian K Vaughan (I know it’s #6 on my top 15 list, but it’s the first author on there that I had also read in 2014)
Favorite book of 2015 read based soley on a recommendation from another
The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
Newest fictional crush of 2015
Chaol from Throne of Glass
Best 2015 debut
An Ember in the Ashes by Tabaa Tahir
Best Worldbuilding/vivid setting of the year
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
Book that put a smile on your face/most fun to read
Trigun by Yasuhiro Nightow
Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2015
Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
Hidden Gem of the year
Priest by Min-Woo Hyung
Book that crushed your soul
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Most Unique Book Read in 2015
The History of the World Through Twitter by Jon Holmes
Book that made you the most mad
Rumble by Ellen Hopkins

Blogging/Bookish Life

New favorite book blog of 2015
Orangutan Librarian’s :”D
Favorite review written this year
The one for The Night Circus
Best discussion/non-review post this year
Pixar book tag (original)
Best event participated in
All the different readathons
Best moment of the year
Reading my 110 book goal
Most challenging this about this past year
Keeping consistency when posting
Most popular post this year
Pixar book tag (original)
Post you wished got a little more love
Holiday recipes – Nacho Dip
Best bookish discovery of 2015
All the new bloggers I follow here 😀
Challenges or goals completed?
See above

Looking Ahead

Book you didn’t get to in 2015 but will be a 2016 priority?
Weave World by Clive Barker
Most anticipated non-debut 2016 release?
A Torch Against the Night by Tabaa Tahir
Most anticipated 2016 debut?
Not sure, haven’t been paying attention
Most anticipated 2016 series ender/sequel release?
See ‘Most anticipated non-debut 2016 release’. :”D
One thing you hope to accomplish in your 2016 reading/blogging life
Cut down on impulse purchased of books that sound good because of the hype instead of because the plot appeals to me
A 2016 release you’ve already read and recommend to everyone
Guys, I’m a little blog and it’s still 2015. You silly.

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And that’s it. Big, honking New Year’s Eve post up and ready. I hope you all have a fantastic new year. I’ll be over here, eating mac and cheese and drinking champagne until the ball drops. PEACE