Best of 2015 | My Top 10 Books

It’s one of my favorite things to review every month and it’s most especially my favorite thing to review at the end of the year: what I read. I am an obsessive reader who would honestly always choose a night in with a good book over a night out. (Like, right now, my roommate wants me to come out with her to a NYE party and I honestly just want to stay inside and read a really fun romance novel. The heart wants what it wants?)

Reading is my favorite pastime and I make a ton of time for it. When I’m sad, it’s my comfort. When I’m happy, it’s my treat. When I’m anxious, it’s my calm. When I’m angry, it’s my escape. Reading is my safe place. It’s where I learn and grow, where I find my center.

2015 was an exceptionally good year for reading, and I’ll most likely end the year with 91 books read. What can I say? I like big books and I cannot lie. (Yes. I went there.) Today, continuing my “Best of 2015” series, I want to detail my top ten books of the year. Enjoy!

10) Room by Emma Donoghue

• Publication date: 2010
• Number of pages: 321
• My rating: 4 stars
• Reason for reading: 2015 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge

Why I loved it: The book was much, much different than I expected. It was haunting and sad, but there was something sweet and simple about reading the story through the eyes of five-year-old Jack. It unfolded in a way I wasn’t expecting, and I found myself easily falling into the story, unable to put it down until I finished. I read this to fulfill the “award winner from the last decade” category for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge, and I’m so glad this reading challenge pushed me to finally pick it up.

9) The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

• Publication date: 2012
• Number of pages: 320
• My rating: 4 stars
• Reason for reading: On my TBR list

Why I loved it: I think I enjoyed this book as much as I did because I listened to it on audiobook and the reader was just wonderful. She had a calming voice that really brought this sweet novel to life for me. I loved the setting, the characters, and the slowness of the plot. The novel followed the lives of this little family that lives in a picturesque college town as their three daughters reunite for the first time in years. The novel is not a page-turner, but it made just feel so happy that I had to include it on my list.

8) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

• Publication date: 2008
• Number of pages: 274
• My rating: 4 stars
• Reason for reading: Recommended by a friend

Why I loved it: A coworker that I chat with about books recommended this novel to me since it is her favorite novel. I had never even heard of the title before (where have I been?!), but I trusted her rec and finally downloaded the novel onto my Kindle in December. The story was a little slow to start off with, especially because it’s written in epistolary format and that usually takes me a while to adjust to, but once I delved deeper into the novel, I was enraptured. The characters were funny and fun and authentic, and the novel just felt fresh and new and different. I always love reading stories about WWII and this one chose a really unique backdrop, which I appreciated.

7) The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

• Publication date: 2014
• Number of pages: 272
• My rating: 5 stars
• Reason for reading: For book club

Why I loved it: There is something so sweet about reading a book about books, and this one was no different. Our entire book club loved the novel (this rarely happens), and it’s one I ended up recommending to the bookworms in my life all throughout the year. I was thoroughly charmed by this novel, from beginning to end.

6) Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

• Publication date: 2013
• Number of pages: 477
• My rating: 4 stars
• Reason for reading: 2015 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge

Why I loved it: This book was heavy and dense at times, but I felt like I learned so much from it. One of my biggest takeaways was learning the difference between African-Americans and African immigrants to America – there really is such a cultural gap between the two, something I had never taken the time to think about before. I love it when a book makes me think! It’s a long book; it’s not a quick read by any means (it took me two weeks to finish). But I found it to be such an important read, and I feel better for having done so.

5) Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

• Publication date: 2014
• Number of pages: 460
• My rating: 5 stars
• Reason for reading: Recommended by a friend

Why I loved it: This book was just plain fun, but it was also a book that carried incredible meaning and power. It is not your average chick-lit novel by any means. But it also is chick-lit so there’s a lighthearted attitude to the book, even as it dealt with heavy topics that were very close to my heart. It’s a long book, but I found myself happy to take my time with it because I never wanted my time with the characters to end.

4) Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

• Publication date: 2014
• Number of pages: 292
• My rating: 5 stars
• Reason for reading: On my TBR list

Why I loved it: There was something so poignant about this novel. It was sad and heavy and hard to read at times, but I also couldn’t put it down for anything. It’s really a study into how race and culture affect family and parenthood. It’s about how the weight of others’ expectations can either drag us down or lift us up. The beginning of the novel reveals that the revered daughter of a well-to-do family is dead, but we don’t know how and we don’t know why. Throughout the novel, bits and pieces of this girl’s life, and the lives of her parents and siblings, are revealed.

3) In the Blood by Lisa Unger

• Publication date: 2014
• Number of pages: 416
• My rating: 5 stars
• Reason for reading: For book club

Why I loved it: Ooh, this book was so damn good! It’s hard to talk about the novel without revealing specific clues about the novel, so suffice it to say that this book had so many twists and turns that I was kept guessing right up until the end. It’s a psychological thriller that had me on the edge of my seat, with a narrator I didn’t quite like but didn’t quite hate and a plot that didn’t stop moving. This is a must-read for those who love a good thriller novel!

2) Pointe by Brandy Colbert

• Publication date: 2014
• Number of pages: 352
• My rating: 5 stars
• Reason for reading: On my TBR list

Why I loved it: This book was beautifully written and the actual plot was completely different from what I was expecting. For one thing, this is not a book about ballet, even though the title and cover may fool you. It’s a book that has a much deeper and darker meaning, and that is what makes it one of the best books I’ve read this year. There is such an important message to the book, and Colbert really gets this message across in a powerful way.

1) The Martian by Andy Weir

• Publication date: 2011
• Number of pages: 369
• My rating: 5 stars
• Reason for reading: 2015 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge

Why I loved it: Ugh, this book. It’s right up there with Me Before You and A Thousand Splendid Suns as one of my all-time favorite reads. And it’s science fiction! I don’t read science fiction! But damn if this book didn’t grip me from the beginning with a main character that was so well-written that I cannot believe he is not a real person. The voice of this novel is so unique that I had a book hangover for a month after I finished the novel. I just wanted all of my novels to have this same voice, but it’s very hard to do so. I’m already planning on rereading this novel.

What was the best book you read in 2015?