2015 in Books

2015 steadily snowballed into one of the best years of my life, only to fall off a cliff and splatterly combust as it neared the end. How grateful I am that my overall life has been relatively tragedy- and concern-free. Here's to 2016 getting back on the chill and cheerful track :)

This year's reading served as a rejuvenation from academic rigor, using the 391 days since I defended my thesis and graduated with my masters to again become comfortable (and guilt-free) picking up a YA novel or other book devoted to entertainment, with a smattering of classics and new treasures. I, along with others (Biz!), continue to be inspired by my friend Madison's biblophilic passion--thus my second yearly book review:


The Scorpio Races--Maggie Stiefvater
   Exciting mixture of the horse world (my girlhood was filled with daydreams brought on by too much of The Black Stallion and Maurgerite Henry) and mythological creatures. A fun read, but the female protagonist left much to be desired. I preferred the story and character of the male protagonist. 

The Evolution Of Thomas Hall--Keith Merrill
  Refreshing to read a Mormon author's novel that wasn't about a single's ward, the Mormon church, or a spy-and-lover turned LDS (or other such plots). Predictable, but nice.

Princess Academy--Shannon Hale

*Dealing With Dragons--Patricia C. Wrede
   A childhood favorite. Listened to the audiobook and had my 3-year-old daughter ask to hear more of the "dragon story."

Searching For Dragons--Patricia C. Wrede

The Picture of Dorian Gray--Oscar Wilde
  Reread. Now wanting to read more Wilde

Goose Girl--Shannon Hale

Enna Burning--Shannon Hale

Walden--Henry David Thoreau
   Ugh. Been meaning to read this most of my life. It took me most of the year to stagger through this. Thoreau's attitude was a little bit too demeaning of everyone not trying his enlightened experiment (in his defense, this was my first full ebook I started on my phone). I couldn't find the magic. My later experience with Annie Dillard gave me all the ecstasy and wonder I expected of Walden--and more. 

All The Light We Cannot See--Anthony Doerr
  So much wonderful. But has no need of yet another recommendation from me--just listen to all the other people who are telling you to read it and then we can chat about why it is a keeper.

Wildwood Dancing--Juliet Marillier
  I love fairy tale retellings. This one drew me in, and left me with a "real-life" fairy tale ending, with real endings and last-times and goodbyes that make my heart ache but make the story believable (like the moment Aslan tells the children they can no longer return to Narnia--they've outgrown the journey). 

Ella Enchanted--Gail Carson Levine
  Classic, and reread too many times to count. I would argue that this is Levine's only truly satisfying book. I keep trying her other novels and she seems to lose dimension in the endings.

North and South--Elizabeth Gaskell
  A beautiful character, and a great author. 

The Black Cauldron--Lloyd Alexander
  Been reading this series aloud with Dustin. One of the life-shaping stories of my growing-up experience

The Castle of Llyr--Lloyd Alexander

To Kill a Mockingbird--Harper Lee
  A completely different book than when my 14-year-old self read it. One to which adulting and mothering have brought a new perspective. 

Anne of Green Gables--L. M. Montgomery
  Basically the history of Dustin and my story. Montogmery does trespass into the shallow, the circumlocutory, and other banal traps of such a book at times, but some passages twang and reverberate as they explain thoughts and feelings one has had but never had the imagery to express..

King of the Wind--Marguerite Henry

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close--Jonathan Safran Foer
  I took too many breaks while reading this book. A lot of amazing things about this book. Too many questions about the end for me to feel completed by reading it.

Fairest--Gail Carson Levine

The Wee Free Men--Terry Pratchett
  My sister's love Pratchett and everything Discworld. I really enjoyed Tiffany Aching and look forward to reading Prachett's final publication (happenes to be the fifth in Tiffany's series). 

A Hatful of Sky--Terry Pratchett

Anne of Avonlea--L. M. Montgomery

Wintersmith--Terry Pratchett

Ever--Gail Carson Levine

Eragon--Christopher Paolini
  Started this series a long time ago and am listening to it on audiobook to finish it. I haven't indulged in a fantasy hero cycle book since my husband convinced me to read his childhood favorite together--The Sword of Shanara. A lot of predictability, but that's the hero myth for you, and I enjoy a good re-immersion every so often.

Anne's House of Dreams--L. M. Montgomery

*I Shall Wear Midnight--Terry Pratchett
  This series just gets better as you go through it. Pratchett seeks to break down or at least explain stereotypes and story tropes we often just take for granted.

*Pilgrim at Tinker Creek--Annie Dillard
   Stellar. Her writing entrances your attention and unfolds worlds and thought processes in both a gradual and brutal way. A good book to coincide with wonderings about the nature of God. Brilliant.

Anne of Windy Poplars--L.M. Montgomery

Home--Marilynne Robinson
  Yes to all things Marilynne Robinson

Eldest--Christopher Paolini

*Lila--Marilynne Robinson
  The best book I read all year. Reading Robinson's Gilead last year changed my life, in a very un-melodramatic way (if that phrase can ever be un-melodramatic). I enjoyed Home as well, but more for what it added to Gilead and Lila than for its own sake. Robinson presents two almost incomprehensibly contrasting characters (Rev. John Ames and Lila) who somehow come together in a beautiful revelatory experience for readers. Finding our way to God, and realizing how individual and incomparable our life paths are. 

  2015 gave me a chance to relax. A lot of light, feel-good reads. 

  My 2016 reading will largely be a study on the human experience--we, as eternal beings on earth, experiencing what we know to be a test or vital event, but unprepared to walk away at the examination's end and realize our frame of reference is off--how truly limited our point of view is here (but I'm hoping it will be less limiting after this year). C.S. Lewis, Marilynne Robinson, George MacDonald--they all have so much to offer here. I've begun 2016 with Lewis' Till We Have Faces, and it did not disappoint.