1. The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante
2.The Secret Place by Tana French
3.The Book of Strange New Things by Michael Faber
4.The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata
5. A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler (Booker long list)
6. A Dog Called Homeless by Sarah Lean
7.One Night in Winter by Simon Sebag Montefiore
8.Mah Jongg: The Art of The Game by Ann M. Israel and Gregg Swain
9.Quiet Chaos by Sandro Veronesi (Strega Prize)
10.The Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
11.I'm Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti (Strega Prize)
12. by Margaret Mazzantini (Strega Prize)
13.The Boy Who Loved Rain by Gerard Kelly
14.A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear
15. The Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins
16. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
17.The End of Days by Jenny Erpendeck (IFFP short list/winner)
18. by Daniel Kehlmann (IFFP short list)
19. In The Beginning Was The Sea by Tomas Gonzalez (IFFP short list)
20.While The Gods Were Sleeping by Erwin Mortier (IFFP short list)
21.The Dead Lake by Hamid Ismailov (IFFP long list)
22. Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes (IFFP long list)
23.Circling The Sun by Paula McLain
24. by Tomas Bannerhed (IFFP long list)
25. Bloodlines by Marcello Fois (IFFP long list)
26. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (Newbery Award, 2013)
27. by John Crowley (World Fantasy Award, 1982)
28. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
29. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of The World by Haruki Murakami (Japanese Lit Challenge 9)
30. by Alberto Moravia
31. The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
32. Taking Pity by David Mark
33.Reader for Hire by Raymond Jean
34. Charlie and The Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
35. Faithful Place by Tana French
36. Remember Mia by Alexandra Burt
37. A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
38. by Junichiro Tanizaki (Japanese Lit Challenge 9)
39. Scarlet and Black by Stendhal (Paris in July)
40.Murder on the Ile Sordou by M. L. Longworth (Paris in July)
41. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
42.Coloring Flower Mandalas by Wendy Piersall
43.A Heart So White by Javier Marias (Spanish Lit Month)
44. The Discreet Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa (Spanish Lit Month)
45. Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy (Booker long list)
46.The Green Road by Anne Enright (Booker long list)
47.A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (Booker long list)
48.The Illuminations by Andrew O'Hagan (Booker long list)
49. Satin Island by Tom McCarthy (Booker long list)
50. The Likeness by Tana French
51.Did You Ever Have A Family? by Bill Clegg (Booker long list)
52. Stars Go Blue by Laura Pritchett
53. A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
54. The Quick by Lauren Owen
55. The Fisherman by Chigozi Obiama
56. After You by JoJo Moyes
57. The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope
58.The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
59. The Courtesan by Alexandra Curry
60.Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell
61. Benediction by Kent Haruf
62.Three Truths and a Lie by Lisa Gardner
63. by Joanna Spyri
64.Slade House by David Mitchell
65.Like Family by Paolo Giordano
66. Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
67. by Fuminori Nakamura
68. by Jane Austen
69. American Assassin by Vince Flynn
70. The Widow by Fiona Barton
Although it is only December 26, I cannot imagine that I will complete another book before January 1. And so the grand total for the year is 70 books, broken down into these statistics :
- 69% were books in translation
- 20% were mysteries or thrillers
- 17% were classics
- 11% were for the Shadow Jury for the IFFP (Independent Foreign Fiction Prize)
- 8% were for the Shadow Jury for the Man Booker prize
- 4% were for the Japanese Literature Challenge 9
- 4% were for Spanish Lit Month
- 2% were for Paris in July
- 2% were for German Lit Month
- 7% were children's
- 2% were nonfiction
Ten Personal Favorites for 2015:
- The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
- Quiet Chaos by Sandro Veronesi
- Don't Move by Margaret Mazzantini
- The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck
- The Dead Lake by Hamid Ismailov
- Little, Big by John Crowley
- Naomi by Junichuro Tanizaki
- A Heart so White by Javier Marias
- Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy
- A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Special thanks to:
Finally, it is with a grateful heart that I thank each of you who took the time to read the posts I've written, leave a comment or two, and share in the love of literature with me. It is you, my fellow bibliophiles, who enrich my reading life immeasurably. Already, I'm looking forward to the books we will share in 2016!
